Main concern: This Earth's part in my film

I have started my rough draft of my script/shots/angles/etc., and have started to think about location, costume, actions, etc. Since I will be in Utah on Wednesday (if I survive long enough) I was thinking I could film shots there since my character is always moving and, considering I have never been, Utah seems like the ideal landscape for a post-apocalyptic world devastated by humans and only started to recover. I have decided to have my movie revolve around this concept because at this point in time, with the natural world being threatened now more than ever, humans need to realize they need to take initiative to start thinking of the future of the planet and its health, because if they don't, they won't be included. Nature and all types of life that inhibit it are the most important things to me, as I will be dedicating my education, career and lifestyle to them in order to make a change and try to reverse the damage we, as a species have inflicted upon our home. I believe this film is one more way I can help my peers, and any one else who views this two minute creation, to understand just how much this planet needs and why. One of my most important inspirations for my project is the movie After Earth (2013), with Will and Jaden Smith; the movie revolves around two characters, a father and son, who have crash landed on Earth 1000 years after human's evacuation of the planet, and follows the boy's mission of attempting to signal for help while his father is injured and disabled... oh yeah and everything on Earth has evolved to kill humans. The concept of this movie is so unique and helped me to decide I wanted my character (I have named her Solara!) to not be from a foreign planet, for then the films would be too similar. The shots of this movie are absolutely beautiful and remarkably breathtaking and, again, in a perfect world in which my opening had no budget or timeline, are ideally what I would want my setting to include.  .     

The setting of my film is going to be one of my most important factors because I want that element to be the one to pull at my audience's emotions; my biggest priority is to get people to think  "wow this planet really doesn't need us, but we sure as hell need it". Location scouting will be my largest challenge, considering I need something completely abandoned, with no proof of life present, but equally gorgeous and lush and overgrown and completely awe-inspiring. For the parts I will be filming in South Florida, I will be using the website abandonedfl.com to (hopefully) find the perfect locations to film at, but if all else fails, I will use the locations I have discovered on my own.