Prince William Makes Plea to TV Producers and Creators With ‘Unique’ Appeal

Prince William made a rare direct address to the public on Sunday asking TV companies to make environmental issues a central part of their programming. The royal heir spread his message in a pre-recorded video address which played during the BAFTA TV awards on Sunday in England. He praised shows that have already used “innovative” and “emotive” means to target climate change, and called for more.

“Now more than ever, programme-makers have a unique opportunity to ensure climate change and sustainability remain at the forefront of our collective consciousness,” Prince William said in the video. “By creating innovative, educational and emotive content for television, writers and producers are playing a unique role in ensuring the future of our planet is something that we all want to talk about.”

Prince William used his message to spotlight some of the night’s biggest winners. He said: “Over the past year, we’ve seen some fantastic examples of this across a wide variety of programmes and genres. I hope you will all continue to carry on your invaluable work, keeping environmental issues high up on the agenda of programming in the years ahead.”

Prince William has become increasingly outspoken on climate change, conservation and other environmental issues. He recently criticized wealthy entrepreneurs pouring money into the privatized space travel industry, calling them “space tourists,” according to a report by Ace Showbiz. he said: “We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live.”

Prince William reportedly began to tackle this topic more directly after the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip. He said that his grandfather began addressing climate change “a lot more, very early on, before anyone else thought it was a topic.” He expressed his hope that his own children would not have to worry about climate change in their adulthood, saying it would an “absolute disaster” by then if left unchecked.

Climate change is a complicated issue with causes and effects rooted in economics and politics that sometimes make it difficult to discern the truth. A new op-ed by David A. Super in The Hill offers a good explanation of climate change’s impact on inflation and supply chain issues currently plaguing in the U.S. Super joins others in arguing that there are ways to stimulate the economy and tackle climate change in a meaningful, system way all at the same time.