Old Carl Sagan Recordings Resonate in the Present to Talk about the Climate Crisis

In the mid-1980s, when environmental issues weren't considered as relevant as they are today and ESG had yet to exist as a concept, the visionary Carl Sagan, a Harvard professor and the author of more than 20 books, both on science and science fiction, was raising the alarm about the risks of climate change and the role humanity was playing in destroying the planet. Sagan said back then that even a one-degree change to the planet's temperature would be enough to provoke terrible suffering worldwide. And he was right. 

Forty years on, Sagan's speeches are at the heart of a new film from the UN Global Compact, with creative by AlmapBBDO and Boiler Filmes. Using Sagan's original recordings, the film shows an installation featuring automatons of wild animals, hand-crafted by Argentine artist Pablo Lavezzari and driven by the tape spooling out of an old tape player.

The soundtrack to Sagan's words is 'When The Land Meets The Sea', a song made out of a single tape loop by Amulets, an artist known as 'The Tape Wizard'. The installation was set up at Bolsa de Arte in São Paulo, a gallery which put on an exhibit for guests. The idea is for the piece to be exhibited at galleries abroad in the second half of 2023. 

The campaign is designed to make people reflect about an issue that was urgent then and is a full-blown emergency today. The idea is to invite companies to commit to the aims and goals of the UN Global Compact, a 2000 initiative that seeks to lead the corporate world in adopting humanitarian action. 

Carlo Pereira, CEO of the UN Global Compact Brazil network, believes that the project is so gripping because of its artisanal nature and powerful message. "Both the installation and the film are very touching. They show just how much time we've wasted, but they make it clear that we still have the chance to change the planet's future," he says.