A guest blog from Matthew Phillips, or as we now like to call him “Climate Gentleman”

I recently had the pleasure of attending 6-Heads’ Sustainability Film Night.

Sheltered in the dark of Imperial University’s Cinema, I watched 13
life-affirming film shorts that all grappled with globally significant
issues, such as climate change, resource scarcity and education. I
cannot begin to tell you how refreshing it was to see talented
creatives presenting familiar themes in fresh and provocative ways.

You see,for me, communications on climate change has become abstract,
uninspiring and, all too frequently, bitterly dull. Yet this cinema
held living proof that there are many people out there doing
extraordinary things to galvanise the masses.

In the heat of the 2013 London summer I too – along with a filmmaker
and an actor – decided to explore new ways of talking about climate
change. The result was a character called Climate Gentleman – a toff
who champions sustainable issues. Our objective was simple: to rally
new audiences via a personality who subverts the stereotype of the the
environmental hippy. Climate Gentleman is therefore always impeccably
dressed and, although he occasionally verges on superciliousness,
perhaps he represents a different kind of ambassador for climate change.

If Climate Gentleman were here, he would raise an honorific toast to
all the fabulous filmmakers articulating sustainability differently
and say, “let’s drink [sustainably] with the world; not from it!”

Well done to all who made the 6heads shorts evening so inspiring. Lets invent more characters, use more film (and other creative mediums) to get sustainability messages through to galvanise action.

NOTE: 6heads films are currently being edited for release.  Watch this space…