Think Like A Forest: A small film with a big message

Like its underpinning call to action to recloak Papatūānuku, the recently released short film Think Like A Forest is slowly growing an audience for the big messages that it carries.

The 36-minute-long film itself can be viewed easily, by clicking through to:

Source: Pure Advantage

People who the film's host and narrator Sam Gibson (pictured above) speaks with include: Graeme Atkins, Malcolm Rutherford, Dame Anne Salmond, Renee Raroa, David Norton, Gill Cox, Shannon Bennett, Matt Iremonger, Mere Tamanui, Sam Rowland and Jordan Tibble.

The roots of Think Like A Forest trace back to the O Tātou Ngahere Conference that took place at Te Papa Tongarewa almost three years ago, in October 2022, in a partnership between Pure Advantage and Tāne’s Tree Trust .

Next came the launch of the Recloaking Papatūānuku Proposal, a living document and campaign that was suitably launched to a global audience at Cop28 in 2023.

As reported on The Spinoff at the time, Dame Anne Salmond, one of Pure Advantage’s trustees, said that Recloaking Papatūānuku is practical, achievable and backed by “very rigorous analysis”. She added: “it's a big beautiful idea we can work on together. I think our country desperately needs this kind of project at the moment. One that unites us and gives us hope and pride. We need to do our best for our children and our grandchildren and take care of our beautiful land.”

This ambitious project aims to plant and restore millions of hectares of native forest and wetlands in Aotearoa New Zealand over the next decade. Think Like a Forest showcases these restoration efforts, with an emphasis on a holistic approach and the role of mana whenua; not just planting trees but also restoring the mana and wairua of interconnected ecosystems.

A form of precursor to Think Like A Forest was a series of interviews conducted at O Tātou Ngahere Conference by Vincent Heeringa.

Think Like A Forest was filmed on location at Tiromoana Bush North Canterbury, Willesden Farms Banks Peninsula, View Hill Canterbury, Paora forest in Uawa, Longbush Reserve, 1769 Sanctuary at Waikereru and Titirangi Maunga Gisborne. Additional credit and thanks for funding production of the film went to the Lloyd Morrison Trust, The Mills Foundation and The Tindall Foundation.

Businessdesk journalist Greg Hurrell covered a premiere for the film held in the Beehive theatrette on 20 August. Hurrell wrote that in introducing the film Climate Change Minister Simon Watts was moved to observe that a significant amount of Crown land was currently underutilised. Indeed.

Also interestingly Hurrell reported that Pure Advantage are keen its own solutions aren’t misguided and 100% open to having its ideas put under scrutiny.

Hurrell's story quoted some strong and compelling views expressed by Pure Advantage trustee Andrew Grant at the premiere, including this closing quote:

“If you asked me to take any NZ product and sell it to the most sophisticated international investors, I would pick this over anything, over trying to sell PPP (public private partnerships) and toll roads and prisons. In my view, this is the next Fonterra."

Seen The film? What do you Think?
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LAA can confirm that watching Think Like A Forest is a motivating experience. We'd love nothing more than to gather comments from any readers who view the film. We're looking for at least half a dozen comments - both responses to the film itself and any other thoughts arising from it. Be brave. Send before 17 September to laaotearoa@nzila.co.nz to accompany a follow-up piece.

Some additional reading:

Biodiversity, Climate Adaptation, Conservation, #LandscapeExpandedStephen Olsen