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It is difficult to engage in environmental activism without becoming disheartened, anxious or even depressed. It is a skill to promote environmental action in a way that is positive, motivational, and impactful, and that is exactly what Craig Reucassel’s Fight for Planet A does.

The ABC series follows the climate action currently being taken in Australia, or better yet the current climate inaction in Australia. Comparatively, the series focuses on carbon emissions and solutions to reducing our carbon footprint unlike the previous work of War on Waste which focused on curbing the extensive waste problems in Australia and around the globe.  

Perhaps one of my favourite things about the series is how it follows four very diverse and different households and looks at how each household can reduce its energy bills, energy consumption and their carbon footprint. One of these houses is a student share house. The students all have cars, long showers, different diets, habits and electricity uses. The down to earth nature of the program clarifies that we must use energy, and as long as we are on a coal-powered electricity grid we will have high carbon emissions. However, it also delves into some simple yet effective ways to cut down on our carbon footprints. Things as simple as only heating or cooling one common room of the house or switching to smart shower heads to save buckets of water and car-pooling and public transport and carbon offsetting when we fly.

As well as our own personal action, the program focuses on how we can push for change at a corporate and political level and what we are owed in carbon capture methods promised by mining companies and emissions targets. I find it really refreshing to see an environmentalist who is fearless towards promoting change and who presents these positive and easy changes we can all make so simply.