Written by Rachele Terranova, Photo courtesy of SCAD Savannah Film Festival
“Progress, not perfection.”
This year in the “Global Shorts: One Planet” viewing we saw how eight short films highlighted ideas of environmental justice and activism worldwide. The series of films presented these ideas through a balance of films depicting real human struggle and devastation with more lighthearted animated shorts to represent where many people stand today in their relationship with the climate — and ways it can (or must) change.
To me, these shorts represented a point of view in which I already identify with and work to perpetuate. But for many, these films are presented in an eye opening and more importantly digestible way. Nonetheless, there is something to be learned for even the most seasoned environmentalist in this lineup of films.
Understanding the local level is always a safe place to start such as in “Sleepless Flight.” Atlanta’s local scientists looked into the hazardous effects of light pollution on the migration of birds and the negative effects of the developing skyline.
In the animated shorts “PolarBarry: Let’s Break The Ice!! VLOG #207” depicting the life of an influencer polar bear that sheds light on varying levels of knowledge on climate change to “WhateverTree” starkly highlighting the screen addiction that causes many people to miss out on vital time in nature. These two films in particular act as an effective first step to waking the viewer up to the climate crisis we face. Paired with a third film, also on the more lighthearted end of the spectrum, “The Seashell” pairs two unsuspecting friends: a lonely girl walking along the beach and Ricky, mother nature’s son, who connect through a seashell as he fills her in on the how humans are harming his mother.
All three films follow the same important narrative that progress is the key to success especially in young people that may not be aware of their actions’ impact on the earth.
For the eternal optimist and intermediate environmentalist, there are two films of hope that show even in devastation or struggle, there is a way to work with, not against, the climate. “Our Own House” follows the locals of Punta Gorda, who can still remember times of no electricity, roads or plastic in their remote Southern Belize Town, and their quest to battle the influx of single use plastic littering their community.
Then, in “Powerful Little Island” following the wrath of category five Hurricane Maria, the island nation of Dominica is fighting to recover its agricultural splendor with the emergence of a new more sustainable crop, coffee.
Personally, I was most touched and empowered by the power of the people in “Invasion: The Unist’ot’en’s Fight for Sovereignty” and “On the Fenceline: A Fight for Clean Air.” Whether it be the Unist’ot’en Tribe’s fight for their land in BC, Canada or the Philadelphia resident activists actions against their carcinogenic neighbor, the oldest oil refinery on the East Coast. Human loss, whether it be friends and family or thousands of years of tradition are the force that lit a fire under these underserved communities. But through the power of their voices and their passion for a better future for the planet, they use whatever resources they have to step up to the corporations abusing minority communities everyday.
The collective resilience of the human race and the hope for climate resiliency is my personal driving force — if you don’t change your ways for the climate, change your ways for the people the climate crisis is already affecting.
