'2040' Is An Optimist's Guide To Our Glittering Carbon-Free Future
2040 is now available online in most countries, watch it at the link below the article.
‘2040’ is best described as an optimist’s guide to the future, starring director, narrator and presenter Damon Gameau as the science teacher every child dreams of, one that makes it fun! He sets off on a global exploration (ultimately off-set by a ceremonial forest-planting) of the world’s most promising climate change solutions and projects them 20 years into the future. The result is a 90-minute blend of educational material and uplifting “fact-based dreaming”, in contrast with pretty much any other climate change documentary there is.
The film’s positive outlook is emphasised by Gameau’s unrelenting chirpiness, curiosity and sometimes sheer elation at the discoveries he makes. So much so, that your enjoyment of the film will revolve around your tolerance (or not) for his unbridled positivity. Although it does produce some cringe moments, his enthusiasm and frequent self-derision are enough to win you over.
We’re all used to seeing “miracle” technological solutions to the climate crisis being extolled in news reports and commercials. Too often, they turn out to be unsustainable headline-grabbing PR stunts and from the outset, we feared a similar pitfall to the fixes highlighted in ‘2040’. But, on the contrary, it focuses on a selection of proven tools that genuinely show a lot of promise.
For each topic that it examines, ‘2040’ actually goes into surprising scientific and academic detail, all while keeping the viewer interested. Delving into key sectors one after the other (energy, agriculture, transport…), it follows a satisfying pattern of presenting an idea as it exists today, providing context from an expert in the field and then imagining its future potential, with enough clever camera work and CGI to entertain.
The imagined scenarios set in 2040, in which Gameau casts himself and his family, steal the show. Despite a cliché narrative arc that sees his four-year-old daughter (twenty-five in 2040) placed at the centre of these sequences and the near-constant supply of dad jokes (too many), the invitation to imagine a new world is hard to resist. The notion of hearing birdsong in a green and pedestrianised city centre is enough to awaken anyone’s inner futurist.
To top it off, Gameau chooses to end the film with a surprisingly moving depiction of the almighty celebration that would ensue should humanity achieve carbon neutrality, with his adult daughter among the revellers. A seamless fusion of the real and virtual is brought to life by the crowd’s surreal array of costumes in a surprisingly authentic way - the culmination of an underlying cinematic feel throughout.
Unlike other films of its kind, ‘2040’ will inspire you, renew your environmental fervour and above all, make you happy.
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