, a new nature documentary hosted by Benedict Cumberbatch, starts with bizarre footage of farmers in China tickling pear trees with giant feather dusters. Because pesticides have killed off the bees, farmers must now pollinate pear blossoms themselves. It shows how absurd and broken our relationship with nature is. We are destroying the ecosystems that we depend on.
Now published to as 鈥渢he world鈥檚 greatest how-to video鈥�, the documentary aims to explore not just this problem, but also possible win-win solutions, Cumberbatch told me in an interview at a London hotel.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had people warn us of the perils of our direction of travel. This is reshaping that narrative,鈥� says Cumberbatch. 鈥淚f we start working with nature rather than against it鈥� it鈥檚 for the betterment of ourselves.鈥�
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Producer Jonnie Hughes has worked on projects with David Attenborough including the documentary A Life on Our Planet. While the cinematography in the new documentary is stunning, it isn鈥檛 a masterpiece like that film was. Passing characters like an elephant guard in Chad are never developed, and lyrical descriptions of local communities living in harmony with nature felt cloying to this jaded journalist. The barrage of nature solutions in far-flung regions might confound viewers wondering how to take action.
But the film raises a pragmatic question that is often shunned by environmentalists: how can a capitalist society learn to value nature鈥檚 ecosystem services rather than just its resources? In the film, we watch companies profit off gold mining on a tributary of the Amazon river, while Indigenous communities bear the cost of mercury pollution.
As an alternative, the documentary discusses the idea of a natural asset company, which would allow investors to buy equity in an ecosystem. The sale of carbon or biodiversity credits, water supplies or sustainable crops could potentially generate revenue, while value would increase as the ecosystem is restored.
Hughes, who once a short biodiversity film that then-prime-minister of the UK Boris Johnson showed to the G7, is screening the documentary for Wall Street investors as part of New York Climate Week this week. To make change, environmentalists must give politicians and businesspeople a new story to tell, he says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good story that sustainability is not about sacrifice; it鈥檚 about benefit,鈥� says Hughes. 鈥淧eople start thinking, 鈥楬ang on, what鈥檚 this green rush going on?鈥欌��
When I asked Hughes if Cumberbatch was the next Attenborough, the actor jumped in to protest that 鈥渢here鈥檚 no one like Sir David鈥�. But if you want to think about how we might start halting the biodiversity crisis that Attenborough helped reveal, How to Live on Earth is a good place to begin.
