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Future tense Strange Days on Planet Earth describes changes already occurring

Particularly instructive in this regard were a series of documentaries produced by the BBC as well as by the National Geographic screened on the second day of the festival. The two-part series “Are We Changing Planet Earth?” and “Can We Save Planet Earth?” featuring David Attenborough, for instance, is notable not only as one more step in the famed naturalist’s recent vehement protests against destruction of the environment, but also for the simplicity and eloquence with which it brings home the problem.

Taking the argument forward by documenting unique climate-related changes already in progress was the National Geographic documentary “Strange Days on Planet Earth: The One Degree Factor”. Hosted by actor Edward Norton, the documentary tracks changes as the fall in caribou population in the Arctic, the drying up of Lake Chad in Nigeria, the rise in asthma cases in Trinidad, and so on, and establishes a definite link to the sudden rise in temperatures in varied regions across the globe.

On a parallel note was “Global Dimming” by the BBC, which discusses a process running alongside global warming in which particulate matter from vehicular and industrial emissions has reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the earth’s surface and has affected the earth’s climatic patterns in unusually disastrous ways, including possibly causing the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s.

Driving home the fact that the issue of climate change also lies at our doorstep were a set of Indian documentaries commissioned by the UK government as part of the UK Environment Film Fellowship. “The Weeping Apple Tree” by Vijay S. Jodha traced the northward shift of the Himalayan apple growing belt in Himachal Pradesh due to the region’s rising temperatures. “A Degree of Concern” looked at the quickening pace of glacial melting in Ladakh, while “A Green Agony” looked at the pitiable fate of the Sunderbans and the havoc being played on them due to increasing salinity and sea-level rise. And “Climate’s First Orphans” detailed the submergence of coastal villages in Orissa at an alarming rate. Though these films made many important points one felt that some of them could have benefited from more scientific rigor and less rhetoric.

The other big focus of the festival was on the threats to various species of wildlife posed by increasing deforestation and human development. “Leopards in the Lurch” by Gurmeet Sapal for instance, was a moving, poignant tale of the retribution doled out to leopards for desperate attacks on humans and domesticated animals, resulting from loss of habitat and prey. The most horrifying point, however, were made by films that focused on the poaching of animals for the sake of human greed. From the gentle tuskers of “Silenced Witnesses” by P. Balan to the ephemeral butterflies of “Once There Was A Purple Butterfly” by Sonia Kapoor, one felt the pain of a variety of creatures killed, sometimes excessively cruelly, for no reason other than possessing objects that humans coveted.

Of course, there was also some beauty in the middle of all of the sorrow. “Wild Dog Diaries” by Krupakar and Senani, the premiere film of the festival, provided wonderful insights into the elusive dhol of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. These animals have always been the underdogs of the forests in the South, treated as vermin and dismissed as unimportant, when compared to more majestic creatures such as tigers and leopards. Also moving was “Cherub of the Mist”, which followed the successful attempts to release into the wild two red pandas raised in captivity.

With a workshop on using the Right to Information Act for wildlife conservation, a panel discussion on making Bangalore carbon neutral, and an exhibition of wildlife photography done with the use of camera traps, Aranyam 2007 had something to offer for just about everyone.

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