What would Australia look like at the end of the decade if politicians and decision makers started listening to the needs of its people? That’s the question Damon Gameau, award-winning director of 2040 and That Sugar Film, answers in his latest film Regenerating Australia.
Set on New Year’s Eve in 2029, the film looks back at the decade that we could live in, if we transitioned to a fairer, cleaner and more community-focused economy. It’s not a fantasy either. We have the technology to enact everything raised in the film – today.
We caught up with Damon for a conversation about where we are, and where we’re going.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Oliver Pelling: A lot of what you raise in Regenerating Australia starts with individual action. Everyone’s on their own journey, but how do we take that step from carrying a reusable bag and eating less meat to lobbying, marching, or taking action in the workplace?
Damon Gameau: First of all, it all helps. If someone is carrying around a KeepCup, that’s a good thing. But we require much more significant systemic action in this moment. We have an upcoming election that is one of the most important in our history in terms of which direction we’re going to head in, especially around the climate issue.
If we can start to fill our political system with people like Helen Haines, who’s pushing for legislation around community energy projects, and that type of thinking, we could change this country, and we could see it by 2030. It’s not that far away.
We need corporations to do a lot more than they are, but it can’t be a surface gesture, it can’t be a greenwash.
In this country, we have a controlled media landscape. We rank as the top five most concentrated media landscapes in the world, and the owners of that media are the gatekeepers of a narrative. They are the incumbents of our energy systems, our extractive mining industries. They don't want to give up what they've got. We have to find ways of busting through and creating new media, and engaging more storytellers, artists, songwriters, musicians. They are the cultural shapers. They don’t understand how important they are in this moment.
When you first get started on this journey, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. How important is that concept of simply starting where you are, and where do you think you can garner the most support?
All anyone can do is change their own place; that’s the whole concept of regeneration. We’ve got to start connecting to our place, whether that’s your work, school, office or home. Find the thing that lights you up. It might be food or energy or First Nations’ voices. If you pursue something in that area, you’re more likely to stay engaged with it, see it through, and talk about it with passion and vigour. That then inspires people around you and piques their interest.
We’ve all got skills and things we’re good at. Just see how those skills can align to help with this particular problem. There’ll be some way you can get involved and use your skills to raise awareness. When enough of us do that, it becomes a social norm. Sometimes it’s just having a conversation, or being brave enough to share it on social media.
All anyone can do is change their own place; that’s the whole concept of regeneration. We’ve got to start connecting to our place, whether that’s your work, school, office or home. Find the thing that lights you up.
To what degree do you think taking action on climate can help alleviate the stress and anxiety caused by the climate crisis?
The best way to alleviate any kind of anxiety is to take action and then start building, connecting those nodes of other people and groups. We’re such social things that want community; that’s how we thrive. The more you start looking for change, going beyond your own little band of information and starting to take a few risks, most people go, “Oh my god! I didn’t realise all these things were happening. All these people are doing these things!!” and suddenly you find these people.
And that realisation gives you hope. These people have felt paralysed, but they’ve actually connected with each other and now they’re taking meaningful action. Before you know it, you’re on Zoom calls learning about things you didn’t know, or you’re meeting up to plant trees.
We’re such social things that want community; that’s how we thrive.
We’ve seen this with the 2040 community; complete strangers that felt really hopeless coming together to do extraordinary things. That’s the benefit of this. You can really transmute your despair into real meaning. People are desperate for meaning, so what could be more meaningful than taking part in the regeneration of our planetary home? Imagine being part of this incredible transition that the human species is embarking on.
In the context of regeneration, how important do you think the private sector and corporations are in moving the needle on climate action? What role do you see them playing?
When it comes to corporate responsibility, the positive is that it’s being discussed more than ever. These organisations understand there’s a pressure coming from consumers and from the next generation, and there’s that moral change of what the right thing is to do.
There’s definitely movement in emission reduction, but I think sometimes we can get very emissions myopic and ignore all the other factors. I spoke recently at an event where there was a very large soft drink company espousing their regenerative practices because they’ve switched to renewable energy, and that’s terrific. But if you’re still going to sell your things in plastic containers that end up in the ocean, and you’re still going to extract your water from villages in Africa, and you’re still going to contribute to metabolic disease, that’s not enough.
We need corporations to do a lot more than they are, but it can’t be a surface gesture, it can’t be a greenwash.
The advertising industry now spends $600 million a year telling us to buy more stuff, which is creating more climate change, more ecological breakdown. An entire industry to get us to go in the opposite direction – that’s what we’re up against.
How hopeful are you that your 2030 vision will come to fruition?
I don’t pretend to expect that it’s going to happen. It’s just about trying to plant the seed of possibility, and then hoping that motivates people to take action. We’re at a tipping point in this country. People are desperate for change.
These floods [in Queensland and northern New South Wales] really highlight to people how we’ve got to self-organise and develop better systems – better democratic models, better ways of communicating and connecting with each other.
All the phones and internet dropped out, so people were forced to go and interact, set up community hubs, write on blackboards, allocate tasks and jobs. It’s been an extraordinary operation and shows what we’re capable of as humans when our backs are against the wall.
But we can actually pull back our power and change the direction of our human civilisation over the next few decades; that’s the opportunity up for grabs here.
My biggest fear at the moment is that it’s all too much for people. They feel hopeless and don’t know where they can engage. Our kids aren’t even talking about having children because they’re too scared of the future. But we can actually pull back our power and change the direction of our human civilisation over the next few decades; that’s the opportunity up for grabs here.
So we’ve got to tell that story and get people excited by the better world we can create. It’s going to be messy and we’ll go through tricky times, but on the other side, we can create an incredible, thriving civilisation for future generations. What a legacy! That amidst all the chaos, there were groups of people that got together, chose a different path and started planting those seeds for a more functioning, healthy society.
Catch Damon Gameau as part of a nation-wide series of special Q&A events on now. All screenings will feature an audience Q&A with expert panellists and live entertainment from local artists. Tickets are free for under 18s and all revenue from adult ticket sales will go direct to participating First Nations speakers and local artists. Screening information and tickets are available at www.regeneratingaustralia.com/see-the-film.
All images provided by Regen Studios Pty Ltd.
