You probably wouldn’t have oil-rich emirate, Abu Dhabi, pegged for environmental awareness. The United Arab Emirates are notorious for their abundance of fossil fuels and thus, sadly, do their fair share to contribute to carbon dioxide emissions.
This week, though, the state-owned Abu Dhabi Media Company announced that it would collaborate with National Geographic on between 10 to 15 films over the next five years addressing people’s relationships to the earth, their own particular environments, and each other. The companies will jointly contribute $100 million to developing, producing, financing, and acquiring films for the project. Each individual film will be budgeted between $5 million and $60 million.
Any filmmakers out there looking for their next project?
Jake Eberts, the chairman of National Geographic Films, said about the project that “National Geographic has access to a seemingly endless treasure trove of images and stories. Each one has the potential to affect our lives. I believe it is our moral obligation to use the power of film to bring people of different cultures together. Imagenation Abu Dhabi and National Geographic are ideally suited to do this.”
Hopefully the films will do more than simply bring people together. Hopefully it will also bring them together in their joint respect and care for the environment. Either way, we look forward to seeing what the environmental landscape in the UAE looks like.
Read more about the environment in the United Arab Emirates:: Even Oil Rich Gulf Countries Look to Renewable Energy, Dubai’s Wind Powered Rotating Skyscraper is Building in Motion, and A Green Survey of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
