Dear MoveOn member,
On Memorial Day weekend, Hollywood is releasing a summer blockbuster movie that’s making the Bush administration very nervous. In fact, they’d rather you didn’t see it at all.
Why? Because it’s a disaster movie about global warming.
While “The Day After Tomorrow” is more science fiction than science fact, everyone will be talking about it — and asking “Could it really happen?” This is an unprecedented opportunity to talk to millions of Americans about the real dangers of global warming and expose President Bush’s foot-dragging on the issue.
It’s also a fun movie to see with friends over the holiday weekend.
So here’s the plan: On Memorial Day weekend, grab a few friends and go see “The Day After Tomorrow” — the movie the White House doesn’t want you to see. At the theater, meet up with other MoveOn members to give out flyers that explain, in everyday language, what causes global warming, how Bush’s environmental policies could lead us into a real-life climate crisis, and what we can do together to meet this challenge. ..
Maybe you’ve already seen the trailer for “The Day After Tomorrow”: tornadoes whip through Los Angeles and Manhattan is frozen over as global warming triggers an Ice Age across North America.
Nearly 20 million Americans are expected to see this movie, with as many as 7 or 8 million over Memorial Day weekend alone. Because the movie capitalizes on our real-life concerns over climate change, audiences are likely to walk out of the theater asking themselves: “Could it really happen?” We’ll be there to answer that question with our flyers.
The right wing has already cranked up its PR machine to discredit the movie as “fright flick” propaganda cooked up by climate change conspiracy theorists. Never mind that they’re relying on stone-age science, or that they’re light-years behind the curve on the public’s acceptance of global warming as a real environmental threat.
The news media are already buzzing about our plans. Yesterday, we held a press conference to officially launch the campaign, and stories have already appeared in the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.
We can’t afford to wait until the day after tomorrow to address the climate crisis. We hope you’ll be part of this fun summer campaign to elevate global warming from movie-house thrill-ride to White House priority.