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Nat Geo Follows 'Before the Flood' Doc with Campaign to Raise $100K for Wildlife Conservation

With over 8.7 million views on YouTube already, Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary film Before the Flood is already making waves.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 8 years ago | About a 3 minute read

With over 8.7 million views on YouTube already, Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary film Before the Flood is already making waves. To accompany the film’s release, 21st Century Fox and National Geographic have launched a new social media campaign to drive support for the conservation of endangered wildlife and ecosystems.

In an unprecedented number of digital releases, National Geographic has made the film available to stream for free until November 6 on NatGeoTV.com, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, Amazon, GooglePlay, iTunes, and more to help spread its message. The social media campaign is intended to further engage viewers.

For every use of the hashtag #BeforeTheFlood across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the Before the Flood custom Snapchat filter from October 24 to November 18, 21CF and National Geographic will together donate $1 to Pristine Seas and $1 to the Wildlife Conservation Society for a total of up to $100,000 ($50,000 to each organization).

“In our minds, there is no more important story to tell, no more important issue facing our planet than that of climate change,” said Courteney Monroe, the CEO of National Geographic Global Networks. “At National Geographic, we believe in the power of storytelling to change the world, and this unprecedented release across digital and streaming platforms is not only a first for our network but also in our industry, underscoring how exceptional we think this film is and how passionate we are about it.”

Pristine Seas works to establish reserves where marine life can thrive and ensures they will be effectively managed for years to come. The organization represents National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala and his team's 10-year mission to explore, document, protect and restore the ocean’s wild places. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) works across nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans to save endangered wildlife species through science, conservation action, and education programs. WCS is based at the Bronx Zoo in New York City.

National Geographic has also assembled a number of free online resources designed to empower viewers to take action once they watch the film. The #BeforeTheFlood campaign's Take Action page contains information helping viewers contact their elected representatives, tips on how to reduce their own carbon footprints, and a toolkit for informing citizens and politicians about climate change.

“The level of support National Geographic is providing to create awareness about climate change is exactly what Leo and I were looking for when we made this film,” said the film’s director, Fisher Stevens. “It’s time we stop arguing its existence and do everything we can to bring this issue to the forefront of people’s minds so that real action is taken to combat climate change.”

Before the Flood premiered on the National Geographic Channel on Sunday, October 30 following the second season premiere of the climate change documentary series Years of Living Dangerously. The back-to-back premieres kicked off six straight days of primetime programming focused on climate change as part of the channel’s first-ever Earth Week.