Monday, 9 September 2013

What's your focus?

I attended the Environmental Film Festival last night. Who knew? And it's been around since 2010. Yay! The film I saw is The Earth Wins, and while it's a beautiful showcase of earth, what really took my breath away is the message of the film. Perhaps because one of the driving forces behind it is a pilot, Jerry Grayson, who is used to seeing earth from above and filmed the whole movie from the air. He and the producer, Sara Hine, chose to work from the premise that Earth will always win, and so can we if we choose to listen. Instead of what most of us would expect, perhaps charts and numbers or pictures of the devastation we cause in the form of oil spills, mining, waste, incidental deaths to people and animals etc., this crew chose to focus on the strength of nature, and that no matter how smart we think we are, she will always win. There is some profound footage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the bushfires that raged through Marysville and Kinglake, but also some spectacular moments of nature's glory - the whales and dolphins took my breath away. I loved that the film shifted my focus not from the agony of what we inflict upon earth, but that she will, in the end, win. Even if we pollute ourselves to death, she will recover and flourish. How's that for a shift?


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