In June and July, Austin Grown, a collaborative initiative between One Earth Collective and BUILD Chicago, embarked on a transformative six-week journey of planting, nurturing, and learning. Participants went into the realms of environmental stewardship, racial and social justice, and personal well-being through engaging activities, including hands-on gardening, cooking, and educational excursions.
For more than a decade, One Earth Film Festival has featured films about a range of topics from climate change to plastic waste to water justice to conservation. Thankfully, with the increase in available media, arts, and storytelling, another topic has taken center stage: environmental and climate justice at home and abroad. Not only are there more shareable stories on which One Earth can shine a light, but we are grateful to be in conversation with and learning from environmental justice leaders across the Chicago region and beyond.
The annual One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Global Awards Celebration is gearing up to take place at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, both in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., and online virtually anywhere in the world. Featuring the top 10 winning films from among 403 submissions, this event is the first with global reach.
Reserve free tickets here: tinyurl.com/yfc23awards
In August, Judge Kathy Seeley ruled wholly in favor of 16 young plaintiffs, declaring that the state of Montana has and is violating their constitutional rights, including their rights to equal protection, dignity, liberty, health, and safety, which are all predicated on their right to a clean and healthful environment. . . . And the court ruled that the youth plaintiffs had proven their standing to bring the case by showing significant injuries, that the government had a substantial role in causing those injuries, and that a judgment in their favor would change the government’s conduct.
Held v. Montana was the first of the youth climate cases to make it past many procedural hurdles over many years and arrive in a trial court in Helena, MT. There, over seven days (June 12-20, 2023), Judge Kathy Seeley heard from the 16 young plaintiffs as well as world-renowned experts, including Dr. Mark Jacobson, on the effects of climate change in the world overall and specifically in Montana—temperatures warming, glaciers melting, rivers drying up, forests burning, air-quality alerts becoming more common.
