Clever Green Star Wars Parody Takes "Force"ful Aim at Environmentalists

Author Derrick Jensen offers amusing food for thought.

October 9, 2009 at 1:52PM by Brian Clark Howard | comment

We're big fans of Star Wars jokes and parodies in the office, from Eddie Izzard's hysterical Death Star Cafeteria bit to the epic Family Guy and Robot Chicken treatments. So we were excited to check out this green Star Wars video over at Ecorazzi. According to the site, it's by environmental activist and author Derrick Jensen, mixing video of a talk he gave in 2006 with animation.

Jensen is the author of several books, including most recently Songs of the Dead. He was named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" and won the Eric Hoffer Award in 2008. He writes for a number of publications, including Orion, Audubon and The Sun Magazine.

Through the language of one of the most popular stories in our culture, Jensen probes the meaning and effectiveness of the environmental movement. He brings up big questions, such as how do we affect the most change while staying true to our roots, and how do we work with polluters without becoming co-opted by them?

As the environmental movement has grown and matured, it has also diversified and splintered. There are many perspectives and many folks with different viewpoints. Is that a strength or a weakness?