PHOTOS: Aspen Film screens ‘Ocean with David Attenborough’ alongside world-renowned marine biologist

Aspen Film, along with the international nonprofit Global Choices, hosted a special screening of “Ocean with David Attenborough” on Tuesday at the ISIS Theatre in Aspen.

Prior to showing the film, world renowned marine biologist and oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle was on hand to chat about the challenges nature is facing. She was in discussion with Sally Ann Ranney, co-founder of Global Choices, which is partly based out of the Roaring Fork Valley.

“There are solutions to the warming of the planet. There are solutions to the demise, the loss, of wildlife,” Earle told the Aspen audience on Tuesday, only a few days shy of her 90th birthday. “But we first have to recognize the seriousness of the problem. We have to be motivated to see what is there to be seen. The knowledge is in hand, not only about what the problems are, but what the solutions are. But what is killing us is complacency.”

The film is the latest documentary from Attenborough, who at 99 years old remains one of the world’s most beloved biologists and presenters. The film made its world debut earlier this year in London, attended by Attenborough, Earle, and even King Charles III. Earle said the audience gave Attenborough a long, standing ovation after the screening.

“Our existence really depends on taking care of all of the rest of life on Earth,” Earle said. “You’ll see life (in the film) as maybe you’ve never seen it before. Creatures in the sea filmed in ways we could not have done 50 years ago, 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. The new ways of accessing the sea and the new technologies enable us to get to places we could not get to before.”

The documentary is currently being streamed via National Geographic, Disney+, and Hulu.

acolbert@aspentimes.com