I had the fortune last night of seeing a really cool IMAX docu, Hurricane on the Bayou, at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. The film is not only visually spectacular; it's a powerful musing on the loss of coastal wetlands, and how that has, in turn, increased the vulnerability of the Louisiana Gulf Coast to hurricane destruction. Most of all, the film is suffused with local Louisiana music, culture--and plenty of cute shots of baby alligators to boot. After the film ended, I helped out with the Q & A when a question came up on the subject of hurricanes and global warming. (Chris Palmer, president of the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, which produced the film, had kindly asked me to do so. I was glad to be involved.) Fascinatingly, the question came from a young boy, who asked, "Did global warming cause the hurricane?" No, I answered--explaining why global warming doesn't "cause" individual events--and then went on to briefly detail the latest scientific understanding of the hurricane-climate relationship. I think I may be getting the hang of this sort of thing. In any event: There's a TV spot for the film here, and you can find theater listings here. Let me know what you think.....
