Amazing Earthfest hosts climate change documentary film screenings
By Rich Csenge
The nonprofit Amazing Earthfest is hosting community conversations coupled with free documentary film screenings Oct. 6 at 1 and 4 p.m. at Kanab City Library to provide opportunities to learn more about our changing climate and discuss appropriate responses. At 1 p.m., the PBS Nova documentary, “Decoding the Weather Machine,” will kick off the afternoon activities followed by conversation about the science of climate change. At 4 p.m., a screening of the Climate Reality Project’s new documentary, “An Inconvenient Sequel,” will follow with discussion focused on the socioeconomic impacts of climate disruption and how individuals can become empowered to make a difference in their own lives for their family and community.
Witness the staggering loss of life and property damage from hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Harvey in Houston, followed by this series of billion dollar weather events in 2018 cited by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration:
—Northeast winter storms, Jan. 3–5, then again March 1–3
—Southeastern severe storms and Tornadoes, March 18–21
—Central severe weather, May 1–4
—Central and eastern severe weather, May 13–15
—Texas hail storm, June 5
—California’s Mendocino Complex and Carr fires, July and August
Flooding has been widespread this year from wild weather events. Some see these destructive anomalies as normal variability while others say climate patterns have entered a “new normal.” Climate scientists caution that atmospheric CO2 is on a steady upward trend, so conditions have not reached a new normal, which implies a static level. They will continue getting worse!
This summer, heavy rain caused massive flooding in Jacksonville, Florida, swamping downtown streets and roads. Coastal communities face increasing risks. So far in 2018, a record 84 incidents occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina of “sunny-day flooding,” also known as “nuisance tides” (euphemisms for the temporary inundation of low-lying land and roads at high tide due to sea level rise). And tropical storm Florence just dumped a chest-high volume of rain on the Carolinas.
Around the West, including in Utah, wildfires rage. Many reservoirs descended to the lowest levels ever seen, and some dried up completely due to low winter snows and extended drought. Instead of the frequent afternoon showers that replenish a thirsty landscape, this year’s summer monsoon arrived in Kanab with heavy downpours spreading mud into residents’ yards. These weather “aberrations” are not as unusual as they were years ago and are increasingly being recognized as the face climate change. Fossil fueled energy systems, most notably utility scale generation of electricity and transportation that emit large amounts of CO2, contribute significantly to changing our climate.
Like a car with windows rolled up on a hot day, buildup of CO2 from burning carbon fuels over the past 250 years is trapping the sun’s heat, melting glaciers and polar ice, warming and acidifying the oceans, raising sea levels, disrupting dependable weather patterns, and wreaking havoc on communities. The shifting temperature gradient in the upper atmosphere has slowed the jet stream, which now totters, weaving uncharacteristically southward in a wide, sluggish pattern instead of following its normally strong circumpolar flow from west to east, resulting in devastating weather events around the northern hemisphere.
When “hearts go out” to those who directly suffer catastrophic losses brought on by climate change, there’s a moral obligation to help these victims in their time of need. But beyond giving immediate physical comfort and support, humanity’s collective conscience yearns to expand the conversation about the causes and solutions to global warming, to go beyond the paralyzing political gridlock where the science is settled but denial and CO2 emissions run rampant.
How can an individual citizen begin to address this global conundrum? Isn’t it a matter for governments to resolve? Well, yes, but it starts with individuals. We apply the force of public pressure on government by getting better informed and talking to friends, neighbors, and elected officials. To that end, southern Utah’s Amazing Earthfest offers this opportunity to move beyond stereotypes and political bludgeons to join in community discussion following each of two free documentary films. The first details the compelling scientific basis as to why these wild weather events keep happening and will steadily worsen. The second deals with the sociopolitical conditions that must rapidly shift from denial and stalemate to acceptance and the implementation of practical solutions if humanity is to have a chance to lessen and limit the impacts of ever worsening climate disruption.
Don’t be an ostrich! Starting at the community level, we can explore solutions together. Shared understanding inspires cooperative and creative action. Isn’t it true that we feel so much better when we finally acknowledge a festering problem and get to work on solutions? Here’s a chance for Kanab area residents to do just that. Don’t miss it!
Amazing Earthfest is pleased to join other communities in Utah to engage with Utah Clean Energy for Climate Week, 2018. Christiane Turner will MC the event. Hope to see you there!
Rich Csenge is president and founding director of Amazing Earthfest.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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