A post I just made, including the text of the person I was replying to since it is open to the public.
“But I think now more and more that this is obviously intended, some stories must be told again and again that as many people as possible must understand.
With every tree that falls in the Rainforest for instance, we destroy a whole world of living we even haven’t fully explored yet, for reasons that are exactly the same as described in the movie. And that is here, among us, every day. And it’s acutely as never before.” – Jepe
Here’s the thing – not everyone who disagrees with these concepts is an idiot and speaking slowly and loudly (as Cameron does here) isn’t helping. They don’t not hear the point they disagree with it. That means the message needs to actually contain more information (reasons) not fewer. It needs to get more sophisticated, not more three stooges.
It would also be nice if there were actual reasons behind this message, not just woo and wishful thinking. For instance Cameron clearly has a believe that simple "native" people live in harmony with "nature" when all the evidence we have is that natives often are limited only by their technology in how much they pillage the world around them. Native tribes have been known to set entire sections of forests on fire to flush game, drive whole herd (many more than they can eat) off cliffs to get meat and so on. This whole "technology bad, tree pretty" thing Cameron is pushing has no basis in the real world.
On the topic of the "eco warrior" stuff Avatar is a cop out. The reality is that the Navi live in a world where the trees are not only alive but borderline telepathic and somehow store they souls of the departed. That’s a long way from "we need to respect every tree on earth because – well, well – just because!".
You find a telepathic tree that lets you communicate with the dead and I promise you, you won’t have any trouble keeping folks from cutting it down.
That’s probably just me though 🙂