Helping The Earth: Cry
Hand-painted campaign film informs the public of the link between domestic energy consumption and global warming.
Helping the Earth Begins at Home was a pioneering 1991 campaign backed by the Department of the Environment, funded to the tune of over £10 million to raise awareness of the impact that domestic energy use has on global warming.
One of the first campaign films of its kind, this lush, hand-painted film from artist (and later film director) Charlie Paul is poignant and persuasive, using bold colourful images to communicate its message.
Paired with nursery-rhyme narration delivered by a child actor, it emphasises the innocence and precarity of the environment in the face of a potential industrial apocalypse – before offering a glimmer of hope in the assertion that “it’s not too late yet”.
Climate Challenges: Environmental Issues on Screen
How green causes have been covered and communicated on screen, from acid rain to global warming.
Issues related to climate and the environment are never far from the forefront of public debate and, from the 1990s onwards, the topic of global warming was brought very close to home by a succession of government campaigns tasked with raising awareness about the impact our everyday energy use has on the world around us.
To encourage us to use our cars less, or turn down our thermostats, or adopt a series of energy efficiency guidelines, the powers that be corralled all the ingenuity of the creative sector. And so, be they painted, celeb-filled, funny, heart-breaking or stop-motion animated, these short films appealed to our hearts (and our bank balances) in a bid to save the planet.
This collection places these public information films in dialogue with other environmentally-minded works, ranging from activism to news reports, children's programming to industrial films, to fill out a complex and wide-ranging story that has never been more relevant.
28 videos in this collection
Are You Doing Your Bit? Campaign 1999/2000
UNEP Conference: Ozone
DEFRA Climate Challenge
Act on CO2: Standby & Loft
Act on CO2: Ice Caps
Act on CO2: Chimney
Act on CO2: Bedtime Story
Home Energy Efficiency: Stairs
Home Energy Efficiency: Rug
Home Energy Efficiency: Faint - COI/Env/I302/010
Energy Efficiency: Dancer
Ozone Alert
Go Wild! [19/12/91]
Wake Up, Freak Out, Then Get a Grip