By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
Benedict Cumberbatch explains how we can work with nature, not against it
Year: 2026
‘Welcome to the world’s greatest “how to” video,’ declares Benedict Cumberbatch at the start of this documentary, a film about how to save our planet that eschews the idea of us all moving to Mars if Earth falls apart. Mars, after all, looks like a horrible place to live – Elon Musk is welcome to it, but why would the rest of us want to move there?
This optimistic film says the key to saving our planet is to work with nature, rather than against it. It’s a simple idea – simpler to say than do, but it’s all about what perspective you take, and how something that makes sense today (chopping down trees for an income) makes no economic sense in the future (when there are no more trees to chop down). The same can be true of how we treat rivers, the sea and the sky. It’s all about long-term cost versus short-term gain.
We think that we can replace nature, but a planted field of trees is not the same thing as a forest. It’s all about value, and comes down to the fact that nature does not charge us for all the services it provides. And, if we learn to work with it, we could all end up rich – and not just in a spiritual sense. (95 minutes)
