Protect, restore, and fund: These are the three goals that can help us use nature to tackle the climate crisis. In this video from The Guardian, environmental activists Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot explain how a massive shift toward Natural Climate Solutions can help “prevent climate breakdown by restoring our life support systems. You can help.”
Note: This video primarily focuses on solutions and actions that can be pursued, however, it does mention the sixth wave of extinction and current issues in the news. As with all videos on TKSST, prescreen for younger viewers. With older kids, we recommend watching together to share additional conversations and to find local ways to take action.
Living ecosystems like forests, mangroves, swamps and seabeds can pull enormous quantities of carbon from the air and store them safely, but natural climate solutions currently receive only 2% of the funding spent on cutting emissions.
The film was directed by Gripping Films‘ Tom Mustill, who explained:
“We tried to make the film have the tiniest environmental impact possible. We took trains to Sweden to interview Greta, charged our hybrid car at George’s house, used green energy to power the edit and recycled archive footage rather than shooting new.”
Read more about Natural Climate Solutions and Averting Climate Breakdown by Restoring Ecosystems on the organization’s site. Plus, some context from The Los Angeles Times:
Young people have been mobilizing school strikes around the world since August 2018 when then-15-year-old Thunberg protested Swedish parliament over a lack of climate action. She started the viral #FridaysForFuture campaign that would later inspire [the September 20, 2019 climate] strike.
The movement cites a 2018 report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that warned world leaders that, without bold intervention, some devastating effects of climate change would hit harder — and much sooner — than previously expected.
Start here: How to Save Our Planet, the first in a video series narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Follow it with these: How to save our jungles, how to save our coastal seas, and how to save our frozen worlds.
Plus, learn more about how mangroves and other marine and coastal ecosystems capture carbon, and how beavers help bring their ecosystems into balance.
And listen to The Story of the Hummingbird, as told by celebrated Kenyan environmental activist, women’s rights advocate, and Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai.
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