The White House Effect

The White House Effect

Sloan Foundation Film

Release Date

2024

Director

  • Bonni Cohen
  • Pedro Kos
  • Jon Shenk

Awards

  • 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Film Program: Feature Film Grant

Explores the dramatic origin story of the climate crisis and how a political battle in the George H.W. Bush administration changed the course of history.

    THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT tells the epic, urgent story of how we reached this moment in history. Spanning from the Industrial Revolution to the present, the film centers on three pivotal decades — the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s — and the key characters who changed the world through scientific discovery, political intrigue, fossil fuel power, evolving media coverage, and emerging activism. This gripping drama plays out against the backdrop of our embattled and changing planet, providing a singular lens on humanity’s most important story.

    Photo credit: Impact Partners

    Possible Topics

    • Climate change policy
    • What led us to this? The history of climate change policy
    • How do politics affect global warming?
    • It's the end of the world as we know it... or is it?
    • Climate science and scientists