Andrew ‘Wilf’ Wilford
Yesterday, we began our 45 day Indiegogo campaign to raise at least $30,000 with which to clear the archive rights for footage we use in the film. We are so far up to $485 in contributions and this is only the first 24 hours.
$250 of that was a legacy contribution on behalf of the late Andrew ‘Wilf’ Wilford, a scientist, teacher and sustainability advocate from Brisbane, Australia.
This tribute by our friends at the Post Growth Institute will give you an idea of the many things this good kind man did and stood for.
I never got the opportunity to meet Wilf – we corresponded by email in the two years prior to his untimely death. With his position at Bond University and extensive experience working with mission-critical systems, we discussed the possibility of collaborating on a documentary series called “RISK!”, which would compare the attention paid to the details of space shuttle launches and aircraft design with the profligacy we seem to revert to when the critical system in question is our planet, the Spaceship Earth which Wilf described in his TedxBrisbane talk in November 2011.
In the short time that I corresponded with Wilf, I found him compassionate, charming, funny, engaging, intelligent and unswervingly interested in the preservation of this wonderful mystery we call life, in its many forms. It is a great shame that he passed away before the world was properly exposed to his way of thinking.
This intimate video taken at one of Wilf’s seminars shows up close his passion for clear thinking and honest discussion, as well as the love he inspired in those that he met and worked with.
In his Tedx talk, he referenced Carl Sagan and his “Pale Blue Dot” speech, one of the most moving ever written, in my opinion. It is best heard in Sagan’s own delightfully measured tones.
To Andrew ‘Wilf’ Wilford, for the work he did in life and the generosity he inspired in death.
Farewell, friend.