 |
| Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
The Independent
Amazing Earthfest is pleased to announce the documentary films to be screened at Crescent Moon Theater, 150 S. 100 East in Kanab, during its seven-day celebration of land and life on May 10-16.
Since 2007, southern Utah’s annual Amazing Earthfest has pioneered the presentation of concepts and conversations in Kanab on wide-ranging topics relating to environmental stewardship and the natural world. Award-winning documentaries are selected on topics such as ecology, environmental science and ethics, trends in locally sourced food and organic agriculture, materials and manufacturing innovation, energy production and consumption, public health, climate change, sustainability, land use planning, and many more. Featured films include the four-part documentary film series, “Designing Healthy Communities.”
Festival founder and Executive Director Rich Csenge explained, “This bold effort to engage communities in conversations is critical to developing appropriate responses to present-day environmental challenges. To evolve and elevate our understanding of issues like climate change and species extinction will re-shape our relationships with nature in all its life forms and supporting systems.”
Amazing Earthfest aims to help define Kanab as a locus of thoughtful inquiry into the delicate balance of regional, national, and planetary trends in conservation and resource consumption, emphasizing the need for good stewardship of public lands throughout southern Utah and beyond.
The 2015 documentary film series at Amazing Earthfest will include the following films screened at Kanab’s Crescent Moon Theater.
Sunday, May 10
“Joanna Macy & the Great Turning”
Time: 6 p.m. (26 minutes)
Topic: Sustainability
Discover the shift now underway from industrial society to a more sustainable civilization: the third major revolution of human existence after the agricultural and industrial revolutions.
“Growing Cities”
Time: 7 p.m. (92 minutes)
Topic: Growing food locally
From rooftop farmers to backyard beekeepers, Americans are growing food like never before. Learn the inspiring stories of these intrepid urban farmers, innovators, and everyday city-dwellers who are challenging the way America grows and distributes its food.
Monday, May 11
“Designing Healthy Communities, Part 1”
Time: 4 p.m. (56 minutes)
Topic: Urban planning for public health
Take a comprehensive look at the impact that America’s built environment has on public health and at the people and communities working out innovative solutions. In each episode, health expert Dr. Richard Jackson travels the country to explore problems and profile best practice models that redesign our car-centric society.
“Edible City”
Time: 5 p.m. (55 minutes)
Topic: Good food
In this fun, fast-paced journey through the local Good Food Movement that’s taking root across the nation and around the world, a diverse cast of extraordinary and eccentric characters challenge the paradigm of our broken food system, finding hopeful solutions to monumental problems.
“Into Eternity”
Time: 8 p.m. (75 minutes)
Topic: Human responsibility
Structured as a message to future generations and focused on the Onkalo underground waste repository now under construction in Finland, “Into Eternity” explores the mind-boggling scientific and philosophical questions posed by long-term nuclear waste storage, inviting reflection on the limits of science and human knowledge and our responsibility to future generations.
Tuesday, May 12
“Designing Healthy Communities, Part 2”
Time: 4 p.m. (56 minutes)
Topic: Urban planning for public health
When industry and manufacturing collapse or go elsewhere, cities must redefine themselves for a new paradigm. Explore how families and young people seek to repair America by rebuilding places of the heart.
“Plastic Paradise”
Time: 5 p.m. (57 minutes)
Topic: Consumption
Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth, yet it is ground zero for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, siphoning plastics from three distant continents. Meet scientists, researchers, and volunteers who shed light on the effects of unchecked consumption.
“Groundswell Rising”
Time: 8 p.m. (70 minutes)
Topic: Energy development
Meet parents, scientists, doctors, farmers, and individuals across the political spectrum facing the energy extraction process known as “fracking.” Learn what’s happening in the communities where fracking has occurred and how it has spurred a call to action.
Wednesday, May 13
“Designing Healthy Communities, Part 3”
Time: 4 p.m. (56 minutes)
Topic: Urban planning for public health
Where you live is one predictor of for how long you will live. Health officials, activists, and a new breed of young urban pioneers transform urban wilderness and food deserts into inspirational models for other troubled communities.
“The Good Fight: The Martin Litton Story”
Time: 8 p.m. (60 minutes)
Topic: Conservation
One of the leading conservationists of modern times, Litton is revered as the man who saved the Grand Canyon by preventing dams from being built on the Colorado River. An avid river runner all his life, he was never daunted by the ferocious whitewater of the Grand Canyon, nor by fighting government bureaucracy on behalf of the environment.
Thursday, May 14
“Designing Healthy Communities, Part 4”
Time: 4 p.m. (56 minutes)
Topic: Urban planning for public health
Dr. Jackson searches past and present America for healthy, sustainable communities that can be models for walk-able, clean environments that embody the intricate balance of health-promoting design and human needs. Does the perfect community exist?
“Mother Nature’s Child”
Time: 5 p.m. (56 minutes)
Topic: Child development
Contemporary culture has undergone drastic changes in the last three decades, forcing children indoors where they increasingly exhibit symptoms of “nature deficit:” obesity, depression, and a range of learning disorders. Explore the ways that time spent in nature promotes children’s well-being and nourishes the human spirit.
All attendees are encouraged to arrive 10 minutes early for each documentary to see images of regional landscapes captured by archaeologist Steve Stacey.
For additional information regarding documentary films and the full schedule of events for Amazing Earthfest—or to learn how you can support, volunteer at, or attend Amazing Earthfest—please visit www.amazingearthfest.org, www.facebook.com/AmazingEarthfest, or https://twitter.com/AmazingEfest, or call 435-644-3735.
