Projects

n the online network “Earthbook“, Earth has millions of friends. Plants and Animals left their status updates on a 4.48 billion year old profile. But when “Human” burns too much coal and oil, Earth doesn’t “like“ it anymore. The German version of this short film “Earthbook“ by the Climate Media Factory already had more than 160.000 views in only one week on Youtube. Now, an English version was made available as well. The video was made in context of “Project Earth: Our Future“ by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for “Science Year 2012“.

“Earthbook puts man-made climate change in a new, unusual perspective“, says Jürgen Kropp, PIK project leader of the Climate Media Factory, a collaboration between the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Film and Television University “Konrad Wolf“ (HFF). Together the specialists of this research project develop new media formats on the subject of global warming, with support from the Federal Government. The climate scientists’ expertise ensures that the facts are accurate.

Based on the popular social network Facebook, “Earthbook“ tells the story of a virtual friendship between Earth and Human in less than four minutes. At some point this friendship leads to invitations to join groups like “coal and oil drilling” – according to the fictional plot. The Oceans suffer from heartburn because of acidification, Earth suffers from elevated temperatures. Only when Earth threatens to quit the internet friendship, Human begins to rethink: (s)he joins the group “renewable energies” and invites everyone to the Rio Earth Summit.