Racing Extinction: ...and then they were gone

MANILA, Philippines – In his new documentary, Racing Extinction, which airs Dec. 2 on the Discovery Channel, Academy Award-winning director Louie Psihoyos says, “I find myself in a race alongside other environmentalists to save a planet that is losing species at a rate not seen since a comet hit 65 million years ago.”

The documentary, which was filmed all over the world, is as suspenseful and exciting as a race – and often as dangerous – with the filmmakers going undercover, exposing endangered species trafficking in the black market and showing the link between carbon emissions and species extinction using advanced technology.

“Film can still be the most powerful weapon in the world – a weapon of mass construction. I’m interested in radically changing how people perceive a documentary by making it entertaining and using narrative filmmaking conventions,” says Psihoyos. “With this project, I want to tackle the most important problem the world has ever faced – the epic loss of biodiversity. By combining a compelling film and a groundbreaking activation campaign, we want to create a movement for change.”

Another part of the documentary features an electric car fitted with a film projector that is used to project footage of endangered species on buildings and walls across the US. In the driver’s seat is environmental activist, public speaker, professional race car driver and former Catherine Zeta-Jones stunt double, Leilani Münter.

“I definitely feel like I am more of an environmental activist than I am a race car driver. My background is in science,” Münter tells STARweek in an exclusive interview from the US.

She has a degree in Biology from the University of California in San Diego, where she focused on ecology behavior and evolution.

She says that she uses race car driving as a way to bring awareness for her advocacy to a larger group of people. “It sort of amplifies my environmental activism by having a race car and being able to put these messages on race cars, and bring them in front of millions of people that follow the sport that might not normally be paying attention to issues around species extinction or climate change or ocean acidification or renewable energy.”

She adds, “If I had to promote sugar water or a candy bar in order to race a car, I wouldn’t race a car. So whenever I hit the race track, my cars are carrying messages about issues that I think are important, like renewable energies, solar power, wind power.”

Münter drives an electric car at all her races. “The amount of fuel that I burn in the races is relatively small. We have a 22?gallon tank. I do about 150 to 200 miles in a race. So I might go through a tank and a half, maybe 35 gallons. But the amount of exposure, and the number of millions of eyeballs that I can get on the issues during those races, are huge.”

To further offset her carbon footprint, Münter has adopted an acre of rainforest for every race she’s been in since 2007.

Münter’s passion for the environment is evident in her lifestyle. She has been a vegetarian almost all her life and took it a step further, becoming vegan four and a half years ago.

Her house is also covered in solar panels. “I’m actually producing more solar power than I use to power both my Tesla and my home, so I’m actually putting solar into the grid here in North Carolina,” she says.

In 2009, Münter saw Psihoyos’ Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove. “I was just incredibly moved by that film and I ended up becoming a volunteer for Ric O’Barry, who’s the main activist in The Cove,” she says. It was through her volunteer work that she encountered Psihoyos, who is also the director of the Oceanic Preservation Society.

When she was asked to be part of Racing Extinction, Münter readily agreed. “My role is a fairly small part of the film; I’m driving the car and I’m getting to project these beautiful images onto buildings and onto mountains and onto canyon walls. It’s not a huge role, but it’s an incredibly cool one, I think,” she says. “I absolutely love the car, I think the car is an incredible, sort of James Bond-esque sort of vehicle…  I love how the car can light up and look like an ocean creature that has bioluminescence with the electroluminescent paint, and so to get to be the one behind the wheel of that car, and getting to be the one that pulls up to the oil refinery and projects onto the side of it, it was just an incredible, incredible honor.”

Throughout the filming of the documentary, Münter says she has learned even more about her advocacy. “I was pretty well versed on the issues of climate change and ocean acidification, but being exposed to all of the different creatures that we’re losing, the work of Joel Sartore, the photographer who is shooting the photo ark, I was just incredibly moved by seeing these beautiful images of the animals.”

She says, “There’s something incredibly powerful about actually seeing that creature looking at you, and knowing that we are losing these creatures because we are not taking care of the world around us.”

Münter is hopeful that if people’s hearts are touched by the documentary, it will make them more likely to change their behavior.

Racing Extinction airs on Dec. 2 in a race of sorts around the world, starting in New Zealand and ending in the US. Münter says it is more than just a documentary, but a movement. Discovery, together with the team behind the documentary, the Oceanic Preservation Society and Vulcan Productions, are leading a campaign called #StartWith1Thing. On the Racing Extinction website, a section is dedicated to simple commitments everyone can make to participate in saving the environment.

“I hope that everybody that goes to see the movie decides to do something personally… I hope they post about it on social media and use that hashtag, #StartWith1Thing. So the more people that see that hashtag and see like, ‘Oh, #StartWith1Thing, what is that about? Maybe I should do that.’ And they click on the link or they look into seeing the film,” says Münter.

“That is how we can spread the word, and so I’d encourage all the young people out there, who are probably already on social media, to use their voices on social media to talk about this.”

Among the solutions given in #StartWith1Thing, there are three that Münter is truly passionate about: using electric cars, cutting down on meat and dairy, and harnessing solar power.

Electric cars, she says, are game changers for the world of cars and transportation as they become more accessible and reasonably priced on the market. The same goes for solar power. “This is an incredible revolution for energy, and solar panels are getting more and more efficient every day,” she says.

Finally, Münter reiterates, the food on one’s plate can make a great impact. “There’s no easier way to have a positive effect on the environment than to cut meat and dairy products out of your diet. So three times a day, everyone has a choice what they’re going to eat, and if they can make the choice to leave meat and dairy off of their plate, that will have a huge, huge impact on the planet and the world around them.”

Münter is hopeful that seeing the documentary will push viewers to action. “The Discovery premiere cannot happen quick enough, because I want the whole world to see this film and to be touched by these creatures and to participate in that #StartWith1Thing campaign. Imagine if the Discovery Channel can reach a billion people, and those billion people do one of those #StartWith1Things,” she says.

Münter adds, “I think that these issues that we’re facing right now, with climate change and ocean acidification and the incredible loss of biodiversity, are truly the most important issue of our time.”

At the same time, she does believe that these problems can still be solved. “But in order to do that we need as many people as possible to be part of the solution… We need everybody to participate in trying to be a part of turning this thing around.”

As it turns out, the race against extinction is a relay in which each one of us must participate if humanity is to win.

Racing Extinction airs on Dec. 2 on the Discovery Channel. For more information, visit www.racingextinction.com.