Benedict Cumberbatch's Positive Take on Climate Crisis in 'How to Live on Earth'

The Climate Crisis Documentary with a Positive Spin

There is value in a documentary about the environment and the climate crisis that does not simply indulge in hand-wringing, anger and despair. Fredi Devas’s film, presented by Benedict Cumberbatch in London’s National History Museum and composed of segments from different contributors, focuses on real, positive measures that individuals and communities can take – or begin to take – to make a difference.

Exploring Practical Solutions

The film revives the issue about meat eating, which requires colossally destructive land clearance for the cattle involved, but it doesn’t simply try to make people feel guilty for liking meat. Plant-based substitutes for meat like mycelium are not good enough yet, we hear, but improvements are being made all the time. Bio-investment initiatives are discussed – business models which are linked to regenerating the natural world, the source of raw materials.

Grassroots Efforts and Urban Green Spaces

The film interviews a forest healing instructor in South Korea who uses woodland spaces for therapy; of course, it’s tempting to do jokes about “tree hugging” and yet who can doubt that these natural places are indeed restorative? Naturalist and broadcaster Dan O’Neill is shown visiting Singapore and instead of throwing up his hands in horror at this turbo-capitalist place where people can reputedly be severely reprimanded for spitting gum on the pavement, he praises its policy of integrating green spaces into the urban environment.

The Road Ahead

When all is said and done, it is still probably the case that big top-down measures are going to have to be taken by G7 governments, but this film shows that grassroots thinking still plays a part.

Release Information

• Release Date: 26 June (in UK cinemas)