Health-Environment

Chicago's True Nature

Chicago's True Nature

Forest Preserves of Cook County + WYCC PBS Chicago +Juneteenth Productions/2016/21 or 60 min/Conservation

SOLD OUT!
Saturday, March 11, 11 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Thatcher Woods Pavilion, River Forest

Sunday, March 12, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church,  Chicago

FILM DESCRIPTION: Like many natural wonders, the Forest Preserves are “hidden in plain sight.” While the Preserves are well-known for family parties and cook-outs, many are unaware of its vast biodiversity – the flora and fauna of the urban preserves and the diversity of native plants that struggle to flourish against invasive species. Chicago’s True Nature takes viewers beyond the picnic groves and introduces them to the nearby wonders of nature.

Crying Earth Rise Up

Crying Earth Rise Up

Suree Towfighnia/2015/57 min/Water

Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn

ENGLISH SOUNDTRACK WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES: When Debra White Plume’s drinking water tests high for radiation, she sets out to determine the cause. What she finds alarms her. A nearby uranium mining operation is extracting ore from deep in the ground by tapping the High Plains/Ogllala Aquifer, a huge underground cache of water covering 174,000 square miles from Texas to South Dakota which supplies drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary. The mine's planned expansion further threatens the aquifer.

Death by Design

Death by Design

Sue Williams/2016/74 min/Waste

Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m. [North]
Northwestern University, Evanston

Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [Dupage County]
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn

FILM DESCRIPTION: In an investigation that spans the globe, filmmaker Sue Williams investigates the underbelly of the electronics industry and reveals how even the smallest devices have deadly environmental and health costs. Death by Design tells a story of environmental degradation, of health tragedies, and the fast approaching tipping point between consumerism and sustainability.

Family Films for Ages 9-13+

Family Films for Ages 9-13+

Saturday, March 4, 10:30 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park

Join us for a screening of Stories of Trust: California and Stories of Trust: Arizona, featuring remarkable plaintiffs from the first-ever landmark US climate youth lawsuit. Families and youth will learn about opportunities for connecting with local nature through Go Green Oak Park, The Frog Lady (who will bring her reptile friends), the Park District of Oak Park/Austin Gardens Nature Center, and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Trailside Museum. An optional game called Scorpion Touch will be on offer. Light refreshments will be served.

Hometown Habitat

Hometown Habitat

Catherine Zimmerman/2016/90 min/Wildlife

Saturday, March 4, 1:30 p.m. [Lake County]
Prairie Crossing School, Grayslake

Saturday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Triton College, River Grove

Sunday, March 5, 3:30 p.m. [Downtown]
Peggy Notebaert Museum, Chicago

Monday, March 6, 7 p.m. [Kane County]
Waubonsee Community College, Aurora

CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Hometown Habitat features renowned entomologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy, whose research, books and lectures on the use of non-native plants in landscaping, sound the alarm about habitat and species loss. Tallamy provides the narrative thread that challenges the notion that humans are here and nature is someplace else.

How to Let Go of the World

How to Let Go of the World

Josh Fox/2016/125 min/Climate Change

Thursday, March 2, 7 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Dominican University, River Forest

FILM DESCRIPTION: In How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change, Oscar Nominated director Josh Fox (GASLAND) continues in his deeply personal style, investigating climate change – the greatest threat our world has ever known. Traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, the film acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst consequences and asks, what is it that climate change can’t destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?

National Parks Adventure

National Parks Adventure

Greg MacGillivray/2016/45 min/Conservation

SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m. [South]
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

A trio of adventurers’ quest to experience America’s wildest, most historic and most naturally beautiful places becomes the ultimate off-trail adventure in National Parks Adventure, narrated by Academy Award® winner Robert Redford. Immersive IMAX® 3D takes audiences soaring up exposed rock faces, hurtling down steep mountain cliffs and exploring other-worldly realms found within America’s most legendary outdoor places. Along the way, the film becomes at once an action-packed celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service and a soulful reflection on what wilderness means to us all. 

NaturePlay

NaturePlay

Daniel Stilling/2015/52 min/Environmental Advocacy

Sunday, March 12, 1 p.m. [South]
St. James Church, Chicago

CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Natureplay features the most endangered species in the wild today - our children, and devises ways to save humanity's connection to nature in the next generation. Filmed in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and the USA, Natureplay portrays the Scandinavian method of teaching, living and enjoying nature, juxtaposed with the high stakes testing/high stress Edu culture of "rigor." Featuring Matt Damon.

Seed, The Untold Story

Seed, The Untold Story

Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz/2016/93 min/Food-Agriculture

Monday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. [North]
North Shore Country Day, Winnetka

FILM DESCRIPTION: In our modern world, seeds are in grave danger. In less than a century of industrial agriculture, our once abundant seed diversity—painstakingly created by ancient farmers and gardeners over countless millennia—has been drastically winnowed down to a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial “progress” and lust for profit, our quaint family farmsteads have given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical crops on a monstrous scale. 

Shark Loves the Amazon

Shark Loves the Amazon

Mark London and Cidney Hue/2012/60 min/Social Justice

Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. [South]
Harper Theater, Chicago

CHICAGO PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: After 30 years of experience in the Amazon, author and lawyer Mark London shares a unique perspective on an issue with global consequences: Can twenty-one million people and the rainforest share the same space? With levels of deforestation approaching the point of no return at an alarming rate, London poses a provocative alternative to the age-old mantra, “Leave the forest untouched.” Learn more at Shark Loves Amazon.

Shifting Sands

Shifting Sands

Lee Botts and Pat Wisniewski/2016/57 min/Conservation

Monday, March 6, 7 p.m. [South]
Pullman National Monument Information Center, Chicago

Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m. [West]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park

Saturday, March 11, 2:30 p.m.
[Lake County]
Waukegan Public Library, Waukegan

FILM DESCRIPTION: Shifting Sands tells the story of how one region, where rare plants grow in the shadows of smokestacks, sparked a movement for a national park; a movement which eventually led to game-changing environmental policies with worldwide impact and unique partnerships on the path to a more sustainable world.

Sustainable

Sustainable

Matt Wechsler/2016/92 min/Food-Agriculture

Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. [W Suburbs]
Lake Theatre, Oak Park

FILM DESCRIPTION: A vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America’s food system, from the agricultural issues we face — soil loss, water depletion, climate change, pesticide use — to the community of leaders who are determined to fix it. Sustainable is a film about the land, the people who work it and what must be done to sustain it for future generations.

Time to Choose

Time to Choose

Charles Ferguson/2015/94 min/Climate Change

JUST ADDED
Sunday, March 5, 10 a.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst

SOLD OUT!
Sunday, March 5, 1 p.m. [Dupage County]
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst

FILM DESCRIPTION: Oscar-winning documentary director Charles Ferguson captures the urgency and innovation of this critical moment in his new film.

Time to Choose also features world-renowned innovators, and thought leaders who point the way to a better world. Dr. Jane Goodall connects climate to the places and animals we love. Governor Jerry Brown urges leaders to join the path to sustainability and Chinese wind and solar manufacturers discuss how they’ve built some of the largest renewable energy installations in the world. 

Toxic Chemicals: Kids in Danger

Toxic Chemicals: Kids in Danger

Martin Boudot/2016/55 min/Health-Environment

Saturday, March 11, 3 p.m. [W Suburbs]
Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park

FILM DESCRIPTION: Is our dependence on pesticides harming the health of our children? Every day, children are exposed to up to 130 chemical pollutants from pesticides. All around the world, scientists and doctors are raising the alarm, linking increases in child cancers, birth defects and even the explosion of autism with exposure to chemicals in pesticides.