10:40 PM, Jun. 26, 2012  |  Written by  Vickie Welborn

Shreveporter Gregory Kallenberg and the creators of the documentary "Haynesville: A Nation's Hunt for An Energy Future" today debut the first in a series of short films about energy and its future.

The films were inspired by the belief that a rational movement focused on civil dialogue can lead to a cleaner energy future. Shell is sponsoring the film series, but Kallenberg and his team retained creative control of the filming and production process.

"Through our travels with 'Haynesville,' no matter where we were in the world, we saw a striking commonality from community to community: the need and desire for a balanced discussion about today's energy issues," Kallenberg, director and producer of the series, says in a news release. "We realized that more often than not, people wanted to leave behind the noise and extremes to build an energy future that is environmentally sound, economically viable and ensures energy security."

The "Rational Middle" series is "the starting point for a movement welcoming open discussion where everyone is invited to the table to find solutions to the most important energy challenges," Kallenberg said

The "Haynesville" documentary released in 2009 chronicled the historic discovery of the massive Haynesville Shale natural gas field and followed its impact on three local people's lives. It also explored the potential impact of its discovery on the nation's energy future. The film was shown to audiences worldwide and is available on DVD.

Being released today at the Aspen Ideas Festival are the first four of 10 films in the "Rational Middle" series. Their topics are "What's the Rational Middle Energy Series?," "Energy 101," "A Day in the Energy Life of the Corders" and "What's at Stake?"

The remaining films will be unveiled throughout the summer. Upon release, each will be available for download or to view at the website rationalmiddle.com.

The films explore topics ranging from the current state of energy to future challenges and opportunities.

They also provide commentary from a diverse group of experts who "paint a unique, optimistic but serious portrait of the energy challenges we face, the tools we have to address them and the goals we need to consider in order to reach a place where we can be confident about the future of our energy, where it comes from and how it affects our world," according to Kallenberg.

Among the experts featured in the series is Planet Forward and former CNN journalist Frank Sesno: "It's important that we have a rational conversation about energy because the stakes are so high and because there are so many players and there is so much distrust," he says in the news release.

"We live in a polarized political environment and a fractured world. But these are truly global concerns. Whether there's enough energy to power the planet, whether it's going to be clean enough so the planet can survive, whether it's going to be produced in such a way that one nation cannot be held hostage or poisoned by another — these things matter. We have to be realistic and we have to be rational and this conversation needs to cut across disciplines and boundaries."

Other featured experts include Bill Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University; Stephen Lacey, deputy editor of Climate Progress at the Center for American Progress, Michael Levi, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; Richard Newell, a former administrator of U.S. Energy Information Administration; Jonathan Stern, senior fellow at Oxford University; among others from Shreveport's Centenary College as well as Duke University, the University of Houston, Rice University and the University of Texas.