Scuba Diver Ocean Planet Issue 2/2016 | Page 61

FILM FESTIVAL
www.adex.asia

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1. New York’s Empire

State Building provides
a massive canvas for
Racing Extinction’s
conservation message
Image © Joshua Brott
(Obscura Digital)
2. Shawn enjoys an
inspiring moment
swimming with manta rays
off Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Image © Shawn Heinrichs

Ask Emmy Award-winning cinematographer,
photographer, and marine conservationist
Shawn Heinrichs if we’ve run out of time to stop
the human-driven mass extinction of species
that is currently ongoing, and you’ll get a
characteristically emphatic answer: It’s not too
late. But Shawn knows, more than most, that we
have a choice – and it’s ours to make.
“Future generations one day will look back on
this time and say, this was the generation that
stood up and acted to save Earth’s biodiversity.
Or they will say, this generation knew what was
happening, but stood by and let it all slip
away,” he says. And Shawn isn’t only talking
about the world’s decision-makers: “The
choice is in each of our hands. We must decide
individually, as families, communities, nations,
and as one planet, if we are willing to take
the steps necessary to safeguard the future
of our biosphere.”
For the collective of artists, activists, and
scientists behind Racing Extinction, the primary
objective of the film was getting the message
across that the sixth global extinction event is
actually happening right now, but even more
importantly, that each and every one of us can
do s