The start of Tom's Plan B
In this entry 0, I want to address why I started the new Tom’s Plan B show and how I hope to spread awareness and action regarding our changing climate. If this is your first time seeing my work, allow me to introduce myself first.
I’m Tom. Some know me as a marine biologist, a filmmaker, a photographer, a content creator or science communicator. I’ve been pretty busy as you can see. Looking back, I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
My journey started when I was a little kid watching National Geographic Channel with my grandfather on the couch. Inspired by the wonders that lived below the surface I later on pursued this passion with a Bachelor in Biology and Master in Marine & Lacustrine Science and Management (in short, Oceans & Lakes). For my studies I had the amazing opportunity to travel to O. Grove, Spain, to intern and study bottlenose dolphins among the mussel farms off the Galician coast. However, something became very clear to me. That little kid watching Nat Geo, was still searching for a way to showcase my own experiences. However I lacked the skills to do so…
In the meantime, I had already started my Youtube channel. It started out just for fun, but it gave me the opportunity to develop my rudimentary skills of filmmaking and editing. After a while I felt my progress was coming to a halt and needed more experience with real professionals. I applied for another internship, this time at a filmproduction company, far away from my previous ties with science. It was sobering to be thrown back into a place where I didn’t know much about. I couldn’t operate the “big” camera’s, the deadlines were heavy and following each other at an incredible pace. Luckily I was surrounded by an amazing and creative team that took me in as their own. I learned a lot from shadowing on shoots, helping set up lighting and just talking with the professionals in the industry. But, it was time to say goodbye and develop my own career as a creator.
Hiking to summit Petersköpfl, Austria, in collaboration with A.S. Adventure, a Belgian outdoor company.
Over the next years I worked with numerous brands and companies as a freelance filmmaker and creator. This chapter thought me the ways of business and entrepreneurship with all the highs and lows of a new one-man-band. It’s something I didn’t know much about coming from the sciences, but it was invigorating being able to pursue my own interests without someone overlooking my every move. You learn a lot from cleaning up your own mess… and also how important clear communication is when you’re working with: people. It’s then it started to dawn on me: everything is about people. As a biologist I was way more interested in any life besides our own. What was this world that supported us, how could we preserve it and how could we get others to see it this way.
Everything is about people
Sadly, the pandemic hit and in a matter of a few weeks, everything changed. With the world shifting to online, I was lucky to get multiple job opportunities and had to pause my passion projects in exchange for financial security. Yet, there was this nagging feeling something wasn’t quite right. I kept on delivering deadlines, pushing my creative battery into exhaustion without a single break. Corporate jobs kept on coming as the months past and I stumbled into a negative spiral of unfulfilling gigs that didn’t align with my core values. I was helping corporations with greenwashing, selling products and services that didn’t even think twice about our environment. I had to stop and I did. I had to make it about people.
This is when Creators For Climate was born. An initiative to build the bridge between science and culture. Together with a small team of scientists and creators we are trying to educate fellow researchers and experts on how to communicate science in an online world. If you are a scientist, you will understand how hard it feels to get your voice heard. How hopeless it might feel, fighting against all the misinformation on the internet in seemingly endless waves you can’t catch a break from. Our goal is to help these people break through the noise. Why? Because we need every single voice we have in the fight against climate change. Yours as well.
I must say, it felt good to create for a higher purpose again. And the response was quite amazing. So much so, we couldn’t keep up with all the messages. So many of you wanted to help, in any way possible. However, we quickly realised we had many creators willing to help, but we we’re still missing out on the science community. So we had to change tactics.
One of the ideas that stuck in my head was ‘lead by example’. Sometimes you just got to ride these waves of luck as they pass by. For me that came in the form of a trip to document plastic pollution in Albania. I decided to grasp this opportunity and build a new brand, one focussed on my personal view as a scientist and a creator. And so the first show of Creators For Climate was born.
In ‘Tom’s Plan B’ I seek the advice of experts on living a low impact lifestyle. Through challenges, vlogs and interviews I try to document ways to make real change happen. My hope for this show is that it will be a resource, a tool and an inspiration. A place researchers can look at for their own science communication and a platform for experts to share their oh-so-needed knowledge in a bitesized and approachable way.
As I’m logging of in this entry, I’m looking forward to the many challenges that are still ahead. The more I research, the more hope replaces my anxiety about our future. I truly believe we have a shot. Now it’s up to all of us to take it.
After all: ‘Rebellions Are Built On Hope’.