"Those who have fewer resources often take the brunt of environmental degradation and pollution, but their voices and faces are now being heard and understood and seen. At long last, people are recognizing that the crucial focus of our environmental movement cannot be LED bulbs and recycling but breathable air and drinkable water. What we say about the environment must be placed in a context of justice, of anti-racism. The environmental movement in its best and broadest sense is about justice."
For the past several years, One Earth Film Festival has displayed the Atmospheric CO2 Level on our website home page. In Coronavirus terms, this number should be as familiar to us as the number of COVID deaths in our state.
The gold standard for global CO2 measurements is the Keeling Curve, named for the man who developed it.
It’s March 6, opening night for the ninth One Earth Film Festival. Inside the Gold Coast Tesla showroom, the mood is festive. Champagne flows at a corner station. Guests throughout the car-filled space take group photos with their smartphones. Others wait in line for a Tesla test drive. The cheery sounds of party chatter fill the air.
A trip to Chicago to accept his first-place award in the One Earth Film Festival’s Young Filmmakers Contest brought Nathan Goswick more than he expected. The 17-year old’s winning entry, “Plastic Bags,” captured the attention of Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit that presses corporations on sustainability.
As I reflect on Earth Day in this 50th anniversary year, I cannot help but remember and honor Rachel Carson. She was its impetus. In the imaginative and poetic prose of Silent Spring, she articulated the danger we would be facing with the indiscriminate use of pesticides.
If one is unaware of her personal story, it is one of love of family and of the natural world.
April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a significant worldwide holiday to celebrate our green-and-blue planet and take local actions in our community. The Greater West Side — Oak Park, Austin, and River Forest — had planned multiple celebrations to honor and celebrate this important milestone, and we are now encouraging all to participate in new ways — virtually and in the real world.
