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Sundance Film Festival is Spotlighting Climate Change this Year

Duane Nichols — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 09:39:59 +0000

Atmospheric Gases over Time

Sundance is shining a spotlight on climate change this year

From Notice by Katie Herzog, Grist News, January 11, 2017

The film festival, running January 19 – 29 in Park City, Utah, will showcase several films about the environment, including An Inconvenient Sequel, the follow-up to the award-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Like the original, the sequel highlights Al Gore’s climate activism, but with more of a focus on solutions.

The festival will also premiere 13 other documentaries, short films, and special projects concerning the planet. The documentary Water & Power: A California Heist is an exposé on Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the billionaire couple sucking California’s water supply dry. The short film The Diver is about a man who swims through Mexico City’s sewer system dislodging clogs.

There will also be a virtual-reality experience “that turns participants into a tree that is violently chopped down,” the New York Times reports.

Although Robert Redford, founder of Sundance, said the festival stays “free of politics,” it will certainly have a political tinge this year, as it will take place right as a climate denier ascends to the White House.

The festival’s program directors said they decided last summer to focus on environmental films. The goal: “To change the world,” programmer Trevor Groth told the Times with a grin.

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“An Inconvenient Sequel,” Follow-up to “An Inconvenient Truth” to World Premiere at 2017 Sundance Film Festival as Day One Screening

From the Sundance Institute, December 9, 2016

Park City, UT — An Inconvenient Sequel, the followup to watershed environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, will make its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival as a Day One screening, part of The New Climate, a program dedicated to conversations and films about environmental change and conservation.

A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes An Inconvenient Sequel, a riveting look at both the escalation of the crisis and how close we are to a real solution. Directed by Sundance Film Festival alumni Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk.

The Honorable Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States, will also join the Festival’s Power of Story panel, a collaboration between Sundance Institute and The Redford Center, with former President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, producer Heather Rae (Frozen River, RISE), social entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeff Skoll and environmentalist and scientist Dr. David Suzuki. A conversation between these prominent figures, who bring decades of direct experience with climate change and its effects, will be moderated by Democracy Now! journalist and broadcaster Amy Goodman on January 22, 2017, and livestreamed from Park City’s Egyptian Theatre at sundance.org.

The New Climate includes 14 documentaries, short films and virtual reality experiences across the Festival’s categories, and marks the first time that Festival programmers have focused efforts to highlight a specific cause.

Robert Redford, President and Founder of Sundance Institute, said, “I believe that storytelling is the greatest platform for getting people to care and take action on some of the most pressing issues of our time. Amid escalating threats to our environment, independent perspectives are adding the depth and dimension needed for us to find common ground and real solutions.”

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, said, “This film and the 13 other films and projects that are part of The New Climate slate this year add a new chapter to our legacy of showcasing stories on the environment and climate change. When my team and I first watched this film, we were taken by its complete, sensitive and cinematic presentation of the issues. It was emotional to see the scope of our world’s problems — and heartening to see the potential for progress.”

2017’s other projects for The New Climate appear below. Environmental films and projects showcased at the Festival in recent years include The Cove, Gasland, Chasing Ice, Racing Extinction and Collisions. The New Climate is a partnership of Sundance Institute and The Redford Center.

Chasing Coral / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Orlowski) — Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world. World Premiere. (U.S. Documentary)

Chasing Coral: The VR Experience / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Jeff Orlowski) — Zackary Rago, a passionate scuba diver and researcher, documented the unprecedented 2016 coral bleaching event at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef with this exclusive underwater VR experience. (New Frontier: Virtual Reality)

The Diver / Mexico (Director: Esteban Arrangoiz) — Julio César Cu Cámara is the chief diver in the Mexico City sewer system. His job is to repair pumps and dislodge garbage that flows into the gutters to maintain the circulation of sewage waters. (Short Films)

Hot Winter: A film by Dick Pierre / U.S.A. (Director: Jack Henry Robbins, Screenwriters: Jack Henry Robbins, Nunzio Randazzo) — One of the first films in American cinema to address climate change, Hot Winter: A film by Dick Pierre, was also a hardcore porno. All sex scenes have been removed as to not distract from the conscious message. (Short Films)

Look and See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry / U.S.A. (Directors: Laura Dunn, Jef Sewell) — This cinematic portrait of the changing landscapes and shifting values of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture is seen through the mind’s eye of farmer and writer Wendell Berry. (Spotlight)

Melting Ice / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Danfung Dennis) — We take viewers on a transcendent exploration into the devastating consequences of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet. Stand under collapsing glaciers, next to raging rivers of ice melt and witness rising sea levels—all visceral warnings of our planet’s future. (New Frontier: Virtual Reality)

Plastic China / China (Director: Jiu-liang Wang) — Yi-Jie, an 11-year-old girl, works alongside her parents in a recycling facility while dreaming of attending school. Kun, the facility’s ambitious foreman, dreams of a better life. Through the eyes and hands of those who handle its refuse, comes an examination of global consumption and culture. International Premiere. (World Documentary)

Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman / U.S.A. (Directors: Susan Froemke, John Hoffman, Beth Aala) — From the Montana Rockies to the wheat fields of Kansas and the Gulf of Mexico, families who work the land and sea are crossing political divides to find unexpected ways to protect the natural resources vital to their livelihoods. These are the new heroes of conservation, deep in America’s heartland. World Premiere. (Documentary Premieres)

RISE / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Latimer) — This vibrant and immersive documentary series explores the front lines of indigenous resistance. Episodes Apache Stronghold, Sacred Water and Red Power examine factors that threaten indigenous liberation in the 21st century. A series of contrasts, this series is both a condemnation of colonialism and a celebration of indigenous peoples. Continuing Sundance Institute’s ongoing commitment to presenting bold stories from within the Native American and Indigenous communities, we are proud to debut three episodes: Apache Stronghold, Sacred Water and Red Power, followed by an extended Q&A. World Premiere. (Special Events)

Tree / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Milica Zec, Winslow Porter, Key Collaborators: Aleksandar Protic, Jacob Kudsk Steensen) — This virtual experience transforms you into a rainforest tree. With your arms as the branches and body as the trunk, you experience the tree’s growth from a seedling to its fullest form and witness its fate firsthand. (New Frontier: Virtual Reality)

Trophy / U.S.A. (Director: Shaul Schwarz, Co-Director: Christina Clusiau) — This in-depth look into the powerhouse industries of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation in the U.S. and Africa unravels the complex consequences of treating animals as commodities. World Premiere. (U.S. Documentary)

Visions of an Island / U.S.A. (Director: Sky Hopinka) — Indigenous and foreign presences coexist on an Alaskan island in the center of the Bering Sea. (Short Films)

Water & Power: A California Heist / U.S.A. (Director: Marina Zenovich) — In California’s convoluted water system, notorious water barons find ways to structure a state-engineered system to their own advantage. This examination into their centers of power shows small farmers and everyday citizens facing drought and a new, debilitating groundwater crisis. World Premiere. (U.S. Documentary)

The New Climate is Sundance Institute’s year-round environmental initiative, supported by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Kendeda Fund, Discovery Channel, Vulcan Productions, Code Blue Foundation, FOND Group, EarthX Film, and the Joy Family Foundation.

Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling.

Educational Activity: Marcellus Academy 2013

S. Tom Bond — Thu, 30 May 2013 06:49:04 +0000

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY: MARCELLUS ACADEMY 2013

A Weekend of Presentations and Workshops on Marcellus Shale Gas Operations

July 13-14, 2013 at WV Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WV

You are cordially invited to attend a special weekend workshop on Marcellus shale drilling on the campus of WV Wesleyan College on July 13-14, 2013, presented by the WV Sierra Club.

Marcellus Academy 2013 will train a new group of active citizens who can proactively work on Marcellus gas drilling issues in their communities. Since industrial-scale drilling sites are causing major problems with our water, our land, our air and our health, this workshop will focus on giving you the tools to effectively organize others, build grassroots networks of reporters who can monitor industry practices, and help guide local leaders toward environmentally sound Marcellus policies.

This is not an introductory course on how Marcellus drilling works. Instead, emphasis will be on education, outreach, recruiting concerned citizens and activism. Participants will be limited to those who can clearly commit to organizing people in their area by holding meetings, giving presentations, organizing house parties and speaking out to build public education and awareness. The goal is to empower more everyday citizens to take the initiative in protecting their communities and to serve as leaders for building public support.

A detailed agenda will be forthcoming. Speakers and workshops on both days will cover topics such as: The status of gas wells in West Virginia…new, old, and abandoned. Problems caused by the gas industry. Health issues associated with Marcellus drilling.
Bad practices used in underground injection wells. Citizen Watch Groups that can monitor industry activity. Organizing gas industry study committees within your county commission. Citizen participation in the gas permitting process. Open session for guest videos, slide shows and personal stories. Well site field trip. The WV Legislature – Who’s who and how it works. Organizing local watershed groups.

All of your expenses for the workshop (lodging, meals, and mileage) will be covered by WV Sierra Club. Applicants are not required to be affiliated with any particular environmental organization. Our program will run from 9:30AM Saturday until 3:30PM Sunday.

Only a limited number of registrations will be accepted. Applicants will be considered based primarily on geographical region, resulting in new organizers in as many regions as possible. We do hope to see more than one person from a community, so they can work as a team, but the number will depend on applications from the rest of the state.

Space is limited, so apply as soon as possible listing your name, address, county, phone number and email. Contact information is below. If you cannot attend but know of someone in your community who fits our guidelines and could benefit from joining us, please let us know. Again, they should be people who can make a clear commitment to do what it takes to build local grassroots action on their home turf.

Contact: Chuck Wyrostok, Sierra Club Outreach Organizer.

Toll free 877 252 0257, outreach@marcellus-wv.com, www.marcellus-wv.com

The Shale Gas Review: Frack Chemicals and Water Contamination

S. Tom Bond — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:45:29 +0000

Tom Wilber

Commentary from Tom Wilber, The Shale Gas Review, May 10, 2013

The migration of fracking chemicals in the soil, in the earth’s strata and in groundwater are problems that are not fully understood. Plus, the chemicals resulting from drilling and fracking contain some toxic materials that have been leached from the earth or exposed by the drilling and frack operations. Tom Wilber in his blog entitled “Shale Gas Review” takes up these topics.

The gas industry claims that drilling is not a public health threat, and that fracking fluid is harmless. In support of these claims it cites lack of evidence tying operations to pollution and illness. What’s missing is full disclosure. The industry operates on private property without the level of regulatory oversight that other industries face. (It is exempt from both federal Safe Drinking Water Act and hazardous waste laws that require disclosure of what goes into and what comes out of the ground.)

When something goes wrong, it is often a matter between the company and the homeowner to resolve. When legal pressure necessitates, the industry can make the problem go away with settlements that contain non-disclosure clauses.

A recent example came to light with a personal injury claim against Range Resources and other operators by a family in Mt. Pleasant Township, Pa. Range Resources agreed to pay the Hallowich family $750,000 to settle a lawsuit for personal injury damages related to operations near their home. The case was settled by the parties in 2011, no official complaint was filed, and the records were sealed.

We only know this because the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Washington Observer-Reporter filed and won a suit to get the records unsealed. The unsealed documents also revealed that the PA Department of Environmental Protection did not maintain records of an investigation into a complaint about water contamination at a neighboring property, and that the investigator, Mark Kiel, soon left the agency to work for the gas drilling company he had been investigating. For every case that gets unsealed, there are hundreds, if not thousands of cases sealed in documents that are never opened because their public relevance goes unchallenged.

Meanwhile, both the DEP and gas companies are able to keep matters of public interest unfolding in Susquehanna County from full public view. Last week, the DEP issued a brief statement that exonerated gas company WPX of causing methane pollution in three wells in the Township of Franklin Forks. Yet the agency is not releasing any results related to the investigation or to its conclusions. It is known that the Franklin Forks area and the nearby Salt Springs State Park contain rich methane reservoirs in both deep and shallow formations (hence the attractiveness of the area to petroleum operators). Although the DEP released its conclusions that the gas affecting the water wells was not from nearby gas wells or production zones being tapped by WPX, it did not explain the source or course of pollution at concentrations five times greater than the threshold for explosion risks.

Franklin Forks may have been less of a story if not for events that have unfolded in Dimock Township, about a dozen miles to the south. More than four years after the explosion of a residential water well called attention to the problem, the DEP is still investigating recurring water pollution problems in the middle of a gas field being developed by Cabot Oil & Gas. Wells providing water to several dozen homes have been taken off line or fitted with filtration equipment to remove gas and other pollution since the water well of Norma Fiorentino exploded on New Year’s Day, 2009. Under the Rendell administration, the DEP cited Cabot for various violations related to the problems.

Now Governor Tom Corbett’s DEP is investigating cases involving two homes in an area where the agency has banned drilling of new wells in the wake of chronic water problems. Recent tests showed dangerous levels of methane flowing into residential water wells near the junction of Carter Road and State Route 3023. Yet the problem, in the eyes of the DEP, remains elusive. “We are slowly getting some test results back,” DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said. “However – as per our attorney, DEP does not share test results from private water wells with anyone but the private well owner.”

To be clear, the agency has a policy of releasing incomplete data to homeowners, a policy that has produced much criticism but little action. Officials justify the long-standing practice of excluding some fields as a sound method to filter noise from relevant data. Critics argue that the agency cherry picks the data, and the unreleased fields might be useful indicators of drilling contamination and other problems. Moreover, homeowners have a right to all results of water quality tests that can flag health risks.

The fight over the cause and consequences of methane seeping into private water wells in Susquehanna County is one example of an issue that could stand a little more legal leverage from professional news outlets. While some outlets, including the Scranton Times-Tribune, do what they can with declining resources to report the story, readers would be well served by a legal challenge to the DEP’s refusal to release ground water analysis paid for by tax-payer money concerning matters of overwhelming public interest.

See also: EcoWatch, WVSORO, and FrackCheckWV

WVU Extension Service: Second Annual Natural Gas Conference May 22nd

Duane Nichols — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:39:00 +0000

: WVU Extension

The second annual Enhancing Public Understanding of Natural Gas Issues Conference is sponsored by the WVU Extension Natural Gas Education Team. It will be held on May 22nd at the Bridgeport Conference Center. There is no fee to attend but pre-registration is required by May 3rd.

If you are interested in issues surrounding natural gas exploration and development in WV, you are encouraged to attend.

Contact: Georgette Plaugher, Visiting Instructor/Program Coordinator, WVU Extension Service-Preston County, 115 W Court Street, Kingwood, WV 26537. Phone: 304-329-1391. See the Flyer here.

WVU Extension Service: Second Annual Enhancing

Public Understanding of Natural Gas Issues

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

8:30 a.m. Registration, 9:00 a.m. Welcome

9:15 a.m. Key Note Speaker Environmental Risk Assessment for Shale Gas Development, Dan Soeder, National Energy Technology Laboratory, US Department of Energy

10:15 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. Panel Presentation: Health Concerns (25 minutes each, 15 minute for questions at the end)

1. Health Issues and Concerns Related to Marcellus Shale Gas Development, Jill Kriesky, Environmental Health Project

2. WVU Air Quality Study, Alyson Johnson, WVU Department of Community Medicine

3. Penn State Water Well Testing Study, Bryan Swistock, Penn State University Cooperative Extension

12:00 p.m. LUNCH

1:10 p.m. Breakout Session I (45 minutes each, 15 minutes for questions at the end)

2:15 p.m. Breakout Session II (45 minutes each, 15 minutes for questions at the end)

3:15 p.m. BREAK

3:30 p.m. Breakout Session III (45 minutes each, 15 minutes for questions at the end)

4:30 p.m. Wrap Up/Homeward Bound/Cleanup

See the Internet web-site here.

Fracking Centers at Universities Cause More Problems Than They Solve

Duane Nichols — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 09:36:39 +0000

: Penn State University

Let’s look at the “centers on fracking” at SUNY-Buffalo, the University of Texas, Penn State University, Ohio State University, and West Virginia University. While the specific mission for each is somewhat unique, they are intended to (1) bring in money from outside the schools, (2) provide a clearinghouse for accurate information, and (3) bring praise on their schools. Doing university research on the full drilling & fracking process is not really practical but some limited aspects could be studied. The implication in each case is that fracking is good, so let’s spread the good word; that maybe it could be done better, so will someone tell us how. We can get money for this!

State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo faculty are seeking more information on industry ties to an institute created to study fracking for natural gas. A group of 83 professors and staff have requested documents on the founding and funding of the school’s Shale Resources and Society Institute, according to an August 23 “open letter” to the university administration.

The institute released a report in May that didn’t acknowledge “long-term” ties by its authors to the gas industry while it seeks more than $1 million in corporate funding.

“A number of questions have been raised about whether the institute was really intended to provide independent academic inquiry,” according to the faculty members’ letter. “Only complete transparency can dispel the shadow now cast over UB.”

In April, the newly formed Shale Resources and Society Institute issued a report that found drillers in Pennsylvania had reduced by half the rate of blowouts, spills and water contamination since 2008. Potential environmental problems could be “entirely avoided or mitigated” under New York’s proposed rules, according to the shale institute’s report. The Public Accountability Initiative, a Buffalo nonprofit that focuses on corruption in business and government, said the report contained errors and didn’t acknowledge “extensive ties” by its authors to the gas industry.

Last month, the University of Texas at Austin announced it would convene a panel of independent experts to review its February study on gas fracking after reports that the professor who led the study is on the board of a gas drilling company.

Charles Groat, associate director of the university’s Energy Institute and former Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, proposed the study, selected the researchers, edited its summary and presented it to the American Association for the Advancement of Science on February 16th.

Groat also sits on the board of Plains Exploration & Production Co., a relationship he didn’t disclose in the report or to his boss. Company filings show that in 2011 he received more than $400,000 in compensation from the Houston-based company, which has fracking operations in Texas.

The university announced August 14 that Norman Augustine, former chief executive officer of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., will lead the review panel. Augustine is also a former board member at the oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips.

Kevin Connor, president of the Public Accountability Initiative, said Augustine’s ties to the oil industry raise questions about the panel’s independence. Augustine over almost 20 years received “millions of dollars” in stock and compensation from ConocoPhillips, according to Connor. “It is extremely troubling that the university chose an energy industry insider to chair the panel.”

Pennsylvania State University now requires faculty research to be submitted to university officials before it is published, according to Michael Arthur, co-director of the school’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR). A 2009 report on the economic impact of gas drilling in Pennsylvania’s portion of the Marcellus shale was released without disclosing industry funding.

The MCOR is Penn State’s education and research initiative on shale gas recovery and use. MCOR is internally funded by the College of Agricultural Sciences, the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment and Penn State Outreach, according to their web-site. Obviously, this doesn’t reveal the root source of the funding.

Jeff Daniels is Co-director for The Ohio State University Subsurface Energy Resource Center (SERC). SERC was opened in September 2011, to cover all aspects of the industry – geologic, economic, public health, environmental, outreach and education in communities impacted, policy making. But, as a “resource center”, the intention apparently is to provide accurate information to the public, with some 70 affiliated faculty participants. Professor Daniels is a geophysicist doing research on carbon dioxide sequestration.

On February 24^th, a member of the West Virginia University Board of Governors expressed concerns about a plan for a Marcellus shale center at WVU. Charles Vest said that he wanted assurances that conflicts of interest would be avoided in such a center, as proposed by the WV Legislature in Senate Bill 522. Vest was formerly president of M.I.T. and now President of the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, DC.

The Senate Bill 522 would create the WVU Shale Research, Education, Policy and Economic Development Center. It had already cleared the House and Senate education committees and was headed to the finance committees. WVU President James Clements agreed, saying that while he’s proud of the work scientists do and eager to see research grow, firewalls must be created and conflicts avoided.

On July 25^th, the Morgantown Dominion Post reported that the WV Legislature held discussions on the proposed shale center bill. Sen. Ronald Miller, D-Greenbrier: “Are we going to focus on fixing every center in West Virginia or just this one?” Bill Hutchens, WVU’s general counsel said a dream project for the research center was put on hold by the recent dive in natural gas prices — but he’s working to get it going again. WVU wants to work with an operator to drill a horizontal well on WVU land. It would be a working well, generating money for the operator. But it would also be a research well, with every bit of data from the first turn of dirt through drilling and production and on being shared to advance knowledge in the field.

[A dream project indeed. Maybe a Marcellus well could be put on the University farm, within elbow reach for the health professionals of the WVU Medical Center and the Monongahela General Hospital. I understand that some of the drilling/fracking companies will replace the roads after they are torn up. DGN]