Environmental Storytelling with The Redford Center, Ep #108

Apr 4, 2025

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I’m fascinated by the question of how we can improve climate and environmental storytelling. There’s research that shows that 45% of young people in the United States experience climate anxiety so bad that it negatively affects their daily functioning. As we learned during a conversation with Nathaniel Stinnett of the Environmental Voter Project last fall, over 5 million Americans list climate and the environment as their #1 top issue, but don’t actually vote. To me, these are indicators that we need new kinds of storytelling and new ways to experience the climate transition.

To learn about the state of environmental and climate storytelling, I sat down with one of the leading funders of environmental films, Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center. Jill brings decades of storytelling experience and understands the challenges of not only getting environmental films distributed but also creating impact through them. We spoke about how the film distribution and funding landscapes have changed, the history of the Redford Center, its impact framework, examples of films and impact campaigns they’ve supported, and much more.

If you’re a film fan, just generally curious about the role of documentaries in creating change, or like me, want to understand how we can improve storytelling for climate, there's a lot to learn from this conversation. Enjoy.

On today’s episode, we cover:

[03:37] Importance of storytelling in environmental issues
[07:26] History of the Redford Center
[10:33] Evolution of filmmaker support
[15:23] Approaches to climate storytelling
[18:35] Changes in film distribution
[21:05] Criteria for selecting film projects
[23:20] Redford Center's impact framework
[26:29] Example of community engagement film
[30:28] Impact and wins of supported projects
[34:02] Indigenous voices and conservation efforts
[39:13] Future plans for the Redford Center
[42:45] Addressing polarization through storytelling

Environmental Storytelling with The Redford Center, Ep #108

On today’s episode, we cover:

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