Augustana hosts ninth annual Environmental Film Fest

Rock Island, Ill. – The ninth annual Environmental Film Fest will be held 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, 2014, in Augustana College’s Olin Auditorium (733 35th St.). The event is sponsored by the Eagle View Group of the Sierra Club, Augustana College and Radish magazine. Admission is free and doors open at 11 a.m.

Fun and inspirational five-minute short films will be shown before the feature films. The feature films cover a variety of topics including environmental justice, ethics, civil disobedience, agribusiness, U.S. environmental policy, activism and sustainability. Healthy snacks and drinks will be provided.

The first feature film, Idle Threat, profiles George Pakenham’s challenging quest to reduce air pollution in his neighborhood and combat global climate change by confronting the lax enforcement of the laws restricting curbside engine idling in the City of New York. This film shows that sometimes one person— and a simple act like turning a key — can make a big difference.

The Emmy Award-winning Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story will be shown at 12:30 p.m. This film tells of the unintended yet severe consequences of farming along the Mississippi, and the efforts being taken to reverse this damage. The film also helps viewers to grasp a profound truth—that a single drop of water in the upper Midwest has an impact far downstream.

At 2 p.m. New Green Giants will be shown. The last 10 years have seen a phenomenal explosion in the organic food movement as it has moved from niche market to mainstream. The film looks at a number of new and old organic corporations and shows how they are managing or failing to live up the standards of organic food.

Bidder 70 will begin at 3:30 p.m. and centers on an extraordinary and effective act of civil disobedience in 2008 by Tim DeChristopher, co-founder of Peaceful Uprising, in which he outbid industry giants on land parcels slated for oil and gas leases as bidder #70. The film follows his story and tells the consequences of DeChristopher’s courageous actions, which ignited a spirit of civil disobedience in the name of climate justice

The last film, The Price of Sand, will begin at 5 p.m. and is a documentary film about the frac sand mining boom in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Director Jim Tittle began investigating frac sand mining after land next to his mother’s house had been bought for that purpose. Over the course of the 18-month project, Tittle attempts to find the real price of frac sand, not just in dollars but in friendships, communities and the future of our region.

For more information, contact Susan Wolf at (309) 794-7369 or susanwolf@augustana.edu.