2012: The Year We Wake Up To Biodiversity
2012 could be the year when people sit up and take note of biodiversity. It could be the year when politicians and businesses finally come to realise that our economies are totally dependant on 'natural captial', a resource that to date has largely gone unaccounted for. It could be the year when we see world leaders finally reach a consensus on environmental action....although this means it could also be the year someone comes out with a non-infuriating advert for a online comparison site. One thing is certain though, it will be the year of Rio +20, which means the chance of the first three points happening is slightly better than average, although personally I think the last point is should be considered by Obama et al. (seriously though, whenever those ads come on TV the only thing I compare are methods of painfully dispatching opera singers and meerkats).
Poor advertising jokes aside, at the moment we face a genuine convergence of crises affecting both marine to terrestrial ecosystems and sadly, on our current trajectory, the outlook is bleak. While it's encouraging that many have dubbed the biodiversity crisis as 'the most solvable problem that we face', there is still much that needs to be done in terms of changing the opinions of the people that can make a difference.
As a team of filmmakers and animators, there is little we can do to have a direct impact on the outcome. We cannot rewrite international policy to put a value on natural resources; nor do we have the power to stop inefficient and destructive subsidies. However, what we can can and will do in 2012 is to make it our mission to produce inspiring video content that aims to influence those politicians and businesses who can make a direct difference. In fact, I think the key to getting some change could be to force political leaders to repeatedly watch videos of a talking meerkat and a moustache-touting opera singer comparing potential outcomes of taking action on biodiversity or not, perhaps showing the videos at least twice a day over the course of months until they get to the point that they want tear their own hair out rather than watch them again. There we go, problem solved. Simples.
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