Film Calls for Increased Investment in Natural Climate Change Solutions
Nature Now, a short film narrated by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and writer/climate activist George Monbiot to serve as a call to action to protect, restore and fund Natural Climate Solutions (NCS), was released in advance of at the Global Youth Climate Strike at the United Nations.
Recent research has indicated that living ecosystems like forests, mangroves, swamps and seabeds can pull enormous quantities of carbon from the air and store them safely. Estimates have found that protecting these natural systems could provide more than a third of the emissions reductions needed to keep to global heating below 1.5 degrees Celsius while also enhancing the resilience of people and nature across the world to climate change.
Despite this promise, Natural Climate Solutions receive only around 2% of the funding spent on climate change mitigation globally, and few have heard about it. This short, independent film was made to make nature a part of the climate conservation.
“Right now, we are ignoring Natural Climate Solutions. We spend 1000 times more on global fossil fuel subsidies than on natural based solutions. This is your money, it is your taxes, and your savings,” says Ms. Thunberg, the leader of the Global Youth Climate Strike movement, in the film.
Mr. Monbiot, a political journalist, author and activist who founded the Natural Climate Solutions campaign earlier this year, stated, “The beautiful thing about Natural Climate Solutions is that they simultaneously repair the climate and our damaged ecosystems. They offer real hope where hope was scarce before. But they are not a substitute for leaving fossil fuels in the ground. We need to do both to avert climate breakdown.”
The film’s production costs were covered with sponsorship from Conservation International, The Food and Land Use Coalition, and a donation from Gower Street. Musician and performance artist Rone donated use of his track, Motion, to the film.
Shyla Raghav, Conservation International’s Vice President for Climate said, “As the world comes together this week to discuss the responsibility of every government, company, and individual to take action on climate change, I’m encouraged by this film. Maximizing nature’s power to stabilize our climate is a priority for my organization and at the heart of my work every day. This film promises to bring an unprecedented level of awareness to the role nature can play in meeting our climate goals – and the fact is, we simply will not succeed in avoiding climate breakdown without nature.”
“There has never been a more important moment to endorse the message in this film – to protect, restore and fund nature-based solutions. And, as the recent Food and Land Use Coalition Growing Better report shows, with the right reform agenda, there will be enough land to do this and more: cut greenhouse gas emissions, provide healthy nutritious diets for all and spare 1.5 billion hectares of land that would otherwise be used for farming,” said Per Pharo, FOLU Global Consultation Report Editor and Lead Author.
The public is encouraged to use and share the film far and wide, along with #NatureNow, increasing its impact value. Copies of the film files are available here using password wecanstillfixthis.
Produced by Gripping Films Ltd., an independent London-based science and nature film company that specializes in telling positive stories to change the world, the film is High Impact/Low Carbon footprint. The film team minimized their carbon footprint by using public transportation to travel from London to Sweden to film Greta and electric vehicles to film George. The film was mainly composed from recycled and donated Creative-Commons licensed footage. The remaining carbon footprint was offset through NCS investments.
This press release is from Conservation International.
