Heat! Camera! Action!
The planet’s losing.
We’re in a hole. Climate, nature and social inequality crises. Story with a swerve gets us out. It’s the shape of all our lives. Up-down, down-up. And this shape of slantwise story, it creates hope and agency.
In this podcast, we hear from culture leaders and wanderers, the crossers of boundaries, the story-tellers. They share their ideas on how we get out of holes. Good story is not just a hiding place. It’s a finding place.
The podcast vibe is the warm-dark daguerreotype photograph, invented at the start of the industrialised era, before human-induced carbon pollution of the atmosphere.
My guests are writers and poets, artists and scientists, environmental and business leaders, farmers and landowners, local and national activists, festival directors, therapists, religious leaders. All are storytellers too.
The music clips at the start and end of episodes were recorded at public dances in Punakha and Thimphu (Bhutan).
My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027. It is called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformative Stories for Climate and Nature Recovery."
Heat! Camera! Action!
18 Aria Mckenna on the greening of Hollywood and building bridges with story
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In this online chat, award winning actress, director, producer and writer Aria Mckenna talks from her north Florida home on building bridges between climate scientists, policy makers and the media. She talks of efforts to get positive climate and nature narratives inside TV and films, and how to go beyond the tendency to think drama can only be created around apocalypses. “Climate disinformation,” she says, “is so successful, we’re at a breaking point.” The annual Climate Summit in Hollywood brings together a wide variety of writers, actors, producers, all personally concerned about the climate crisis. This is already moving the sense of what is possible.
She says, “I see a lot of movement in Hollywood.” Using the power of storytelling is a way to “put the medicine in the candy” – to wrap the bad inside a compelling story that leads to the good. She says, use words like pollution instead of carbon emissions. Pollution is clear to everyone as a bad; carbon emissions are an abstract term that needs explanation.
Aria founded Global Cooling Productions (media for planet earth), Saving Planet Us, and helped found the Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC).
Aria is proud of her daughter and her generation. Her hero is Erin Brokovich, subject and title of a popular film, and mapper of environmental illnesses across the US. Aria recommends the book “Drawdown” by Paul Hawken – who says we need to heal not steal the Earth. Aria says, “advocate for political change, so that we can achieve systemic change.”
See HPAC at https://healthyplanetaction.org/
The Hollywood Climate Summit: https://www.hollywoodclimatesummit.com/
My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."
Director, producer. Aria, you're sitting in Florida at the moment, I think. And so tell us about where you are. Ground zero for the sea level rise, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. Well, I mean, I was I was born in Miami, which is considered ground zero for sea level rise in the United States. Um, but right now I am in St. Augustine, Florida, which is northern Florida, but I am still right on the coast. So uh, and our town does have a tendency to flood when um, you know, when weather happens uh from time to time. So so yeah, I get to I get to be in the thick of it in certain times of the year and uh brace myself when the season comes.
SPEAKER_00Indeed, indeed. So um you you've you've done a lot of work around kind of climate activism, if I can put it that way. I mean, there's there's climate-related work in the the the work that you do, the writing that you did for Revolution Earth, for example, um, about a post-apocalyptic society. Perhaps we would come to that, but there's saving planet us and media for planet earth and so forth.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I I want to um interject for a second. It's the the series is definitely not post-apocalyptic. Um, I'm really trying to steer away from that. And how do we find a path forward that where we aren't expecting a post-apocalyptic world? Um, so really I'd say it's more in the genre of uh protopian in terms of where the future leads, although we do deal with the present day in the series. And uh the present day is going to have a certain amount of apocalyptic type events that we have to deal with to get through them and and find a new way forward, to change our systems that are late leading us in that direction, and uh to be able to show what kind of new systems would need to be embraced in order to find a better path forward. That's basically what the series is about.
SPEAKER_00So that's a good that's a very nice way of putting it. And I get and I guess it you're kind of coming to something that that we've talked about before, which is to what extent one um uh should or allow yourself to kind of revert to to the bad news, how bad things are in order to kind of create action, or whether it's a stronger approach to talk about the positives that we're trying to create, as it were, despite the bad thing, you know, in other words, to create a sort of uh a set of narratives and uh creative outputs of all sorts that um that inspire and get people thinking about what they want from the world rather than what they want to run away from. I mean, is that is that does that summarize it a little bit?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I I think it's excellent that you're bringing that up because I think it's a balancing act trying to uh kind of toggle both narratives. And I think it's really crucial, you know. I I think, you know, it's a political, um, you know, from a political context, sometimes they use the idea of like a carrot and a stick, you know, bad, this is good. So kind of like trying to lead you in the right direction by being able to see how good things could be. But I think it's really unfortunate that I feel like at this point in time we have, I think there's an understanding that unfortunately there's a certain amount of really uh kind of terrible realities that do need to be confronted in order for us to understand this is real, you know. Um, there have been so many others who I think have done a really good job of embracing a different reality of saying, no, no, no, no, no, it's completely bunk, it's fake. And that's really comforting to some people because the overwhelming reality is really hard to take in, especially if you're like a young family and you've got a lot on your plate and you're struggling financially. The last thing you want to add to your plate is, oh my God, you know, everything we're doing is wrong and we've got to find a way to do it differently, and government isn't supporting that, and we're going to hell in a handbasket. Um, so I think that's why climate disinformation has been so successful. And I really feel like we're at a breaking point in terms of understanding how important the narrative is, and that in order for all the technologies and the wonderful solutions that we do have that can move us into such a better world, in order for those to gain traction, we really need to get the story right so that people understand what's at stake and understand that things can be better.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yes, exactly. Very, very nicely put. Um, uh you you have uh one of your um initiatives, operations is is climate cooling productions.
SPEAKER_01Um I call it global cooling productions, yeah. Global cooling that I'm operating under for exactly, apologies.
SPEAKER_00Um and uh tell us a little bit about how you then are thinking because I think you're absolutely right uh that in mapping new paths, new kind of futures in this direction rather than that direction, um, uh people have got to believe that the those possibilities are real, that there really are technologies, practices, policies, other countries and other places doing stuff, other communities interested, and you know, all sorts of that kind of thing in order for people to feel, oh, it's gonna be a bit easier than I thought, that anxiety-inducing slump of shoulders bit that you just very quickly leads to no action and change, just the hope that you know it won't actually happen uh badly. Um, tell us a little bit about uh global cooling productions then and how you're trying to kind of help in that process.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Um well, I've done a bunch of uh kind of shorter films and stuff like that in the past with global cooling productions, some things focused on water, some local initiatives, as well as um I had met someone who was uh living on an island uh in the Gulf of Mexico during the BP oil spill. And so uh I brought her in for an interview, interviewed her entire family, did some some other work, some short content to really um highlight what's at stake. And it's interesting because I feel like, you know, right now I'm working with a lot of climate scientists, as you know. And a lot of times we get kind of myopic when it comes to just focusing on climate, because that's their area of expertise. But really, so many things that are connected to climate also affect our health, our well-being, our children's ability to live happy, healthy lives into the future, whether or not we have clean water, whether we have enough food to eat. And so it's kind of that wider narrative that I really want to pull into my content. And so that's definitely what I'm doing with, as you know, I'm I'm in development with a TV series. I've been writing it kind of behind the scenes for some time. And uh now I'm just beginning to get it out to some people uh who uh I hope can help move it to the next level so that that can be a reality. Um because I really do think what we have to do is get this into the mainstream narrative. It needs to be an understanding that is inherent in so many people so that they can help drive the change, so that they can vote for the politicians that do really care about the bottom line of solving this problem, and who won't be so corrupted by money in politics that uh that there are no policies to support the direction that we need to be heading. So that's kind of the mission behind the series. And uh it's it's an exciting process and it's a really I really love um thinking about the culture that we live in right now, and what aspects of that culture need to be contended with, you know, what aspects of that culture are kind of holding us back, and how can we recognize find more unity, find more understanding that we all want the same things, we all want to be healthy, we want to be able to afford where we live, we want to be able to afford having shelter, you know, clean food, clean water, our children to grow up in a world where they will be able to be taken care of. And if we can really recognize that these are things we all want and start there, then we can figure out how to get there. So those are kind of my big picture mission items for the series and for a lot of the work that I'm that I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00That's lovely because it kind of what what you're saying there is let's focus on the things that are obviously important to everybody, um, irrespective of their um particular interests or even kind of political leanings, this way or that way. You could say, well, we're all interested in these things, aren't we? Health, the future for your children, you know, a happy life and things of that nature. And if if we can kind of find a way of telling those stories and then saying, and this is how we get there, um, brackets, meanwhile, we'll give up some of this stuff that's causing harm because actually we don't need that anymore because we've got better options technically, technologically, or whatever, then I think we have a sort of we have we've mapped out some different paths, perhaps, and maybe that's a a good way of I was gonna say smuggling it in, but I don't quite mean it that way. But it's it's it's using the the power of story and writing and performance to get to people's interests and emotions and get them to buy into a different kind of means of getting to that future. Is that is that right?
SPEAKER_01It's like it's like putting the medicine in the candy, is kind of the way uh some people like to describe it. So, you know, it's important to have conflict, of course, when you when it comes to narratives and stories, you know, you need to have that, like someone's got a goal, there's something in their way of their goal and all of that stuff that keeps us tuning in, keeps us on the edge of our seat, wanting to watch. And I think there's so much, God, there's so much. Um, how do I put it? I I hate to use the word excitement, but that is true. With climate story, there are a lot of exciting, dramatic stories within the context of climate health, where we're heading, what we're dealing with, the corruption in politics, and and unwhat unraveling that, figuring out what all that's about, and and having to um you know confront them head on. You know, there's so many pieces of the puzzle that have got us where we're at. And so there's so much material to pull in as the story unravels over multiple seasons, is the way that I have projected the story arc. And to me, that's what we need. We need something that has multiple seasons so that people are engaged over a long period of time. That gives you a lot of time to learn things, to grow, to evolve with the characters.
SPEAKER_00That's nice. Yeah. So people who are watching, then uh uh we should be imagining, um, as you've just described, the the the thing that we're the thing that we're watching, the series, of course, it's changing because it's it's in front of us, you know. Soap opera does that. Things kind of change over time, people's uh conflicts and challenges change, but we're changing as well as we engage with it. And and the more we engage and the more we feel a part of what's happening, the more we ourselves are changing. So, in other words, the the creative content is has a kind of activist role in of itself. I mean, I suppose it all does if it's good, doesn't it? I mean, a good film changes you, doesn't it? I mean, it's something stays with you forever. So why not?
SPEAKER_01I mean, Aaron Brockovich was one of my all-time favorite films, and I remember it like it changed me. You know, an inconvenient truth also changed me. Um, but I remember a sense of frustration too, walking out of the theater and feeling like, well, what do I do with this? What what do I what do I do? I don't know what to do. I guess eventually I ended up creating my own TV series. That's one of the things I did. But, you know, and getting trained by Al Gore, doing all of this climate work. So it did help engage me, but it took a while before I found my path to get in when it comes to how do I become a part of this? How do I help? And uh, so that's something I also want the series and a lot of the content that I'm I'm working on. I'm also looking forward to launching a podcast. I've been planting seeds for that while working on the series. And so I want all of that to be able to connect with helping people find their path, their place in this, because we've all got different skill sets, we've all got different things that light us up. And so I think if we had more people who were energized and figured out how they could be a part of it, we would have an entirely different world and we would be moving towards that project would be in the future. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh speaking as a then as as an actress in in film and TV business, if you're looking at the at the the big center, um, let's take Hollywood as a kind of big center of of production of film. Of course, they happen in many more places, but as something in as a thing in people's minds, isn't it, already? Do you do you see that that move towards the the way you've described the internalization of these challenges within story, the the medicine within the candy bar, the we would say the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. That was from Mary Poppins in the 60s. It's a kind of you know a meme in people's minds. They get it, so they're kind of a oh yeah, that's the medicine with a spoonful of sugar with it. Um uh the the wrapper is the the story, but inside you're getting inside um it with elements of this kind of challenge of moving from now to a different future, and that being a good future rather than a uh a bad one. Now there are lots of bumps in the road on the way and lots of holes that we're gonna fall in if we aren't already in a deep hole. Um, but how if you look at something like, you know, if you can generalize about Hollywood as a whole, do you see movement there? There would be people like you, lots of people like you, who are interested and concerned.
SPEAKER_01I've seen a lot of movement. Um, it's it's kind of interesting. There's uh a summit that I go to uh pretty much every year. I've been there for quite some time called the Hollywood Climate Summit. And so that gathers a lot of creatives and producers, directors, writers, as well as climate people, to be able to talk about these kinds of narratives and and how we really do reflect the culture more toward this sort of pro-topian uh future. So it's been, I mean, honestly, I had this idea way before I learned about the Hollywood Climate Summit. And I initially co-created it with Jeff Abigail, who was a writer-producer on Cheers, Roseanne, two and a half men. So he had some substantial credits behind him, and and he really did help create a structure that I think is going to be really uh wonderful for the series as it moves forward. Um, but it's been really wonderful for me to see other people thinking the way I've been thinking for some time. And it just generates more support from the industry and more of a sense of like, oh wow, this is actually the niche that I've really been um you know wanting to lean into for some time. But because I hadn't seen that for me for a while, I really ended up more in the activist and the um, you know, the climate science space and uh you know hosting panels and doing a lot of other things. And it's really wonderful to go, you know what, this this is where I need to really dig in is in this storytelling space because this is the piece that I think the scientists need, the activists need, all of those other people out there doing the amazing work, they are gonna be energized so much more when this is part of the popular culture and they've got more people to join them and more people understanding and supporting their missions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, excellent. Um, and so tell us a little, give us a little lift the veil a little bit on the Hollywood Climate Summit. So are people sharing kind of creative ideas or are they also talking and are they also talking about the kind of form of language that we might use interpersonally between different groups? Um, by definition, I guess everybody there at the summit is going to be quite positive about the need to change things, but they might be looking outwards, you might be looking outwards and thinking, well, how do we engage with that group over there? And how do we think about you know the people in the next neighborhood and and the challenges that they face on a daily basis? What kinds of language can we use? And what would they, what film would they watch? What TV series would they watch in order to to kind of to to to come into the to the process a bit? Is that uh what what sorts of things are people talking about? Those creative opportunities, I suppose.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's definitely part of it, you know, what kind of language do we use to engage people, what kind of stories, but also I it's interesting because I feel like you know, I've been a part of that climate space for so long. So I just I knew I wanted to write about this issue. And so I was like, in order to know how to write about it, I need to enter the movement. I need to, you know, I got trained by Al Gore, I started, you know, water wash, all kinds of just organizations I was volunteering for some time before I met Peter Fikowski, who brought me into uh the the space with the scientists. Um but that being said, a lot of the Hollywood climate stuff is kind of edgy, it's a combination of educating creatives about the climate issues, helping them teaching them about some of the stories that already exist out there. You know, what it what is it like for people in Cancer Alley? You know, this is this is a story that we can focus on because this is something that helps people understand what's at stake. And also certain things like um instead of talking about carbon emissions, we talk about pollution, that helps people understand oh, that's something we we don't like, we don't want the pollution. And of course, that can be really difficult when you're really working in that very scientific space. People can be like, well, oh carbon's a building block of life, which it is. But when we have excess carbon, it's also creating circumstances that are. Not really hospitable to life, especially you know, particular ecosystems and droughts and crops and all kinds of things. Um, so it's those fine points that get really difficult when you're really in the weeds, but yet you've gotta have a way to communicate to people so that they understand without getting in the weeds. And that can be a complicated line to walk. Um, so that's where I think stories can come in and be really, really helpful because that allows you to have those deeper conversations where you can understand the science better while still understanding the heart of it is about well, you know, we've been geo-engineering the planet for for some time. We've been changing the climate because of our activities. How do we fix that? And uh, as you're probably aware, also helped to co-found uh Healthy Planet Action Coalition. And a lot of that was just about being in the right place at the right time and going, my goodness, this is really something that we need right now because it's been very difficult for even the climate community to keep up with how the science has actually changed. As we've had more greenhouse gas pollution, um the planet has been warming up more and more, which basically helps open up more feedback loops. So as it gets hotter, we've got more forest fires, and that has more emissions involved with those forest fires while also reducing the capacity for those trees to draw down the carbon that they normally would be drawing down. So, and as the planet heats up, we're also there's melting permafrost that's releasing methane gas. And these things are very hard. It it's so difficult dealing with Earth systems because sometimes you don't know exactly what's gonna happen and where it's gonna happen. But you've got to be able to factor in those changes where we're actually warming at an exponential level right now, as opposed to a linear level. So the Healthy Planet Action Coalition was brought together to help educate about how at this point in time, even just reducing emissions is not going to solve the climate crisis at our current level. We're also going to need to draw down more emissions because right now I believe we've talked 430 parts per million of you know carbon dioxide. And then there's a whole nother number when it comes to carbon dioxide equivalent, which is the other greenhouse gases and those and those emissions. So we need a new policy to actually draw down what those levels are, because James Hansen had had uh you know advocated for 350 parts per million. We should not go over 350 parts per million.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was 1990. Yeah, and way, way over. Oh, it's 350, yeah. 350 was 1990. Yeah, exactly. Terrible thought, isn't it? I mean, we're 80 above already. Yes.
SPEAKER_01So we're beyond just reducing emissions, and we can't tell ourselves we're going to be able to solve this just by doing that. We need to do that, but we also have to draw down and we need to reflect more sunlight so that we can protect areas that need to be protected so we can buy ourselves some time to draw down that big number. So that's really what HPAC is is all about. And uh they're just a group of brilliant scientists who are working really hard on changing the global uh standards so that we can have a plan in place that will help create a safe climate for our next generations.
SPEAKER_00Well, a year ago we ran a story masterclass for Healthy Planet Action Commission that you were involved in helping to design, and that I was delivering from here um in the middle of the night to make sure we got people from around the world.
SPEAKER_02But dedicated.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, dedicated. Well, yes, a little bit. Um they were as well coming on. Uh, but it but it it um it really brought, I thought, into kind of sharp focus um the commitment, the understanding, but also that there's quite still a kind of gap between the thing that makes uh us stroke people cross is how bad things are, but that that talking about that too much can end up being counterproductive. And and I don't know where the line is, it it may just vary day by day or audience by audience. Um uh and when you know a lot about something and and you really understand the the complexity of the mechanisms and the possibilities as to how it could go very wrong with this nonlinear uh uh processes that you were talking about, S curves of change and tipping points, um, you feel like you should even talk more or loudly about it, uh, or even shout. Um but getting the public on side quite often needs something more subtle and different to that. And I think that still is a still is a challenge. There's still a bit of a gap there as to how you turn that into something that makes people feel as though they're having an arm put around them. But I suspect that's that's back to story again. I suspect that's how we do it.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's interesting because we've got multiple audiences too, you know, that but you know, the people who are heavy into science might really enjoy conversations that are just about numbers and you know, rates and all kinds, you know, molecules, and and that excites them, but it's gonna completely just blank out so many other people. So I am more focused on reaching that mainstream audience through storytelling, uh, but we also have people in HPAC who are focused on policies and policy makers and trying to explain to them the science. And while you'd want to think they'd understand it, even they it goes over a lot of their heads. So we need that language that can spark the policymakers as as well. It's it depends on the audience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it may just be good to talk as well. It may be that what what we also need is forums for us within which people can come together and just talk about things, not necessarily having to drive towards some action, which which we naturally would feel would be a good thing to do, but sometimes it's just just a good thing. It's a bit like the cops, um the conferences of the parties that happen every year. Um the the benefit of those quite often is just simply getting people to sit in the same room and talk to each other, look them in the eye and find a little bit of common ground. Um, and maybe the big agreements um are only going to happen kind of rather rarely. But actually, if everyone goes away feeling as though they understand others a bit better, we might be in a better place. I mean, that might be it.
SPEAKER_01Did you know that I think it was last week? Time flies, so maybe it was the week prior, but I think it was last week. Uh a group of countries got together, the coalition of the willing, to talk about how we get off fossil fuels and how they create financial mechanisms to move forward irregardless of what the United States wants to do. And and and I know I recognize um people may see this, and it's not net last week for those people. But the point is that there are countries who know what needs to be done and who are determined to get it done. And it's actually cheaper to depend on renewables than it is to depend on fossil fuels. And I mean, there are just so many incentives, uh, less war.
SPEAKER_00Um I thought that was a that was an amazing thing because it was the the the the big effort to create an international forum to say this how do we speed up the end of fossil fuels um as a as a counterpoint. I mean, at the time that we're speaking, we're still in this thing called the war in the Middle East. Um and um uh the there's a kind of blind panic amongst many about the the holding back of of um fossil fuels across the Straits of Hormuz, um because that's sending the price up. But one thing it will do will be speed the transition away from fossil fuels um uh because people will realize that that um why why would you want to pay four dollars a gallon for your gas um if you've got an EV, if you're lucky enough to have an EV, then it's not costing you anything like that because you're you're you've got a different technology altogether. And I think we might find that those technological options kind of become much more attractive, probably quite quickly.
SPEAKER_01It's much more secure. I mean, if you've got a home and you've got your own solar panels and you're constantly generating your own electricity, that's much more secure than relying on the grid. And especially when there's a hurricane or something else happens, or you've got a heat wave and everyone's using their their air conditioning. I mean, I just I think of it as being far more secure. It's it's definitely less expensive. The complication is that you pay a little more in the beginning frequently, and then you're you're paying it forward for your ability to not have to pay later. So these things have been manipulated so that people think it's more expensive, but the truth is it's actually cheaper and it's it's more secure in in so many ways.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So um I we've we've been using the term homegrown energy as a way, as a a little bit like that term of saying, talking about pollution or carbon emissions. It's if you say homegrown food, you know what exactly what you mean. It's grown in your home, or it's grown in the community farm, or or it could be it's grown within the country. It's what you define as home. But you could say the same thing about energy. You could say homegrown energy is something that probably is to do with renewables, um, uh, because you're not having to rely on distant markets and the cost of the fossil fuels, which you've got to pay off every time you fill up whatever you use.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, I love that phrase.
SPEAKER_00That's a that's a kind of way of thinking about if you've got solar on your roof, it's homegrown, isn't it? I mean, I've sit underneath panels here, they're doing their work on a sunny day like today. Um, and you know, we can charge the car off that, um, and it's effectively free. But you need to purchase the capital in the first place. Um, but once you've done that, it's kind of you're you're you're looking much better, aren't you?
SPEAKER_01Are you selling that electricity back to the grid too?
SPEAKER_02Or yeah, it's brilliant. Yeah, it's brilliant. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And and this is the sort of thing that a lot of utility companies don't want to promote because they want to be the ones who own all the energy so that we have to keep paying them to get our energy in our home. And especially here in Florida, there have been a lot of policies in place for a while that have actually disincentivized in the sunshine state, making it really hard for you to make your own energy off the sunshine in the sunshine state because the electric companies don't want you to do it. So crazy. I mean, there's some you know, that's a that's a story right there.
SPEAKER_00It is. I mean, there you are, right? Yes, in the state that advertises its sunshine, you must have what 300 days of sunshine a year, probably. It's for free. Is that there for free?
SPEAKER_01Well, lately we've been in a drought, which is incredibly unfortunate. Yeah, and our aquifer has been reduced 90 percent. And this, I mean, I grew up swimming in the most gorgeous springs, it's so beautiful. It's the Floridian aquifer, which is one of the largest aquifers in in the world, and uh, and they want to bring in four data centers.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01In one of the hottest places in the country that is in the middle of a drought with reduced water capacity. I mean, it's it is insane. It makes no sense whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00We've got similar controversy here where there are there are plans to build 160 of them in the UK. I mean, there are they're they're not really plans on the ground yet, but they're kind of intentions. Um, and they want to use public sources of electricity to run them and drinking water to cool them because it's nice and easy because you just take it from the system. And uh it's just ludicrous, actually. The the impact of that will be so. I suspect there'll be quite a lot of people kind of lining up to say, well, these things actually are, you know, they're not gonna create any jobs, one or two people to run them, um, and they're gonna use a lot of resources. Do we really want them? Not sure.
SPEAKER_01I think there's gonna be a huge wake-up call when it comes to AI. I think that you know, they've just been pushing it so hard, so fast for things that we don't need that are taking away jobs so that we can use more resources that people need to survive. It just it's it is ludicrous. And um, I do recognize that some of it could be used in a positive way, that there can be some improvements made to the AI, but then get it figured out before you push it and move it forward.
SPEAKER_00Um, speaking of somebody who's who who's had uh I've had my books taken and put into LLMs and used in them and not paid for, as is the case with millions of authors, um, and no offers to pay for that that material, that creative material that that we have spent you know a little bit of our lifeblood on, you know. And it's very annoying. It's not surprising, but it's also very annoying. Tell me something, um, Aria. Let's let's jump to a few kind of things to to wrap stuff up. Some prouds. Could you could you tell us about something you're proud of that you've that you've achieved, maybe against the odds a bit? I mean, maybe maybe it's becoming an actress in the first place, because that's always a heck of a journey for people to to go into the business in that sort of way, or maybe it's something else. Um, a slightly troubling word pride, but I I mean it as a way of of telling a story about what you've been able to achieve and that makes makes you feel good about it.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Um goodness. I uh I guess a lot of things pop up into my mind, and you know, I guess the first thing that's like popping into my head the most is like I'm just so proud of my daughter. You know. Um and she's the reason why I do this work, and I'm gonna get all emotional. Um but yeah, she's got a really good head on her shoulders, and uh and she, you know, one of the things she she inspires me too with how uh conscious she is about her footprint. Uh I'm proud of I do believe I've had an impact on her when it comes to that. And then I've ended up learning some things from her. She was very into uh Depop, which is like an online marketplace for uh used clothes. So when and she's been very good at like she's got her own little store. So she doesn't want to wear anything anymore, she sells it and then she buys something else that someone else had. And I just think it's it's really brilliant, this generation, the different kind of awareness they have and how easily they support a lot of these solutions toward a more circular economy, I think is really brilliant.
SPEAKER_00Lovely. That's a good answer. Um uh and we could speak generally about about next generations. I mean, let's be inspired by their ideas and their commitment. Um and they're not without agency, they might feel that's the the case because they're often not in charge of things, but um, but they will be before long. Um and um that's uh that's a great answer.
SPEAKER_01Um I I'd also I just want to add one more thing, is just that I am I am really proud of of Revolution Earth and and where it's at right now, and looking forward to it getting to a place of being green lit and all of that. But I um in all honesty, I've got craniocervical instability. So screen time is physically painful for me. And I have managed to learn a great deal about screenwriting, storytelling, and and I've got a something I'm I'm very proud of right now with the way it looks right now, and I'm sure it will continue to improve.
SPEAKER_00But uh yeah, yeah, great, great, good. Um what about uh this might may relate to that, but a heroine or a hero, um uh uh it could be a community, but it could be somebody who in the climate sphere, or it might be somebody in the storytelling sphere or in film or TV. Um uh heroine or a hero and why?
SPEAKER_01Um well, the first place I my brain goes is Erin Brokovich, just because we all got to hear her story, and um, I was able to go see her speak uh a little while ago. She came to St. Augustine and she's just doing such great work in terms of uh she's got this new thing where she maps out all the places where people have had certain um environmental illnesses, and you know, so that you can you can see it. Um but she's just done such incredible work, and it's wonderful that her story got brought to life and moved so many people.
SPEAKER_00So I I think that's something I yeah, it's the power of story and the power of that film. I mean, the power of a film that is popular, that is made popular, um, means that the name goes before her, you know. I mean, she's now a symbol for something much greater than what the book was about, which is fabulous, isn't it? Um, a recommendation would you rec do you want to recommend a book of some sort? What would to to viewers and listeners? What would you what would you recommend?
SPEAKER_01Um, I think drawdown is rather remarkable. Uh I love the framing too, uh, because obviously we need to draw down greenhouse gases. And so, and there's so many different technologies in that book, and it's so focused on what we could do. And I think just going through that and saying, oh my goodness, there's so much that's accessible to us to do, and and a lot of it can be very regenerative. When you restore ecosystems, you're helping to draw down greenhouse gases and uh you know, restoring ecosystems can also help purify water, create water in areas where it didn't exist. I mean, it's really remarkable, and and I don't really understand all of it, but I I know how powerful it can be when we make these kinds of changes.
SPEAKER_00So and lovely choice. And um, lots of options seems to me a good thing. You know, if you've always got lots of options in front of you, one, us, um, then it feels it gives perhaps that gives us a bit of agency because we can choose what we feel is the most important to us, but someone else will choose something different, but we're all moving in a general correct direction.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and Paul Hawkin has that kind of personality too, where he's so positive and yes, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, heal the earth instead of steal the earth. I think that was a phrase that Paul Hawkin used in in his book, Regeneration. So I think that's a that's a kind of nice idea. Heal rather than steal. Um that's that carries a bit away, doesn't it? Um final thought then, one top action. What should people do? Um uh watch your show when it comes out, definitely. Um what what what would you recommend? I mean, maybe maybe it's listen to the next generation. Um, as you've just said with your daughter, turn turn to others and hear what they've got to say.
SPEAKER_01That might be I I think it's complicated because there are so many things that we can do that we need to do. It gets very complicated. The more we can get off fossil fuels individually, and I know it's very difficult, but obviously that's uh a big part of the solution. Um, but advocating for political change, advocating for those politicians who will provide a framework that makes it easier for us to make the transitions we need to make so that it can become systemic for all of us. I think that's where the the big changes are going to happen.
SPEAKER_00Thanks very much. What a pleasure. Lovely to chat to you today.