Vancouver filmmaker’s Climate Change Babies documentary free to view for Mother’s Day

Article content

A new film that documents a group of B.C. parents that came together to address climate change and their babies’ futures can be viewed for free this Mother’s Day weekend.

Vancouver filmmaker Jocelyn Demers debuts his documentary Climate Change Babies, which takes a hopeful approach to the climate crisis by focussing on a group taking action to secure a better future for their children.

The year before the pandemic hit, new parents and grandparents from B.C. organized a group called Babies for Climate Action in a bid to provide support to each other.

For their first climate rally, about 50 members of the group showed up with their babies in the fall of 2019. They have also marched during the pandemic, while social distancing and wearing masks.

The 45-minute documentary looks at how the people making decisions about the climate and ecological crises are not the ones who will bear the brunt of global warming.

Article content

The viewer hears from members of the Babies for Climate Action group, including experts, activists, Indigenous leaders, and anxious new parents, as well as author and parent Elin Kelsey, whose book Hope Matters looks at why changing the way we think is crucial to solving the climate crisis.

Kelsey talks about how it is important for kids to feel like they are part of a community, and to be included as part of the positive action for change. She says people are more hopeful when they are part of meaningful action rather than simply told to fear climate change, which can cause depression and apathy.

Shooting the documentary during a pandemic came with a set of challenges. Demers, a former producer at the CBC, said he couldn’t set up interviews indoors, which is better for controlling light and sound. Though he added having them outdoors in nature worked with the theme of the film.

He also couldn’t travel as much as he usually does to shoot different scenes so he had to rely on more stock footage than he normally does and focus on a group close to home.

“The future of the world is the children, and I believe deeply that we cannot deny them a future of prosperity and health,” said Demers.

“This is an important message in my film that goes beyond political views. It’s about basic health and respect for life.”

The documentary, produced by Demers’ company Monde Films, is available to watch for free this weekend on Films for Action. .

Monde Films is a local documentary and educational video company that aims to promote cultural change. Demers said many of of his films focus on sustainability, solutions and positive action.

Article content

Some of his other films can be found online at Kanopy Canada, Kanopy USA and on www.greenplanetfilms.org and on the NFB green channel TV. His last documentary, the Future of Birds, was presented at the the Vancouver Film festival and at Rendez-Vous du Cinéma (Vancouver).

Dr. Melissa Lem, a family doctor who is also the president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, says in the film that if emissions are not reduced babies born today could see a global of warming of 4 C, which she says “could have catastrophic effects to our public health and the environment that sustains us.”

Still, she says there is hope and there is a lot that is being done to change the way people think about nature, for example giving kids less screen time and more time spent in the wild.

She points to studies that show how kids who spend time a lot of time in nature become not only less anxious but grow into adults who care about protecting the environment.

Demers said Lem is one of a few physicians in Canada who now prescribes trips in nature to her patients.

“I made this documentary because I truly believe we have to make the connection between babies and children and climate justice,” said Demers.

“Some parents are already making the connection.”

Demers, a former producer at Radio-Canada International in Europe, also teaches sustainable gardening and French.

ticrawford@postmedia.com