Joan Chen is 'Sky': New short film sends climate warning from the heavens
If you want to witness the impacts of climate change, just look up.
Focused on global warming's effects on the atmosphere (and, as a result, the planet overall), a new short film from environmental organization Conservation International gives voice to the sky.
The film, aptly titled Sky, is narrated by actress and filmmaker Joan Chen, best known for her roles in The Last Emperor and Twin Peaks.
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Like other short films in Conservation International's "Nature Is Speaking" series, Sky features a calm but formidable main character, which Chen voices with menacing precision.
The script reads:
Look up. There I am. I am the Sky. I am a warm and protective blanket wrapped around everyone on Earth. I can bring clouds, rain and the wind. I can be an ice storm. Without me, you'd fry. Every day, I am the breath you take in, yet you are making me sick. I am congested, off-balance, polluted. You see, I am more delicate than you think. It took millions of years to get it just right -- my perfect mix of gases, temperature and weather that you enjoy.
But now your cars, your factories and dust -- they have pushed me past the limit. And you wonder why my typhoons and tornadoes are more intense, more frequent? I have become unpredictable. Less rain here, a lot more rain there. Hotter summers, colder winters. I cannot even control myself anymore. Enough about me. I will show my changing self to you in your days ahead. But in the end, I'll be fine. Give me a few thousand years. I have weathered trauma before. I am not worried for myself.
Look up.
"It really tells an important story about the impact that humans are having on our natural ecosystems, but namely on our atmosphere," Shyla Raghav, climate policy director at Conservation International, tells Mashable.
"The film speaks not only to the issues of climate change, but also the more immediate implications of pollution for our health and for human well-being."
It's also well-timed. On Earth Day this Friday, more than 150 countries are expected to sign the historic Paris climate agreement -- adopted on Dec. 12 and widely seen as a turning point for climate policy, because it brings the entire globe under the same policy framework to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
"It really reflects a paradigm shift."
"It really reflects a paradigm shift," Raghav says. "The new process was a more collaborative and inclusive negotiation that put every country on equal footing, and that essentially gave each country the flexibility to put forth their commitments in a self-determined fashion."
Raghav, who was in Paris during COP21, the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, and also served on the national delegation for the low-lying nation of the the Maldives, says the focus now is to keep up the momentum, and find opportunities to engage and leverage other sectors and countries.
"Although I would say it was disappointing in some ways, most of us who were there in Paris walked away hopeful, [while] recognizing we have a long road ahead and there's a lot we need to do to ensure these commitments are fulfilled," she says.
While it's a positive sign that the Paris agreement will enter into force earlier than expected, it does pose some logistical challenges, especially in certain countries where new legislation may be required to accede the Paris deal.
Raghav thinks it could go two ways.
"Most of us who were there in Paris walked away hopeful, [while] recognizing we have a long road ahead."
"It might be opportune, because it puts more pressure on triggering some of the policies and processes that are going to govern the agreement," she says. "But a lot of us who went into the negotiations did so with the expectation that there would be five years to get all of the policies and the national procedures and enabling conditions in place."
That said, the early signing could put pressure on prioritizing some of the more imperative dimensions of the agreement, which Raghav says need to be resolved sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, advocacy efforts like the Sky film encourage people to take action.
"If we can really work together to cut deforestation ... and promote more sustainable agriculture and production, if we can help build the resilience of communities through critical ecosystems like mangroves and wetlands, these are all triple wins for us," Raghav says.
"While we look at the range of solutions that are required ... like energy efficiency and renewables, we can't lose sight of the potential that we have in nature."
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Topics Social Good
Matt Petronzio was the Social Good Editor at Mashable, where he led coverage surrounding social impact, activism, identities, and world-changing innovation. He was based at the New York City headquarters from January 2012 to April 2018, and previously worked as the assistant features editor.
