Whether or not you agree with the things you see in "Cool It", you need to have an open mind to even consider watching it in the first place--and that is an inherent difficulty with the film. In other words, if you are dogmatic in your views, you wouldn't bother watching a movie that casts many assumptions into question about your assumptions. So, provided you actually watch it and have a reasonably open mind, you'll no doubt enjoy it and feel challenged by Bjørn Lomborg's film about the environment.
"Cool It" is a film that was inspired by Lomborg's book "The Skeptical Environmentalist". In this textbook, Lomborg uses statistics to explore the various claims some environmentalists have made about a variety of topics--in other words, he tries to determine if the claims stack up to a critical analysis. The most notable, and the one covered in "Cool It" most, is about global warming, though the book (which I strongly recommend) covers many other topics such as the oceans, population density and the quality of our air.
As I mentioned above, most of "Cool It" concerns Lomborg's assertion that the way that we deal with global warming is ineffective and wasteful. Now, despite his detractors saying that Lomborg denies global warming, he does not. He just thinks that current policy makes folks think highly of themselves and costs a lot of money but does no good--and there are a lot better ways would could direct our money and energies. And, it's not just Lomborg in this film but many other experts that state that the policies are ineffective and need to be OPENLY debated. Fortunately, they do not stop here--Lomborg and the rest suggest much more effective ways to spend our money and efforts that will either make a greater impact on the problem OR will address more serious problems, such as the serious lack of health care in developing nations.
Because the film does not completely deny global warming, some folks will no doubt hate it. And, because the film has the nerve to say that there really is not a consensus that global warming is a HUGE threat, folks on the other side will no doubt hate it. However, considering that the arguments "An Inconvenient Truth" are mostly alarmist and emotional*, it's really nice to see someone back up and take a look at this and many other issues scientifically--with data and not emotion to bolster it.
Overall, this is a very well-reasoned film that well states SOME of Lomborg's ideas in "The Skeptical Environmentalist". And, even if you don't agree with all or even much of it, it does make you THINK for yourself--something few films really try to do. Exceptional.
*Among the most offensive things I saw in "Cool It" were some of the alarmist videos that show children dying, presumably, if you don't act NOW! Considering that many of these same folks also own carbon offset companies or are supported by companies that would benefit from such policies, it seems pretty gross to use such scare tactics. Just my two cents worth...
