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Review: RVA Environmental Film Festival

Malik Hall | February 12, 2018

Topics: Bangladesh, Climate change, global warming, Hampton Roads, national security, naval base, RVA Environmental Film Festival, Sea Level Rise, Tidewater

Rising sea levels are a threat and its detrimental effects can be seen both abroad in our own backyard. Two short documentaries screened in Richmond over the weekend captured this very issue. 

EPA director Scott Pruitt recently said that the rapidly occurring climate warming “may not be a bad thing”  should probably have watched Adaptation Bangladesh: Sea Level Rise, before commenting on the subject. The film, which premiered this weekend at the annual RVA Environmental Film Film Festival, gives a glimpse into how people are adjusting and experimenting with new methods to deal with environmental change. Specifically, how the people of Bangladesh are coping with the tremendous impact of rising sea levels. 

The 8th Annual Environmental Film Festival, which featured local and national films at several venues around town this past week and weekend, aimed to educate and raise awareness on a variety of environmental issues from the Dakota pipeline protests, to rapidly disappearing coral reefs, to the Flint water crisis.

Directed by Anne Phillips, Adaptation Bangladesh: Sea Level Rise highlights how Bengalis farmers are improvising by building organic floating gardens and other buoyant infrastructure. Most notable were the floating gardens that are at least these 20 feet long structures that is a mishmash of several things including manure that the Bengalis use to grow their crops. Life must be difficult for those in the in the flooding zones of Bangladesh, but they have found a way to adapt and survive. Adaptation Bangladesh: Sea Level Rise is just one part of a three-part series by Phillips. 

Closer to home, rising sea levels are also impacting Hampton Roads with flooding occurring at an abnormal rate as shown in the screening of Tidewater. The documentary, directed by Roger Sorkin, takes a look at the home of the world’s largest naval base, and the looming impact the rising sea levels and sinking land could have on national security.

It delved into how difficult the lives of those in the Chesapeake, Norfolk, Newport News, and Virginia Beach can be on days of extreme flooding. B-roll and drone footage displayed of people kayaking through the streets and cars with water reaching as high as the cars’ windshields. 

Hampton Roads needs $1 billion in critical infrastructure repairs with 900 miles of the area’s roads threatened by the flooding.Tackling the issue will mean stakeholders, citizens, the U.S. Navy and local businesses coming together. This film showcases local leaders pioneering whole-of-government problem-solving model.

Though economics shouldn’t be the sole purpose for us to take action and reduce our carbon footprint, it is a great selling point to those who are lackadaisical about the issue. A lot of interviews were conducted throughout the film, but one that really had an emotional pull was a middle-aged woman who had to commute to take care of her elderly mother. On some days the roads were too flooded for her to visit so she went out to buy her a life vest in case of an emergency, as the elderly woman is years past her being mobile.

Even though the science isn’t as clear-cut as most environmentalists stress, it is pretty obvious that two things are occurring: human activities have a direct result in increasing the average global temperature, and higher temperatures will result in sea rise, especially in most coastal areas. 

I am biased when it comes to this issue, but both of these films have shown what climate change has done and will do and the film festival did a great job of showcasing pressing issues facing us around the world.

Photo By: Mountain Film  

This Year’s RVA Environmental Film Festival to Educate and Entertain With Over 20 Films Around Town

John Donegan | February 6, 2018

Topics: Capital Region Land Conservancy, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Climate change, Enrichment Foundation, environmental issues, film, global warming, James River Film Society, RVA Environmental Film Festival, Sierra Club, The Byrd Theatre The Science Museum of Virginia., Viridiant

The 8th Annual Richmond Environmental Film Festival, which kicked off last night, has come around once again for its week-long showcase to raise awareness on environmental issues featuring local and national films at various venues across the city.  

Every year, the festival bolsters its lineup with an arsenal of films, providing breathtaking, in-depth examinations of the obstacles our environment faces, along with guest speakers, and environmentalist panels, all looking to accommodate a haven for discussion.

Founded in 2008 by the James River Film Society and revived by the Sierra Club in 2011, the festival has continued its relentless awareness outreach to the Richmond community, with presenters including the Enrichment Foundation, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Viridiant, and the Capital Region Land Conservancy.

Over 20 films have been selected for this year’s screenings including films on the Flint water crisis, to “Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock,” that captures the Sioux tribe’s peaceful protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and “Jane,” a deep look inside the life of activist and conservationist Jane Goodall and her extensive work and interactions with chimpanzees. The film draws from never before seen footage from National Geographic archives a by Philip Glass. The film will be a double feature for the festival, first showing at the VCU Commons Theater at 3:30 pm on Tues., Feb. 6, and 4:45 pm on Sun., Feb. 11 at the Byrd Theater.  

 

Films will be screened all across Richmond venues including the University of Richmond Ukrop Auditorium, VCU Student Commons Theater, VCU Grace Street Theater, WCVE Studios, Chesterfield public libraries, The Visual Arts Center, The Byrd Theatre, and The Science Museum of Virginia.

On Sunday, the RVA Environmental Film Festival Committee will announce the winners of the Virginia Environmental Film awards and screen their films at The Byrd Theatre at 3:05 PM.

The film festival will run until Sun. Feb. 18, you can see the full rundown of films, times, speakers and places here. 

 

 

 

Science Journalist Stephen Nash on The Media’s Role in the Climate Change Debate

Nidhi Sharma | December 14, 2017

Topics: Climate change, environmental science, global warming, Media, Stephen Nash

There is a complicated relationship that exists amongst the public, the media, and the government when it comes to environmental conservation. Each sector plays its unique role in deciding the trajectory of every blossoming, burgeoning environmental issue as it arises — pollution, global warming, species extinction — how each matter unfolds is entirely up to those three cardinal groups.   

Not many journalists understand this symbiosis the way renowned science journalist Stephen Nash does. Nash, who has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Bioscience magazine, is one of Virginia’s leading climate change experts.

Author of Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests, Nash’s award-winning book lays bare the future of Virginia, should the degradation of our environment continue. For Nash, it is the inherent responsibility of the media to inform the public of the state of our planet.

“In scale and intensity, climate change, or ‘climate disruption,’ is the biggest and most immediate challenge facing humanity — with the possible exception of nuclear war,” Nash said. “[Environmental] science, more than ever, has come to have enormous consequences for us. So now, more than ever, journalists and scientists must be able to explain those consequences to the public.”

Writing about the environment was inevitable for Nash. As a child, he discovered his love of nature exploring the woodlands of California and Oregon, where his stepfather was a logger. Today, Nash is the very picture of a conservationist —  with his white mustache and his lanky frame. Bright blue eyes, set in weathered skin, divulge signs of a life spent in the sun and the wind.

Nash, who firmly believes that it is the role of the media to inform the public, said that he is often frustrated by fellow journalists who deny the consequences of climate change, and thus, limit the role of the public in inducing any real change.

“[Climate change] is beginning to get the more consistent coverage it merits,” Nash said. “Still, denial of climate disruption is a kind of political religion for many Americans, so, they prop up their belief systems with ‘media’ that are not journalism. They’re fantasy entertainment, ideological zealotry.”

Stephen Nash

“A few hurricanes, mega-forest fires, droughts, floods and famines from now, those fantasies and that religion will become insupportable. But old gods die hard, especially if they’re still stuffing your corporate pocketbook.”

When the media denies climate change, the public denies it. Businesses that rely on fossil fuels and drill oil deny it, out of financial interest and just plain fear. Media funded by corporate money deny climate change together, Nash said.

But worst of all, according to Nash, is when the government denies the wrecking of our environment, because it is so very important that they play a role in fixing it.

“When the government is taken over by those corporate interests and their mass-media mouthpieces, denial of science that doesn’t serve their interests is a top priority,” he said. “It is essential that the government play a role in environmental conservation, and the public must understand that.  False media outlets like Fox News tells its audiences that the government is interfering and infringing on our liberties if it takes on this role, but that’s just not true.”

Ultimately, though, even the government cannot be relied upon, Nash said. It is the people and the fact-based media that must work together to invoke change. Recycling, using solar panels and wind power — those are minor actions that will as a whole have a larger impact, but Nash encourages taking action on a grander scale.

“Conservation now is a political, not an individual process,” he said. “So people can play their most useful roles by joining together — and fighting for political change that will make conservation possible.”

Photo by Oxford University Press Blog 

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