Backroads Pictures

An innovative small-scale growing community of smallholder farmers have joined together to form The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program (TIST) to help farmers build climate resilient communities and improve the lives of their families, local areas, countries, and the world. Established in 1999 out of a desire to mitigate climate change while simultaneously improving the lives of the poorest people in the world, TIST is active in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and India. TIST encourages small groups of subsistence farmers to improve their local environment and farms by planting and maintaining trees on degraded and/or unused land. These farmers work together in small groups (or “clusters”) that support each other by sharing best practices for sustainable conservation farming.  TIST by the numbers: -239,450 Farmers -36,405 Small Groups -26M+ Living Trees Planted -6M+ Tonnes of CO2 Sequestered -50% of leadership are women -70% of carbon profits go to the farmers We had the opportunity to document TIST Kenya for the launch of Verra's latest climate campaign ♻️ CREDITS A Backroads Pictures Production Director / DP: Eric Mwangi EP: Alison Schweickert, Peter Goetz Producer: Michael Kay "Karanja" AC & Photographer: Abel Waweru AE Stills: Lukas Olesinski Editor & Translations: Abel Waweru Sound & Audio Mix: Ronnie Mugambi Color: Christopher Young CSI Verra: Scott Greenberg, Whitney Largent, Elisabeth Strayer Special thanks to: Alphaxard Kimani, Suzanne Holmberg, Jeniffer Kithure, Anthony Kiruja and the rest of the cluster!

By 2025, it is projected that 700,000+ metric tons of Senegal’s plastic waste will be mismanaged. Fortunately Africa Carbon & Commodities' Deekali Plastic Recovery Program is sparking hope in Senegal for a cleaner environment through its efforts to remove tons of plastic waste collected throughout the country for recycling and reuse. So far the project has: - Collected 4,075 tonnes of plastic - Recycled 5,216 tonnes of plastic recycled - Created 300 jobs created We had the opportunity to document the Deekali Project for the launch of Verra's climate campaign ♻️ CREDITS Director / DP: Yuri Sardenberg EP: Alison Schweickert, Peter Goetz Photographer: Cherif Khoury Production Company: Backroads Pictures Editor: Alex Spiess Colorist: Yuri Sardenberg Sound: Ronnie Mugambi Verra: Scott Greenberg, Whitney Largent Special thanks to: Nicole Dewing, Mamadou Sarr, Seynabou Camara

Latest climate changemakers campaign in partnership with Canva & Watershed featuring Canva Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Cameron Adams.

Are you familiar with climate "tipping points"? Here's a brilliant excerpt from the The New York Times if not: "A climate “tipping point” refers to a threshold beyond which small changes to global temperatures can have big, irreversible effects. For example, you’ve probably heard that scientists are concerned about the melting of the huge ice sheet that covers Greenland. If the world isn’t able to rein in global warming, the melting will eventually become self-sustaining and irreversible, researchers have determined. That’s a tipping point. If this threshold is crossed, the melting could raise sea levels by as much as 23 feet over the course of several centuries, swamping coastal cities around the world. The idea of climate tipping points has been around for decades, although there is debate about how many there are and at what temperatures they will be reached. The big ones, however, are generally accepted to include the melting of the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland; the thawing of Arctic permafrost; the collapse of a major ocean circulation system; and the shrinking of the Amazon rainforest. Recent research suggests that some of these changes may start to occur once global warming reaches between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius (2.7 and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial average temperatures. And the world is already 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the 19th century." However, there is still hope. Nations need to quickly and drastically cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to curb global warming and set a new precedent for the future. We can't stop now! Written by Henry Fountain for The New York Times. Image by the Space World Agency. #climate #cop29

Join us on Sunday, November 17th, at Venice West LA for the launch of our first Backroads Quarterly event! In partnership with The Surfrider Foundation and The Carbonauts, we'll be screening our latest award-winning short films w/ filmmaker Q&As alongside live music performances by Los Pinguos, Emily Brimlow, Iris & The Shade, and Backroads founder, Peter Goetz. The Backroads Quarterly aims to create a community forum for conversations around adventure and sustainability. We're excited to see you at our kickoff event—we're bringing back the Venice Spirit, get ready to dance, see you there!

Vote to protect Earth and our fundamental freedoms. Let's make history! Latest work for the Harris-Walz 2024 campaign 🇺🇸 🗽🇺🇸 #KamalaHarris #Harris2024

🌱 Latest work with Watershed & Canva 🌱

Canva is setting a new standard for reducing supply chain emissions with the help of Watershed. By partnering with print suppliers and implementing a fixed-price Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA), Canva is helping drive significant climate impact. Together, they’re reducing over 15,000 tons of CO2 annually—equivalent to 38 million gasoline car miles—and shaping a future where sustainability and business growth go hand in hand. We had the pleasure of partnering with these industry leaders to film their latest impact campaign, featured below. Credits: Director: Peter Goetz Creative Director: Rob Goodman Executive Producer: Kevin Hoban Producer: Alison Schweickert Production Company: Backroads Pictures DP: Joseph Pusateri, Reuben Skinner & amado stachenfeld AC: Lukas Olesinski Editor: Joseph Pusateri AE: Kaylee Kim Animations: Gustavo Wenzel Color: Vincent Taylor Sound: Chris Nungary Special thanks to: Canva: Cameron Adams, Mike Williams, Emma R., Jim Towle, Sharon Lindqvist Watershed: Rob Goodman, Courtney Correll Chaves, Richard Travers #ChangeClimateChange

Thanks Climate Film Festival for having Searching for Amani kick off opening night with a special screening at The Explorers Club and for honoring the film with the ‘Best Documentary Feature’ Award. We had an incredible time at NYC Climate Week engaging with some of the leading minds and organizations driving climate action and unveiling some of our latest climate-focused work with Watershed, Canva, and Verra. We're excited to keep pushing the boundaries of storytelling in climate action!

Some clips from our time in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival for the World Premiere of Searching for Amani. Thank you Simon, Lucy, Haron and the whole family for sharing your story and congrats to Nicole Gormley and Debra Aroko for receiving the ALBERT MAYSLES AWARD FOR BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR. 🏆 Here's what the jury had to say about our film: "Exquisitely crafted with a taut narrative, this documentary paints a nuanced portrait of issues that often are ignored or worse unknown by those outside of a community. It is extremely difficult to take a topic that affects the world, and to tell a story about that topic in an intimate and personal fashion that is both subversive and charming. So much of the success of a documentary is based on its main character, and the passion, curiosity, and relentlessness of 13 year old Simon Ali was awe inspiring." Next up, Searching for Amani has been selected as a nominee for Shine Global Inc's 2024 Resilience Awards which will take place October 15 in LA.