Let's Begin to Act

Tzeporah Berman is one of the experts interviewed in 11th Hour and one of the founders and current Strategic Director of ForestEthics.

Participating in 11th Hour (I am interviewed on the state of the worlds forests and the contribution of logging to global warming) has been an inspiring yet challenging experience for me. Initially I was just excited that I would have the opportunity to contribute a little something to the project and to communicate the importance of protecting the few remaining intact and old growth forests that we have left on the planet to the many people who see this film.

After seeing the film itself last month at the screening for those of us interviewed I have been both inspired and challenged by the magnitude of the work ahead to re-imagine a sustainable world. I’ve been working on environmental issues full time for fifteen years, a journey that has taken me from blockades to boycotts to the corporate boardrooms of some of the largest companies in the world. While the issues explored in the film are not new to me, I think that in order to remain hopeful, and to focus my efforts to ensure progress, I have more often than not buried my head in one issue, one corporate campaign or one place and tried to shut out the ‘noise’ of the big picture. In part I suppose because the ‘big picture’ is terrifying and terror can be paralyzing. So outside of some ‘slip ups’ (reading the Millennium Ecosystem Reports from the United Nations last year which led to many days lying on the floor of my living room in my pajama’s playing lego with my little boys and running into the bathroom so they wouldn’t see me lose it or the time around New Years when I read George Manbiot’s book Heat and couldn’t stop talking about it and managed to ensure a devastating black cloud descended on a friends New Years eve party) I have kept my head down and focused on particular campaigns and actions that I knew could work.

The point of these ramblings today is that 11th Hour has made me look at the big picture in a new way. I’ve realized that while adding up the sum total of global deforestation, peak oil, toxic
contamination, overfishing and climate change is terrifying, the only true solution is to ensure that this reality begins to be reflected in our every day lives, every moment, with every action.
Acknowledging the big scary picture head on in the company of millions of people is a whole different thing than doing it on your own or even with a small group of folks no matter how fabulous and dedicated they are. The fact that Inconvenient Truth and now 11th Hour can be released in mainstream theaters and millions of people will see them reflects a new burgeoning of environmental consciousness in the mainstream. We have indeed reached a tipping point that is incredibly liberating.

The job of environmental advocates today is fundamentally different than yesterday. Our work is no longer primarily a job of creating awareness of problems (an often depressing task which requires saying the same devastating things over and over again in different ways) but to help create creative conversations about solutions and direct the rising tide of energy and concern towards key corporate and government leaders at critical decision making moments. I hope this film helps to inspire millions of people to engage – to volunteer or donate to non profits working on environmental issues, to examine and reduce the impacts of their daily lives and most importantly to use their power as consumers and voters to tell decision makers that they are looking for strong environmental leadership. Whether you are new to the issues or a long time environmentalist I hope that you will be inspired like I was to get out of your pj’s and go to it with renewed vigour and purpose - because if there ever was a moment ripe for change and a new burgeoning environmental consciousness, this is it.

Tzeporah Berman is one of the experts interviewed in 11th Hour. She lives on Cortes Island, British Columbia, Canada with her husband and two children. As one of the founders and current Strategic Director of ForestEthics she has contributed to successful campaigns to reduce the impacts of major corporations such as Staples and Victoria’s Secret on the world’s forests and has helped to ensure the end to logging in over 7 million acres of forests in the last five years.

Tzeporah Berman