Millicent Barty, ECO Member and Obama Foundation Scholar under the Columbia World Projects at the School of Professional Studies, shares her involvement in the short film, "A Disappearing World"
ABOUT THE FILM
'A Disappearing World', a short film by UK charity, The Human Impact Foundation premiered on Wednesday October 27th in London and Glasgow leading up to COP26. The film tracks the deep impacts of rising seas on the people of the Solomon Islands, an archipelago nation in the South Pacific experiencing the climate crisis.
It's an intimate and personal look at the devastating reality of climate change adaptation and how a society which has contributed almost nothing to our changing climate can be completely uprooted by its effects.
The film follows the journey of Millicent (Millie) as she returns home to her village in Malaita Province, Solomon Islands to learn the devastations of climate change in this part of the country.
THE FILM:
INVOLVEMENT IN THE FILM (Written by Millicent Barty):
My involvement in the film project was one of divine timing which led to serendipitously meeting the Human Impact Foundation (HIF-UK) film group at a local restaurant in Honiara, the capital.
I overheard they had travelled all the way from the UK to film impacts of climate change with the aim of making it real to people abroad. I suggested that they visited my home village Lilisiana in the Malaita Province.
Back then, I had only heard about climate change impacts affecting Lilisiana and since I live and work in the capital, I hadn’t actually witnessed it for myself. A week later, I receive a phone call from an unknown number. It was the director, Fraser, with a proposition that my own curious and helpless self could not refuse.
It was a character-building journey of many learnings that took us across Malaita to capture the devastations of climate change. In the Solomon Islands, 5 islands have disappeared already and thousands of our people are suffering daily. Our reality is no different to other countries especially small island nations that are also sharing the same experience.
I think our meeting of chance and how events unfolded to travel around Malaita to produce this film is a testament to the fact that when those on different paths come together, there can be so much light brought to the darkness our earth is facing.
I hope viewers leave this film with a heightened urgency to act in any way they can, but more importantly, feel our loss and damage. I am 30 and it is expected that by the time I reach 45, I won’t have Lilisiana to call home anymore.
The keeping 1.5 alive narrative must be foundational to every decision and climate action we and our governments take. For us in the Pacific, at 2 degrees Celsius, I don’t think we’d make it. 1.5 gives us a fighting chance! That’s all we can ask and hope for.
ABOUT MILLICENT:
Millicent Barty is a social entrepreneur, designer and advocate for innovation and entrepreneurship across the Pacific. In light of the high illiteracy rate among the adult population in the Solomon Islands, Millicent uses oral history practices and infographic designs to enable all people to make informed decisions about crucial policies and projects that affect their communities. By bridging the communication divide between development agencies, national governments, and rural communities, she has successfully mediated conversations that contributed to the successful launch of two national infrastructure development projects. As the lead designer for the National General Election in 2019, Millicent designed voter-awareness guides, 500,000 of which were distributed across the country inside bags of rice—a practice that NGOs have since used to disseminate information on other critical issues such as gender-based violence.
In 2018, Millicent received the Queen’s Young Leader Award and she is an Adviser to the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust Board which supports young changemakers across the Commonwealth. Millicent holds a bachelor’s degree from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Millicent is currently an Obama Foundation Scholar under the Columbia World Projects at the School of Professional Studies.