Paul Rosolie with an elephant in Peru. Photograph by Gowri Varanashi.
For each series of episodes, the “So You Wanna Save the Planet?” team identifies a cause and connects with an Initiate that has taken up that cause. A Rescue Mission is born.
There is a girl saving orphaned baby elephants and snakes in India. A community on the brink in a burnt-out portion of the Amazon. A team of Ex-US Army and local rangers working to protect rhinos from poachers in Africa. Conservationists protecting a secret Indonesian jungle that looks like no other on earth; you haven’t seen it, you’ve never been there, and there are animals that no one has heard of.
The Initiate has espoused the cause, but like many of those concerned about the environment, has limited natural survival skills and no firsthand experience of the crisis they wish to remedy. It is more than a fish out of water, they have no idea what they are in for.
Paul Rosolie is a naturalist, explorer, author, and award-winning wildlife filmmaker. For over fourteen years he has studied under and collaborated with indigenous tribes in the Amazon. He is the founder and director of Junglekeepers, a Peruvian NGO that protects over 30,000 acres of threatened rainforest on the Las Piedras River, Peru. His memoir on Amazonian wildlife and exploration, Mother of God, was hailed as “gripping” by Jane Goodall, and the Wall Street Journal applauded Rosolie’s environmental call-to-arms for its “rare immediacy and depth.” His conservation writing has appeared in National Geographic, The Huffington Post and The Guardian. His latest book, “The Girl and the Tiger” is being hailed as “the 21st Century Jungle Book”.
“So You Wanna Save the Planet?” will be executive produced by Radar’s Ted Field, whose 30 years in the film industry have generated nearly $10 billion in worldwide revenues. He has produced over 60 films, including the Jumanji franchise, the Riddick franchise, Amityville Horror (2005), The Last Samurai and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). Speaking of the company’s first foray into reality, Field shared, “We’re developing this show to give audiences a sense of the tremendous challenges conservationists face in a changing environment through the eyes of people Paul will take way out of their comfort zones”.
