World leaders – including US President Joe Biden – gathered in Cornwall to attend the G7 summit to discuss the health, climate and nature crises. This was the first of two global meetings Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host this year – and an opportunity for the UK to lead on climate action.
Greenpeace used this moment to greet world leaders as they made their way to the summit by sending them a strong and simple message.
For the first time, 300 illuminated drones and light projections have been used to create breathtaking 3D moving images of iconic animals. The animals travel from all corners of the world and are seen descending on Cornwall, demanding that the world leaders at the G7 ‘ACT NOW’ to tackle the climate and nature crisis.Then – to make sure world leaders saw our message – activists staged a protest as US President Joe Biden landed in the UK on Air Force One. Read on to find out more about how we created this message.
300 drones. One message.
The animals that lit up the night sky over Cornwall are made up of 300 illuminated drones. Using complex software, drones were choreographed to form 3D shapes of iconic animals: from the giant blue whale to the tiny (but very important) bee. It was made for Greenpeace as a collaboration between Celestial – the drone display company behind Scotland’s Hogmanay 2021 New Year’s drone show, projectionists Projections On Walls and animators We Are Covert.
Why send our message this way?
The need to stop climate change gets stronger by the day; yet action remains too slow, too insignificant, or going in the wrong direction entirely. By combining art and activism we wanted to create a moment that reminded our world leaders of the important need for action.
These are the commitments we want from the G7 group, representing the world’s richest nations:
- End all new fossil fuel projects immediately.
- Deliver on (and increase) the long-promised $100bn, per year, in climate finance for countries hardest hit by climate change.
- Genuinely protect the forests and oceans in law, with a target to reverse the decline of nature by 2030.
The UK, along with the rest of the world is at a turning point. In the past 12 months we’ve learnt about what it means to act in a crisis. But we’ve also seen what happens when world leaders don’t listen to science and don’t act immediately.
And while it’s hard to know exactly what the future has in store, what we do know is that the choices our leaders make today will shape our society, economy, health, and climate and nature for decades to come.
That’s why when Greenpeace had the opportunity to deliver a message in a way never seen before – we knew we had to take action.