This Earth the Inheritance
A Big Video from Big Oil: BP spared no expense on this environment documentary.
Bookended by images of tiny Earth floating friendless amid a vast cosmos, this video doc from oil giant BP is a lavishly crafted anachronism. Part of a series, it explores the geology and environmental issues and invokes the idea of each generation being the planet's temporary custodian. It was directed by John Armstrong at his Oscar-nominated production company Pelican Films and produced by Michael Clarke: veterans of the golden days of the 'prestige' sponsored industrial documentary, in which BP was a major player. Remarkably, here in 1984, they simply import its high pomp cinematic aesthetics wholesale from a 35mm production environment into a videotape one: elegant compositions, sweeping aerial views, portentous quasi-poetic narration, and even a full orchestral score from Wilfred Josephs - a major film and TV composer who had scored The Shadow of Progress, BP's smash hit enviro-doc from 1970, which this film echoes. Computer-animated graphics are the filmmakers' only real concession to the '80s.
Is this an informative introduction to geology and energy sources, a plaintive philosophical meditation on the relationship of humans to their home planet, or a polished piece of greenwashing bankrolled by Big Oil? It just might be all three... But the audience for the sponsored film had shrunk. Distributed on VHS, this film was likely limited mainly to small-scale employee and stakeholder screenings and school geography classes.
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
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Are You Doing Your Bit? Campaign 1999/2000
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UNEP Conference: Ozone
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DEFRA Climate Challenge
Act on CO2: Standby & Loft
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Act on CO2: Ice Caps
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Act on CO2: Chimney
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Act on CO2: Bedtime Story
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Home Energy Efficiency: Stairs
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Home Energy Efficiency: Rug
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Home Energy Efficiency: Faint - COI/Env/I302/010
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Energy Efficiency: Dancer
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Ozone Alert
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Go Wild! [19/12/91]
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Wake Up, Freak Out, Then Get a Grip
Ash Sarkar x Extinction Rebellion: Lovebomb the Cops?
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Gaia
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Scientists Link Pollution and Climate
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Emission Impossible
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Acid Rain - The Quiet Killer
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Nationwide Study on Acid Rain
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Wind Energy
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Managing Energy: Films to Help You
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Making Tracks Without Footprints
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Eye to the Future
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Green Issues
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This Earth the Inheritance
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