Antarctica AND the tipping point with Eric Goens

Ilham Kadri: Today, I'm happy to welcome award winning director Eric Goens to the AND is the Future podcast. Eric is about to release a masterpiece, a documentary called 2050 that takes us on an expedition to Princess Elizabeth Station in Antarctica. It follows renowned scientists as they explore and conduct experiments from the station. And of course, these documentaries named 2050 refers to the year of our planet's tipping points. And Syensqo is proud to be on his side, the one and only sponsor of this incredible film. And I'm even more excited to speak with Eric about it. Eric, thank you so much for being with us.

Eric Goens: The pleasure is all mine.

Where his love of filming came from

Ilham Kadri: Well, thanks. It's a great pleasure, a great honor. And I'd always like to start the podcast off by asking my guest, by asking you, where did your love of filming entertainment come from? And what's made you fall in love with storytelling through the camera?

Eric Goens: That's a hard one. As far as I can remember, at least that's what people tell about me, what my parents are telling ever since I started walking around and talking. I was obsessed. I was like, there's only one option. Later when I'll be tall and big, I'm going to be a journalist. I'm going to make documentaries. I'm going to make TV features. So apparently something happened. I don't know, somewhere inside the brain that said that there was never a plan B. Becoming a doctor or, or whatever, whoever, there was just one thing I wanted to make TV documentaries. So look at me, 55 years later, it worked out.

The inspiration for 2050

Ilham Kadri: Well, it's great. It's TV documentaries, but it's also, you know, it's a camera and it's amazing. And your work up until this point has been probably very different, if it's fair to say that from 2050. You've, you've had so many hit shows like Conclave, right? From it, for instance, and for any of our listeners, maybe who don't know it, I would really invite you to go and watch it. Conclave is a brilliant series in Belgium where Eric invites politicians to a castle to spend the day with him. It's clever, it's very funny.

So what inspired you now, Eric, to go, in a different direction, in this completely different direction? I've heard you say that Antarctica was a project of, of a life, was a project that's haunted you for a long time. Can you tell us why?

Eric Goens: I was there six, seven years ago to make a documentary, but a short one. That's where I met a lot of people who are still there, like Alain Hubert, the Belgian explorer, who started up the whole station in Antarctica.

At that time, I was there to tell a different story. But ever since I was there, I was so captivated and so, I don't know, flabbergasted and blown away by the beauty and all the problems around the climate that I told myself, listen up, when all is said and done, that is not now, but 15, 20 years from now, that will be my exclamation point. But climate became more and more as a topic, oppressing that I said, why on earth would I wait another 10 or 15 or 20 years? So like two years ago, I was like, you know what? I'm going to do it now because it's needed now. There's a lot of opinions. There's a lot of discussion about climate and climate change. And it's very like the rest of society. It's very polarized. It's very black and white. And I just know that the big mass in between doesn't, just doesn't know, they know there's a problem but because of the polarized discussion, people tend to put it away, to push it away, I mean if a debate is so heated, They stopped listening to it. So that's why I finally concluded that it's needed now. Because a lot of people want to hear what is going on with the climate, what the problems are are ready and open to listen to that debate. So that's a very important thing about the whole movie..

It's not a typical climate documentary. I mean, in the typical definition of climate documentaries, there's always a very aggressive, negative, pessimist. It's always the end of the planet as we know it .And what we want to describe is the situation as it is, which is worse than we expect, actually. But at the same time, It's not that we're going to give the answer, but we are the very first generation that know the problem and the solution. I mean, you cannot blame the people of the 80s for not doing anything. They didn't know there was a problem, let alone there would have been a solution. Around 2000 and something, people knew that there's a problem, not knowing the solution, and again, there we are. I mean, and again, talking about 2050, it's not something that is going to happen like two centuries from now. We have to act now, I mean, what we say in the movies, you count. And all of us count, all of us. It's not only a company, story or an individual story, all of us count, all of us have a role to play in, in preventing that the final tip in 2050 will be the bad one. So it's, it's, I don't know, I mean, sorry for not having you asking more questions, but I mean, push my Antarctica button, I'm gone.

Ilham Kadri: Yeah. And we love it. That's why we are here. I'm here to listen. I loved what you say, Eric. We are the very, and I'm never, I used to say a sentence, I'm going to repeat it, but I loved what you say. I'm going to steal it from you going forward. We are the very first generation that know that there is a problem and we have a solution in hand. And I used to say, you may not know that, we are the very last generation that has a luxury to make a choice. So it's interesting. 

Eric Goens:  Do we really  want to be the generation that forever will be remembered as the one that knowing it all screwed it up?. Because the problem is getting bigger by the minute, and that's where we have to act and where we can act.

Experiencing the beauty of Antarctica 

Ilham Kadri: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you talk about the continent's beauty, and we had the chance to see a few clips already and wow, I mean, it's amazing is yes, it's beautiful. That's really comes out in the documentary, amazing scenes of nature. And there are really still so few people who have traveled there. So you can tell us what it is like to actually experience this incredible continent.

Eric Goens: It's, it's, it's insane.

Ilham Kadri: I want to do it, by the way.

Eric Goens: I mean, we've, we've been going to places where, you know, that a couple of hundreds of people have been there before. And already, already that idea is just crazy. At one moment we went. It's at the, the, the East Coast to the, so called, Derwaal shore. It's named after a Belgian scientist that went there, 50 years ago. I mean, it's absolutely, and I've been to a lot of places, ever since I've been to Antarctica, I'll, I'll, I'm of the, I'm part of the happy few that has been on every continent. So I've been traveling. Quite a while. But that particular moment at that particular coast, I mean, it was mind blowing. Usually I'm someone who can say, anything, everything with words, but to describe the beauty of that particular place, I mean, that could be the best possible, invitation to go to the theater, just seeing the, their wild coasts with all of the beauty, But again, not enough words to describe the beauty of this. of that place. It's, you have to try to imagine what it means to be surrounded by nothing.

Ilham Kadri: Nothing, yeah.

Eric Goens: There's nothing at Antarctica except for snow, air, water, and ice. But you cannot possibly imagine the sound of silence and the view of nothing that is so amazing. And if I say nothing, there's not a plane above your head, there's not a bus station, of course not. There's no electrical wire, there’s nothing. And the only thing you hear is silence and a magnificent view. There's not a second place in the world where you can enjoy that kind of view combined with the sound of silence. It's amazing.

Ilham Kadri: Yeah. And I'm sure the sound is actually a music of silence, right?

Eric Goens: The best sound is still the silence.

Antarctica as the barometer of the planet

Ilham Kadri: Yeah, So, it looks like you often talk as well about how Antarctica is the barometer of the planet, right? And, and that what happens there affects all of us. So how did you see that during the filming?

Eric Goens: Well, it's there's, there's a saying that says if it rains in Paris, it drops in Brussels. And actually, you could use the same one liner if you talk about the climate and the role of Antarctica. Because the most important thing about Antarctica, there's no human influence. I mean, there can be a lot of things that happen in the climate. In a country, on a continent, but there's always that influence that we create. There's the complete absence of that kind of influence on Antarctica. So if something happens there, it's influenced by nothing, except by the behavior of the climate. So that makes it a 100 percent guarantee that the things that are happening there are actually really happening, are not provoked by, I don't know, anything, a car that is driving or this or that. So, because of the absence of, of, of human beings, it goes much slower in Antarctica. I mean, It takes sometimes 10, 15 years to, to notice that there's a change, there's a switch in, in, in the actual state of the climate. And, and to give you a, to me it was a very convincing, almost killing example of what is happening there. Again, talking about the East Coast, the place where officially there's not a lot of, influence today. at one time it was, Eric Regnaud who was, leading the, the experiment. Eric Regnaud is a Nobel Prize winning, glaciologist working in Los Angeles and for NASA. And at one time he's measuring the depth of the ice. And he says to me, it's 800 meters. You have to know, I mean, Antarctic is a continent, so you have the soil and on top of that you have ice and snow. And when he told me it's 800 meters, I was I'm only human, I was looking at him and I said, Eric, what's the problem? 800 meters of ice. I mean, I guess we can miss a couple of meters. And he said, Whoa, wait a minute. It's 800 meters here and two kilometers further on. There was only 400 left. I mean, if you lose half of your ice and snow on a distance of two kilometers, I mean, if you're not convinced at that particular moment that the ice and the snow are melting away and creating the level of sea rising. There's, there's no better evidence than that one to finally show and prove, Houston, we have a problem.

Ilham Kadri: Absolutely. And, and this is, I mean, it's so for the climate change skeptics right out there.

Eric Goens: Yeah.

Film as an answer to the state of the climate

Ilham Kadri: You, you are right. You are given that perspective. Look, I am in, in the continent of no human being presence. But at the same time, you see the impacts and I'm showing it. And the discussion about climate has become, in a way, politicized and polarized, hasn't it? And I know that you want this film to really open our hearts, eyes, ears, right? And what's going on and provide an answer to the state of the climate once and for all. How do you think or hope to achieve that?

Eric Goens: Well, you have to show people that it's not a discussion about believing or not believing. It's the discussion is too important to leave it to the so called non believers or the so called believers. You have to show that what is happening today, and people get to see it, unfortunately, more and more, that what is happening today is all linked. It's not just a coincidence. I mean, we saw what happened in Spain. We saw what happened in Pepinsterre in Belgium two years ago. And the so called water bomb. I mean, two years ago, the water bomb in Belgium was 270 millimeters per square meter. In Spain, it was double. We're talking about two years. And it's the perfect one liner, that Eric Rigneaux says. People are used to see their garage flooded sometimes, but maybe we should tell them that if we don't do anything, their garage is going to be flooded all of the times.

And that's where, if people notice, I mean, as long as the climate debate is something, I'm not going to say, out of space, but, but, people feel the proximity today, they see, they know that if, if they go on a holiday, that it's way hotter than before, if it rains, that it's raining much more than before, that, so climate is going losing his mind a bit, and people see that. So, that's why I decided to make the movie now, because people are getting confronted with the very first signs that there is a problem. And if you bring it on a very human, low scale level, just to show we're not talking about the big phenomenon, but we're talking about you, we're talking about what it means to you. I mean, if you see that in, in, in San Francisco, they are investing today one billion dollar to have a wall built, and not a wall, not a political wall this time, but a climate wall to, to protect San Francisco against, the possible sea rise level, that's something, those kind of arguments are very influential and very decisive in the mind of people.

Ilham Kadri: Absolutely. And I think you are giving overwhelmingly clear evidence. I really liked your 800 meter to 400 meter, few, few meter or kilometers away, right? So many people. are trying to reach the hearts and the minds, as I say, it's on this topic. Do you believe then, and I know it's your sweet spot, it's what you do best, documentary is the most powerful way to do this. What is it about this documentary do you think that can really reach people and inspire them to act for those people who didn't see the film yet?

Eric Goens: Well, the thing is, society has become very visual. They sometimes say, what you see is what you get. But as long as people don't see it, they just don't believe it.

I mean, there's a very particular moment in the movie where, again, at the Derwald Coast, eve y two years, there's a big ship that is arriving and putting down all the necessary things that are needed to survive, like oil barrels, food. So, the boat arrives. Two weeks before we were there, and to have a so called safe zone, they put everything that needed to be delivered in Antarctica, they put it at 40 meters over the coast, again, in a so called non affected area. We arrived there two weeks later, and the old barrels that were placed at 40 meters meters from the coast, were at that particular time, and again, I'm talking about two weeks, 10 centimeters. So that means that in a very short period, two weeks, 40 meters of coasts has completely disappeared. But if people see that particular moment, I mean, they are, as we say in French, bouche bae.

How businesses can be more effective in fighting climate change

Ilham Kadri: Bouche bae, yeah. Flabbergasted, yeah. It's great. I cannot wait. I cannot wait.So, going back to the topic like And it's not just us as individuals, right? It's even more important for businesses to act. As you know, Eric, this podcast is about how companies can be both sustainable and profitable. And I really think every business leader needs to watch this documentary to be reminded of the urgency we face because we truly believe at Syensqo that sustainability is profitability because, you know, without sustainability, without healing, protecting our planet, there is no business, right? And the cost of not doing it is higher than the cost of doing it. And because providing solutions that improve our planet are just good for business and the environment. So what more do you think businesses can do to be more effective in fighting climate change.

Eric Goens: I mean, that's what a lot of professors and technology experts tell me. The technology is there today. It is there. It's not even needed to be invented. It is there. The thing that is missing is the conviction, the belief that we have to act, that we have to change. 

I mean, we are, face it, temporary on this earth and and in terms of who's on top it's it's climate and earth that will decide on our fate so it's a lot of it it doesn't even need the magical solution it's in our basic behavior behavior it's the way we use energy it's the way we use water is the way we use electricity It's very simple things that can make a big difference.

Antarctica and its special connection to Belgium

Ilham Kadri: So, let's shift gears to Antarctica is very special to Belgium and we are here, speaking in Belgium and you are Belgian right?

So because it was the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlach and his team who first spent an entire winter in Antarctica back in 1898. And his expedition led to the 1959 Treaty of Antarctica, which protects the freedom of scientific research in the continent. And in fact, we are very proud that Syensqol, and that's what's connected to us with your story immediately when we knew about that because our founder, Ernest Solvay, who was also a great explorer, played a fundamental role in enabling this historical expedition. And we're very happy to continue this support today by sponsoring your documentary. And then Princess Elizabeth's base, where you film, is of course a Belgium base. So Eric, how important is this Belgian connection to Antarctica was for you?

Eric Goens: It's a bit, it's a bit of a sad story because actually we know a whole lot of things about our history. But it's like we've forgotten that we've been playing a very important role in Antarctica ever since. I mean, Adrián de Guellach, I mean, what he did, it's crazy. Not only did he go all the way, but at one moment, just before the start of the winter, he decided to have his ship blocked in the pack ice just to hibernate, to stay there all winter long. I mean, the, the, the pictures you're going to see…

Ilham Kadri: it's amazing.

Eric Goens: I cannot imagine living there for four or five months, complete darkness. And the whole story, how he was able to do it, I mean, the very first partner that he saw was the Belgian government. I'm not going to make too much jokes about the Belgian government, but already at that time there was not enough funds from the Belgian government, so they were not interested. Then he went to the king, and the king said, No. Our main priority is Africa, and since Antarctica is not really next to Africa, he was, I'm not going to say he was desperate, but the amount he needed was 300,000 Belgian francs. That is the equivalent of today's 7,500 euros. So he met that young, aspiring, ambitious entrepreneur Ernest Solvay, and I mean it's just, and that's how apparently history is written and history is made, it's just two young entrepreneurs with an idea where everybody probably says at that time, They are absolutely crazy, but that is what makes things happen.

That is what makes things change. And just, Small history, when we went to Antarctica, we had two pictures, one of Adrienne de Gaillard and one of Solvay. And we attached them next to each other at the wall in the station. So, forever and ever, the two founding fathers of the whole Belgian, activity in Antarctica are reunited at the main wall of the living room in the Princess Elizabeth Station. And the way that Alain Hubert, who is a bit of an Adrienne de Guerlache of today, the way he looked at those pictures and admitting even he was a little bit jealous. Because, I mean, for him, it's nice to be what he is today and what he does today. But he looks to those guys and he's like, Why was I not there like 100 or 200 years ago? So, but we brought them to Antarctica and, and, and they will be there forever.

Filming in an unforgiving landscape

Ilham Kadri: It touches us because obviously Ernest Solvay is a big man, you know, and a role model for many and he loved science. He loved the planet. He was human centric and he was a humanist. So that's why he loved the planet. So I think he was a visionary and I would love to have this photo of their photos if you have one for me. I'm sure that filming in Antarctica doesn't come without risks, right? And in the documentary, we see the researchers leave the base to conduct experiments and they often run into challenges in the harsh landscape. And I know your team, Eric, ended up in what's called a white out, which looked so real. It's like it would be a pretty scary and a track fell down, a crevice, right? At one point, thankfully, without anyone inside. What was it like to be filming out there in what could be an unforgiving landscape?

Eric Goens: It's an unforgiving landscape. It's not even a question of what could be an unforgiving landscape. It's I mean, it's literally living on the edge because with all the crevices, the ice craters, I mean, you, you can, and I don't want to sound macho about it or, or, but I mean, it's just a question of every step you make, every move you make could be the fatal one and confronted. And again, that's where climate is so powerful that it's, ou'rey not completely convinced of the force of nature, I mean, being amidst a whiteout, the word itself says what it is, there's nothing but snow, you don't see anything, you lose every dimension, you lose every perception, try to imagine it, it's like being in a black room, only that room is white.

And in the meantime, I mean, the wind is blowing at 150 kilometers per hour. There's snow, there's ice, there's everything around. So, the only thing is, you lose yourself. You lose, you lose every connection to Earth. And that's where it becomes really dangerous. Because if all of a sudden you're standing next to your trailer and you get blown away to like four or five meters.

You've lost every connection too, so you're probably convinced you have to walk to the left while your carriage is standing to the right. So every single meter could be the last one before getting completely lost, knowing that kind of Whiteouts can last three, four, five days. We've been lost for a while, because our container that was pulled by a big fat machine pulled off without anyone noticing that they lost us, because the weather was that bad, and it lasted.

It's an incredible story. It took four, five hours before realizing that they lost us. So we were there in the midst of nothing, wired out, locked up in a container, not really knowing what was happening because it was locked from the outside. And luckily they found us back, but it took them another three, four hours before finding us back. I came back at the station. I don't drink alcohol too often. I drink like two, three times a year alcohol. And I told the guy who was at the station, just gave me a bottle of whiskey. 

Ilham Kadri: So there is whiskey in the station, Eric?

Eric Goens: Oh yes. And he brought me a bottle and he said. Because that's what I told him at that time. Oh, I didn't know there was whiskey. I thought I was making a joke. And the guy told me, in case of emergency, there is whiskey.

Following his passion

Ilham Kadri: So switching gears. I mean, we can hear it, right? This is, this is a passion, right? but, and, and probably your hobby, but is there anything else you like to do outside this, Eric, we want to know who you are outside this, given your sense of adventure.

Eric Goens: I am, I never worked in my life. I just followed my passion. And that makes me a very lucky man, because I know a lot of people, aren't we all? I know a lot of people that are unlucky in doing the job they do. I would hate it. I would, it would kill me. But, I mean, is it, is it, is it a sacrifice? to go to Antarctica and stay there for six weeks.

Of course, not, it's not a sacrifice, but yes, on a social, family level, it's a sacrifice. I mean, my, my youngest kid. Boy, he's 12 years old, so when I told him I was leaving for Antarctica for 6 weeks, let's say that was not our best conversation, but it's, it's, there's no other option. It's what I want to do, it's what I have to do, it's what I need to do.

I mean if, and my wife knows, because sometimes, of course, she says, hello stranger, are you there? But she knows that if I would not do, or if I would not be doing what I'm doing right now, I would just be a unhappy man and, and I try to have as much as possible impact. I mean, that's the whole thing of making documentaries.

You want that people are seeing or reading or listening or whatever, and that it has an impact, that it makes people think. I had a guy, we are selected for the film festival in Austin and in Rotterdam. And after the first viewing, he looked at me and said, you know what? They can ask me whatever right here, right now that I have to do for the climate. I'll do it after seeing this movie. And then, and that's what I'm looking for. I want.

How to watch the 2050 documentary

Ilham Kadri: That's the impact. So listen, it's time to close this fascinating conversation. So where will the final question, will the 2050 premiere and how can our listeners find it and watch it?

Eric Goens: there will be the, the big premiere, the, is it the 27th or the 29th? It's a Thursday. I'm so, I'm just waking up in the morning and watching my agenda.

Ilham Kadri: Is it in February? That's February, the last, the

Eric Goens: last Thursday of February.

Ilham Kadri: Last Tuesday of February. Yeah, I'm gonna find it for you.

Eric Goens: You're invited.

Ilham Kadri: Last Tuesday of February, 27th.

Eric Goens: Yes, that's the 27th. That's the world premiere, and then starting beginning of March, it will be in every possible theater and probably and hopefully as many weekends as possible, but that depends on people going to the theater or the cinema. But after that there will be, there will be a series launched after the summer, that will be a sixth episode, that will be March 30th. That will be seen on the streaming networks. So it's going to be there for quite some time. It's not just a movie, and then it's gone. The movie will be followed. There's going to be a book. There's going to be a lot of debates and seminars. And as I said, afterwards, there will be the series. So, I'm, I'm ready for it.

But, It's, it's what it has to be, so I'm looking forward, I mean, talking about my boy, my son, I can't wait to have him sitting somewhere in a theater and watching him and looking at the way how he reacts and if it has impact or not. So I hope to convince, we have a lot of media partners, I hope to convince as much people as possible, to go and see the movie and, and, and maybe decide that the way we treat our planet is not the appropriate way. that we have to change something.

Ilham Kadri: Absolutely. And I'm sure there will be a lot of sparks in the eyes of your, of your son and families. And I encourage everyone to see it. Yeah. I encourage everyone. We'll be at the rendezvous. Thank you so much for joining me today, Eric. And thank you most of all for creating this importance. I think it's critically strategic film, which everyone needs to see. to see your story is one of those which is the closest to my heart and to the heart of the podcast the purpose you are an inspiration you walk the talk and and we could hear it it's contagious and i know this film will inspire many more people you will create followers especially business leaders coming back to my job. And it's a passion of mine as well. Business leaders who have the ability to really make a positive impact. So thank you for the fabulous conversation and we'll be beyond the rendezvous and enjoy the premiere.

Eric Goens: Thank you very, very, very much. And the pleasure was all mine and we'll get to see each other end of February in a theater somewhere.

Ilham Kadri: Absolutely.