In order to understand how Rewriting Earth started, we asked Paul to share about his background.
Paul wrote: “Firstly, and most importantly. I’m an animal lover! Animals > people IMO! But that aside, I’m a writer, filmmaker, and (I kinda hate this term) entrepreneur. So I’ve spent many years ghost writing comedy for comedians, and I thought I could apply that ability for the planet - basically taking science and environmental issues to the mainstream through truly entertaining stories. Basically, making it more fun!!
So I started looking into what other people were doing in this space, and as soon as I saw Jenny Jinya’s Little Mo comic, I knew comics offered a completely new way of reaching audiences and making them care about animals. She has this incredible ability to take massive facts and numbers, and turn them into heartfelt stories - that often have me bawling my eyes out.
For example, if I tell you over 1bn seabirds suffer and die from eating ocean plastics every year, that’s hard to imagine - hard to ‘feel’. But I challenge anyone not to be affected by her comic, and I’ve had people from all over the world tell me that it was this comic that changed the way they felt about single use plastics and cigarettes.
Once I saw what Jenny was doing, I decided that turning climate and animal facts into comics was the way to go. So I conceived the idea of making a comic anthology whereby the world’s biggest stars, scientists, activists, NGOs and more could tell their story with the world’s best comic creators - and that became our best-selling and Sunday Times Award-winning book, The Most Important Comic Book On Earth.
From that, I realized that the format of creating climate stories as comics really, really worked, but I wanted to reach more people - people who couldn’t afford to buy our book. So we transitioned into creating comics and content for social media - and Rewriting Earth (formerly Extinction) was born.”
Paul was a part of many touching projects, yet we were wondering if there was one that stood out the most.
“There have been so many that have been life-changing, both for me, and for the charity. I adored working with War and Peas and Richard Curtis, a hero of mine for years - but I have to say the comic that really changed everything was I Promised with Dinosaur Couch.
I remember so clearly talking to the Dinos team and there was this moment where we said 'what if the dinosaur asked the tortoise to look after the planet after he was gone' and immediately, my heart just jumped. I knew immediately it was going to be big - but even then I couldn't have guessed how many millions upon millions of people would see it (and later share it back to me asking if I'd seen it).
There was also the incredible partnership with The World Land Trust, where together we managed to raise around $2m and use that to buy Laguna Grande in Guatemala and gift that back to the families of indigenous peoples who lived there, so it, and the 625 endangered species who lived there, will be safeguarded forever.
I still get a bit emotional thinking about that,” shared Paul.
Handling such a huge database is no joke. We asked Paul to share how he manages to keep track of all the comics and credits.
“As you can imagine, with 300+ contributors, a range of global charities and a slew of partners, there are never enough hours in the day. So mostly I wake up and go to bed in a cold sweat about all the things I want to do, but can't.
Behind the scenes, the Rewriting Earth team created a database to organize all the content we make (and by crikey, we make a lot). That includes comics, memes, videos, explainers, posts and more - all categorized and tagged with the appropriate co-creators (because proper crediting matters!). Mostly, this is just for us and our close partners, so that we as a movement of concerned animal lovers can all benefit from the content,” explained Paul.
Doing any group project, you are bound to have different ideas, therefore we were curious how Paul and his team make sure that everyone's input is heard and the final result is good.
He answered: “We just remind people that we’re here to save animals and the planet, and as long as everyone recognizes (which they normally do) that we’re doing what’s best for the animals and the planet - it’s cool.
It actually happens a lot less than you might think. Our creators are some of the best people I’ve ever met. I/we owe them such a great, great debt of gratitude for helping creating these incredible stories with us.
So guys, if you’re reading this, I bloody love you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”
Regarding environmental issues and all that is going on in the world at the moment, Paul shared new topics that he is passionate about.
“I get up to 50 emails a week from activists, NGOs, groups and more updating me and us on environmental issues. We also have an incredible team of scientists, experts and partners to help advise us and keep us focused. Basically, there’s no shortage of information out there, mostly it’s more of a case of us deciding which areas we can best help with - and how.
For me, my biggest pet peeve is framing environmentalism around carbon (please, bear with me here).
The problem I see is that all of us could go vegan, never fly again, be 100% waste-free and only use renewables and we’d never be able to see any benefit - because carbon and climate are intangible. It’s like dieting and never being able to see the weight loss!"
"My big plan for this year is to work to reframe environmentalism around life! The more life we see around us - bugs, trees, shrubs, birds, fish - the more carbon they’ll absorb and the more beautiful and healthy our world will be.
So rather than trying to convince the average person to reduce their impact (in terms of carbon), I’d rather try and convince them to improve their impact (in terms of supporting life).
Isn’t that a better message? It could be as simple as letting your lawn grow, making a pond, not getting rid of the leaves in autumn, buying a plant for your house, planting wildflowers, supporting wildlife charities - whatever makes your heart sing.
Because, for me, the best decision I ever made was turning my garden into a wildlife garden - now, when I feel down or like it’s all too much for me, I just have to look out in the garden and it’s covered in life - butterflies, bees, hedgehogs, deer, frogs, bats… all just from making a pond and letting nature have a few areas.”
And lastly, Paul added: Follow @rewritingearth on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! We'll keep showing content from the best comic creators, comedians, experts, and activists across the world.
