With the initiative Sing For the Climate, Belgian filmmaker Nic Balthazar invites people from all over the world to send the clear message “Take serious climate action!” to the world leaders before the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) will kick off on November 30. The idea is that millions of people are going to sing the song Do it now, film their action and upload it here.
“It is a unique opportunity for people from all over the world to let their voices be heard”, says Nic Balthazar: "More powerful than a petition, and more accessible than a demonstration."
Sing For The Climate is a Belgian initiative which was already organised in 2012 : more than 380.000 people sang Do it now‘! “We made a clip that united all the voices.” This clip was shown to the Belgian Prime Minister, the State Secretary of Environment, the Flemish and the European Ministers of Environment. All the above signed the demands of the Campaign for the Climate and therefore committed themselves to take necessary measures. Finally, the clip was shown on the last plenary meeting of UN Climate Conference in Doha. It may be a coincidence, but only that last night they reached an agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol…
“But we want more”, underlines the filmmaker.” With your support and the help of The Global Shapers, we now want to make this action go worldwide. Because the Climate Conference in Paris this year will be the real moment of truth, we really want to unite as many voices as possible. Let world leaders know, hear and feel that citizens want serious measures.”
Dear Mr. Balthazar,
I am an Indian married to a Belgian.
We are also international kite flyers and have a lot of kites like peace kite.
We also have a special kite signed by the Prime Minister of India Shree Narendra Modi.
Being an international yoga day on the 21st June based on the theme Peace, Harmony and Unity, I am doing an event at the FC Knepper Leefdaal on the 18th June being a weekend.
I would love to sing for the climate with community around me and would also like to fly the kites for unity .
I would like to invite you on this occasion if it is possible to join us for this small event.
I am attaching the brochure for the same .
Looking forward keenly to meet you on this special day.
“The time for half-measures and climate denial is over. Unless we move quickly away from fossil fuels, we’re going to destroy the air we breathe, the water we drink, the health of our children, grandchildren and future generations. If we’re going to avoid the worst of the impacts, then we’ve just got to act boldly. And we must act immediately."
Robert Redford
Actor, Director, Producer, Environmentalist
"The media has a powerful role to play in the fight against climate change. Through films, television, and all media outlets, we must continue to deliver the message that solutions are out there and are happening now. We have to make it attractive for people to take action. Movies like Avatar, The Day After Tomorrow, and documentaries like Years of Living Dangerously, which I was proud to be a part of, have been very popular, reaching and inspiring millions of people. And I believe films in particular can really inspire and make people want to take action. It’s great to see some of my film-industry friends working with climate related organizations to push forward those messages."
„It‘s high time to reorganize film production in Germany in a ‚greener‘ and more sustainable way. So far, I am flabbergasted by how much our industry works in environmentally harmful ways.To this very day, it starts with until today one-sided print-outs of scripts, and then it continues with plastic bottles in production offices and lots of plastic waste with every catered meal, and it doesn‘t stop with the limousines that pull up to a red carpet.
For many years, people have sneered at me when I brought my own cup or I declined to eat cheap meat served on paper or plastic plates with plastic knives and forks. It would be great if the Green Shooting Card could change all that.“
Director (Ben X, Time of My Life)
„It’s absolutely great that filmmakers all over the world are trying to clean up their act, and are trying to film as sustainable as we possibly can. Still, I think we shouldn’t underestimate the incredible power of the moving image to also change the hearts and minds of people.
So, apart from trying to be more environmentally aware in our business, I think the big gain lies in how we might make everyone more environmentally aware. Yes, cinema can change the world.
I think filmmakers should start using the powerful weapon in our hands that is the camera.
Let’s not only try to do ‘less bad’. Let’s try to do right, and help drive the change that we all know needs to arrive.“
“We are living in a time in which we can’t afford to behave irresponsibly towards nature. The more important is it that film productions try to work as environmentally friendly as possible. A film team produces every day tons of garbage. I try to avoid using plastic cups on set, I bring my own cup, use ecofriendly cosmetics and avoid needless single rides.”
Photo ® Maddalena Arosio
Darren Aronofsky, Director, Noah / Jury President, 65th Berlin International Film Festival
“When we did Noah we knew we were making a film about the first steward of the earth, so we wanted to be good stewards ourselves. There’s so much waste on film sets. Because of groups like Earth Angel, we were able to change that a little bit.”
"As a TV and film producer I try to incorporate environmental storylines into my projects as much as possible. But it’s just as important, if not more, to ‚go green‘ behind the scenes! Therefore, I help run the Producers Guild of America’s Green Initiative.
We provide resources such as a Best Practices and a Carbon Calculator to help producers green their productions. We also partnered with all the major studios to create www.greenproductionguide.com which is a free green vendor database with over 2,000 vendors offering sustainable production solutions worldwide!"
‚Green screens excepted, we will do everything in our power to be as innovative as we can in order to make our production as green as possible.‘
Photo: (c) herbXfilm Dieter Mayr
Lars Jessen
Director (Fraktus, Dorfpunks, Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb)
‘It is somewhat embarrassing that green filming is only now becoming an issue in our industry because there have long since been many possibilities to shoot more efficiently.
Technical innovations such as energy efficient lighting are as much a part of this as the awareness of every crew member.’
I do work with a company in the States called Sungevity that leases solar panels to homes. They figured out how to move forward environmentally and how to make it economically successful.
So that’s my small but steadfast global contribution. I think everybody doing a little bit is all that’s made any difference, ever.‘
Producer, Director and Visual Effects Supervisor (2001: A Space Odysee, Blade Runner)
"Trumbull Studios in Massachusetts is dedicated to being green as much as possible, including the use of LED lighting, solar power, and solar laptops. This is not just because our location has limited amperage and no three-phase, we believe we have a responsibility to our community and our planet to be a clean industry.
We are planning for digital photography in 3D 4K at 120 frames per second from remote and inaccessible locations that will not have available power. Solar is the way to go."
Dieter Kosslick, Director Berlin International Film Festival
„The Berlinale is already actively addressing the sustainability subject since years. We appreciate it very much that a growing number of filmmakers, among them this year‘s jury presiden Darren Aranofsky, is following green guidelines on set.“
Benoit Delhomme
Director of Photography (A Most Wanted Man)
‘I never have been told precisely what the rules are for shooting a green movie, but we are trying to do it. This is something new for me. Sometimes people overlight scenes at night. I don’t. If I can see with my own eyes, then it is enough for the film. In that sense I am a green DoP.’
Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons who stars in the Berlinale Competition entry The Night Train To Lisbon is a fan of source segregated recycling. „Especially in Germany you have done a lot for that. You are examplary in the matter of waste separation.“
The Hollywood actor travelled around the world to promote the environmntal documentary feature film Trashed by Candida Brady which deals with the global garbage problem: „We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it“, says Brady. „With Jeremy Irons as our guide, we discover what happens to the billion or so tons of waste that goes unaccounted for each year.“
Since the world premiere at the International Cannes Film Festival in 2012 Trashed picked up various nominations and awards at international festivals.
Dear Mr. Balthazar,
I am an Indian married to a Belgian.
We are also international kite flyers and have a lot of kites like peace kite.
We also have a special kite signed by the Prime Minister of India Shree Narendra Modi.
Being an international yoga day on the 21st June based on the theme Peace, Harmony and Unity, I am doing an event at the FC Knepper Leefdaal on the 18th June being a weekend.
I would love to sing for the climate with community around me and would also like to fly the kites for unity .
I would like to invite you on this occasion if it is possible to join us for this small event.
I am attaching the brochure for the same .
Looking forward keenly to meet you on this special day.
Regards
Vinita