June 11, 2010

Brodner’s Cartoon du Jour: Gasland

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The winner of the special Sundance prize for documentaries this year was Gasland, by Josh Fox (airing on HBO June 21). It discusses a kind of drilling called hydraulic fracturing and what a bright idea it is…or isn’t. Get a load of this trailer for the film, in which this guy is able to light up his faucet.

Sharp increases in pollution, illness, and death are a big price for this gas. Seems like the same story all over: Killing ourselves chasing down the last drop of fossil fuel.

Now, here’s the solution. The people of Samso Island in Denmark decided instead to chase every possible non-fossil-fuel solution to the problem. Today, they produce more energy than they need and sell it at a profit. Two very close dots, very easy to connect. If only we could move the greed machine out of the way.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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