Greenpeace are well known for their variety of marketing campaigns throughout the years to help spread their message. They even leveraged virtual reality (VR) back in 2017 to take viewers to the ends of the Earth. Now they are back with a new augmented reality (AR) experience which invites people to witness first hand the incredible beauty of the Great Northern Forest.
Thanks to the immersive technology of VR and AR, Greenpeace are able to take viewers on a magical trip to a place where beauty can be found all around. With towering trees and deep green mossy floors, the Great Northern Forest is a vast area that showcases the importance of looking after the planet and preserving its the natural beauty found all across it. All of this can be enjoyed in immersive AR complete with the stunning Northern Lights shinning bright above users to add to the magical feeling of this unique experience.
The idea behind the title came about after members of the Greenpeace team had just returned from filming a documentation in the Great Northern Forest. “If only everyone in the world could see how amazing this place is and how much of it is under threat…” A member of the team stated: “I wish we could just transport people straight to the Great Northern Forest!” It was then brought to the teams attention that, with the power of augmented reality, such a thing could be done.
Stretching across the globe the Great Northern Forest covers Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. It holds almost a quarter of the world’s trees and stores more carbon than all the tropical rainforests combined. The forest is also the ancestral home of Indigenous people like the Sami in Scandinavia and the Cree in Canada. With a complex and biodiverse ecosystem full of owls, eagles, wolves, and bears, the Great Northern Forest is a landmark reminder of nature.
Greenpeace is hoping that the new AR experience will help to raise awareness of the destruction of the Great Northern Forest which currently only has 3% of it protected. Each year vast areas are being lost as logging companies cut down the forest and destroy not only the trees but also the ecosystem of the different animals that live there. On top of that, the fact the forest absorbs so much carbon that by destroying it there will be a strong impact on climate change, further damaging the planet.
To experience the Great Northern Forest for yourself in AR download the Arilyn app available on iOS and Android and then scanning the above image to open the experience. You can see a trailer for the experience below as well and for more on Greenpeace in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
