2040 – A positive environmental message

As part of Thatcham Festival, Thatcham Town Council held a screening of the acclaimed environmental movie, 2040. Stephen West went along to review it and join the discussion afterwards.

Whenever a new movie is released with global warming as its theme, whether it’s fact or fiction, you can bet on lots of death, destruction and scenes of climatic apocalypse as a scary warning of things to come unless we change our reckless and destructive habits. 2040 has a refreshing angle on the climate change story which offers a sense of hope using examples of real-world innovations that could stop the increase in the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere and hold back the effects of climate change.

Damon Gameau’s 2040 is a documentary that frames climate discourse as a letter to his young daughter, imagining a plausible, optimistic world in the year 2040 if society widely adopted existing, scalable solutions today. Rather than catalogue catastrophe, the film assembles real-world projects — from community solar and regenerative agriculture to marine permaculture and transport innovations — and interweaves them with cinematic visualisations of a lived-in future. Its aim is not to invent miracles but to reframe the conversation: policy, technology, and social change already exist; the question is whether we choose to scale them rapidly.

The film’s central argument is hopeful pragmatism. It positions climate action as a menu of practical interventions that can deliver co-benefits for health, jobs, and equity. Key themes include the power of local, community-led solutions; the economic case for renewables; the restorative potential of regenerative land management; and the social multiplier of empowering women and girls. Gameau repeatedly emphasises agency: ordinary choices, amplified through policy and investment, can produce systemic transformation. This approach counters paralysis by focusing on actionable pathways rather than abstract doom.

Visually, 2040 is polished and approachable. The film alternates between on-the-ground reportage and lovingly rendered speculative sequences that show neighbourhoods transformed by cleaner energy, greener streets, and productive urban spaces. These future vignettes are carefully grounded in technologies and policies already demonstrated at small scale, which gives them plausibility. The pacing is deliberate and conversational, with Gameau’s narration striking a warm, accessible register. The soundtrack and production design lean into optimism, reinforcing the film’s persuasive intent rather than adopting a detached observational stance.

Strengths

• Clarity of Purpose: The film excels at translation — it turns complex technical and policy ideas into relatable examples without oversimplifying their trade-offs.
• Practical Optimism: By showcasing existing projects that work, 2040 motivates viewers through possibility rather than guilt.
• Balanced Arc: The documentary connects local actions to larger systemic levers, showing how community experiments could influence national and global outcomes.
• Human Stories: Interviews and case studies provide emotional texture, illustrating how climate solutions intersect with livelihoods, food security, and dignity.
  
  

Weaknesses

• Selective Evidence: The film sometimes underplays political and economic barriers to rapid scale-up, giving less attention to vested interests, regulatory inertia, and the timelines required for infrastructure change. It seems to gloss over how corporate arrogance, political equivocation and human greed can get in the way of the changes necessary to achieve true net zero.
• Utopian Glimpses: The speculative sequences, while inspiring, occasionally smooth over messy realities such as social resistance, governance failures, and unintended consequences.
• Scope Limits: Carbon-intensive industries and geopolitics receive less scrutiny than community-level innovations, leaving viewers wanting a sharper sense of how global emissions trajectories would be altered at scale.

Conclusion

2040 is a persuasive and humane documentary that reorients climate storytelling toward agency and solutions. Its greatest success is psychological: it replaces fatalism with a credible vision of what could be achieved using tools already available. For audiences fatigued by doom-laden messaging, Gameau offers a constructive alternative that invites participation rather than despair. The film is not a comprehensive policy manual nor an exhaustive accounting of obstacles, but it functions as a catalyst — a vivid invitation to imagine and build a better near-future. As both a piece of cinema and a call to action, 2040 earns its place in conversations about climate communication, civic engagement, and the cultural work required to accelerate real-world change.

The screening was organised by West Berkshire Green Exchange with time afterwards for a discussion which centered around what we are doing ourselves to help combat climate change by our own actions and lifestyles. The discussion touched on six main topics:

FOOD – Eating less, but better meat, chicken, fish and dairy etc., similar to a Mediterranean diet. Avoiding waste by only buying food which you know will be eaten. Supporting local farmers.

HOME – Improving insulation, ventilation and draught proofing. Considering heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage.

TRAVEL – Walking and cycling whenever possible, using public transport. Considering electric vehicles. Flying less.

ITEMS – Choosing items with less packaging. Buying fewer items of new clothing. Keeping electronic items longer and trying to repair and re-use/pass-on rather than bin items which are no longer needed or become faulty.

NATURE & COMMUNITY – Gardening for nature and growing some of your own food. Choose sustainable banks, pensions and financial products. Talk to friends, Councillors, MPs and everyone about green issues. Join local green / climate action groups.

You can learn more about West Berkshire Green Exchange and contact them, visit their website www.wbge.org.uk

If after reading this, review, you might want to see 2040 yourself, click below for the official preview to whet your appetite.