WaterBear, Off the Fence & WWF Launch Storytelling Initiative

WaterBear, Off the Fence and WWF have developed a new storytelling initiative, the 8 Billion project, centered on defending planet Earth.

Spanning the next ten years, the project will bring together faith, arts and science communities to paint a portrait with a series of stories about how humans all over the world celebrate and protect nature. In the first phase of the project, filmmakers and storytellers will be invited to upload their films to the platform to join the global conversation.

This summer, the invitation will be extended to welcome contributions from the wider community, encouraging groups anywhere and everywhere to make a film and share their stories. The intimate, mostly self-shot videos will be curated for the platform to form a vast and iconic ode to planet Earth.

WaterBear CEO and Founder Ellen Windemuth said, “We are proud to be spearheading this initiative with our partners Off the Fence and the WWF. This initiative will demonstrate how important it is for each of us to tell stories from our own point of view. Together, we will create a movement that unites millions of people in a joint effort to preserve natural habitats and biodiversity.”

Allard Stapel, chief external affairs at WWF Netherlands, said, “For 60 years WWF has strived for a world where people live in harmony with nature. In that time, WWF has often shown examples of this but rarely asked people to tell these stories themselves. With 8 Billion we hope to provide a platform where communities all over the world can share their stories and can be heard.”

Martin Palmer, patron of the Faith Long Term Plans and CEO of FaithInvest, said, “The faiths are the oldest storytellers of the world and they know that it is through stories that the most important aspects of being human; of being part of an even greater story and of finding our place within the wonder of nature can be explored. The major faiths welcome this huge new initiative and the partnerships it will create between faiths, the arts and environment worldwide.”