Chile to launch ‘I am The Earth. Stories from the Southern Edge of the World’ documentary on Amazon

...Prime UK, 24th of March.

Brought to you by Imagen de Chile, the documentary film is to showcase Chile’s position in climate leadership.

Produced by Oscar-winning production company Fábula and directed by Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberd, Chile’s acclaimed cinematographic talent are to present the stories of Chilean men and women who are leading concrete actions to mitigate the climate crisis, from different parts of this elongated country in South America’s Southern Cone.

In the latest version of The Climate Change Performance Index 2023 (CCPI), Chile is ranked as the country with the best climate protection performance in Latin America and the third best in the world, surpassed only by Denmark and Sweden. This report annually assesses the progress of nearly 60 countries in implementing policies to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, taking into account factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy and climate policy. Chile also stands out for adopting a climate change framework law in 2022, where the country committed to achieving zero emissions by 2050, with specific policies to achieve it.

This prestigious position in the fight against climate change, confirmed today by the CCPI, is the result of continuous work by the Chilean State, through clear actions to reduce the carbon footprint, a task that has been shared with private companies and empowered the citizens themselves. It is a show of conscience that today places Chile as a leader in the fight against climate change.

“Chile is positioning itself as an important actor in mitigating climate change and protecting the ocean and ecosystems. Our turquoise foreign policy and signing carbon neutrality into law are examples of how we are moving with special emphasis towards a sustainable development model, and we are doing it through public policies and citizen innovations,” stated Rossana Dresdner, Executive Director of Imagen de Chile.

The film takes the viewer on a journey through different initiatives and cases where Chilean men and women are contributing to mitigate the effects of climate change, from large-scale projects and scientific innovations to everyday citizen actions, all of which are collectively necessary. The documentary focuses on five thematic areas: sustainable agriculture; forest and biodiversity conservation; renewable energy; the water crisis; and astronomy.

Entrepreneur Cristián Sjögren, a central figure in “I am the Earth. Stories from the Southern Edge of The Word” is the co-founder and CEO of AgroUrbana, Vice President of the Chile California Council and Member of Fundación Chile’s ChileGlobal Ventures Mentoring Network. He was also Latin America Director of First Solar, and a pioneer in Chile’s solar industry as the Founder of Solar Chile.

Located in Santiago, AgroUrbana is the first Chilean company to introduce vertical agriculture, which produces 100 times more per square metre than traditional agriculture. The revolutionary technology allows farmers to cultivate, making a 95% saving in water use.

“The planet is going to have a population of 10 billion inhabitants by 2050; projections tell us we have to raise our current food production capacity by 70%. If we continue doing things the way we have up to now, this won’t be possible. And that is where the need arises to rethink how we farm to do more with less.”

“There is no planet B that we can escape to. It’s our job to care for the one that enabled our existence,” says Andrés Jordán, another central figure in film, an astrophysicist known around the world for his role in HATSouth, a global project to search for extrasolar planets using telescopes spread over three continents: South America; Africa; and Australia. This was the inspiration to start his own observatory, El Sauce, in the Southern Atacama Desert in the Coquimbo Region.

Natalia Rebolledo and Nicolás Schneider, Creators of Fundación Un Alto en el Desierto (A Stop in the Desert Foundation), are seeking to raise awareness about water care in the Coquimbo Region, especially in rural schools where there is a lack of drinking water. The network is made up of 30 rural schools that have recovered two million litres of water to create common green spaces, by installing rainwater storage systems and fog catchers, and reusing greywater. They have already installed 29 fog catchers over an area of 250 square metres. The area is one of the most important cloud oases in Chile and the region.

They warn that “without water there are no crops. Livestock farming declines over time. Rural-urban migration increases. Towns are left with no young people. Rural schools have fewer and fewer students. And when there are no children in the schools, the towns die too; they grow old.”

The testimonies of Andrés, Cristián, Natalia and Nicolás are examples of civil organisation in the fight against climate change shown in the documentary. It also tells the stories of six other activists from different parts of Chile. Activists such as Rodrigo Delmaestro, who for years has been studying how to obtain energy causing the least environmental impact in the southern Magallanes Region, taking advantage of the area’s renewable energy potential, focusing in particular on wind energy and carbon neutral fuel.

The documentary thus shows the exemplary work they are carrying out, through nine stories that stir the soul and invite you to follow suit.