Nature is Speaking

An invitation to listen to nature with Conservation International 

For 40 years, Conservation International has protected nature for the benefit of people — through groundbreaking science and partnerships with countries, companies, and communities.

But global development and conservation don’t have to be at odds with each other. Protection and production can exist together to keep the natural systems that provide our clean air, drinking water, and fertile soil healthy.

We were compelled to think about how we could reach people’s hearts and minds to demand change. Lee Clow, the creative genius behind Apple’s Think Different campaign, and his incredible team at MAL for Good (MFG) worked with Conservation International to design a campaign called Nature Is Speaking to achieve this goal.

Traditional eco causes are about saving animals, trees, and oceans. Nature Is Speaking intentionally flips convention on its head. The reality is that humans are the ones that could go first if we don’t take action — saving nature really means saving ourselves.

At the center of the campaign are celebrity-voiced short films that answer the question: What would nature say if it could speak? The films demonstrate the vital links between nature and human wellbeing and convey the campaign’s main message: Nature doesn’t need people. People need nature.

Watch the award-winning films at natureisspeaking.org

Julia Roberts is Mother Nature 

Some call me nature.

Others call me Mother Nature.

I’ve been here for over 4.5 billion years.

22,500 times longer than you.

I don’t really need people.

But people need me.

Yes, your future depends on me.

When I thrive you thrive.  

When I falter you falter. Or worse.

But I’ve been here for eons.

I have fed species greater than you.

And I have starved species greater than you.

My oceans. My soil. My flowing streams. My forests.

They all can take you.

Or leave you.

How you choose to live each day — whether you regard or disregard me — doesn’t really matter to me.

One way or the other, your actions will determine your fate.

Not mine.

I am nature.

I will go on.

I am prepared to evolve.

Are you?

Nature doesn’t need people. People need nature. 

Watch the film. 

Joan Chen is The Sky 

Look up.

There I am.

I am the sky.

I am a warm, protective blanket.

Wrapped around everyone on Earth.

I can bring clouds, rain, and wind.

I can be an ice storm.

Without me, you’d fry.

Every day, I am the breath you take in.

Yet you are making me sick.

I am congested. Off balance. Polluted.

You see, I am more delicate than you think.

It took millions of years to get it just right — my perfect mix of gases, temperature, and weather that you enjoy.

But now your cars, your factories and dust, they have pushed me past the limit.

And you wonder why my typhoons and tornadoes are more intense, more frequent?

I’ve become unpredictable.

Less rain here.

A lot more rain there.

Hotter summers.

Colder winters.

I cannot even control myself anymore.

Enough about me.

I will show my changing self to you in your days ahead.

But in the end, I’ll be fine.

Give me a few thousand years, I have weathered trauma before.

I am not worried for myself.

Look up.

Nature doesn’t need people. People need nature. 

Watch the film. 

Shailene Woodley is The Forest 

I am the forest.

I take in your pollution and give you clean air.

Purify your water and protect your shores. 

Yet you continue to cut me down.

Releasing carbon into the air and heating this planet. 

While some of you stand with me, most of you turn your backs on me.    

But I am resilient.

Let me grow and we can solve your climate problem, together. 

When one tree falls, you might not hear it.

But when millions fall, I assure you, you will feel it.

Nature doesn’t need people. People need nature. 

Watch the film. 

Feature image by Goiele Gatto | Pexels