Whoopi Goldberg recently teamed up with environmental activism group Extinction Rebellion to release a new short film about the climate crisis.
Called “The Gigantic Change,” the 3-minute-long animated short sees a grandmother, voiced by Goldberg, and her granddaughter, voiced by Livia Nelson, come together in 2050 to read a story about how people fought against the climate crisis.
Produced by Passion Pictures and co-directed by George Lewin and Nicola Jane Francis, the short film was released earlier this month to mark World Environment Day.
According to Lewin, they cast Goldberg because of her “iconic voice.”
He told Variety that she could “bring a perfect sense of gravitas to the performance.”
He added: “Plus she is outspoken on environmental issues … So we sent the script to her agent. She came back quickly saying ‘I’m in.’ We couldn’t believe it.”
‘This Doesn’t Have to be Our Future’
The clip ends with the message: “On our current path, by 2050, up to one billion people will be displaced and almost half of all species on Earth will be extinct. This doesn’t have to be our future. You can make a difference by taking action today.”
It then asks viewers to visit The Gigantic Change website. The website advises people on how to take collective action and put pressure on governments. It also asks people to make individual changes. It suggests taking a train instead of a plane, walking or cycling instead of taking a car if able, and switching to a plant-based diet.
The meat industry is detrimental to the environment. According to The Gigantic Change, the global food system accounts for 37 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Teen environmentalist Greta Thunberg also recently released a new climate-focused ad with Fridays For Future. The clip, named after her “Our House Is on Fire” speech, sees a family going about their normal morning routine. They don’t seem to realize their house is going up in flames.
In the speech, given in 2019 at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Thunberg said: “We all have a choice. We can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations. Or we can continue with our business as usual and fail.”
