Wildlife tourists on virtual reality ‘could help to save the planet’
WILDLIFE lovers should use virtual reality to view vulnerable locations in order to protect the planet, Sir David Attenborough’s cameraman has urged.
Doug Allan, who worked on Blue Planet, says wildlife film makers should embrace new technologies so viewers do not need to visit remote and sensitive locations themselves.
“Showing people the wonders of the natural world, there’s no doubt we have been part of this wave of people going to see those kinds of places for themselves,” Mr Allan told The Sunday Telegraph.
“I think now I’d like to see a form of wildlife film making that accepts responsibility for giving people the knowledge and offers them the option of not going there.
“New technology can do that. Virtual reality has a real possibility of giving people a massively meaningful experience without them leaving the comfort of their own chair.”
In 2018, a project by Sky VR turned Sir David into a 3D hologram and allowed users to explore prohibited areas of the Natural History Museum.
Mr Allan, 68, would like to see similar technology used on home screens.
The BAFTA award-winning cameraman said sustainable tourism should be the goal with tourists becoming “sensitive to how and where they travel”.
Mr Allan, from Dunfermline, Fife, was a 30-year-old biologist when he met Sir David in the Antarctic and decided to become a wildlife photographer. “David and his film crew arrived on base from HMS Endurance and I thought these boys are doing exactly what I like doing,” he said.
He has since worked on 65 films as well as with Sir David on the BBC’s Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.
Often sent to remote locations, Mr Allan says that the scourge of waste plastic has affected the far corners of the Earth, including the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
“These are some of the most remote islands in the world, no one lives there now but the amount of plastic on the beach and covering the shore was so disappointing,” he said. “There may have been stuff that came from the UK that ended up on that beach.”
Mr Allan is currently promoting a film series exploring the stories of people whose lives are shaped by the sea for Scotch whisky brand Old Pulteney. Old Pulteney heats 250 homes in Wick, Caithness, by reusing its water waste.
Doug Allan is an ambassador for Old Pulteney and its Rise With The Tide film series. To view the film visit www.oldpulteney.com.