What the streets of Delhi have to do with the halls of Copenhagen.
Today, we bring you an exclusive pre-premiere of the new Greenpeace InternationalGlobal Voices short film from director Philip Bloom. [Correction: As Philip kindly pointed out, his role was DP -- the spot was actually directed by Lucy Campbell-Jackson.]
Set to launch on MTV in the next few days, the beautifully shot spot promotes Greanpeace’s MyVoice initiative. Quiet and unsensationalistic, the ongoing project illustrates the powerful impact of global warming through the individual voices of the diverse people whose everyday lives are affected and threatened by this environmental apocalypse.
There’s a certain Chris Jordanesque approach to the problem — knowing that global warming is already claiming 300,000 lives each year is one thing, but seeing and hearing the visceral human element behind it, the personal story buried in the alienating stats, is quite something else.
The effort is part of the TckTckTck campaign, a global partnership for citizen-powered climate action, leading up the the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen on December 7. Visit The Climate Orb to submit your story and join the movement.
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Creativity, joblessness, and going from making a living to making a life.
UPDATE: Lemonade is now out on DVD — we highly recommend it.
Many see a job in the “creative industry” — design, advertising, production, you name it — as implicit validation of their inherent creativity. But what happens when the “industry” boots you and forces you do rely on your actual, raw, make-it-or-break it creativity?
Lemonade, a new film about the 70,000+ advertising professionals who have lost their jobs in “The Great Recession” so far, explores what happens when people who once made a living as “creatives” in advertising are forced to make a life creatively.
For us, the film strikes particularly close to home. Had we not exited the ad industry — albeit, in this case, voluntarily, Brain Pickings would’ve never happened. Nor would’ve a host of other creative projects and variousexcitingopportunities.
Lemonade, from writer Erik Proulx and director Marc Colucci, comes as a testament to the power of a creative mind over a creative job title.
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What Seinfeld has to do with 4,380 liters of drinking water.
Most sustainability messaging revolves around anxiety-inducing statistics about how we’re going to boil in a pool of our own sweat lest we change our ways. Alas, countless psych studies have shown that such fear appeals simply don’t work for behavioral change. The most compelling environmental nudges don’t have to be serious to be taken seriously.
Case in point — Convocação, a new spot for Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica approaching the issue of water conservation from the most unusual of angles, with delightful spunk and humor that make us chuckle and pay attention.
But be careful — unless you want to end up in a certain Seinfeld episode, don’t try this at the gym.
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Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it's cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week's best articles. Here's an example. Like? Sign up.
There’s a certain Chris Jordanesque approach to the problem — knowing that global warming is already claiming 300,000 lives each year is one thing, but seeing and hearing the visceral human element behind it, the personal story buried in the alienating stats, is quite something else.
Many see a job in the “creative industry” — design, advertising, production, you name it — as implicit validation of their inherent creativity. But what happens when the “industry” boots you and forces you do rely on your actual, raw, make-it-or-break it creativity? 
Most sustainability messaging revolves around anxiety-inducing statistics about how we’re going to boil in a pool of our own sweat lest we change our ways. Alas, countless psych studies have shown that such fear appeals simply don’t work for behavioral change. The most compelling environmental nudges don’t have to be serious to be taken seriously.
