Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
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Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
This past Saturday was Earth Day with worldwide demonstrations such at Saturday’s March For Science, where tens of thousands took to the streets of San Francisco to tell the Trump regime that science and facts are more important than personal hunches and short term profits for fossil fuel investments. There probably has never been a time when we needed greater awareness of our natural world and the peril it’s in than now. Virtually all climate scientists agree that life on our planet is under dire threat from global warming and climate chaos, and that the time to take action was yesterday, but that if we engage in large-scale programs of conservation and remediation, we may stave off the worst effects of this crisis.
It’s against this backdrop that the new US administration proceeds with its agenda to dramatically cut back on the budgets of the EPA and most other environmental programs which would have reduced carbon emissions. It is also aggressively cutting regulations of the fossil fuel industry to greatly increase their extraction and burning. An argument could be made that this approach is not only about short term greed but may even have a suicidal, apocalyptic aspect – the Trump administration is full of zealots. Awareness of how people have fought against giant corporations and government agencies which threatened our well-being, and that of the planet, could be very helpful now as we plan our paths of resistance against these insane, fossil-fuel addicts. That’s where this film comes in! Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff, and informed by advisors like Edward 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.
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The film unfolds in five acts, each with a central story and character:
- 1
- . David Brower and the Sierra Club’s battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon
- 2
- . Lois Gibbs and Love Canal residents’ struggle against 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals
- 3
- . Paul Watson and Greenpeace’s campaigns to save whales and baby harp seals
- 4
- . Chico Mendes and Brazilian rubbertappers’ fight to save the Amazon rainforest
- 5
- . Bill McKibben and the 25-year effort to address the impossible issue – climate change
Surrounding these main stories are strands like environmental justice, going back to the land, and movements of the global south such as Chipko in India and Wangari Maathai in Kenya. Vivid archival film brings it all back and insightful interviews shed light on the events and what they mean. The film, which is directed by Mark Kitchell,
(husband of Occupy Forum’s own Ruthie Sakheim) offers a deeper view of environmentalism as civilizational change, bringing our industrial society into sustainable balance with nature.
Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.
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