For the upcoming Global Climate Strike on September 23, Fridays For Future U.S., the movement inspired by Greta Thunberg, launches this film highlighting the devastating effects of climate change to the tune of California’s state anthem.
Historically, wildfire season in California takes place between the months of May and October, when the dry summer heat is at its highest and the winds threaten to expand the reach of fires. But wildfire season is no longer a simple 6 month period in the middle of the year–according to climate change experts, California is experiencing record-breaking wildfires all year round.
At press time, the Mosquito Fire in Northern California has already burned 76,290 acres and is at 39% containment. There’s near certainty that more wildfires will continue to rage in the coming months.
To illustrate the devastation these fires have on California’s incredible landscape, and the conditions that have led to this now year-round wildfire season, Fridays for Future U.S. and creative agency Fred & Farid Los Angeles created the film “I Love You, California,” inspired by California’s state song of the same name.
The regional anthem of California, adopted in 1951, celebrates the beauty of California’s rich, diverse natural landscape, from the redwood forests, to the natural exports of honey, fruit, and wine. Today, these lyrics ring more painful than joyous to residents who are forced to watch these same forests and fields of grains burn down year after year.
In 2020 alone, California experienced five of the six largest fires in state history, cumulatively emitting over 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air. Just in 2021, California wildfires burned over 2.2 million acres of land, the carbon emissions equivalent of over 16 million gas powered vehicles driven in one year. While many are aware of the impact of these fires on the land, people, and infrastructure, their release of excess CO2 into the climate further exacerbates this issue, creating the perfect conditions for even more wildfires in the years to come.
To bring attention to the severity of this problem, the film “I Love You, California” shows shot after shot of the state’s landscape in the aftermath: the charcoaled skeletons of pine trees, the singed grape vines, and even the wildlife directly impacted.
While watching these horrific scenes, we hear a somber yet powerful cover of the state song, sung by Fred & Farid Los Angeles’s own jr. art director Kiyomi Morrison, a second-generation California native.
