Richard Yelland’s concise yet informative documentary opens with some anxiety-inducing statistics about global warming, warnings that are sprinkled throughout the film. Captivating overhead footage of the Amazon rainforest and other gorgeous landscapes contrasts the harrowing images of voluminous landfills, depicting the beauty of what we must work to preserve and what we have already ruined. But Seeding Change: The Power of Conscious Commerce is not a doomsday piece. Rather, it is a hopeful look at companies aiming to make an environmental difference in the world while also making money and satisfying their customers.
Seeding Change focuses on several ventures looking to help stop deforestation and farming from the dangers of Amazon-based business. With an uplifting, can-do attitude. Yelland insists that there can be ethical consumption under capitalism. Yelland interviews both the ground-level, native workers and the founders or heads of several companies and start-ups with eco-friendly products and a passionate vision towards a sustainable future.
Sambazon produces açaí-based food and pays the Brazilian farmers a fair wage for their work; Numi Tea makes organic teas; and Guayakí Yerba Mate, which publicizes a “market-driven regeneration” business model. This group, along with other like-minded companies, founded OSC2 (One Step Closer to an Organic and Sustainable Community), a collective action firm working to increase awareness and tangible change in trade practices, such as biodegradable packaging or "triple bottom line" management.
Seeding Change provides surface-level, feel-good promotions of these companies and encourages viewers to buy their products in order to do less harm to the environment. Those behind the enterprises acknowledge that capitalism may rule the roost, but they try to do as little harm as possible to the earth while still making a profit. The businesses featured are indeed seeds of change, those making small but significant steps towards a better, more environmentally conscious future. This documentary also functions in some ways as almost a nearly hour-long commercial for these companies, using their success stories to inspire other entrepreneurs to follow in their footsteps.
Yelland’s motivational documentary is essential viewing because it shows how easily citizens can make positive, tangible world changes with their wallets. The film would also be an excellent choice for schools, showing young people how to be more conscious of environmental care and where they spend their money; Yelland even features a group of students taking action to eliminate waste on their campus. Seeding Change inspires all of its viewers to seek out green companies in order to be more than just a cog in the wasteful capitalist machine—and most importantly, save our precious planet. It is a brisk and useful narrative with a heartening spirit that demonstrates how your dollar can be used to make our beautiful world a better place.