Trees & Seas
Celebrating conservation initiatives in California
'Trees & Seas' is an eco-doc from Beatie Wolfe (shot by Ross Harris) which uses Wolfe’s guitar as a lens to explore key local conservation initiatives in California across its land and ocean.
Have you ever wondered how the tools of your trade can be crafted with the climate in mind? Conceptual artist and composer Beatie Wolfe was inspired to explore just that via her guitar and its materials; using this as a lens to celebrate local conservation efforts, across land and ocean, often hidden in plain sight. Trees & Seas takes us on a journey from CalFire’s reclaimed urban wood initiative with Taylor Guitars to NOAA’s abalone rewilding efforts, showing us how we can build new sustainable circular economies all the while drawing wisdom from the true custodians of the land.
Awards
Following the Hollywood Premiere, hosted by multi Oscar Winner Rick Carter, the doc has gone on to receive six festival awards inc: The IndieFEST Film Awards (winner across two categories); Oceanside International Film Festival (category winner); Plastic Oceans' Trees & Seas Film Festival 'TSFF' (category winner); International Migration & Environmental Film Festival (category finalist); Festival Internacional de Imagem de Natureza 'FIIN' (category finalist). In addition the documentary was screened at the COP26’s for the United Nations Presidency Highlight Event dedicated to deforestation.
[left] Mona Olivas Tucker, Chair yaktitYutitYu yaktithini Northern Chumash Tribe & Beatie Wolfe [top right] Melissa Neuman, NOAA Protective Resources Division [right] Big John Mahoney ,Street Tree RevivalCredits
A eco documentary from Beatie Wolfe
Shot and edited by Ross Harris
Underwater footage from NOAA
Music by Beatie Wolfe - featuring: From Green to Red, Do You, Here and Now, I Guess, Little Things
Made possible with the support of NOAA Fisheries, Taylor Guitars, Creek Lands Conservation, & CAL FIRE (California Urban Forests Council).
Appearances (in screen order): Beatie Wolfe, Big John Mahoney (Street Tree Revival), Melissa Neuman (NOAA Protective Resources Division), Kathy Wingert (Wingert Guitars), Doug Bush (The Cultured Abalone Farm), Mona Olivas Tucker (Chair yaktitYutitYu yaktithini Northern Chumash Tribe).
Synopsis
Short: Multi-award-winning conceptual artist and composer Beatie Wolfe focuses her science and activism energies to tell the story of local southern Californian people and businesses who are rethinking their approach to ensure sustainability of their state's ecosystems and environment. The thread which connects these initiatives is Beatie and her guitar because of it being a natural storytelling vehicle.
Long: Believing that the micro is as important as the macro, alongside Beatie unveiling her award-winning ‘From Green to Red' art piece (built using 800,000 years of NASA’s CO2 data) at the Nobel Prize Summit, UN Climate Summit etc, Beatie was filming a documentary on key So-Cal conservative initiatives hidden in plain sight. For this documentary, Beatie used her guitar as the vehicle to explore those people and businesses who are rethinking their approach to ensure the sustainability of the state's environment and ecosystems across land and ocean. The first chapter (“Rethinking the Urban Landscape”) shows Beatie 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 city 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, with these guitars and homes acting as a kind of carbon bank. The second chapter of this (“Rewilding California coastline”) tells the story of how the once-thriving kelp forests (another vital carbon bank) and abundant abalone population of the California coastline have almost disappeared from our shores due to climate change and overfishing. This piece explores a local NOAA initiative (from farm to the ocean) to rewild the US west coast through conservation aquaculture, framed by the vital indigenous Chumash perspective. 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 interconnected art and nature are and how both are core to our humanity. Thus finding balance with the natural world is not just about our ability to survive but to thrive.