Inspired by a passage from the book ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’ by David Wallace-Wells in which he describes our current state as ‘The Climate Kaleidoscope’.
“This is climate’s kaleidoscope: we can be mesmerised by the threat directly in front of us without ever perceiving it clearly.”
PART ONE
CLIENT : Lighthaus / Personal
PROJECT : Displacement Pt 1 - Ice
ROLE : Art Direction / Motion Design / 3D Modelling / Scripting / Sound Design
GLOBAL WARMING IS THE GREATEST THREAT FACING HUMANITY.
Without geopolitical consensus and global collaboration, our ambitious target to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and keep the climate below 2°C (above pre-industrial levels) will fail. Erratic weather systems and loss of natural habitat will destabilise our planet and the effects will be felt for generations.
This film is about global warming and is the first of a trilogy of films tackling issue of climate change. I have used melting ice sheets and glaciers as a metaphor for global warming as their rapid decline has gone unnoticed by many, until recently. We talk of glacial time frames which go by undetected by our own timescale, but now we are witnessing this indomitable force unravel before our eyes.
Industrialisation and the reliance on fossil fuels to power our civilisations has caused the planets climate systems to react in a way that life as we know it may not be able to survive. Our weather has become more powerful and erratic, causing havoc across the globe and threatening millions to become displaced. As the ice sheets retreat, vast amounts of ice, trapped for millennia in the polar glaciers will melt, raising sea levels and disrupting the ocean currents which keep our climate balanced. Political inaction in the face of scientific evidence has lead us to where we are today.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT, BUT WE CAN STILL HELP SHAPE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.
PART TWO
PROJECT : Displacement Pt 2 - Forests
ROLE : Art Direction / 2D-3D Design / Scripting / Sound Design
We can no longer hide behind the illusion that the earth has endless resources that are ours to take. Yet deforestation continues unabated, despite the protests of millions of people across the globe.
The protection and restoration of our natural world must be at the forefront of every action we take and are taken on our behalf by our elected governments.
Part two of my Displacement trilogy focuses on deforestation and the impact that losing our great forests will have on the planet. Every year an area the size of Italy is cut down or burnt to make way for cattle farming, soy and palm oil plantations, logging, urbanisation and the extraction of rare metals. The price we will pay for mass human consumption is biodiversity loss (over a million species of flora and fauna face extinction), reduced sequestration of carbon dioxide and the acceleration of global warming.
The earth really is under attack.
PART THREE
PROJECT : Displacement Pt 3 - Oceans
ROLE : Art Direction / 3D-2D Design / Editor / Scripting / Sound Design
OUR BLUE PLANET IS EXHAUSTED, FRAGILE AND DRAINED.
No longer able to conceal the true cost of humanity's prosperity. Global sea temperatures are rising. Expanding, encroaching and displacing our world. The cradles of the oceans unable to adapt in time.
The final film of the trilogy focuses on the state of the oceans and how human activity has impacted them. Centuries of exploitation have left our oceans on the brink of irreversible damage. Absorbing the majority global heat and a quarter of carbon emissions, the oceans are heating up and becoming more acidic. The ecosystems the planet needs to balance itself are under enormous stress and could collapse in our lifetime. Rising sea levels will displace millions and overfishing will leave billions of people without a main source of protein.
Pollution from agriculture, industry and transport finds its way into the oceans through our rivers causing algae blooms which deoxygenate the water, creating dead zones where no marine life can survive. Plastic washes out to sea or is discarded by a largely unregulated fishing industry. It slowly breaks down but never truly disappears.
We search the heavens for signs of water, yet we treat our own supply with distain, unwilling to see its value, yet knowing its value is the key to all life.
