JENN: About 10 years ago, I was in my garden on Salt Spring Island and it was a beautiful July day, there was a light breeze, the sky was a dramatic orange, and… it was snowing. I looked up again and realized it wasn’t snow at all but ash from a distant climate change related forest fire.

It was that moment I realized the feeling I had was unmistakably grief: grief for the changing world around us. And very importantly, I recognized the feeling was similar in tenor but different in intensity from the feelings of grief I experienced when my sister died a few years earlier.

That was the moment the film was born when I understood that the emotional labour of coming to terms with climate change had parallels to coming to terms with the loss of my sister

Fast forward to 2019, when I spent the good part of the year travelling with a small but talented team to some of the hardest hit climate frontlines on the planet.

Yes, we filmed changing homelands and extreme weather events but more importantly, we talked to these climate frontliners about how they were feeling: their grief, their despair, their rage, their resilience, their hope.

JENN: I’ve been concerned about climate change for decades but it’s only since that moment in my garden that it hit me at the deepest level of my being. I can no longer turn away from the catastrophe in our midst. 

And that’s what we want our film to do: help audience members face the climate crisis at the deepest level of their being. For it’s our belief that the reason we haven’t made substantial progress on the climate front, is because it’s such a difficult issue to come to terms with.

ANDREW: COVID-19 has changed everything. For climate change activists and scientists, new diseases are expected more and more as the planet warms. 

In the crisis response to COVID-19, we’ve seen the action and urgency required to address the climate crisis. We’ve also seen widespread grieving of loss of life amidst a wave of losses: economic, social, physical and emotional. This virus has humbled the global population.

The conversation about climate change hasn’t gone away but is adapting to the current reality. It is into this moment that we want to seize the chance to share our film with audiences.

California has had the worst forest fires in history, while Australia looks on in fear for their coming season; youth are continuing to call for climate action around the world; acts of mass civil disobedience have continued and broadened to include BLM, showing the intersectionality of the climate change movement with social justice, racial equality and indigenous sovereignty; Indigenous land defenders are risking their lives and freedom and sometimes losing both to protect the earth.

In the last few years, ecological grief has become palpable in popular culture, in the news, in the mainstream.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CHAT?

WHO ATTENDED?

Avi Lewis, Co-founder and Strategic Director - The Leap

Hosting a screening or event, share his experience of launching screenigns for This Changes Everything

Claudine Grisé, Mental Health Promotion Officer and Liaison Officer - Mouvement santé mentale Québec

Meet with filmmakers, discuss more with her org what they can pledge

Corrine Codina, Constituency Assistant to MP Neil Ellis - Parliament of Canada

"Energize myself and the constituents, I'll speak to mobilizing them with resources, to activate themselves and their environmental and social advocacy work"

David Adams, Founder and CxO - Graceful Guerrillas

Open doors for the film team to meet with their government and company contacts

Jae Mather, Chief Executive Officer - Carbon Free Group

Help navigate the landscape of climate change orgs, identify where there are already existing solutions to whatever the issue may be.

Joanna Bull, Community Engagement Manager - Ecology Action Centre

$50 personal donation, host a screening, champion other groups across Atlantic Canada to host screenings, including faith groups, other environmental groups, the youth climate activists, the grassroots grandmothers from the Mi'kmaq community. Explore promoting the film through her wife's network (she is a social worker). Tap into the faith groups through her parent's Anglican community. Act as a local connector an facilitate discussion.

Joanna Kerr, President and CEO - MakeWay

Using MakeWay's connections to open doors to access and funding to northern Indigenous communities, personal donation of $150

Manon Gartside, Environmental Educator - BC Sustainable Energy Association

Using their access to teachers to get this film screened in High Schools, personal pledge of $100, committed to finding ways to bridge urban and rural communities across this issue

Mary Barroll, General Counsel and Vice President of Media Affairs - Charity Village

Pledge of their significant reach in the sector and beyond. Promote any screenings. Do a video interview with the filmmakers. Support the kind of impact events that they're having through our various channels.
Develop a relationship ongoing with Good Pitch to support more films.
so that we can tell more of these stories, um, to the sector and those who follow us. Make use of Talent Egg, a sister company she is president is, that has 300,000 visitors of young people to its website and works with Universities and colleges across Canada, to a couple content marketing and publishing and distribution to help support the film.

Meaghan Parker, Executive - Director Society of Environmental Journalists

Use film as part of outreach and education with their org's work on how covering the climate crisis is impacting journalists

Michael Brewster, Director of Parliamentary Affairs - Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Help to organize a screening on the Hill, offered to collaborate with other MPs present, $100 personal donation

Michelle Reid, Community Engagement and Activation Lead - B CorporationS / B-LAB canada

Share film/campaign with network, interested in finding ways to mobilize the network, $100 personal donation

Natalie Odd, Executive Director - Alberta Environmental Network

Using network to screen and distribute film in Alberta.

Nicole Coenen, Environmental Social Enterprise Marketing Specialist - Buy Social Canada

Operate as a "super connector", bringing the orgs in their network together around conversations about this film

PeterKendall, Executive Director - Schad Foundation

Share the film through as part of their program for kids/parents that teaches on eco anxiety.

Ryan Turnbull, Member of Parliament for Whitby - Parliament of Canada

Continue to work at a policy level to and be a better policy change advocate. organize a screening with members of parliament. The social innovation caucus, would be interested in the new year to organize something. And sure that we can think of other things to go beyond

Sharon Warren

25 hours of social media management!

Tracey Friesen - Story Money Impact

$300, access to her "west end nest"

Valerie Lafond, Deputy assistant to MP Sebastien Lemire - Parliament of Canada

Share the film/campaign with political contacts, others in her party

Willard Metzger, Executive Director - Citizens for Public Justice

Sponsor the film across justice film festivals in Canada, help screen the film in Ottawa, introduce the film to their network.

WHAT PLEDGES WERE PREVIOUSLY MADE AT OUR LIVE EVENT?

Good Grief Network, Sarah Jornsay-Silverberg
"Building strong communities is the antidote to the grief.“ Digital facilitation packages for their community climate grief program, including relevant resources and how to bring the program to their community.

David Suzuki Foundation, Brendan Glauser
Promotion through their digital channels, access to online tools to manage distributed communities that give the film access to affected communities and highly engaged volunteers. A donation of $5000.

Anxiety Canada, Judith Law
Promote the film through all the channels of their organization. Share the film with Scientific Advisory Committee with the aim of gathering more concrete data. Personally volunteering to build resources Hub.

Friends of the Earth, Randal Helten
Endorsement of film to Friends of the Earth international chapters. A conference call with CEO to discuss supporting needs of impact campaign.

Bateman Foundation, Peter Ord
Bateman Gallery offered as a fundraising and screening space; use of the film in Nature Sketch program for 60,000 viewers; introductions to Museums for Climate Justice network to discuss additional screenings.

Extinction Rebellion, Janice Oakley
Networking, outreach, and screenings to support campaign fundraising.

Canadian Psychiatric Association, Harry Karlinski
Write position statement for the CPA that highlights that mental health care have responsibility towards climate literacy. Advocate for further research into the impact of the climate crisis on mental wellbeing.

Canadian Mental Health Association, Jonny Morris
As CEO of CMHA, $5000 to begin exploring bringing climate grief program to Canada.

Climate Psychiatry Alliance, Beth Haase
Use contacts in Climate Psychiatry Alliance to promote film and campaign.

Citizens for Public Justice, Willard Metzger
As Executive Director of CPJ, introductions and leverage into faith-based organizations and sector.

Fast Signs Vancouver, Paul LeBlanc
As owner, any signage they need pro-bono and free of charge.

Green Party / Vancouver Coastal Health, Wes Regan
As Director of Federal Party, screening for Green Party elected officials, staff, and volunteers from different levels of government. As VCH Policy Lead, use film as engagement tool supporting regional long-range planning processes underway as part of Metro2050 and Climate2050.

Individual Pledges

• Donation of $3000 from Esther Chetner

• Donation of $5000 from Leonard Schein

• Donation of $1000 from Hilary Pada

• Donation of $50 from Julia Hunter