For this episode of the Ecohustler podcast our video producer Eoghan caught up with award winning filmmaker and adventurer James Levelle -

https://soundcloud.com/ecohustler/podcast\-james\-levelle\-on\-nature\-filming

James Levelle is a nature-centric, award-winning filmmaker, adventurer & storyteller. He has featured on Discovery, Nat Geo and the BBC. He has worked in some of the most extreme & remote environments on the planet.

He is an ambassador for all things wild and an advocate of nature-based, adventurous, and fun solutions to the ecological and climate crises.

In 2019, Eoghan and James met whilst working together on an epic journey called Race For Future.

‘Race For The Future’ sees James speed 9000 miles from the UK to Chile… fossil fuel free… on a mission to document climate messages from the next generation and deliver them in a film to the United Nations Santiago Climate conference… if he can get there in time. Little did they know then - that conference was about to be moved to the other side of the planet. Will they manage to get there in time!?

This is a fun, interesting and wide ranging conversation recorded in late December on James's boat which is moored up somewhere along the River Avon.

https://vimeo.com/552040359

James’s greatest passion is to go explore the world in a way that challenges assumptions and changes perspectives. He does this by undertaking daring journeys full of unexpected stories that amaze and inspire.

He has trekked into the frozen wilds of Alaska for Discovery Channel’s hit series, ‘Gold Rush Trail’ (2017), and risked life and limb living through the world’s most deadly weather for the BBC & UKTV’s ‘Hurricane Man’ (2019).

However, “the most mind-blowing journey” of his life so far had James hitchhike his way 6000 miles across South America with no mobile phone, no credit card and no money whatsoever. Discovery’s 6-part series, ‘Free Ride’ (2016), tested James’s survival skills and ingenuity to the limit but more than that it showcased the extraordinary kindness of strangers who repeatedly helped him on his way.

Now he is determined to lead the world’s first fossil fuel free adventure series on his mission to get a grip on the realities of the climate crisis and find those inspirational people leading the way with local solutions to the environmental issues we face.

A note from James

I’ve travelled the world pushing the frontiers of adventure filmmaking and testing myself to the absolute limit. But I couldn’t

have achieved any of it without the help of the kind and generous people I’ve met along the way.

People are the key achieving extraordinary challenges.

This journey begins in my home town of London and ends 9000 miles away in Santiago de Chile… a lot of what happens in

between cannot be planned and will depend on the fascinating folks I find and how their stories can inspire us all to act on climate change.

I do know one thing though… when people come together we can achieve anything.

The success of this climate change adventure will depend on exactly that… togetherness.

If you'd like to follow James's adventures and travels you can do so via his website -raceforfuture.com

or on Instagram using @jamesmlevelle