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Many of us will remember the photographs published by Yann Arthus-Bertrand in his book Earth from Above, especially the one of a heart-shaped island in the middle of the New Caledonian mangrove, which has become emblematic of his work. We went to meet this ecologist – and found someone who is in love both with Planet Earth and with those who live on it.

Do you think individual efforts are enough to tackle climate change, or do we need industrial commitments on a much larger scale?

I don’t see any difference between individual commitments and those of businesses. The main thing is for us all to be aware of what’s happening. I’ve just given a talk by videoconference to one thousand children in a school in Belgium; I struggled to find the right words, because young people today are warning us about the end of the world, the destruction of the planet, and so on.

Despite this, we remain incapable of curbing our appetite for growth at all costs. The louder the alarms sounded by the IPCC, the more CO2 emissions rise. We’re being reckless in the extreme, even though we know that all it would take would be a reduction in our use of fossil fuels of 5% a year. This cannot be achieved so long as we remain in a system in which growth reigns supreme, virtually to the point of becoming a religion – not least because states, hospitals, and so on are funded by growth. Our everyday life depends on growth: our purchasing power, jobs, and all the rest. That said, there’s no reason why any and all of us shouldn’t do something about it – and that includes bedmakers. Companies are controlled by individuals, not robots, whereas at the end of the day politicians are controlled by their electorate. That’s why personal engagement is so fundamental.

On a more personal note, what have you changed in your own behaviour to cut down on your emissions?

I’ve stopped eating meat; I’m in the process of doing without dairy products too, so as to avoid animal suffering. Of course, if you eat cheese the way it’s made in the Swiss Alps, you don’t need to stop; but sadly in France, three-quarters of the cheese we eat is industrially produced. If you can buy meat directly from small pig or cattle farms, where the animals are reared humanely on a small scale, that’s okay too. Another thing I’ve changed is that I haven’t taken a plane for five years now. I could have stopped sooner, but that’s the way things are… For my most recent film, LEGACY, our heritage, we recycled footage we’d already filmed to avoid having to travel, as well as commissioning footage from local drone operators.

For many years now, you’ve been raising people’s awareness of the need to care for the environment by using beautiful landscapes from around our planet. Is that more effective than negative pictures?

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that a very beautiful photo of a glacier, mountain, or desert can in and of itself change the world. Besides, there’s beauty in the actions of people demonstrating love, sharing and giving too. That beauty is what love is, in fact. I believe my films Woman and Human are important because they evoke something more than simply the beauty of the world around us. Saying that the beauty of the world will change the world might sound reassuring, but I think those are just empty words. Indeed, every time I show beauty, I get the impression that what I depict falls far short of what I’ve actually seen. You don’t need to go to South America to see beauty: there’s beauty right next to where I live – in my local forest, for instance; in the harmony of nature, all around us.

You directed the film about the Citizens’ Convention for Climate. What are your feelings about that initiative?

150 French people were picked at random from a whole range of social and political backgrounds to devise measures to tackle climate change, without any prior knowledge of ecology or environmental challenges. They were able to learn together and identify solutions using their collective intelligence. Their lives were utterly changed by this experience. I realised that this is where the solution lies: working together on a huge collective project is how we can hope to change things some day. They were less cynical, and not at all sceptical; they were there with plenty of optimism, to try to change the world. They sent a report to Emmanuel Macron. Of course, this has yet to be acted upon, but it was very exciting to see their amazing engagement... You know, 40,000 people taking to the streets to demonstrate for the climate is something that makes us happy. But when the winners of the World Cup come home, there are two million people in the streets. When there are two million people in the streets demonstrating not for the climate but for life on earth, the world will be a changed place!