Top Chinese stars lend voices to Nature Is Speaking

Nature Is Speaking features a voice cast including (clockwise from top) Jiang Wenli, Ge You, Zhou Xun, Tang Wei, Pu Cunxin, Chen Jianbin and Jiang Wen.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Some of the country's A-list actors have lent their voices to a short film－without charging a penny－in the name of nature.

Nature Is Speaking, a seven-episode short film, has been released in China, with its Chinese voice cast featuring Jiang Wen, Ge You, Jiang Wenli, Zhou Xun, Pu Cunxin, Chen Jianbin and Tang Wei.

Produced by Conservation International, a US-based nonprofit organization, the series uses natural scenery to reveal serious concerns about the way humans are treating the planet, from the viewpoints of characters including Mother Nature, the Ocean and the Rainforest.

"The goal of Nature Is Speaking is to wake up the world, to spark a conversation about nature's essential role in our lives and, ultimately, to inspire a global shift in values and behaviors," says Peter Seligmann, founder and CEO of Conservation International.

He says the production is not another documentary bombarding the public with complicated figures.

"They (the lines in film) are just simple but powerful messages. We are not telling people to save nature. Nature is telling us: We have to save ourselves."

He does not want the film to be another production on environmental protection from the human beings' perspective, but instead, have nature speak for itself.

Lee Clow, creator of Apple's famous Think Different advertisement campaign, came up with the idea to tell the story from nature's perspective.

The original series, which was voiced by Hollywood A-list stars, including Harrison Ford, Edward Norton and Julia Roberts, was released by Conservation International in October and has attracted more than 2 billion views online.