Did anyone see Harmony last night?
"It is? easy to focus solely on the challenges, the worst case scenarios, the what-ifs of failure. But take a moment to consider the opportunities if we succeed: imagine a healthier, safer and more sustainable, more economically robust world. Remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. So let us give an answer of which we can be proud."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeS2T4GnRe8
Prince Charles' eco-film pushes for 'Harmony' with nature
BY DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, November 19th 2010, 4:00 AM
Mitchell/AP Prince Charles was the driving force behind 'Harmony,' a production that says that humans' current dependence on fossil fuels is harmful. - "Harmony," the long-simmering Prince Charles project that suggests humans desperately need to live in ways that are far more friendly to their planet, may have arrived at either the best or the worst possible moment.
At a time when the economic recession and decreased support for strict environmental regulation may threaten the green movement, "Harmony" (NBC, Friday night at 10) could seem like a quaint, outdated bit of naive idealism.
Or it could make a strong declaration that the cheapest and easiest path - pumping more oil, for example, rather than spending money to develop alternative energy sources - is the wrong path.
Stuart Sender, co-producer and codirector, says we have no real choice, that every passing day makes environmental harmony more urgent.
"Doing the right thing is also doing the smart thing," says Sender. "It's better in the moment and better for our children."
"Harmony" is a one-hour distillation of a 90-minute production that will be released as a theatrical film "within the next few months." A longer version could be released later, Sender says.
The film, assembled over three years, visits farmers, business executives and scientists who are already applying the "harmony" model. Its "stars" include a Louisiana farmer who preaches the organic-farming gospel and a San Francisco man who has invented an airconditioning system, modeled on the wing dynamics of birds, that uses 90% less energy.
"We advocate going forward with nature," says co-producer/co-director Julie Bergman Sender. "We're a part of nature, not separate from it."
If the Senders made this film, though, they say its real driving force was His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales.
"It grows from 30 years of his work as a hero of the environment," says Stuart Sender. "He has been raising awareness about climate change and working as an organic farmer since the 1980s."
The prince made a similar film in 1990, but this one is more comprehensive and the first with U.S. distribution, says Stuart Sender.
In the broader picture, Sender calls Charles a "convener" for environmental causes. "He has used his unique position to bring together government leaders, business leaders, peasant farmers and environmental activists."
With this film, says Julie Sender, "The prince was very involved all along." He accompanied the Senders on film shoots, sat for interviews, arranged contacts and narrates several segments.
"Harmony" will present Charles in a different light to Americans who mostly know him from marital scandals, and the film will be preceded Friday at 9 by a "Dateline" special in which Brian Williams interviews Charles about the film.
The broad message of "Harmony," says Stuart Sender, is that the issues it raises affect everyone: "This is about a global crisis ... and how we are all connected to it."