What have you done to combat climate change? Recycled? Bought locally? Ross Harrison made a documentary. Beyond the Brink is a personal account of his quest to discover the reality of climate change, made when Ross was only 18. The film features interviews with Sir David Attenborough, Mark Lynas, Oxford University academics and climate campaigners. Ross, now at university, raised £2,500 to produce 500 DVDs and has since set up a website where the film can be watched for free. Alan Bowman talked to him about the film and its all too real inspiration.

 

AB: So how did you first think about wanting to make a film about climate change? Was film one of your passions first and you then linked the two?

 

RH: Yeah, that was basically the situation, I was already interested in documentary making and climate change became more and more important to me, especially in 2009 when it basically became an unavoidable issue. The science and the evidence was making it more and more urgent and there were also quite a few new ways of talking about it, including climate justice which I found really engaging.

 

AB: If I take you back before making the film had you been aware of these issues for a long time or was it something that got to the point where you had to look at it in more detail?

 

RH: I suppose I’d always been interested in typical environmental issues like conservation and deforestation. This gave me a way into the climate issue. As I learnt more I came to see that it wasn’t just a typical environmental issue but a humanitarian issue. It affects justice, well-being and all sorts of other aspects of life.

 

AB: And before the film you approached the climate issue from an objective point of view – not knowing what to believe. Is this something you did intentionally? Most people tend to have a knee-jerk reaction one way or the other and just run with it. Did you find it difficult to start objectively?

 

RH: I think I was frustrated about how much there was still debate in the coverage and while a year before making the film I had been quite unsure about to what extent humans were contributing to climate change by the time I started the film I was fairly sure. In the film I tracked back and re-created the process of investigation. The debates get very lopsided in that the people suggesting humans have a minimal contribution have much more coverage than they should.

 

AB: So how an earth did you go about interviewing people like Sir David Attenborough and Mark Lynas?

 

RH: People always ask me this – a lot of letter writing basically! I wrote David Attenborough a letter and somehow he managed to read it and replied which was great. Basically perseverance I think.

 

AB: And did you try a lot more people or were people generally receptive?

 

RH: I tried people who commonly write articles disputing humans contributing to climate change and none of them wanted to be interviewed. As it is, all the interviewees are on the side that global warming is caused by humans, but there are still quite a range of viewpoints. Some of them would suggest completely different ways of tackling it.

 

AB: Where do you come down now in terms of what you think are the next steps?

 

RH: I think it has to be action by individuals and governments. On the one hand you’ve got to have individuals encouraging governments to make big changes and also individuals looking at their own actions and think about how they contribute to the bigger picture. Similarly you have to have governments making the context easier for individuals – they’ve got to make sustainable living easier. It’s a frustrating but unavoidable situation that you have to have action on both sides really.

 

AB: You seem to always end with a positive note when you talk – do you find this hard?

 

RH: It’s much harder now than it was in 2010, especially because there are a lot of despairing scientists sitting around wondering why no-one’s paid any attention to their predictions. I think there are a lot of despairing politicians just completely frustrated with the negotiating process. Then again the people who are probably most positive are those who stuck in their groups and have taken part in local action, so I think if people want to remain engaged they do have to do it at the local level. That’s the way the awareness lasts longest.

 

AB: We all know the situation whereby you say “I’m interested in climate change” and they roll their eyes a bit and think ‘oh, it’s one of them’. How do you respond?

 

RH: I think you don’t say you’re interested in climate in the first place! You come at it from a different angle, strike up a conversation about public transport or the horse meat scandal. Why don’t we know much about the food source – because food isn’t local. I’m not saying local food is always the best, but there’s always several ways to approach the question which climate change can attach itself to, as opposed to climate change being the big problem.

 

AB: Do you think - especially in terms of something like food production – that the problem is more because of people being ignorant or companies not providing the information?

 

RH: Both at once, isn’t it? Everything about the way society works makes it easy for us to lead individualistic lives and ignore the effects we’re having. We all have all sorts of excuses, we all try and avoid it. It’s not a lack of information any more, there are all sorts of ways to avoid addressing the issue. And people are definitely bored of seeing graphs!

 

AB: When you get up in the morning what do you do that’s different, what do you do to think ‘this is making a difference’?

 

RH: For me it’s thinking about film projects, how to try and communicate ideas in different ways I suppose. Documentaries are what I’m really passionate about.

 

AB: Any more in the pipeline?

 

RH: Hopefully one involving deforestation in Borneo, but this isn’t definite yet.

 

Nele Dieckmann (ND): You said now three years on if you were to make a climate change documentary now it would be different, how so?

 

RH: I think rather than making an educational film I would try to find an interesting story because there are many examples of people being affected by activities contributing to climate change or climate change itself. If you can tell a personal story that demonstrates that I think people will relate to it a lot.

 

ND: Do you think documentary is more powerful than a fictional story? Or would you potentially think about making a fictional story?

 

RH: I suppose either could be good. At the time a lot of people spoke about Avatar as having a great environmental message. Yea, I’m sure there are benefits to both. Personally I really like documentary as there is real integrity if you see someone’s lived experience and their personal story. When you watch good documentaries you feel you really connected with what’s being shown and you know it’s real – it can have a big effect.

 

Ross Harrison is one of the many speakers at this year’s Cambridge Climate and Sustainability Forum. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read here then check out the website and come along for much more conversation along similar lines on the 15thof March. Can local action make a real difference to climate change? Or is it only large scale projects that can stop the warming?

 

http://www.cambridgeclimateforum.org