In a Rich Man's World

Location | Mood | Date 3 August 2009
Filed in:
Author (full name): 
Franny Armstrong
Date: 
3 August 2009

Morning, 

Franny and Lizzie here, chief fundraisers at Stupid Towers. Or should I say Franny and Lizzie, top Vogue models?!? See attached.
If you can't be bothered to read all this long message, please just head straight over to the Global Premiere wedding list and snap yourself up some crowd control barriers (a snip at 450) or a bicycle-powered popcorn message (80 quid and its yours) or even a Himalayan yak (no really - how else will Pete P get up to the glacier to do his live link-up?!?). 
<<- STOP PRESS - Greenpeace have today occupied six coal power stations in Italy (where the G8 is currently meeting) and the biggest one, the Brindisi (which spews out 14 m tonnes of C02 a year - the combined emissions of the world's 40 lowest emitting countries) has been painted with the letters S-T-U. Apparently it got too windy to continue, but they're still up there and planning to finish off the P-I-D as soon as poss. That'll be one for the scrapbooks, for sure. ->> 
SUCH exciting and brilliant news last night.... in fact, Franny is still dancing on the table 12 hours after we heard.... A mainstream American TV channel (tell you who when we have it in writing) is going to broadcast across the USA on primetime on Saturday 5th December.... ie the Saturday before Copenhagen. Totally, totally, totally brilliant. Probably the single most influential spot we could ever have dreamed of. And they have a spare half hour after the film for some special extras. I vote for a debate between Obama and Fernand the mountain guide. In French. With Piers the windfarmer translating. Oh yeah. 
But back to reality.... where there are climate impacts pouring in all over the world. Londoners are either sweltering in our second heatwave of the new millenium or wading through torrential floods in the tube. While Zambia floods, Mumbai suffers its worst water shortage in living memory (some households only have water between 4.45am and 5.45am). The coral reefs are dying faster than the worst predictions and America has problems with maple syrup production. 
But the good news is that those extremely brainy people at NEF (the New Economics Foundation) have conclusively shown  that... stop press... there is no link between human happiness and more stuff. Their Happy Planet Index works out how well each country is using their environmental resources to deliver happiness and well-being to their people. Top of the class is... Costa Rica. And, interestingly, nine of the top 10 nations are in Latin America. Big cheer. Saudi Arabia is 13th, China is 20th, India 35th. Not a single European country made it into the top 50, for shame... Germany is highest at 51, Sweden 53, Italy 69. Blair must be relieved that the UK (74) just managed to beat that well-resourced and happy country known as Iraq (79). Australia (102) beat New Zealand (103) and the USA (114) is no doubt breaking out the champagne for managing to triumph over Nigeria (115) by one whole place. Not surprisingly, Zimbabwe is languishing at the bottom (143).
The BBC have made a funny piss-take film about climate hypocrisy called "Britain's Embarrassing Emissions", which includes a big section about our premiere, including Pete telling Ed Miliband that he's going to give back his OBE. Watch it online here. Our bit starts at 44.35.
So, back to the fundraising. As you may have heard mentioned in the popular press, 228 of you lovely people invested between 500 and 35,000 back in 2004->2006 to raise the total budget of 450,000 to make that Stupid film. Thank you again for believing in us and our hair-brained idea (see 04.18 into the Making Of documentary for just how rubbish our pitch was). Then we raised a further 180,000 for the UK release earlier this year by selling another 18 shares of 10K each (obviously we sold some of our own piece of the pie -  we didn't dilute shares belonging to any investors). Then we raised 180,294 from 384 people donating to the Not Stupid campaign. 
Thank you again to everyone who's supported the Stupid circus so far... 
To say we couldn't have done it without you...
Would be true. 
And now... we need to raise a further 180,000 quid for the Global Premiere and the Australian/New Zealand release. We are feverishly lining up what promises to be the biggest climate event of the year (OK, perhaps Copenhagen may just pip us to the post in December). Briefly: a solar cinema tent in New York's Central Park, staffed to the rafters with A-list celebs, beaming out live by satellite to 700 cinemas in 45 countries. All on the eve of the UN General Assembly's climate session, when about 80 heads of state - and a good chunk of the world's media - will be in town.
As ever, we're not taking the corporate dollar or selling to a mainstream distributor - and we can't spend the income from the film, as that goes to our investors - so we'd be forever grateful if could you help out by either: 
a) Buying a "share" of 5,000 or more. There are 100,000 pounds worth up for grabs. The gist is that you give us your cash and we give you a small slice of the stupid pie. You get paid your slice of the proceeds once a year for ten years. More info here or contact our new head of finance, Andrew Douglas, on andrew@ageofstupid.net if you'd like a chat. 
If you are able to move fast and buy a share before this coming Monday, 13th July, you'll be able to see your name in the credits at the end of the film. We've got to go back into the studio to make a couple of changes (adding the logos of our NGO partners, for example) before making the master for the Global Premiere. (We'll also take the opportunity to add the last batch of investors who missed the last round of credits.) But if you miss the Monday deadline, you can still get your name on the credits on the DVD and website, should you so desire. 
b) Making a donation to pay for a specific item. Nick and Tom have surpassed themselves this time. Even if you don't have a single spare pound, and can't buy even one poster for one cinema in Sweden, I promise you that it's worth checking out the Global Premiere wedding list page. 
So that's it. Here's hoping you decide that supporting the Global Premiere would be a good use of your cash in the five months we have left to turn this around before Copenhagen. 
Money money money
It isn't funny
In a rich man's world
Money money money
It's always sunny 
(thanks to global warming)
In a rich man's world. 
See you, 
Franny & Lizzie
Fashion Models
PS. Had a little laugh this morning. Guess what's the most-popular clip on our youtube channel? The Stupid trailer? Pete's interview with the Guardian? The Ed Miliband hijack? Nope, it's Franny washing clothes in the bath in Jordan. Strange people out there. 
PPS. Apologies to anyone who got excited last Monday about the thing we said was very exciting but top secret. The date got put back till September 1st - to work better with the media splash around the Global Premiere. But it'll be even bigger & better then, honest. 
PPPS. Thanks x a million to Eilieen Laurie and Kim McCoy for very generously fixing us up with a free apartment in New York