Mar 14

Olympic Skier Ted Ligety Chats With a Snowflake Depressed About Climate Change

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Olympic skier Ted Ligety plays straight man to a sullen, animated snowflake in this 90-second spot from Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.

It's part of CRP's "I Am Pro Snow" campaign featuring winter sports stars. Ligety's side of the conversation was created from footage of the gold medalist chatting with a technician while shooting a segment for Warren Miller's documentary Ticket to Ride.

Copywriter Jim Heekin voices the snowflake, who's just not cool with global warming. "For me, 2013—not the best year," he says. "I had a lot of my friends, close friends, melt way before their time." The flake tries to get a grip, telling Ligety: "Sorry, dude. This is my stuff. I should be a better friend to you."

The absurdity continues as the skier provides thigh-drum accompaniment while the flake raps, "Yo, my name is snow/And my beats got flow/And, yo, these winters gettin' hotter/'Case you didn't know." (Climate change skeptics will, of course, point to the fact that early 2014 has been one of the coldest winters for most of the U.S.)

Props to CRP for taking an unconventional approach, though the spot might be a bit too flaky for its own good.


    



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Mar 22

Reggie Watts Really Wants You to Stop Paying for Carbon Pollution

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You're sitting down, doing your taxes, just trying not to hate the universe, when a pocket-picking smoke monster reaches into your jacket and steals all your cash. This is "The Price of Carbon," the latest clip from the Climate Reality Project, Al Gore's environmental advocacy group. Created with the help of D.C. communications shop Glover Park Group and Brooklyn production company m ss ng p eces, the clip uses charming—if a little arty—visuals to draw a line from oil and coal pollution to climate change to taxpayers' wallets via relief packages for the victims of natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy and last year's Midwest drought. The playful, minimalist aesthetic helps a fairly complex argument seem simple. The sing-song narration, delivered by comedian and musician Reggie Watts, also helps. So, you could do what the spot wants you to do and complain about the problem to your friends, or write a letter to Congress, or something. But if you take the crux of the video to heart—Earth is getting really pissed off at humans, the incredibly well-financed energy industry doesn't care, but c'mon, the government should try to make carbon barons pay for the damage anyway—then now might also be an appropriate time to throw on Watts's essential anthem, Fuck Shit Stack. Especially if you really are still doing your taxes.

CREDITS
Director: Dark Igloo
Executive Producer: m ss ng p eces
TV Weather Illustration: Ana Benaroya

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