I directed Don’t Look Up. When it comes to climate change, the ending is up to us | Adam McKay and Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

We can't just sit back and watch what's happening to the planet. We are not an audience. Like it or not, we are in this story

As a scientist and a movie maker, we both once naively assumed that data and storytelling would converge to help prevent the imminent collapse of our habitable climate. Fire tornadoes, mega hurricanes, biblical floods, fossil fuel companies misleading the public and gambling our lives for huge profits - of course, such apocalyptic imagery would lead to gripping newscasts, dramatic interpretations, and stirring speeches from our leaders, sparking action at every level of society.

After all, the real-life story of the climate crisis makes even the wildest, biggest-budget film like Don't Look Up seem like a charming EM Forster adaptation. But does this story-of-all-stories get wall-to-wall news coverage? Nope. Not by a long shot.