If, in the last days of 2019, you wished for the new year to bring world peace and good news about fighting back climate change, you may have seen your hopes vanishing right at the beginning of 2020.
The US-Iran crisis - exacerbated by US President Donald Trump's order to kill Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani - and the raging bushfires that have been destroying Australia have indeed dominated the news, casting dark shadows on the new year.
And while we can only hope that diplomacy prevails in the first case, for what regards the Australian situation, ordinary people seem to be doing more than politicians. Australian comedian, actress and writer Celeste Barber launched for example a fundraiser campaign on her Facebook page that has collected over $20m in just three days.
Bushfires have been raging in Australia since August, but the situation has become impossible to manage in the last few weeks because of record drought and extremely high temperatures (above 40C).
Coasts were devastated, millions of hectares of land and over 1,000 homes were destroyed (New South Wales has been the hardest hit area); wildlife is also suffering with some species pushed to extinction. So far there are 23 recorded deaths, but there are also people missing. The situation is critical as the catastrophic fire risk presented by climate change in Australia may repeat itself in other places like Europe in the summer season, causing more emergencies, destruction and death.
Barber is known for her hilarious Instagram page devoted to parodies of the best (and worst) style images and videos involving perfect models and famous celebrities (and their obsessions with selfies, style and fame). The comedian loves to recreate such images accompanied by the caption "Challenge Accepted". Rather than posting any new parodies, Barber recently published on her account images taken from her mother-in-law house that seemed bathed in an ominous glowing orange light and with an apocalyptic yellow tainted sky.
But, rather than passively looking on, Barber decided to react and launched a campaign on Facebook to help the New South Wales Rural Fire Service fight the devastating bushfires. After three days she exceeded her own expectations reaching almost 20 million dollars at the time of writing this post.
Barber also updated her Instagram stories constantly: first posting about her joy when the fundraising hit one million and revealing she felt overwhelmed by the support of her followers as donations kept on arriving, while she also kept us updated about relatives living in Eden and being evacuated.
There have been reports all over the social media about other fundraisers in Australia by ordinary people who are collecting money, volunteering, offering accomodation or collecting food, water and assorted supplies; American singer Pink and Australian-American actress Nicole Kidman also pledged they were making donations to the fire services ($500,000 each). So, you may wonder, why is Barber's fundraiser so special?
Well, apart from having raised a record amount of money in a few days, it somehow marks a shift in trends. Despite having appeared on quite a few fashion magazines, including Vogue Portugal, having been editor of Vogue Australia for one day for its 60th anniversary celebrations, and having created a parody of a Tom Ford campaign (starring Barber herself and Tom Ford), Barber is not your average influencer getting free gifts, trips or money in return for endorsing a specific fashion product or brand. At the same time, like many fashion influencers, she has a huge social media following (6.4m followers on Instagram only).Yet, while other influencers recently focused on posting Christmas presents and food, fancy festive outfits and holiday snaps generating media revenue for themselves or actual revenues for the brands they support, Barber took action and generated funds for an emergency that not even the Australian government seems to know how to face. By asking her followers to support the firefighters in Australia and getting an immediate response, she also generated "social capital".
Barber restored our faith in humanity right at the begining of the new year, reminding us that social media can be used to spread joy and laughter (like she has been doing through her parodies), but also provide help and support in emergency situations. Could this be a trend for 2020, the Instagram star and the influencer as benefactor? Let's hope so. But, in the meantime, you can join Celeste Barber's fundraiser for the NSW Rural Fire Service & Brigades. She accepted many challenges for us. Now it is our turn to accept her challenge.
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