Review of How to Live on Earth – Benedict Cumberbatch shows positive response to climate crisis | Video

There is value in writing about the environment and the climate crisis that is not limited to hand-waving, anger and despair. Video by Fredi Devas, presented by Benedict Cumberbatch in the National History Museum in London and made up of pieces from different people, they focus on the real ways that people and people can do – or start to do – to change. I don’t question the film’s sometimes heart-wrenching tone, which feels like a school lesson rather than a grown-up action, and at times the score’s volume tells us when to be hopeful and when to be happy. But there are some important points to consider here.

The film also raises the issue of cannibalism, which requires the cows involved to be destructive to the environment, but it doesn’t just make people feel guilty for loving animals. Substitutes for animal plants such as mycelium are not enough yet, we hear, but improvements are always being made. Environmental business processes are discussed – business models that are linked to the recycling of the environment, the source of raw materials. The video interviews a forest healing instructor in South Korea who uses a wooded area for healing; Indeed, it is tempting to joke about “hugging a tree” and yet who would doubt that this natural environment is truly restorative? Ecologist and broadcaster Dan O’Neill is shown visiting Singapore and instead of being horrified by the turbo-capitalist environment where people are criticized for spitting gum on the street, he praises its policy of integrating urban green spaces.

When all is said and done, it is still the case that serious downward steps need to be taken by the G7 governments, but this film shows that critical thinking still works.