Environmental Studies minor

Events, Fall 2008

1. Thursday, August 28, 6pm in the Reece Museum, gallery C: "The Music of Coal." Performances by Roy Andrade and Katy Doman, to mark the closing of the exhibition of photographs that's been hanging in the Reece this summer: "Coal Country, in Black and White: Photographs, 1968-1973, by Jeanne Rasmussen (1934-1992)."

2. Monday, September 15, noon-4pm, and Tues, Sep 16, 8:15am-noon. 2nd floor D.P. Culp University Center. Representatives from the Student Conservation Association (SCA) will visit ETSU to discuss summer internships opportunities. The SCA is a national, non-profit organization that has arranged excellent internships for students in the past. See http://www.thesca.org/

3. Monday, September 29, 7pm in Brown Hall Auditorium (Brown 112): Mountaintop Removal Road Show. The indefatigable Dave Cooper will be coming through town again, as part of his continuing efforts to raise awareness about mountaintop removal coal mining. His presentation is powerful, and he's drawn good crowds and gotten good responses at ETSU in the past.

4. Friday, October 10, 7pm. Jonesborough Visitors' Center, Jonesborough TN. Pliny Fisk, internationally-known expert on sustainable building design, will speak. Free and open to the public.

5. Saturday, November 15, 9am-3pm: Appalachian Trail maintenance trip. Info about where and when to meet, what to bring.

6. Tuesday, November 18, 7:30-8:30pm, Ball Hall Auditorium: "Wind Energy: Prospects in East Tennessee," a talk by Brandon Blevins and Hilary Dixson, with the Tennessee Wind Working Group.

7. October-November: Environmental Film Series. All films will be shown at 7pm in Brown Hall Auditorium (science building, room 112), on the dates listed below. Five of the six films listed below will be screened again on Sunday, November 16, 2pm to 9pm, in Rogers-Stout Hall rm 102, as part of the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival (SOAPIFF). These films are cosponsored with ICE (Initiative for Clean Energy), an ETSU student Group, and arranged in cooperation with SOAPIFF.

For more information, see soapiff.blogspot.com/2008/10/environmental-films.html. (Thanks to Keith Pilkey!)

A. Tuesday, October 21, 7pm Brown Hall Aud
The Nuclear Comeback, 53 min (New Zealand). Directed by Justin Pemberton.

With growing recognition over the role of fossil fuels in global warming, the nuclear industry is poised to make a comeback, positioning itself as a "green" alternative. The nuclear industry claims nuclear plants produce zero emissions and 150 nuclear plants are being built over the next decade. Should we jump on the nuclear bandwagon, or are we trading one set of serious environmental problems for another? Pemberton travels the globe to answer questions concerning the return of nuclear power, bringing the viewer to such fascinating destinations as the control room at Chernobyl and a nuclear waste disposal site under the Baltic Sea.

B. Monday, October 27, 7pm Brown Hall Aud
Woven Ways, 50 min (USA). Directed by Linda Helm Krapf.

Another award winning documentary, "Woven Ways" is a beautiful film which tells the story of the Navajo environmental movement through focusing on Navajo carpet weavers. The Navajo people face degradation of their environment from coal pollution and uranium mining. Three power plants lie in or near the reservation and plans for a fourth plant are in the works. These plants spew pollution across the Navajo lands. Dormant uranium mines continue to pose health hazards decades after they were closed. These mines may soon reopen as the world increasingly turns to nuclear power as an alternative to carbon based fuels. Ms. Krapf uses minimal narration and allows the Navajo people and activists tell their powerful stories. Residents of Appalachia will recognize parallels in the struggle of the Navajo people versus mining and coal power.http://wovenways.org/

C. Wednesday, October 29, 7pm Brown Hall Aud
Burning the Future: Coal in America, 89 min (USA). Directed by David Novack.

Every eleven and one-half days, the explosive equivalent of the Hiroshima atomic bomb is unleashed upon the mountains of southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky - for coal. Stunning cinematograpy and a stirring score make this documentary about mountaintop removal mining all the more powerful. Faced with toxic groundwater, the destruction of a diverse ecosystem, threats to health, and unresponsive government, the people of West Virginia struggle to save their families, their ways of life and their mountains.
http://www.burningthefuture.org/

D. Monday, November 3, 7pm Brown Hall Aud
Everything's Cool, 89 min (USA). Directed by Daniel Gold and Judith Hefland.

This documentary chronicles scientists, journalists and activists who struggle to inform the public and the government of the threat of global warming. These global warming messengers face the difficult task of convincing the public what the vast majority of scientists have come to accept; that global warming is a fact and is indeed a threat to the planet. In order to convince the public about the threat of global warming, they must battle industry funded naysayers who take advantage of the nature of scientific inquiry in order to delay action against global warming. http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/ecool.html

E. Wednesday, November 5, 7pm Brown Hall Aud
Renewal, 90 min (USA). Directed by Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller.
A beautifully filmed documentary with high production value, "Renewal" focuses on religious inspired environmental movements. This inspiring documentary includes Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, and Judaic based environmental efforts - capturing the breadth of the spiritually inspired environmental movement in the United States. http://renewalproject.net/

F. Tuesday, November 11, 7pm Brown Hall Aud
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, 53 min (USA). Directed by Faith Morgan.

How did Cuba survive the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of much of their oil import? This film explores how the Cuban people survived a dramatic loss of oil imports by turning to organic gardening and mass transit. The steps taken by Cuba may provide guidance to other nations as the world faces dwindling oil supplies. The spirit and humor of the Cuban people enliven this informative, well-made documentary. http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php