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As peculiar associations go, motorsport fans and environmental activists are less likely to break bread than TV anchors Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart.
Yet in an unprecedented move, Greenpeace has sought out its natural enemy to launch a new environmental campaign that encourages road users to move away from fossil-fuel based transport.
Released this week, Greenpeace’s short film (created by film-maker Prano Bailey-Bond) was shot during the Formula E championship final at Battersea Park and features the well-known animatronics polar bear ‘Paula’.
Shared on various social media channels, the film extends a hand of friendship to the green-energy racing formula, with the slogan: “The oil age is coming to an end. Don’t get left behind.”
Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Barbara Stoll explained the Formula E championship was an important showcase for green energy and believed racing could prove a motivational force in changing people’s attitudes towards low-carbon technologies.
“It was a great demonstration that there are always alternatives to fossil fuels, and no technological barriers to a cleaner future. And that’s the point we’re trying to make with this film”, said Stoll.
“(It’s) not that climate change can be solved with single-seater racing cars” she added. “But that clean, low-carbon technologies are ready to replace the dirty fossil fuels we’ve been relying on, and what seemed futuristic a decade ago is now reality.”
The new film counters Greenpeace’s traditional aggressive approach to motor sport, which came to a head during the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix when Greenpeace campaigners parachuted their way into the circuit then unfurled strategically placed protest banners – with the message “Arctic Oil? Shell No!” – on the podium by remote control.
The move was ostensibly a brand attack on Shell in response to the company’s five billion dollar Arctic drilling programme.
Ironically, Formula One has been at pains to show off it’s green-credentials with the implementation of its current 2.4 litre turbo, hybrid engine formula, but has tripped over its own shoelaces in the attempt to promote the ground-breaking technology by having to fend off internal naysayers with hidden agendas.
But where a baton is dropped there is always someone ready to scoop it up in an opportunistic grab.
“We are pleased that Greenpeace wanted to work with Formula E to promote the values that we both share” said a Formula E spokesperson. “We are on the same side.”
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