Seeds of hope

In light of our climate crisis and off the back of Australia’s most aggressive bushfire season, Damon Gameau is showing us how to join forces to combat global warming while watering our own individual seeds of hope.

- ALLY MCMANUS

In the months since my interview with award-winning actor-turned-filmmaker Damon Gameau, our Land Down Under has transitioned from a sunburnt country to a burnt country. Our most recent bushfire season, known as Australia’s “black summer”, left our country devastated. While writing this feature at the turn of the new decade, approximately 11.3 million hectares had been destroyed, dozens of people had lost their lives and almost 500 million animals had been killed.

According to Gameau, in light of the aggressive effects of climate change, we need to water seeds of hope just as much as we need to take tangible action to help prevent any further loss of lives, biological diversity and natural habitats. But what do saving the planet and this Aussie film-maker have in common? It all starts with one phrase: 2040.

From sugar to soil

While you might recognize Gameau’s face from his acting roles in TV series such as Underbelly and Love My Way, the 43-year-old’s first foray into film-making began in 2015 with feature-documentary That Sugar Film, which became the highest-grossing Australian doco of all time in Australasia and won the 2015 AACTA Award for Best Documentary. Four years later he released his second feature-documentary, 2040, which paints a hopeful picture of what the world could look like if we implemented the most effective environmental solutions that already exist. He also penned two books on sugar to tie in with his first film, That Sugar Book and That Sugar Guide, as well as an accompanying book to 2040 titled 2040: A Handbook for the Regeneration.