"Global Warming ‘Knows No Ideology, No Political Boundaries'”: Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk on The White House Effect

Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk’s The White House Effect is an intriguing all-archival trip back in time to the precise moment in US politics when we arguably could have turned the page on climate change. From 1988-1992, Yale grad and oil company founder George H.W. Bush was commander-in-chief; not only did Bush. Sr. improbably make vocal his belief that global warming (“The Greenhouse Effect”) was real, but promised to employ “the White House effect” to counter it. Which included appointing as EPA chief Bill Reilly, an avid conservationist and veteran of Nixon’s Presidential Council on Environmental Quality and the World Wildlife Fund. Unfortunately, the 41st president would also employ as chief of staff former NH governor John Sununu, who Time magazine once called “Bush’s Bad Cop” and whose laser-like focus on the American economy likewise meant championing Big Oil at all costs. (It’s no spoiler alert to say the bad guy won. And we all lost.) The week before the doc’s October 31st Netflix release, Filmmaker reached out to the co-directing trio to learn all about digging into the late 20th century past to promote action today.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.