Don’t Get “Gaslit” By LNG: Oʻahu screenings of Jane Fonda film highlight human, environmental, and planetary costs of liquified “natural” gas

By Wayne Tanaka | Reading time: 2min

On September 11 and 12, Greenpeace, 350 Hawaiʻi, Lāhui Foundation, and the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi hosted screenings of the award-winning documentary “Gaslit,” an incredibly moving documentary on the current liquified “natural” gas (LNG) boom produced by actress and renowned activist Jane Fonda.

From ranchers forced to sell their poisoned family lands, to Louisiana fishermen losing their livelihoods and ways of life, to Native American tribes witnessing the contamination of their sacred ancestral lands and waters, to entire communities either displaced or suffering from skyrocketing cancer rates and other diseases, the film shared the stories of dozens of individuals from all walks of life, fighting back against rampant LNG infrastructure development along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Following each screening, audience members heard from a panel featuring Melanie Oldham of Freeport, Texas (where the JERA-financed Freeport LNG plant exploded in 2022); Wayne Tanaka of the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, and Navahine youth climate plaintiff Pāhonu Coleman, moderated by Kānaka ʻŌiwi organizer and advocate Kainoa Azama.

Melanie shared her experiences living in the epicenter of the LNG industry expansion in Texas, and her community’s ongoing struggles to get answers and accountability from global methane supplier JERA. Wayne went over the efforts of JERA and the Governor’s administration to gaslight the Hawaiʻi community, debunking their claims of how LNG – an increasingly expensive greenhouse gas 80 times worse than carbon dioxide – will somehow benefit our utility bills and the environment. Pāhonu reflected on what aloha ʻāina truly means, and why we must not accept the destruction of both lives and the planet in order to bring LNG to our islands.

Attendees at the September 12 screening, graciously hosted by Patagonia at their Haleʻiwa storefront, were also able to donate to the disaster relief and recovery efforts of Lāhui Foundation, while scoring donated Patagonia gear and paintings by local artist Ewa Mosc.

For over a year, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi and 350 Hawaiʻi have been tracking a proposal by Governor Green, the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office, and Japan-based global methane distributor JERA, to lock Hawaiʻi into an indefinite dependency on yet another imported fossil fuel. While arguments and assumptions made in favor of the proposal are already falling apart, JERA and Governor Green have continued their aggressive push to garner public and regulatory buy-in for a multibillion dollar investment in LNG import infrastructure. 

For more on the concerns surrounding LNG, including analyses and perspectives from third-party experts and members of the community, check out our LNG resource page here.

Hear more about the Gaslit documentary in this 10-minute interview of director Katie Camosy by Catherine Cruz of Hawaiʻi Public Radio here. 

You can also look up ways you may be able to watch the Gaslit documentary at www.gaslitdoc.com.

To join the fight against the ill-begotten LNG proposal for Oʻahu, sign up for action alerts via the 350 Hawaiʻi petition here, let us know if you’d like to host an in-person or virtual presentation or conversation with your business or community groups, and consider donating to support our grassroots #aoleLNG campaign at www.sierraclubhawaii.org/donate.