We started small, and Bob helped us every step of the way. For years, he’d been an indispensable voice for NRDC, rallying millions of members through direct mail. We asked if he’d consider doing something similar on camera. Graciously, he obliged. It’s one thing to get a letter from Robert Redford. It’s something else when he sends you a personalized video.
Things changed with the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Bob was angry and heartbroken, foremost by the loss of life: eleven rig workers. But also by the devastation to wildlife and wilderness; to the livelihood, culture, and tradition of Gulf residents. With barely any notice, Bob met us on the beach in Santa Monica, his hometown. As a teenager, Bob had freelanced as a roustabout for Standard Oil, where his father worked in the accounting department.
“I know what it’s like when a person’s job, their own livelihood, depends on having to hold that line,” he said into the camera. Then he spoke, impromptu, about the destruction wrought by fossil fuels, the industry’s shameless greenwashing, and its phony vision of a healthy future powered by dirty energy. We quickly turned the footage into a short video, shared it with press, and uploaded it to a relatively new website called YouTube.
Meanwhile, we worked furiously on a documentary about Gulf residents, a collaboration with StoryCorps. But we only clinched a broadcast deal with Discovery after Bob agreed to provide the narration. Our little multimedia team went on to make dozens of videos and TV docs that NRDC used to raise awareness and money, and, most important, to influence decision makers. We won accolades, including two Emmy Awards.
Bob made all of it possible. Not just with his vision, clout, and incredible rapport with the camera, but with his sweat. He trudged up mountains with us. He arrived at recording studios at ungodly hours. He even invited us to his home to make a series of beautiful spots shot on film (not videotape or digital files). Bob expanded NRDC’s tool set beyond legal briefs, white papers, and press releases. He showed us how to inspire environmental action by helping people imagine a future worth fighting for. Many artists speak out about critical issues of the day; only a few successfully combine their moral commitment with their talent, and thereby positively influence society through art.
In 2016, as our little film team was finishing Sonic Sea, a feature doc about ocean noise pollution, questions occurred to me that Bob inspired: Could we do more than tell our own stories? Could we, possibly, encourage Hollywood to tell the story of climate change?
That question led to the creation of Rewrite the Future, a team that leverages the organization’s expertise to support film and television creators trying to reflect our climate-altered world and the path toward a better future. Today, Rewrite works with most of the major studios, providing climate story consultation and professional development. We run a robust Climate Storytelling Fellowship for aspiring screenwriters in collaboration with several organizations including Bob’s family legacy organization: The Redford Center. One could say we support the entertainment industry in doing exactly what Bob has done for more than fifty years: tell stories that keep the natural world, and our relationship with it, in the picture.
Bob has become perhaps the most important mentor in the world of film through his leadership at institutions like the Sundance Institute and The Redford Center, which uplift emerging, diverse artists. The Redford Center was founded by Bob’s late son, James Redford, to merge environmental justice, action, education, and impact filmmaking, and today is helmed by Bob’s grandsons Dylan Redford and Conor Schlosser. Their mission is to “advance environmental solutions through the power of stories that move.”
NRDC and all of those who work for environmental progress are lucky to have a partner in Bob. With passion and purpose, he has helped us fight for better policy, take polluters to court, and maximize the collective energy of people through the power of narrative.
-Daniel Hinerfeld
