Climate Documentary

In and amongst Beatie speaking and unveiling her 'From Green to Red' art piece (an environmental protest piece built using 800,000 years of our planet’s data) at the Nobel Prize Summit, London Design Biennale, UN Climate Summit etc - Beatie has been filming a series of stories on So-Cal people and businesses who are rethinking their approach to ensure the sustainability of the this state's environment. The thread which connects each of these is Beatie and the guitar because of it being a great storytelling vehicle. Below I've detailed the documentary first two chapters with accompanying video extracts...

Kelp Forest  

"Rewilding California coastline"

Telling the story of how the once-thriving kelp forests and abundant abalone population of the California coastline have almost disappeared from our shores due to climate change and overfishing. This piece follows a local NOAA initiative (from farm to the ocean) to rewild the US west coast through conservation aquaculture, framed by the vital Chumash perspective. This short follows a similar vein to Urban Wood but shifts from “rethinking the urban landscape” to “rewilding California coastlines” aka from the land forests to our sea forests as both are key carbon capture systems. In addition to being a highly prized food source, abalone was also prized for its shell which became a key material for Native American art as well as used for guitar inlays. So this piece reminds us how art and nature are core to our humanity and how they're interlinked. Nature inspires art and art reflects our nature. So finding balance with the natural world is not just about our ability to survive but to thrive.

Urban Wood

"A circular economy that acts as a carbon bank and enhances urban life"

California is leading the way in reforesting our urban landscape for the long term by planting and growing the right trees in our cities and giving value to their end-of-life cycle. Visionary artist Beatie Wolfe has been working with CalFire, California Urban Forests Council, West Coast Arborists, and Taylor Guitars to tell the story of a groundbreaking circular economy initiative that is giving new value to urban trees by turning waste into an asset and turning tinder into guitars and homes. This initiative not only encourages and justifies further planting (especially in neglected urban areas where the quality of life is improved significantly) but also ensures that the carbon the trees absorb is not released back into the atmosphere. So think of this as a kind of carbon bank.