Listen, #NatureIsSpeaking to You.
The joyful winter holiday season is here once again. But some are not so much on coming back, and you should be fully aware of it.
The distinctive tone of Liam Neeson gives a voice to “ice” in the latest spot by environmental group called Conservation International, to send out the warning voices of nature. The film is a part of a campaign called “#NatureIsSpeaking,” which will bring an attention to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Paris. In the film, Neeson issues an unavoidable warning about uprising global issue on icebergs that is making sea levels rise and how we are doing nothing about it. I mean, if he can’t persuade people with his powerful Zeus-voice, who would?
#NatureIsSpeaking campaign by Conservation International is the initiative to bring an awareness to the human race about the abused ecosystem, to listen to nature’s simple message: “Nature doesn’t need people. People need nature.” And its previous film spots in the campaign featured Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Kevin Spacey, and many other well known stars. Julia Roberts takes the role of an imperious Mother Nature, Kevin Spacey is sarcastic Rainforest, and Harrison Ford is the angry ocean. The celebrities narrated a series of nature-themed films for the environmental issues, expressing about how human beings are so naive on treating the earth. The films were made by TBWA/Media Arts Lab with the creative spearheaded by chairman. Pitiless as their messages from the films are, there is something brutally honest about the approach taken by Lee Clow, the director of media arts for global advertising network TBWA Worldwide, who also launched Apple’s brand with the riveting “1984” commercial. “We thought the idea of giving nature a voice … might make it clear to all of us that the planet will evolve with or without humans. It’s our choice,” Clow said in a prepared release.
But will this clever Lee Clow’s approach resonate with viewers?
“I have been here 22,500 times longer than you. I don’t really need people, But people need me,” says Roberts, imbuing her Mother Nature with a steely, take-it-or-leave-it edge. Mother Nature minces only few words, stressing out how humanity’s complete dependence on her. The generous but mighty Mother Nature once again reminds you , “I have fed species greater than you and I have starved species greater than you. … I’m prepared to evolve. Are you?” And she warns “Your actions will determine your fate, not mine.”
Kevin Spacey as a sarcastic Rainforest: “Humans are so smart, such big brains, opposable thumbs. They know how to make things, amazing things. Why would they need an old forest like me any more? Jungles? Trees?” he grotesquely asks. “Well they do breathe air, and I make air. Have they thought about that? Humans, making air. That’ll be fun to watch.”
The Ocean, voiced by Ford, is the most ominous. “Humans, I don’t owe them a thing. I give, they take. But I can always take back,” he says, in his infuriated tone. “They poison me then expect me to feed them. [But] I covered this entire planet once and I could always cover it again. That’s all I have to say.”
The films are certainly dominate your mindset. As Robert’s Mother Earth cynically asks: “I am prepared to evolve. Are you?” I think the framing of nature and personifying it, is a timely antidote to warn our frequently misgiving viewpoints on what we have on this earth. Giving the nature voices and voiced by A-list celebrities, who have easily-recognizable but almighty voice tones in their straight manner with such personalities, have made the antidote more powerful.
So now, can you IGNORE the nature’s voices? I dare you to try.
