Lee Pace is 'Mountain': Short film sends environmental warning from highest peaks

If you thought mountains were already formidable, wait until one talks to you -- and gives you a stern warning about the state of our planet.

A new short film from environmental organization Conservation International personifies the massive (and massively important) landform, voiced by Golden Globe Award nominee Lee Pace of Guardians of the Galaxy and Halt and Catch Fire fame. 

As the film's title character, Pace sounds calm and wise, but also stony and foreboding about humanity's recklessness and negative impact on the world's ecosystems.

The script reads:

I am the Mountain. I am nature's oldest temple. My glaciers and streams provide the water you drink. My forests, your wood, your clean air. From up here, I see how you've come to treat this world. You used to recharge your body and soul in the calm of my forests. You once climbed my peaks, seeking enlightenment. Now you take what you want, and contemplate only your own gain. Open your eyes while there's still time. Because there's one more thing I see clearly: the cliff you’re on — and the rocks below.

"What I had in my mind was kind of a friendly suggestion -- a very wise man saying, 'Watch your step here,'" Pace tells Mashable. "I think it's a loving message, but I think it's a warning."

Mountain is the latest film in Conservation International's "Nature Is Speaking" series, voiced by A-list celebrities to stress nature's crucial role in our lives. Last November, Liam Neeson lent his voice as Ice, and in December, Reese Witherspoon starred in Home.

Via Giphy

"One of the things I love about the message of 'Nature Is Speaking' is this idea that people need nature," Pace says. "Mountains -- they will be there after we're gone, and they’ve been there before we evolved into what we are now."

"I think it's a loving message, but I think it's a warning."

He got involved in Mountain because of his passion for conservation -- which began, he says, like anyone else: by spending time in nature, and the good memories that resulted.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

But he really saw conservation efforts at work, on the local level, while on a recent trip to Kenya with Conservation International. One of the areas they visited was the verdant Chyulu Hills mountain range, right below Mount Kilimanjaro -- which, in addition to being the highest peak in Africa, has gained recent attention for its shrinking northern glaciers.

"It was not only a stunning place, but the people working there [were] solving conservation issues by their involvement in the communities," Pace says.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

While in northern Kenya, Pace also saw an incredible elephant reserve near the Mathews Mountains, and was impressed by the way the local Samburu tribe tackled conservation.

"These guys have their ears to the ground and know everything that happens in the Bush. They’re aware of when an elephant is poached, and there’s just an intelligence network in place that can monitor it," he says.

"I learned so much about the hard work people are doing in conservation."

Because of their involvement, the Samburu have seen success in protecting populations of elephants.

"It was a really enjoyable trip, but I learned so much about the hard work people are doing in conservation," Pace says.

Conservation International has worked extensively in mountain areas, including protection of the Central Cardamom Protected Forest within the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia, the Alto Mayo Protected Forest in the eastern Andes of Peru, and the Mountains of Southwest China.

Learn more about this film series, and how you can help, at natureisspeaking.org -- and check out behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Mountain below.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.