Yoga Mat,
Liforme
Alice&Jack.
Climate Campaigners
meet.
"Meet the Climate Campaigners"
Last month, climate scientists delivered their “final warning” on the climate crisis. In the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, scientists warned that continually rising global emissions will cause irreversible harm to the environment if governments don’t act now. The last few years have been a sobering reminder of the havoc climate change is wreaking on our environments. Last year, floods in Pakistan left thousands of people dead and millions displaced, with 10 million still relying on contaminated and unsafe water supplies. Europe experienced its worst drought in 500 years. Australia saw a month’s worth of rainfall in six hours. Hurricane Ian, in Cuba and the US, killed 150 people and left 40,000 homeless. 2023 is set to be one of the hottest years on record. The message is clear: climate disaster is happening now, and it won’t go away on its own.
The good news? There’s still hope for lowering emissions enough to keep the temperature below the threshold of an average global temperature rise of 1.5C, which is necessary to avoid catastrophe. It’s just going to take some innovation, imagination and rapid action from governments, policymakers and individuals alike.
This is exactly the message that Alice Aedy and Jack Harries – two determined documentary filmmakers, climate campaigners and hope bearers – want to get across with their impact-driven media company, Earthrise. Alice and Jack are more than business partners, they’re also life partners. The pair met in 2015, when they found themselves working at the same refugee camp in Calais, France. Jack began creating YouTube videos with his twin brother Finn, who also co- founded Earthrise, in 2012, when the platform was in its nascency. After a few years, Jack decided to shift his focus from travel vlogging to climate work. When he met Alice, he’d been travelling the world and creating videos about those facing the brunt of the climate crisis. “I was really searching for a sense of purpose and wanting to have an impact with the work I was making, and the environment and climate presented itself as a really important story in my eyes,” he tells Semaine.
That climate justice was a cause worth fighting for had been ingrained in Jack, who often attended climate protests with his mum, from a young age. In that respect, working in climate activism was a no-brainer. Alice, however, never pictured herself as a major player in the fight for climate justice. A documentary filmmaker and politics graduate, Alice’s focus had always been on people, whether that was raising awareness of the UK’s loneliness epidemic or highlighting the experiences of young Somali women studying at Cambridge University. When she met Jack, Alice had been travelling across the world, telling the stories of those on the frontlines of the refugee crisis. “I never ever thought that I would be in climate work,” she says. “I didn’t really see the people in it beyond the heroes that so many share, like the David Attenborough’s of the world.”
But when Jack and Alice began talking about the intersection between environmental issues and social justice, Alice’s understanding of what climate activism could be, took a new shape. “Reframing the climate justice movement as a human issue and a human rights issue was super important to us,” she says. The two soon developed a romantic relationship, and they decided to travel across the globe, documenting the stories of those suffering from drought in Somaliland and the inhabitants of Kiribati, one of the lowest lying islands in the world that is predicted to be the first to disappear from sea level rise.
Five years later, in the midst of the pandemic, the pair founded Earthrise. “Lockdown forced us to think a little bit differently about the way we communicate and the way we tell stories, and out of that this idea came about to try and create a platform where we could communicate these issues in a way that was accessible and understandable,” says Jack. Earthrise is the platform Jack and Alice wished they’d had when they first began to learn about the climate crisis. “We wanted to create a space that was accessible and inclusive and, importantly, took an intersectional approach to climate with a real human focus.” It’s been three years since then, and Earthrise, which boasts 3.66 million YouTube subscribers and more than 200,000 Instagram followers, is now a fully fledged media company. Jack and Alice are accompanied by six other team members, all with the same mission: “to tell stories that have impact and stories that help us hopefully navigate to a better world.”
By Ella Glover for Semaine.
Photography by Benedikt Frank.
store.
"Everyday Essentials"
Pointing and shooting at the products needed to reduce daily waste production.
travel.
"Nature Calls"
At one with nature.
"Try the homemade bread, it’s incredible."
Coombeshead Farm,
Lewannick Launceston PL15 7QQ Cornwall,
United Kingdom
"They have the best mint lemon juice in the world."
La Paloma,
Carrer Can Pou, 4 07812 Sant Llorenç de Balàfia Ibiza,
Spain
read.
"Reframing the World"
Books that will change the way you think.
Less is More,
£10.99
Jack: “It unpacks the elephant in the room ... infinite growth on a finite planet.”
stream.
"A Day for Documentaries"
Forever learning more with Alice and Jack’s recommendations.
Jack: "It’s a powerful series that depicts a world where climate change has transformed the planet in unimaginable ways."
Extrapolations,
Apple TV
Jack: "A brilliantly produced masterclass in how to build a digital media company."
Start-up Podcast,
Spotify
Jack: "It’s a great series that reimagines different ways of living by showing people who have built and designed amazing homes around the world."
Home,
Apple TV
Jack: "A powerful look at the struggle of Indigenous communities to protect their land against illegal logging."
The Territory,
Disney+
Alice: For Sama is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo.
For Sama,
Amazon Prime
Alice: A woman utilises ancient beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia. When a neighbouring family tries to do the same, it becomes a source of tension as they disregard her wisdom and advice.
Honeyland,
Amazon Prime
Travel Guide
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ask.
"Our relationship to nature"
What does the word “taste” mean to you?
Alice:
Quality not quantity.
Jack:
It makes me think of my mum. Whether it was food, art, film or culture my mum was my teacher and guide to discovering new tastes.
Do you have a life motto that you live by?
Alice:
“Fake it till you make it“.
Jack:
Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable every day.
What was the last thing that made you laugh?
Alice:
Beef, the Netflix series.
Jack:
A woman who looks like Jim Carrey on Instagram.
What are your favourite qualities in a human being?
Alice:
Curiosity.
Jack:
Honesty, compassion & ambition.
Who is your hero?
Alice:
Ava Duvernay, film Director.
Jack:
My mum.
What is your biggest flaw?
Alice:
My appetite.
Jack:
I have an attention span of a nat!
What is your best quality?
Alice:
My appetite.
Jack:
I’ve been told I make great dad jokes.
What would your last meal on earth be?
Alice:
Vegan Lasagne.
Jack:
Sweet potato curry with carrot cake for dessert!
What does success mean to you?
Alice:
Health for people and planet.
Jack:
My close friend Jamal Edwards once said success is about balancing the 3 b’s – base, body & business. He was a wise man.
If you had the power to change anything you wanted in the world, what would you change?
Alice:
Greed.
Jack:
Our relationship to nature.
