Young Filmmakers Contest Reveals Passion for Animals and Planet
From manatees to koalas to pangolins, endangered wildlife was a recurring theme among 148 submissions to the 2022 One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest. Students ages 8 to 25 revealed the impact of weather extremes and plastic pollution on people, animals, and the planet, with a new note of urgency about the climate crisis in their short films.
Announcing. . . Our 2022 Lineup of Films
It’s what you’ve been waiting for. . . our 2022 lineup of tide-turning films is here! All screenings are free (with a suggested $8 donation) and open to the public. Seventeen virtual events will screen during the week of March 4-13. If the Omicron surge cooperates, we will be adding up to 15 in-person events—they will be offered at the same times and days as the virtual events.
Five New Activism Awards Added to Young Filmmakers Contest
Each year, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest receives amazing short film entries from all across the U.S. The submissions are rolling in ahead of the Jan. 5 deadline, and we are preparing to evaluate them. In 2022, we are excited to announce a new prize level—“The Environmental Activism Prize”—to elevate both the young filmmakers and the organizations on the frontlines of climate change activism.
Discover the African American Heritage Water Trail
Lake Michigan, one of Chicagoland’s great treasures, is connected to the Mississippi River by a series of waterways, including the Little Calumet River, which flows through several south-side Chicago neighborhoods, carrying nearly two centuries of African American history. The African American Heritage Water Trail honors this history and the remarkable stories of African American freedom seekers and trailblazers who traveled, lived, worked, and overcame enormous obstacles around this river and its banks. Please stop right now and visit this beautiful website, where you’ll find everything you need to understand the trail and the stops along its way.
Meet Jillian Patton, Development Director, One Earth Collective
Join One Earth in offering a warm welcome to our new “squad member,” Jillian Patton, Development Director. She is fresh off a thirteen-year stint in New York City, where she was most recently part of the Development team at NYU School of Law. She was also previously part of the team that raised money to develop the storied High Line, a park built on a former elevated train line on the West Side of Manhattan. Established in 2009, it helped provide a model for similar urban greening projects nationwide, such as Chicago’s 606 path that runs along an old rail line here in the city.
Once More into the Breach
For the next month the world will once again be focused on the treacherous global geopolitical terrain of climate change.
The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, beginning on October 31. The talks are scheduled to end on Friday, November 12, but if recent experience is any guide will be extended over the weekend as agreements are forged and contentious issues are resolved—or not, in which case they will be tabled for later consideration. Kicking the can down the road is standard operating procedure for these meetings, as one might expect for a 196-member international body that must operate by consensus.
Q&A with Angela Tovar, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago
As Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago, Angela Tovar has a big job: steering Mayor Lightfoot’s policy on environmental protection and climate change in addition to being a liaison between City Hall and community organizations in Chicago’s most polluted areas.
Q: What are some key points of that investment [to mitigate the effects of climate change]?
A: We’re focused on green infrastructure and flood-mitigation in vulnerable communities. And we will be planting 75,000 trees across the city over the next five years, for all the gifts trees provide, including heat mitigation. We’re supporting retrofitting for energy efficiency in low- to moderate-income housing and neighborhood-anchor institutions. And many other things—connecting residents with renewable-energy sources; finding better waste management solutions, including for organic waste; and exploring greener transportation options.
Red Alert on Climate Change in United Nations Climate Report
The very first finding in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC, or simply, IPCC) August 9 report is this:
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.”
I strongly suspect that this is the first time the word “unequivocal” has appeared in an IPCC report, given the IPPC’s “calibrated language” and the fact that these reports require both scientific and political consensus. Artist Alisa Singer illustrated one thread of the evidence for human-caused climate change.
First Virtual Movie Club Night A Great Success
The first-ever Virtual Movie Club Night kicked off on July 15 with a discussion of the documentary “The Ants and the Grasshopper,” directed by Raj Patel and Zac Piper. Exclusively for One Earth Collective Members (membership starts at $25 annually), the Virtual Movie Club will meet regularly to analyze environmental films, provide like-minded community, and promote change. New members are welcome to join at any time.