Browned Off: A Clarion Call TO SAVE aUSTRALIA’S SOUTH WEST FORESTS FROM ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE
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Discover the urgent need to protect our environment and support the film that sheds light on this critical issue.
Documentary Filmmaker
Jane Hammond
Jane Hammond is a passionate filmmaker dedicated to raising awareness about the climate and biodiversity crisis. Her previous film Black Cockatoo Crisis won the prestigous Change Award at the 2023 Adelaide Film Festival and was broadcast on SBS.
Scientist
Dr Joe Fontaine
Joe Fontaine is a disturbance ecologist from Murdoch University and key character in Browned Off. The film will follow his field work and findings.
Editor
Nicolas Dunlop
Nicholas Dunlop is a freelance screen editor based in Western Australia. He has edited documentary features and television programs for broadcasters including ABC, SBS, BBC, ITV and ZDF-Arte.
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THE STORY
Browned Off is told through the eyes of the scientists, citizen scientists and activists documenting the demise of the forests and working to turn the situation around. The film will use a strong narrative, music and cinematography to tell an engaging and urgent story about how we are witnessing in real time the beginning of what could be one of the first climate change induced mass ecological collapses of the world’s forests. The start of the bleaching of Western Australia’s forests provides a cautionary tale of what happens when we ignore the science and continue to act as if nothing is happening.
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Issue Summary
Western Australia is witnessing climate change in action with the death of large swathes of the south west’s unique forest ecosystems. These ancient forests are already under threat from strip mining, repeated burning and an introduced pathogen. Centuries of logging have also left the forests stressed and fragmented. Climate change now threatens to cause mass ecological collapse. Meanwhile our state and federal govenments are marching ahead with huge fossil fuel projects in Western Australia’s north that will blow out any emmissions targets and fuel runaway climate change for decades to come.
The bleaching of Western Australia’s forests is a warning to the rest of the world. We must act now to drastically reduce global emissions. We have less than a decade.
Take action to save Australia’s south west forests
✓ Protect the environment and
✓ Support conservation efforts and