Making a star-powered statement
Celebrities back call for climate action in Extinction Rebellion video
LONDON (Reuters) — Singer Ellie Goulding, actor Imelda Staunton and model Daisy Lowe were among celebrities demanding that the governments act on climate change in a video campaign launched by Extinction Rebellion on Sunday ahead of Britain’s Dec. 12 general election.
Extinction Rebellion launched in London a year ago, inspiring waves of colorful, disruptive actions around the world to call for rapid cuts in carbon emissions and the repair of collapsing ecosystems. Thousands of people have been arrested during protests.
The group’s emphasis on the role that culture can play in shaping attitudes toward the twin climate and ecological crises has drawn support from a range of leading names from the worlds of music, fashion, art and film.
The new video https://rebellion.earth was created in a collaboration between film-maker Richard Curtis and RANKIN, a creative agency headed by the British photographer of the same name. It features people aged 8 to 80 demanding a halt to the destruction of forests and oceans and the loss of plant, insect and animal species.
“Time has run out. It’s act now or face almost unimaginable consequences for life on Earth,” said British television presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.
“So if the drivers of change are asleep at the wheel, it’s time to shake and wake them with one hand and to empower ourselves to make our own differences with the other,” Packham said. Among the best-known actors to feature in the film is Jim
Carter. He played Mr Carson the butler in “Downton Abbey”, a film and television series that won numerous awards for its portrayal of British aristocratic life in the early 20th century.
Other celebrities include Camilla Thurlow, who appeared in British hit reality series “Love Island”, film and television director Stephen Frears, and actor Jaime Winstone.
“This film must reach governments and ring the alarm bell to act now on the climate crisis we are all living in,” Winstone said. “We must all ask of them #WhereIsYourPlan.”