> Home > Issues Calendar > Environment & War Film Series: Arid Lands, July 10

Environment & War Film Series: Arid Lands, July 10

When:

Jul 10, 2008
6:30 - 8:30 PM

Details:

Summer Documentary Series on War and the Environment
Peace Action of New York State, Sierra Club NYC, and The NY League of Conservation Voters

Thursday nights in July and August, 6:30 PM
Cupcake Café, 545 9th Ave. between 40th and 41^st Streets, Manhattan
Followed by group discussion, speakers TBA. Donation requested.

Thursday, July 10: Arid Lands
Thursday, July 17: Radioactive America
Thursday, July 24: Aftermath: The Remnants of War
Thursday, July 31: Water, Land, Conflict, People, and The Environmental Impact of War
Thursday, August 7: Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War

Peace Action of New York State is the New York affiliate of Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace organization in the country. It is dedicated to promoting the non-violent resolution of conflict, the abolition of nuclear weapons, halting the global spread of conventional arms, building a human rights culture and supporting human needs instead of militarism. http://www.panys.org/

Sierra Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Sierra Club NYC is its local group, representing the 15,000 Sierra Club members living in NYC.  http://www.nyc.sierraclub.org/

The NY League of Conservation Voters   http://www.nylcv.org/

***

Arid Lands - Thurs. July 10 (2007, 98 min.)
Sixty years ago, the Hanford nuclear facility produced plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.  Today the site, in the Columbia River Basin in southeastern Washington state, is the focus of the largest environmental cleanup in history. Coyotes roam among decommissioned nuclear reactors, salmon spawn in the middle of golf courses, wine grapes grow in the sagebrush, and federal cleanup dollars spur rapid urban expansion.  Arid Lands tells the stories of sports fishermen, tattoo artists, housing developers, ecologists,  and radiation scientists living and working in the area. http://www.sidelongfilms.com/aridlands/film.html

Radioactive America - Thurs., July 17 (2000, 29 min.)
Nuclear weapons production has generated massive amounts of radioactive waste. Poor disposal and containment practices have allowed radioactive waste to contaminate the soil and ground water surrounding nuclear laboratories, such as the nuclear facility in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. http://www.cdi.org/adm/1341/

Aftermath: The Remnants of War - Thurs., July 24 (2001, 74 min.)
This film reveals the twentieth century as the most violent in human history, with a death toll of more than one hundred million. Filmed on location in Russia, France, Bosnia, and Vietnam, it uses archival images and  personal accounts of individuals involved in the cleanup of war: from "de-miners" who risk their lives daily, to a treasure hunter turned archeologist in Stalingrad, to doctors struggling with the contamination from dioxin  used during the Vietnam War. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352143/

Water, Land, Conflict – Thurs., July 31 (1998, 29 min.)
Today, the greatest threats facing any nation's security may not be military. Increasingly, they are complex issues related to the environment such as: population growth, water scarcity, pollution, and economic stability.  http://www.cdi.org/adm/1143/index.html

The Environmental Impact of War – Thurs., July 31 (1999, 29 min.)
From the defoliation of the forests in Vietnam, to the oil fires of Kuwait, all major wars of the 20th century, and current conflicts like Kosovo, have had a hidden casualty: the environment. Unexploded weapons, polluted rivers, contaminated soil, and damaged landscapes have all harmed human health, local economies, and ecosystems. The long-term effects of such environmental damage have not yet been fully determined. http://www.cdi.org/adm/1251/

Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War – Thurs. Aug. 7 (USA, 2008, 60 min.)
In all its stages - from the production of weapons through combat to clean up - war pollutes land, air and water, destroys biodiversity and drains natural resources. Yet the environmental damage caused by war is underreported, even ignored. The environment is war's silent casualty. With specialist and eyewitness accounts from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Australia and the Pacific Islands and supported by on-site and archival footage. http://www.fundforsustainabletomorrows.org/

***

Contact Information:

Sierra Club New York City
beyondoilnyc@yahoo.com