Environmental Education Media Project

New documentary airing globally on BBC World to premiere at COP15

[WASHINGTON, DC] Forty-five organizations in 19 nations are hosting facilitated discussions and screenings of a new film that is airing globally on BBC World, and will be screened at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.  “Hope in a Changing Climate” will premiere at COP15 on the evening of December 17 at the Copenhagen Museum of Natural History, beginning at 18:15.  Filmed on location in China, Ethiopia and Rwanda, the documentary tells the story of how large-scale ecosystem restoration can stabilize our changing climate, reduce poverty and make sustainable agriculture a reality.

Broadcast by BBC World on November 27 2009, five more global transmissions are planned for January 1, 2010.  In addition to the premiere at the Natural History Museum (December 17, 18:15, Øster Voldgade 5-7), pre-screenings are also scheduled at the Danish Film Institute (December 16, morning session), The Copenhagen International School (December 7, 16:00) and at the University of Copenhagen’s Agriculture and Rural Development Day (December 12). 

Developed by John D. Liu, founder of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and assistant research professor at the Mason Center for Climate & Society, “Hope in a Changing Climate” was directed by the BBC’s Jeremy Bristow, producer of the acclaimed “The Truth About Climate Change” series with David Attenborough.

Commenting on the growing global interest in the film, Jonathan J. Halperin, Executive Director of EEMP and assistant research professor at George Mason University, observed that “while political leaders are trying to manage expectations, people all over the world are becoming engaged and looking for practical alternatives to actually solve the pressing problems they experience every day.”

Funding for the project has been provided by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-The Netherlands, Open University, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and The World Bank.

In a special collaboration with Yann Arthus-Bertrand, people attending the COP15 premiere will also have the opportunity to view the personal stories he has recorded, documenting how climate change is already deeply effecting people’s lives.

Halperin continued, noting that “end-of-the-pipe prescriptions are not going to be enough. We need to mobilize the resources of the natural world to help us repair the damage we done.”

John D. Liu, Jonathan J. Halperin, and Paul Schopf, associate dean for research in the College of Science and director of the Center for Climate and Society at George Mason University, along with a team of colleagues from the Mason Center for Climate and Society will be in Copenhagen as credentialed nongovernmental observers during the Summit.