Jonnie Hughes Studio Silverback

By Anna Carugati

TV REAL: How do you balance making a show that will draw an audience while at the same time imparting somewhat depressing news about climate change?

HUGHES: It’s getting easier. Because there was no good news a few years ago, and because we were heading into a car crash and didn’t know how to steer away from it, environmental films were a very niche activi ty. But that’s not so much the case anymore. We can point to real change already happening. There is a huge market change going on, which means that it’s mainstream. That allows commissioners to take a risk on those stories. And the average person is more engaged, more interested in it.

HUGHES: Nature is remarkable, and evolution is remarkable. My love originally was for science and ecology. There absolutely is a world in which human beings and wild ani mals can be in harmony. If you look at the tiger parks in India, for example, the tiger numbers are escalating now. In the ’90s, you’d go there, and most of the people visiting the parks would be international tourists. When I went five years ago, 90 percent were Indian domestic tourists. That means that in India, the people and tigers are coming into harmony. Again, in the ’90s, most tigers dying early were dying of poaching. These days, if tigers die, it’s mostly from car accidents. Poaching is virtually gone in many parts of India. That harmony is possible. I have this dream of the whole world being like that in a hundred years’ time if we do the right things.