Film Screenings: A Fierce Green Fire, A Last Call at the Oasis: Water

A Fierce Green Fire

Sunday, May 12, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford

A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. 

Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff and informed by advisors like the biologist E.O. Wilson, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century and one of the keys to the 21st. It brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds.

The film unfolds in five acts, each with a central story and character:

• David Brower and the Sierra Club’s battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon
• Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal residents’ struggle against 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals
• Paul Watson and Greenpeace’s campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals
• Chico Mendes and Brazilian rubbertappers’ fight to save the Amazon rainforest
• Bill McKibben and the 25-year effort to address the impossible issue – climate change

The film arrives at a moment of promise: 25 years after Dr. James Hansen first warned of global warming; 8 years after Katrina; 3 years after the Gulf oil disaster; 2 years after meltdown at Fukushima; a year and a half since stopping the Keystone Pipeline; and half a year since the wakeup call that was Hurricane Sandy, the capper to the hottest year on record. A Fierce Green Fire tells stories about four successful movements, then takes up the biggest cause of all, still in suspense. It gives us reason to believe change can come.

A Last Call at the Oasis: Water

Saturday, June 22, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford

Water. It’s the earth’s most valuable resource. Our cities are powered by it, countless industries depend on it, and all living things need it to survive. But it’s very possible that in the near future, there won’t be enough to sustain life on our planet.

The global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. We can manage this problem, but only if we are willing to act now. Last Call at the Oasis is a powerful new documentary that shatters myths behind our most precious resource. This film exposes defects in the current system, shows communities already struggling with its ill-effects and highlights individuals championing revolutionary solutions during the global water crisis. Firmly establishing the global water crisis as the central issue facing our world this century, the film posits that we can manage this problem if we act now.

The film series is cosponsored by Audubon Connecticut.

(From the May 2013 newsletter)

Film Screenings: The Last Mountain and Facing the Storm

The Last Mountain

Sunday, January 27, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford

In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle with severe consequences that affect every American, regardless of their social status, economic background or where they live. It is a battle that has taken many lives and continues to do so the longer it is waged. It is a battle over protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal.

The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns. Nowhere is that concern greater than in Coal River Valley, West Virginia, where a small but passionate group of ordinary citizens is trying to stop Big Coal corporations, like Massey Energy, from continuing the devastating practice of Mountain Top Removal.

The Last Mountain tells this story.

Facing the Storm

Sunday, February 24, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford

Facing the Storm is the epic account of our tempestuous relationship with the iconic symbol of wild America. The American bison once dominated the plains of North America, numbering in the tens of millions. Native Plains Indians shared a sacred relationship with the species that went far beyond survival and sustenance. Then, in the nineteenth century, they were nearly eradicated from the continent, and an entire Plains culture was forever changed.

Facing the Storm recounts this harrowing history, and thoroughly explores the future of bison in the twenty-first century showing us that the American bison is not just an icon of a lost world, but may very well show us the path to a more sustainable future.

The film series is cosponsored by Audubon Connecticut.

Film Screenings: Green Fire and Living Downstream

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time

Sunday, November 25, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is the first feature length documentary film ever made about famed conservationist Aldo Leopold. The film explores Aldo Leopold’s life in the early part of the twentieth century and the many ways his land ethic idea continues to be applied all over the world today. 

The film shares highlights from Leopold’s life and extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation in the twentieth century and still inspires people today. Although probably best known as the author of the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac, Leopold is also renowned for his work as an educator, philosopher, forester, ecologist, and wilderness advocate.

Living Downstream

Sunday, December 16, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford

Living Downstream is an eloquent feature length documentary that charts the life and work of biologist, author, cancer survivor and cancer prevention advocate, Sandra Steingraber. Living Downstream is based on Sandra’s book of the same name, and, like the book, documents the growing body of scientific evidence that links human health with the health of our environment. Part scientific exploration, part personal journey, the film follows Sandra during a pivotal year in her life: as a biologist and author, speaking to groups across North America about cancer prevention; and as a cancer survivor, when she receives ambiguous results from a cancer screening test. The film captures this movement between the scientific and the personal, which is also a hallmark of Sandra’s work.

Raised in small town Illinois, cancer seems to run in Sandra’s family. Sandra was diagnosed with bladder cancer when she was just 20 years old. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when Sandra was in high school. Many of her close family members have also struggled with the disease, and her aunt died of the same form of cancer that Sandra had.  But while cancer runs in her family, she cannot say that it runs in her genes. Sandra is adopted.  Thus, Sandra asks what else families have in common besides DNA. The answer is all around us: our environment.

The film closely follows the trajectory of Sandra’s life and work, but it also tracks the important progress of scientific investigation on environmental links to cancer and other health ailments. Several experts in the fields of toxicology and cancer research make important cameo appearances in the film, highlighting their own findings on such pervasive chemicals as atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, and industrial compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Their work further illuminates the significant connection between a healthy environment and human health.

The film series is cosponsored by Audubon Connecticut.