As if it were a catharsis, three years ago Javier Peña changed his life. Not only because he became a father for the first time, but because he read a report in which he claimed that we had barely a decade ahead of us to try to reverse the climate change situation that threatens the Earth. That reading made him feel “the need to do something” and he began to upload videos to Facebook where he tried to explain what we are really dealing with.
After the reception that these first videos had, Hope, Peña’s channel, now has more than 500 million views and, he assures, is the environmental channel with the most impact in the world on Facebook, with a million and a half followers of more from 80 countries. Immersed in the production of a documentary series in which he wants to explain the way of solving the climate crisis and what would have to happen so that we arrive in time to save the planet, Javier Peña talks about his two projects and his environmental awareness.
-He had experience in communication in social networks, but he did not talk about environmental issues until he started with this project.
-I studied biology and in the end I got into the world of Communication. With this project, together my two main passions: Nature and Biology and Communication. It all started as a hobby, but it started to have such an impact that I decided to quit my job and fully dedicate myself to making these videos. It was what he believed had to be done at the time. Many people are supporting me with small monthly donations through Patreon and Facebook, allowing me to fully dedicate myself to this.
-What would be your objective?
-That a large part of the population really understands the dimension of the threat we are facing. Second, understand what should be done to reverse this threat. Public opinion in democracy is the key piece that determines what is politically feasible and what is not, what is done and what is not. Accelerating the green transition and ensuring that the climate plans of governments and companies are adapted to the recommendations of scientific authorities, something that is far from happening right now.
-What are the keys to Hope’s success?
-I think I have basically done the opposite of what is supposed to be done to reach a lot of people with the communication of the climate crisis. I treat the viewer as an adult who wants to inform himself, without avoiding complexity or gravity, to explain that this is a very serious problem but that we have time to solve it if we act.
-How do you organize to make these videos? Do you have a calendar?
-There is no established periodicity. When a new report comes out I make a video explaining it. When a study comes out that talks about a solution, I explain it. My style is to tell what Science is saying, but translating it into a language that anyone can understand, regardless of their training.
“I am counting on Fernando Valladares, who has just received the Jaime I Prize for Science and is one of the most recognized climate scientists in Spain. He is working hand in hand with me, both in Hope’s videos and in the series project
Here, great scientists who have joined the project have helped me a lot and who help me to polish the scripts and make sure that what is published conforms to Science. Among others, I have Fernando Valladares, who has just received the Jaime I Prize for Science and is one of the most recognized climate scientists in Spain. He is working closely with me, both on Hope’s videos and on the series project that we are funding right now through crowdfunding.
-How did your editorial advisory council come about?
-Of natural form. When I have doubts when it comes to writing the video scripts, I meet scientists to ask questions. These scientists also introduce you to new ones and an informal network is created that form the Editorial Board. They are great scientists who are selflessly supporting me to help ensure rigor.
-I mentioned before that you are making a documentary. Why are you funding it with donations?
-We launched it like this precisely to be able to guarantee scientific rigor and not put ourselves in the hands of large sponsors who could pressure us in favor of a certain agenda or a certain interest.
-What can you anticipate about the contents of the documentary?
-It is a pioneer worldwide because (and it is one of the things that most caught my attention) there has never been a documentary and a documentary series that explained in depth what would have to happen to solve the climate crisis in time and meet the objectives of the Paris agreement. I think it is fundamental. It’s like when you are in a fire. The first factor that determines your attitude is that you realize that you are in a fire. It is the alarm part, to make the population aware of the seriousness of this. The second element, which is just as important, is that you know what to do about it, where to start, what time you have and how you have to react. This series has the objective of the second line, to show what a successful comprehensive green transition would look like so that, with certain changes in our society, we can stop our CO2 emissions on time. Something that would have to happen in the field of food, transport, industry, the economy or the management of natural ecosystems.
-What should change?
-Everything. But we have to get out of that apathy and defeatism in which we often find ourselves installed. People are overwhelmed by the immensity of the challenge before us and the perspectives posed by scientific experts. We must go from that apathy to utopia, to hope, to visualize what we could achieve. We have in our hands the greatest opportunity for a change in social condition that humanity has experienced. We have the possibility of transforming, in a matter of decades, our entire society so that it is more sustainable, cleaner, fairer and that it is a physically better world than the one we received.
The series tries to show what that path and that society that we could build would be like, implementing the best solutions that we have. It is mobilizing from hope and from the desire for change, which I think is a very powerful force.
-What would be the biggest obstacle or challenge that we have to face in order to leave a better world than the one we find ourselves in?
-The transition, due to the powerful economic interests that are doing very well with the current situation and who want to delay this transition to continue maintaining their profit accounts for as long as possible. That of all of us when it comes to implementing the measures required by Science. With the coronavirus, we have seen what a government is capable of if it is in an emergency. This sense of emergency is not yet there, nor is it expected, in terms of climate action, despite the fact that scientific reports cannot be clearer. Even more than 400 medical journals published a joint editorial in which they warn that the climate crisis is the greatest threat to the health of humanity. However, we continue with this calm and inefficient pace of action.
It is as if your child is prescribed antibiotics every 8 hours, because they have a serious infection and you are giving them antibiotics every other day because it seems appropriate. It will not work. With the climate emergency we are the same. The time variable in which it is acted matters a lot. It is going to be a lot more expensive to act 10 years from now (we may already be late) than it would be to act now. It is essential that citizens understand, so that governments begin to act, what this emergency is.
– Do you think that on a social level there is more awareness about this problem?
– I think that most of the people do not know the critical point in which we find ourselves. We are at a point where, according to Science, what we do in these next few years will determine the conditions in which the generations of the next millennia will live. There are climatic systems that, once destabilized, it is practically impossible to return them to the previous state. The urgency is total.
-He started the Hope channel almost three years ago alerted by a report in which it was denounced that we had 12 years to try to reverse the situation. Are you more scared, less or the same than before?
-Plus. The more you inform yourself about this, the more you get scared.
-It is said of you that you are an ‘influencer’ in the environmental area. Are you comfortable with that label?
It is true that we associate ‘influencer’ with people who promote brands. I don’t know how to define myself, except as a scientific popularizer who uses social media and television screens to promote greater environmental awareness.
.