We’re thrilled to present How To Blow Up A Pipeline, David Goldhaber’s environmentalist action-thriller. Critics have fallen head-over-heels for it, with Ty Burr saying that it “sucks you in through the scruffy efficiency of its filmmaking and it doesn’t care whether you argue with it or not,” and USA Today’s Cory Woodroof stating that the movie “… is a miracle in this day and age: a politically sticky, rigorously nuanced meditation on the times we’re in.”
Here’s a list of related reading that can help you get more out of this movie and its message.
- While this thriller may be fiction, it’s based on Andreas Malm’s 2021 bestseller about the role of direct action in changing environmental policy. While the provocatively-titled tome isn’t exactly a how-to manual, the author does advocate for the “intelligent sabotage” of fossil fuel infrastructure, telling the New Yorker: “I am in favor of destroying machines, property—not harming people. That’s a very important distinction.” Read a preview and buy a copy of How To Blow Up A Pipeline on Amazon.
- Earlier this year, BBC Future covered the surprising science of climate protests and revealed that confrontational groups like Extinction Rebellion have stepped back a bit in a good-faith effort to engage with people.
- Perhaps not surprisingly, bold climate protests (like those of Extinction Rebellion) are triggering even bolder anti-protest laws.
- It’s easy to draw parallels between the people who destroy petroleum infrastructure and the Vietnam War protestors of the 60s and 70s. The excellent 2002 documentary The Weather Underground explores the rise and fall of one group who took on the US government during that turbulent era. It’s available on ad-free with a rental on Amazon or free on the Roku Channel.