Earthrise Studio Offers an ‘Antidote’ in New Series with BBC Studios

This Earth Day, the outlook for the future - from a green perspective - doesn’t look favourable. We’re all privy to the myriad of environmental issues ongoing globally with more and more of them happening on our doorsteps too, and not ‘somewhere else’ as they were a decade or so ago. This may look like flooding, frequent storms, or unprecedented levels of air pollution. This is all to say that the environmental crisis is real and happening now. As scary as it sounds, there’s an ‘Antidote’ - that’s the title and the message of a brand new three-part short film series from Earthrise Studio, the impact-driven environmental media company, in partnership with BBC Studios Natural History Unit and the Wellcome Trust. 

‘Antidote’ is part of the global digital impact campaign #OurPlanetEarth, specifically targeting a young audience. Joi Lee, executive producer and series presenter, notes that it was important for the series to explore the health angle of environmental issues. The three episodes explore wildfires (air pollution), heatwaves, and infectious diseases to show the kind of effects they’re having on human health today. Central to the series is presenting the kind of solutions, or ‘antidotes’, available right now and in the future helping to mitigate these impacts. 

Today, LBB’s Zhenya Tsenzharyk spoke to Joi about how Earthrise Studio tailored the series’ format across social media platforms, how it took inspiration from—and built on—the messages explored in BBC’s ‘Planet Earth III’, and why presenting solutions helps to counter ‘climate fatigue’. 

LBB> How did the partnership between Earthrise, BBC Studios Natural History Unit and the Wellcome Trust first come together? 

Joi> Collaborating with BBC Studios Natural History Unit and the Wellcome Trust has always been a dream of ours. This co-production comes on the heels of the incredible series BBC’s ‘Planet Earth III’, with ‘Antidote’ joining the supporting global impact campaign #OurPlanetEarth to amplify the connection between planetary health and human health. 

LBB> And how was the idea for the ‘Antidote’ series born? 

Joi> Climate change is the biggest public health threat of the 21st century. Every year, at least 13 million deaths are attributed to completely avoidable environmental causes. Whether it’s air pollution, heatwaves, wildfires, floods, storms, or water and food insecurity – all of them endanger lives and damage people's lives and livelihoods. Yet while we increasingly see news regarding climate disasters, the health angle is often missing. We wanted to create a series that helps illustrate how the twin crises of climate and health are deeply interlinked – but also provide real examples of how innovative solutions, aka ‘antidotes,’ are being employed. 

LBB> Who are you looking to target with ‘Antidote’? 

Joi> We’re looking to reach a young, global audience who are socially engaged and passionate about participating in and contributing to a better world. People who might be interested in the future of the planet, but might not yet have drawn the connections between planetary health and their own. 

LBB>The series is inspired by BBC’s ‘Planet Earth III’ - how is ‘Antidote’ building on the excellent series and what else is it offering audiences? 

Joi> ‘Antidote’ is building on some of the themes explored in BBC’s Planet Earth III, namely the link between public health and climate change, by adding new voices, perspectives, and stories. We dive deeper into how wildfire air pollution, heatwaves, and infectious diseases are not only symptomatic of a changing climate, but have potentially deadly consequences for people around the world. By being social media and digital first, we also bring these stories into different platforms and different audiences. The environmental crisis is a complex nexus of structures, events, and behaviours. 

LBB> How and why did Earthrise decide to explore wildfires (air pollution), heatwaves, and infectious diseases in particular for this series? 

Joi> It’s true that the environmental crisis is complex, with endless inputs and countless consequences both on the planet’s ecological ecosystems as well as human lives. We wanted this series to explicitly explore how these complex consequences, such as heatwaves, air pollution, and infections are not just isolated symptoms of a changing environment that exist in a vacuum, but have deep implications for the lives that we live. 

LBB> How is the format of the series adapted to its target audience? Did you have any particular considerations in mind during the production process to ensure that the series is impactful and engaging without veering into scaremongering and sensationalism? 

Joi> Earthrise is a digital-first media platform that focuses on telling climate stories for a global young audience. Every story we do is heavily considered in terms of how to resonate with this audience, and how to frame things in a way that is informative and entertaining, that frames the problem but does not wallow in it – but rather points a way towards a plethora of solutions, or communities working towards different alternatives. So when we were thinking about the format of the series, we knew that we couldn’t just talk about the health impacts of climate change without exploring what antidotes also exist. But, we also know that these topics can be complex. 

Health and climate destruction aren’t the most appealing topics for people scrolling through social media, so we also took a presenter-led approach as well as used motion graphics to help guide our audience through the narrative. We also decided to share this across our different social media audiences in different ways, with shorter vertical cuts for Instagram and TikTok, and longer episode versions for YouTube. 

LBB> Why was it important to offer solutions alongside presenting the problems? 

Joi> We’re all tired of hearing just about the problems. News and climate fatigue is real. A study in the US showed that about two-thirds of Americans (66%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is. The news – and climate headlines – can often feel overwhelming, terrifying. And many of us choose to engage no longer. It’s really important as journalists, as storytellers, that we don’t focus solely on the problems at hand. This is not to say that we ignore them, or pretend them away into oblivion. But rather, we also need to highlight the various ways, methods, and movements that are often working towards addressing the problems. Especially when it comes to the climate crisis, which can often feel so grandiose of a problem that it is impossible to face it head on. But if we have that mentality, we won’t get anywhere. 

LBB> Are there any future plans to add episodes to the series? 

Joi> We hope so, there is no shortage of stories on innovative solutions towards health problems.