The world’s first online streaming platform for Eco-Activists, Ecostreamz (www.ecostreamz.com) backed by PM Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, will be offered free for 12 months to 32,770 schools across Britain. Johnson, a keen conservationist, is an Honorary Ambassador of Ecostreamz.
The platform embraces viewpoints from both sides of the political spectrum, and has been in talks with organisations from the Ape Alliance to Extinction Rebellion about embracing the platform, hosted on Microsoft Azure, one of the world’s ‘greenest Cloud service providers’. Tensions emerged between PM Boris Johnson and his father, when Stanley Johnson marched with Extinction Rebellion just prior to the election. He joked that he was proud to be a ‘crustie’ after Boris Johnson labelled Extinction Rebellion ‘uncooperative crusties’.
SaveMoneyCutCarbon, backed by Lord Robin Russell and Tree Council Chairman Joel Cadbury, who were also the first recipient of investment from Barclays £175 million Sustainable Impact Capital Initiative, is advising Ecostreamz on its educational sponsorship programme. Save Money Cut Carbon who install immunity-protecting LED lights in schools and contactless taps are offering the free 12-month Ecostreamz subscription for each school they convert. Schools can gain Government-backed loans from Salix Finance to adopt ‘COVID-19’ protecting equipment.
Careful editorial balance is an absolute prerequisite for Ecostreamz to provide a welcome resource in classrooms for young people who had their eyes open to the dangers of Climate Change by Greta Thunberg and plastic pollution in our oceans, after watching Sir David
Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2.
Ecostreamz is backed by Mya-Rose Craig, 18 years, who blogs as Birdgirl and is President of Black2Nature. She started conservation campaigning ten years ago, becoming the youngest British person to be awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science (by Bristol University) at the age of 17 years for her environmental campaigning.
Mya-Rose says: “I got involved because I think Ecostreamz is an amazing way to ethically consume media and support the causes you care about”.
Fellow Ecostreamz Ambassador is Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace, joined the Ecostreamz Advisory Board.
Dr. Goodall says: “Documentaries can change the world and in many cases, they have! With Films like ‘The Cove’, ‘Blackfish’, ‘Blood Lions’ and ‘Stroop’, many wildlife conservation crises have received more attention in the media and the public. Unfortunately, however, the vast majority of independent, issue-related films remain unseen because they are rarely picked up by television networks or theatres. That is why I have agreed to sit on the Advisory Board of Ecostreamz. By creating a streaming video service like Netflix dedicated to global environmental and social justice issues, Ecostreamz will endorse the importance of film in changing public discourse.We are running out of time for many species and their habitats in this planet we share. Ecostreamz provides an important service and I am glad to be a part of it.”
Stanley Johnson says: “Britain will emerge from the pandemic with an even greater thirst for a cleaner and greener future. I am very confident that Ecostreamz will lead that charge”.
Remarkably, 80% of all paid streaming revenues is returned to charities and filmmakers that provide the content.
The project is co-founded by Oregon-based James Branchflower and British conservationist Ian Redmond OBE, the man who introduced Sir David Attenborough to the mountain gorillas for the BBC documentary Life on Earth in 1978 and went on to serve as Envoy for the UN Great Apes Survival Partnership.
Ian Redmond OBE says: “Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion both urge the media to ‘tell the truth’ but,” says Redmond, “the mainstream media are reluctant to show documentaries they see as ‘ratings losers’ because they can be difficult to watch. Passionate filmmakers, often working with charities, make powerful educational films about the issues of our day, many of which win awards but then disappear. Ecostreamz is a platform for these important films and supports the causes that are featured. The scheme to provide free school subscriptions is a wonderful opportunity to educate the next generation and link students to the organisations working to solve the problems exposed.”
Participating Ecostreamz partners include: Wild and Scenic Film Festival, International Wildlife Film Festival, Social Justice Film Festival, Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, Ape Alliance, The Borneo Project, International Primate Protection League, Gorilla Foundation, Freeland Foundation, WildAid, African Wildlife Foundation among many others.
Some of the featured films currently enjoying high demand on Ecostreamz include: “Blood Lions”, “God in Shackles”, “Tainted Love”, “Stroop” and “Long Gone Wild”, among a strong line-up of must-watch critically acclaimed films.
