Earth Day Special: "2040," on The CW, Takes Viewers to a Utopian Future

quotI spend a lot of my time watching documentariesquot he said during an exclusive interview with MediaVillage quotBut sometimes they can fall into a category that can be a bit earnest and reverential I don39t think necessarily that39s how they have to be There39s lots of evidence to show that we absorb more information if it39s delivered in a fun accessible or creative way I guess it opens up parts of our brain and hopefully allows that information to be stored and embeds it deeperquotGameau did just that with his last documentary That Sugar Film 2015 an expose on the quothealthyquot sugar additives used in food in which he became his own guinea pig He learned a lot about sugar during production and said he has the quotliver scarsquot to prove itamp160quotThese subjects need to be shared very broadlyquot he said noting that many documentaries only play to quota very distinct and limited crowd I got that experience with Sugar seeing how many people especially in Australia don39t really watch documentaries I thought there39s terrific power in this if you can use different devices and bring more people in Make them fun nice to watch visually exciting and arrestingquotIn 2040 those visuals were key and had to be done rightquot he continued quotIf you try to pose it as a better future and it looks hokey and cheap no one is going to connect with it So we spent a lot of time making sure the visuals were bold and accurate There was a lot of discussion with the creative team and special effects people about which side of the road a driverless car pulls over on or what kind of trees would grow on this rooftop in this particular city Some were my visions but were also based on some terrific conversations drawings and sketches It was a very fun project to doquotThroughout the film Gameau introduces viewers to a handful of innovators and changemakers in the fields of economics technology civil society agriculture education and sustainability quotI spent a year with a researcherquot he shared quotI spoke to probably 100 different academics scientists and futurists to get a handle on how bad things were and understand not only the intricacies of climate science but the systemic flaws and all the things that are causing themquotThen we tried to find some of the legitimate scalable solutions that existedquot he added quotWe had a huge whiteboard with all the solutions written out then we started to whittle them down so that they weren39t just about emissions They had a raft of other cascading benefits for our health and society from community building to income inequality I met some incredible people along the wayquotIn addition to the academics interviewed Gameau spent hours interviewing the children of today amp8211 the group that will be most affected by tomorrow and the people he hopes to inspire to work toward the regeneration of 2040 All came with great ideas quotI would say what probably gives me the most hope for the future is not just the kids in the film but the ones we39ve seen in schools and just how insightful and eloquent they are on this topicquot he explained quotTheyamp8217re really switched on to stuff There39s a pain to that in the sense that they are acutely aware of how dire things arequotThey have an innocence and an openness to new ideasquot Gameau continued quotWe need to nurture that because a lot of them want to do something to make a difference to the world But they39re not being shown the engineering projects they could be involved with or they could come up with We have to give them the food for that creativity The great win with the film is these astonishing kids send us stuff every week saying 39please add seaweed39 or are building solar microgrids Their creativity is being stimulated so let39s not just teach them how bad things are Let39s get them excited about ways that could change the world so they can get involvedquotSince making 2040 Gameau has undergone a personal environmental awakening He39s cultivating healthy soil at home to grow vegetables He now drives a secondhand electric car run by solar panels and has purchased electric gardening tools to reduce emissions They39re all changes he describes as quotsubtlequot but the biggest takeaway is being able to educate his oldest daughter who inspired the project along with the other daughter he has welcomed since completing the filmquotMost importantly with our daughters now is that we teach them to value naturequot he shared in closing quotI think that39s what every parent can do to make the biggest change Introduce them to the magic of nature explain how trees talk to each other under the ground If we can embed that into this generation they will fight for nature and want to protect it because it will have value and meaning Our biggest change is really getting our daughters excited about the living world Gosh if every parent and every teacher did that we39d have a very different world by 2040 or 2050quot2040 will be telecast on Earth Day April 22 at 800 pm on The CWClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Earth Day Special: "2040," on The CW, Takes Viewers to a Utopian Future

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Earth Day Special: "2040," on The CW, Takes Viewers to a Utopian Future

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