Do The Green Thing urges the film industry to be more environmentally conscious

Do The Green Thing, an environmental charity which describes itself as a “public service for the planet that uses creativity to tackle climate change”, relaunched at the end of last week with an Oscars-Awards-timed piece on how screenwriters and the silver screen are contribution to the human races’ ongoing abuse of the planet.

In their first editorial piece for a while, the writers and creative-thinkers at Do The Green Thing attack the Oscars by hacking scenes from the films with gifs that suggest greener alternatives. A plug for an SUV that could have been an electric vehicle; the addition of recycling bin, wind-up torch or a bicycle to a scene; or a pertinent rewrite to a script. 

Do The Green Thing's co-founder Naresh Ramchandani, Creative Director of Pentagram in London, presented at Design Indaba 2016. His presentation was an ode to his eight favourite words, and beautifully demonstrated the (sometimes overlooked) power of language. One of Ramchandani’s eight favourite words is the word “change”. 

“It’s a good word because it’s what words are good at. Change.” Said Ramchandani. 

It is because of this ability of language to create transformation that Ramchandani chooses only work that he believes in – and why he co-founded Do The Green Thing.

In the article "How screenwriters are ruining the planet" on the Do The Green Thing website, the World Health Organisation is quoted as finding that films can have a strong influence on young minds and even propose that films (even animations) that feature characters should be given adult ratings. The article also reveals that adults are effected by the behaviour they see on the screen.

Imagine what might happen if this same power to motivate behaviour change was harnessed for the planet; if the industry rallied its troops to fight a less tangible, but no less real, enemy threatening our very existence. – Do The Green Thing

Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio seems to agree that climate change is being ignored. In his acceptance speech he made a plea for everyone to be more aware of global warming and take more action to prevent it.

Originally founded in 2008, Do The Green Thing has a network of over 500 creatives around the world who donate their time and talent to help tackle the issues, behaviour and assumptions and that are making modern life so damaging to the planet. You can see more of their provocative and playful campaigns on their website, where you can also sign up to the Do The Green Thing Newsletter.