“As humans, we lack compassion and empathy towards nature. We are disconnected. How can we possibly protect something that we don’t love? How can we love something we don’t know or understand? I am inspired by people that find ways to connect with nature on a deeper level and understand it’s true value… because this is what fosters the willingness to protect the remaining natural areas that we have left.”

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Half a decade ago, Carter and I were both fretting over Student Council events. Figuring out how to make a deliveries of hundreds of roses for Valentines Day or discussing methods to increase enthusiasm and engagement. Now, just five years later and many life experiences as well as obstacles later…I’ve had the absolute pleasure of taking some time to reconnect with him and highlight some of the work he’s currently doing. It has been a privilege to follow his journey thus far and also to reflect on how far we both have come in the span of these years. I can only say that his tenacious worth ethic is inspiring and to be able to see how he uses his ability to seek out challenges and strive to find ways to contribute is something I hope that this article can do justice in shedding a light on.

CP: At the moment, you’re finishing up your Degree in Environment & Business at the University of Waterloo and a documentary called In Your Palm. Tell me a bit more about your background and your environmental advocacy journey, what has inspired you to embark on this journey and has continued to inspire you along the way?

CK: Personally, my passion for environmental advocacy stems from my childhood. I was raised in British Columbia; so I was lucky enough to grow up immersed in nature. I established a love for the natural world at a young age. As I started to interview other environmentalists for my documentary, I realized that “experiences in nature” was a common driver for fostering a desire to protect the environment. I strongly believe the biggest environmental problem today is apathy. As humans, we lack compassion and empathy towards nature. We are disconnected. How can we possibly protect something that we don’t love? How can we love something we don’t know or understand? I am inspired by people that find ways to connect with nature on a deeper level and understand it’s true value… because this is what fosters the willingness to protect the remaining natural areas that we have left.

My pursuit of environmental advocacy grew in parallel with my growing understanding of the reality of the threats that the environment is facing. For the past 5 years, I have studied Environment and Business at the University of Waterloo. I became accustomed to learning about the environmental issues our world is facing – and the tools and strategies we should be using to solve them. I also lived in 4 different countries over the past 2 years, where for the first time, I became immersed in the ecological challenges that I read about in my textbooks. From the energy crisis in South Africa to excessive deforestation in Indonesia – living in different countries provided me with perspective of how real these issues are becoming, and how little I actually knew. This realization led me to pursue documentary filmmaking as a way to capture knowledge and information from individuals and organizations that are closest to the issue.

I also find a lot of inspiration from established filmmakers in the field. James Sutter, Chris Burkard, Jimmy Chin and Paul Nicklen are all people that keep me inspired to find new ways to use storytelling and film to promote conservation.

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CP: Throughout undergrad, you’ve developed an extensive and interdisciplinary background spanning across business operations, environmental activism, and more creative elements such as marketing or film-making.  You’ve found this beautiful intersection of social entrepreneurship and film-making. How has this benefited you in your approach to story-telling and finding solutions to problems?

CK: Interdisciplinary learning is something I’ve prioritized in my undergraduate degree. It allows me to draw ideas from multiple fields of work and apply it to whatever problem I’m trying to tackle. Before stepping into the world of filmmaking, I worked at a range of companies; from start-ups to “Fortune 500” companies in different fields (operations, environmental conservation, research, digital marketing, strategy). This challenged me to quickly learn new tools and processes in each career, while constantly shifting the way I approach problems. I tend to throw myself at any interesting opportunity that comes my way .. and trust in my ability to adapt to the new environment.

When I started filmmaking, I identified a serious problem with many existing environmental documentaries we see today. Unfortunately many environmental films today use scare tactics and don’t actually equip the audience with the knowledge on how they can be part of the solution. As part of the audience watching a film, we’re accustomed to sitting down and becoming captivated by the visuals on screen – only to go back to our normal routines the next day. Instead, I wanted to create films that inspire people to cultivate a greater sense of empathy for the natural world and take action on tackling environmental issues

In order to do this, I had to do extensive research on not just how to create films, but more importantly, how visual cinema and storytelling actually result in positive behaviour change. I looked to my network and collaborated with a Professor at the University of Waterloo who is an expert in Community Based Social Marketing (CBSM), a framework which can be used to help people adopt new behaviours that are more environmentally sustainable. Together we identified ways to infuse this framework into documentary storytelling to push viewers towards becoming more sustainable consumers. If I had gone to film school and only learned how to make films … I would never have built a foundation of how fields can intersect to create new opportunities and tackle global issues. Interdisciplinary learning has helped me immensely.

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CP: So tell me a bit more about the current project you’re working on at the moment. I know a few years ago, you started a company Troventi, which is a platform that helps connect students to foster selling or exchanging their textbooks. There’s a clear thread of initiative on your end. Trying to bridge innovative solutions with problems you see. Walk me through In Your Palm and perhaps the purpose behind the film. 

CK: In Your Palm is a documentary film series aimed at accelerating sustainability in the palm oil industry by nudging consumers towards adopting more sustainable behaviours. I filmed this documentary series over a span of one year across 5 countries. The film shares stories of local families across Indonesia, who’ve suffered from a toxic haze that spreads throughout the country each year due to the reckless expansion of  the palm oil industry. The film also features stories of renowned activists and scientists who have made widely recognized, even heroic contributions to advancing a more sustainable industry. Notable characters include Rudi Putra (Goldman Environmental Award Winner and National Geographic Fellow) and Farwiza Farhan (Whitley Award Winner), who are driving forces behind the protection of Indonesia’s largest and most biodiverse rainforest against agricultural expansion.

 We selected palm oil as the focus of the film since it is a product that most of us consume in our daily lives. In fact, it is the most used vegetable oil around the world and can be found as an ingredient in about 50% of packaged food items. The popularity of palm oil is based on its versatility and its high crop yield – making it both an efficient and inexpensive ingredient. On the flip side, palm oil production has led to massive deforestation in Africa and Asia as well as an annual toxic haze in Indonesia which is a story that has been ignored by global media outlets.

The aim of the documentary series is to infuse social marketing concepts with visual storytelling to create a documentary film which empowers and educates viewers on how to take action in supporting a more sustainable palm oil industry. While climate change communication strategies often focus on describing ‘doom and gloom’ scenarios, research on the psychology behind these tactics shows this type of messaging to be largely ineffective for many audiences — and can even have the opposite of the intended effect. Instead, we have chosen to focus on opportunities for individuals to take action. “In Your Palm” evokes emotion through personal stories, while addressing the problem head on through sharing practical solutions identified through a diverse group of industry stakeholders.

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CP: What has been the most rewarding and most challenging moments during this experience of filming In Your Palm?

CK: Without a doubt, the most rewarding moments of this experience is receiving the chance to meet activists, leaders, entrepreneurs, and conservationists that are standing up for nature. I love to hear different perspectives on what needs to be done to move the needle forward with conservation. For my most recent project I sat down and interviewed over 50 people from over 5 different countries … the diversity of conversations and knowledge among these people made me realize how much I still had to learn.

As a cinematographer, It’s also hard to forget about those moments when you capture something inside the frame that you’ve been working months to get. During pre-production for In Your Palm, I spent 4  months planning to film with a team of Park Rangers who are protecting the Leuser Ecosystem, which is the most biodiverse tropical rainforest in Indonesia. On our first day, I vividly remember riding along a winding river on a wooden longboat into the rainforest after sunset. Along the way, for 2 hours we watched the sky dance as a lighting storm put on a show over the jungle canopy. We were hundreds of kilometers away from civilization in the middle of one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. The next morning we tracked down and filmed a family of wild endangered orangutans (only 7,000 left in the wild). It is moments like these which makes all the tedious planning and preparation worth it.

On the flip side, there are still many challenging aspects to filmmaking… especially as a beginner filmmaker. I had to learn fast and become comfortable with failure. The obvious challenge for me was finding the resources, teammates, and building my own skills to actually turn my vision into a reality. As a filmmaker you have to be comfortable with the process.. because it’s long. I spent months compiling footage, writing a script, putting it together an starting all over again because I realized that first version sucked. It’s an iterative process and you have to enjoy the process of creating something new.. and doing it for a purpose that extends beyond yourself.

The term “fake it till you make it” is something to live by in the world of film. When I was in the field shooting in Indonesia, a lot of the time I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. With no formal training, I had to use my intuition and trust my instincts on what I could see turning into a compelling story. On my second trip to Indonesia I travelled entirely on my own. Due to timing/budget constraints, I had to film, direct, produce, manage sound, lighting and capture the story all by myself in a foreign country. In addition to all that, I also was also looking out for my own health during a time where the surrounding region was suffering from a severe haze crisis. There were days were we would spend 12 hours outside filming in the middle of the rainforest in 90% humidity, coming home to leeches attached to our legs and mosquito bites everywhere. The challenges were real… but honestly I wouldn’t exchange them for anything. It sounds cliché, but honestly these challenges helped shape me as a person.

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“Whatever you want to get involved in, there’s likely someone else out there that has done something similar. People are willing to help because they know how hard it is to get started. I was surprised by how many filmmakers were willing to help me simply because I was working on an initiative that had a clear social/environmental benefit. Don’t be afraid to cold-call or cold-email people asking to grab a coffee. LinkedIn and social media can be extremely useful tools for this as well.”

CP: I love how throughout your undergrad, you’ve pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and got involved with a variety of projects that are the intersection of your passions. What advice would you have to students or young people who are passionate about making a sustainable difference?

CK: My curiosity is ultimately what allowed me to jump into the world of filmmaking and create a documentary film series with no prior experience in filmmaking. At a young age, I was taught that if you don’t know how to do something, you just figure it out no matter what it takes. If you don’t want to put the effort into figuring it out then you don’t want it badly enough. When starting out, I had zero understanding of how to conduct professional interviews, lighting, sound design, post production, scriptwriting, grant applications etc .. however regardless of how little I knew, I made sure that I found out the best ways to learn. A lot of this learning came from trial and error and finding other people that I could learn from (also a lot of Youtube).

My advice for youth who want to make a difference is to seek out other people that are already 10 years ahead of you. Whatever you want to get involved in, there’s likely someone else out there that has done something similar. People are willing to help because they know how hard it is to get started. I was surprised by how many filmmakers were willing to help me simply because I was working on an initiative that had a clear social/environmental benefit. Don’t be afraid to cold-call or cold-email people asking to grab a coffee. LinkedIn and social media can be extremely useful tools for this as well. I found a mentor through a simple email expressing my willingness to learn. I would encourage others to do the same.

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CP: Last question about looking to the future. What do you have planned for the near future? And perhaps, on a macro scale, given the current push on climate change by young actors by Greta Thunberg, what are your thoughts about the future or what inspires you about the future within environmentalism? 

“Progression of art and technology presents us with endless opportunities to find ways to develop innovative solutions for the environment. I’m excited to see the incredible ideas that young people will create as a result of this progression.”

CK: Ideally, I would like to continue creating films that raise awareness on environmental issues and inspire people to connect back with nature. Storytelling is something I’m passionate about and I believe it can be used as a tool to communicate important ideas around sustainability.

Regarding what I’m excited about for the future, I’m actually very interested on the movement of vertical farming. Project Drawdown recently identified “reducing food waste” as one of the most important solutions to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Technologies such as hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics are promising applications which enable herbs and greens to be grown without the use of soil and pesticides. As a result, food is now being grown inside cities (or in rural arid regions), and providing people with access to local, sustainable, organic food. Population is expected to pass 9 billion people by 2050 and we are still on a finite planet (available land area for agriculture is decreasing). As a result, we need to turn to alternative technologies to satisfy the need needs of 9 billion people in a way that does not destroy the planet. Progression of art and technology presents us with endless opportunities to find ways to develop innovative solutions for the environment. I’m excited to see the incredible ideas that young people will create as a result of this progression.

Thinking about the future on a macro scale can be quite daunting. Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive when I look at all the destruction that is taking place. However, I strongly believe that activism is going to play an integral role in establishing change over the next decade. Environmental activists get a lot of criticism .. whether it be for “not being realistic” or demanding action that is too difficult to achieve. However, it’s important to remember we are living in a time where the rate of change is not taking place fast enough. If we all decide to move at our own pace … I think we will likely be too late. We need people to demand change, and do so in a way that disrupts the current system. If we look back throughout history, significant social change didn’t take place from people just asking politely. It happened through disruptors who took bold action. Right now we have 2 options: we either sit back and watch as more environmental damage unfolds, or we be part of a movement which protects the fabric that supports our health and well-being. I’m inspired to see many young people choosing to be part of the latter movement.

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Follow along Carter’s journey on Instagram and check out his documentary In Your Palm and learn more to support the work he’s doing!