Nature doesn’t need people; people need nature. That’s the message of the provocative new ad campaign Nature is Speaking that Conservation International (CI) recently unveiled at SXSW Eco in Austin, Texas.
The new series of videos has some of the most famous American actors, including Penelope Cruz, Harrison Ford, Edward Norton, Robert Redford, Julia Roberts, Ian Somerhalder, and Kevin Spacey. The videos appear both online and on television as a series of 2-minute commercials. The campaign aims to capture public awareness of climate change and other pressing environmental issues.
The videos focus on key areas of the natural world that are most affected by humans: the ocean, the rainforest, soil, coral reefs, trees, and Mother Nature. Each video has a viewpoint, voiced by a different actor. In a departure from many similar campaigns,, the characters reveal misgivings about the way humans are treating the Earth instead of focusing on legislation, lawsuits, or worrying statistics and graphs.
The Nature is Speaking campaign, which is two years in the making, has already shot and directed seven short films, with more in the works. But Conservation International hopes it doesn’t end there. “I would love to see kids with YouTube, and university film schools, using some of this footage and coming up with their own ideas,” Seligman says. “We’re no longer in the era of just controlled media. This hopefully will get out of control.”
In addition to being found on television, Youtube, and on thousands of environmentally-related websites, all the films are available at natureisspeaking.org.
