Hope in a Changing Climate

Join the Conversation

In cities and villages, on campuses and in corporate meeting rooms, on every continent (eventually including, we hope, Antarctica), “Hope in a Changing Climate” is bringing people together to discuss not only the substantial environmental problems we face – but specifically, the role that ecosystem restoration can play in stabilizing our climate, eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.

Seventy-one organizations on six continents in 29 nations have facilitated or are scheduled to facilitate discussions and screenings of "Hope in a Changing Climate."

For more information on sponsoring an event and a list of participating organizations, see Host a Screening and Discussion.  Event hosts and participants are encouraged to share their responses to "Hope in a Changing Climate." A selection of feedback is provided below. To provide your feedback, contact Lance Kramer at lance [at] eemp.org.

• "Hope in a Changing Climate" shown in Film Festivals across the Globe

The Environmental Education Media Project is pleased to announce that our latest film ‘Hope in a Changing Climate’ has been named to several major international film festivals. It has been tremendously energizing to view the messages of ‘Hope’ embraced by dozens of grassroots organizations, large multilateral institutions, government bodies, universities, and now, further recognition in the international film community. The inclusion of ‘Hope’ in these festivals is yet another sign of the broad recognition in the value of large-scale ecosystem restoration. ‘Hope in a Changing Climate’ continues to resonate with a diverse range of communities and audiences. Our work continues to dramatically impact the global discussion, driving the conversation toward optimistic, practical and hopeful solutions.

Upcoming Festivals:

George Mason University Earth Week 2010 Arlington, Virginia, USA (April 26, 5-7pm)
Mason’s celebration of Earth Week 2010 features many opportunities to learn about environmental sustainability as well as Mason’s commitment to leadership in environmental research and action. As part of the weeklong festival, “Hope in a Changing Climate” will screen at Mason's Arlington campus. The film will be followed by a facilitated discussion by Jonathan Halperin, Executive Director of the Environmental Education Media Project and Dann Sklarew, Associate Professor with the Environmental Science and Policy Department at Mason.

Sisak Eco Film Festival (SEFF) Sisak, Croatia (April 2010)
The main cause of the Sisak Eco Film Festival is to broadcast videos and films that promote environmental protection and sustainable development.

33rd Annual International Wildlife Film Festival — Finalist Missoula, Montana, USA (May 8-15, 2010)
The International Wildlife Film Festival is the premier venue for wildlife filmmaking and filmmakers. Often called the Sundance of the Wildlife Film genre, IWFF is an annual gathering where film, television, new media, science and conservation converge. IWFF was the first wildlife film festival in the world and today, has the distinction of being the longest running wildlife film festival, attracting over 10,000 people from around the world each year.

Emision Céro Film Festival Madrid, Spain (September 2010)

Recent Festivals:

World Bank Environmental Film Festival Buenos Aires, Argentina (March 18-25, 2010)
"The screening of "Hope in a changing climate" last Tuesday was a great success. Around 200 people saw the documentary in Ciudad Cultural Konex, Buenos Aires." -- Carolina Crerar, Public Information Officer for the World Bank in Argentina

Elliniki Etaireia Athens, Greece (March 17, 2010)
"Hope in a Changing Climate" was shown in Athens on March 17 as part of a season of environmental films organized by one of Greece's most respected green NGOs, known as Elliniki Etaireia. The film, subtitled in Greek, drew a lively reaction from an audience of at least 100 supporters of environmental causes. Bruce Clark, a journalist from the Economist magazine, moderated a discussion about some of the issues raised. There was strong interest in the idea that China has things to teach the rest of the world about the repair of eco-systems. Several people noted that the problem of degraded eco-systems was especially acute in parts of Greece. The audience was interested in the role played by ordinary people in rebuilding damaged micro-environments, and in the sort of governance and philosophy that is needed to mobilize people. Elliniki Etaireia intends to show the film in other parts of Greece.

Cinema Planeta Film Festival Mexico City, Mexico (March 9, 2010)

GooldPlanet Film Festival Copenhagen, Denmark (December 16, 2009)

New Beijing International Film Festival Beijing, China (November 27, 2009)

• 'Hope in a Changing Climate' inspires 6th grade mothers in Taipei

January 12, 2010
American Club
Taipei, Taiwan

“Hope in a Changing Climate” was screened today for the first time in Taipei, Taiwan at the American Club, to an audience composed of twenty-seven 6th grade mothers from the Taipei American School (TAS).  

"The audience’s children had been the audience two years earlier, when Environmental Education Media Project founder John D. Liu visited and spoke to the then 4th grade TAS class. The group responded with overwhelming interest and a lively Q&A session followed the lunchtime screening. They immediately understood the film’s message and embraced the fact that the future depends on everyone’s efforts — and not just that of local and national governments. An active discussion ensued, regarding how mothers specifically could help join in the effort. Michelle Hu, organizer of the event and mother of student Max Chen (my son), stated that she would follow-up in order to channel the collective energy at the individual, family and school level. The mothers contributed NTD 30,000 (approximately USD $1000), which will be delivered by Nick Chen to EEMP in Beijing in January. The mothers will also caucus with the school for a possible repeat visit by John D. Liu. They requested a Chinese subtitle version if possible, to help make their outreach more effective. Naturally, other piggyback events would be coordinated in the event of such a visit.

"Two messages in particular were highlighted:

1. The film illustrates the critical importance of maintaining and restoring the balance of nature. A comparison with the traditional five Chinese elements was emphasized.
2. It was noted that with the help of the mothers, the work of John Liu and the EEMP could be further strengthened and move toward more success.

"Overall, the event was quite a successful small start in Taiwan — and conversations have begun and seeds planted for future screenings.
 
"Tammy Turner, who met John D. Liu on his visit in 2008, is organizing the 2010 Asia Pacific Green Network Summit in Taipei in the last days of April. This 2^nd annual summit will bring green groups from across the region together. They have requested Chinese subtitles and Chinese materials to be considered for the gathering. Pamir Law is coordinating to try to learn whether such a version exists or can be created. (Dr. Vandana Shiva is the keynote speaker at the summit).

"Appreciation was expressed for the hard work and excellent quality of the film and the remarkable work of the EEMP team. The message impact was loud and clear and action is clearly being catalyzed."
 
Nicholas Chen
Taipei, The Magic Island

• Coalition of Rwandan NGOs discuss ecosystem restoration during Environment Day

               

Patrice Hakizimana
Vice Rector for Academic Affairs & Research
Higher Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry-ISAE

• Feedback grows daily from organizations interested in ecosystem restoration

FROM: Vladimir Frolov, International Foundation for Survival and Development of Humanity 

" 'Hope in a Changing Climate' is an amazing film, and we would love to host a screening in Moscow, Russia. If anyone else from Russia has contacted you already, we could join efforts too.  We can also translate and dub it in Russian, if it had not been done yet."

FROM: Jim Nelson, Prairie Enthusiasts 

"I attended the screening of the film in Copenhagen.  I am interested in hosting a screening in Minneapolis, possibly February.   I am member of Prairie Enthusiasts and a non-professional in the area of landscape restoration. I have worked on my own 28-acre prairie restoration just south on Minneapolis.  The audience would be local people who already are interested in native plants. Invitees might also include members of Wild Ones or the Minnesota Native Plant society."

FROM: Keith Weber, GIS Director, Idaho State University

Pre-screening

"I am the GIS Director at Idaho State University and my research over the past decade has focused on land cover change and most recently desertification and global climate change on the semiarid rangelands of the world.  Dr Liu’s documentary was fantastic and it parallels the range research we have done here that shows how changing how livestock are grazed can have significant positive effects on the landscape.  Indeed, we have been able to see reductions in bare ground and increases in soil moisture by 10%. I would very much like to host a screening and discussion here at ISU’s GIS Center of “Hope in a Changing Climate”."

Post-screening

"We just concluded a successful screening of “Hope in a Changing Climate” and here are some of the comments from the participants:

1. The documentary presents a truly hopeful future.
2. All ecosystems around the globe are experiencing declines.  We all need to wake up and take action.  The documentary “Hope in a Changing Climate” shows not only the ugly face of land degradation but the beauty of restored and healthy, functional ecosystems.
3. The documentary is a very honest look at land degradation.  One of the participants grew up in the Loess Plateau region and gave all of us a more detailed history of that area.  He also spoke about the improvements and successes seen from his first-hand account.
4. There were some concerns voiced that while agropastoral cultures may be able to effect these changes due to the closer ties to these societies have with the land, developed countries, where agriculture constitutes a small part of the GDP, will probably experience more problems and resistance to landscape restoration. As was noted in the documentary, rocket science and technology will not be able to heal the planet, but rather functional ecosystems with effective hydrologic cycles is the key.
5. A second concern –and a related one—is that corporate agriculture disconnects people from the land.  Therefore, awareness and education are vitally important. Your documentary helps fill that need.

"Once again I would like to thank you for allowing us to be involved in this screening.  This sort of work and communicating its results is critically important to all of us on the planet."

FROM: Tony Lovell, Soil-Carbon Australia

"Hi from Australia. I enjoyed watching your film "hope in a changing climate", and hope you find the attached information of some interest. I noted very quickly your identification of inappropriate human management, including what you called "relentless grazing", as the root cause of our degrading environment. Could I ask you to look a little more into the massive positive impact changing to appropriate grazing management would have, especially in China. Professor Tim Flannery has stated that sequestering carbon into the soils of our grazing lands is one of the best means we have available to us for dealing with climate change.

"We have been raising awareness of the role of building soil carbon from a climate change perspective – but as you will see when you look through the presentation on our website the real outcome of changing management is three-fold – healthy environment, healthy financials, and healthy society. This strongly aligns with the powerful messages in your work.

"The Holistic Management approach that produces the results shown in the presentation is currently being used on 30 million acres around the planet – but needs to be adopted across much more of the billions of acres or seasonally dry grazing lands."

FROM: Clifford Guest, Tipperary Institute

"I showed Hope in a Changing Climate yesterday to environment degree students and will use it next week with other undergraduates that I lecture to. It is great to be able to get a "good news" media on climate change - they're pretty rare!"

FROM: Antonio Sarmiento

"I would like to host a screening of ‘Hope in a Changing Climate’ for a group of students/environmentalists in Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico). Our city used to be distinguished with the euphemism of the eternal spring city, but that has already been forgotten; rain has shifted and it is now eroding soil more than helping agriculture."

• EEMP shares a hopeful message for the planet in Copenhagen during COP15

"Hope in a Changing Climate" was shown at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. In addition to the premier at the Natural History Museum, pre-screenings were also scheduled at the Danish Film Institute, The Copenhagen International School and at the University of Copenhagen’s Agriculture and Rural Development Day.

For more information, see EEMP at Copenhagen. For reflections on the screenings, see Iowa United Nations Association: Hope in a Changing Climate and  ECO @ COP 15.  For a more comprehensive listing of media and blog coverage, visit the Press Room.

• Hundreds attend a a variety of November and December screenings in Beijing

On November 27th, 2009, "Hope in a Changing Climate" was shown in various places in Beijing. This was part of a greater world launch event of the film, as it was being aired for the first time on BBC World on the same day.

A first screening took place at the Ministry of Environmental Protection's Environmental Culture Promotion Association, to the members of its staff. A member also attended from our partner organization, the International Cultural and Exchange Center. The reactions were very enthusiastic and opened the door for more cooperation, particularly on the possibility to show the film in places in China that are most severely affected by land degradation and poverty. 

The Beijing International School also hosted 2 screenings, followed by workshops involving the students, the Geography teachers and Patrick Augenstein, Research Director for the Environmental Education Media Project. The students felt inspired by the film and raised many challenging questions about it.

The US NGO Greening the Beige organized a dinner followed by the screening of the film. 3 panelists animated a lively debate with an audience composed of 80 people from very different backgrounds.

The leading CDM company CAMCO hosted a screening for 40 of its staff. The reactions were very good and enthusiastic. CAMCO subsequently brought financial support to help facilitate the creation of a Chinese version of "Hope in a Changing Climate."

The student group AIESEC organized a screening of the film at Renmin University on Nov. 28th, as part of a 3 day-conference on climate change. 150 students attended and felt much inspired by the film, given their passionate reactions after the screening.

On the same day, Tsinghua University also hosted a screening to 80 students, professors and officials from the Ministry of Education. The film fueled overwhelmingly positive reactions as well as a heated debate.

On Dec 1st, the Hong Kong International School organized a screening followed by workshops. The Geography teacher sent the EEMP a very detailed message to thank us and tell us about the very encouraging reactions of the students and about the high pedagogical value of the film.

Two students from Tsinghua University and the University of Technology respectively organized a screening of the film to their fellow classmates early December.

Given the success of the first screening of the film, Greening the Beige organized a second screening on December 14th in Beijing's famous Bookworm bar, where 40 people attended. 

IUCN Beijing also hosted a screening. They congratulated themselves for supporting the project financially, and found the film very relevant to their work.