I remember watching Bruce Parry on Tribe, a documentary series where he visits a number of remote tribes around the world, spending a month living and interacting with each society as a native. It was impossible not to be touched by his profound respect and love for whomever he came in contact with, reminiscent of how we all are as children, completely open without labelling others.
Other documentary series have shown Bruce exploring extreme environments, living with remote indigenous peoples and highlighting many of the important issues being faced on the environmental frontline. But last Autumn, he has presented his own documentary to the world - Tawai, a Voice from the Forest - where he joins Borneo’s Penan tribe to alert us about the effects of globalisation on the environment and on our collective state of mind.
“We’re not just challenging individual identity but national and cultural identity and all pillars of society. The things I learned from my time with indigenous people put me in a state where I wanted to shout at society.” [The Guardian]
It's really inspiring to see people who really go against the tide and are able to think for themselves. These are usually the ones who manage to play an important role in the world, not only by transforming themselves but by actually being a driving force of positive change in others.
It's not all up to politicians and corporate executive boards, each of us is a consumer, and as such, we can choose to live more sustainably and demand more transparency, after all marketing is about finding out what our needs are, if more and more people want to be conscientious about the world they live in, the market will inevitably respond.
"What is progression? If progression is just material accumulation – more gadgetry, faster cars – then yes, of course we in the Western world have progressed further," Parry says. "But if progression means more loneliness, less of a future for our children, and anxiety about growing old, then that is not progression at all.
"The Penan people don't have an underlying anxiety about wanting to be famous because they see themselves as part of a collective. They don't have an underlying anxiety about growing old because they know they'll be looked after. So I don't know what progress is.
"I'm not trying to persuade people to become hunter-gatherers but I am saying that materialism isn't the only thing we should be looking at. There are other aspects." [The Telegraph]
All images: Bruce Parry website