Film explores environment from Mayan perspective

The film Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, which explores environmental impacts from a Mayan perspective, will be shown Wednesday, April 8, at 7 pm at the Capitol Restaurant, Main St.

The film is sponsored the Bloomsburg Green Campus Initiative and the Exchange.

"The ancient Maya believed this present world would end and a new cycle arise after 5125 years,” begins the description from the film producers. "How does the story end? Does the water change color? Do the oceans collapse? Does the sky fall as the last tree is cut?” The multiple-award-winning film is free of charge and open to the public. The producers describe the presentation as being appropriate for everyone.

In the film, six young Maya from Chiapas and Guatemala show the contrast in their world view and that of many in the Western World. They reveal "through their daily and ceremonial life… their determination to resist the destruction of their culture and environment. As corporations go to the ends of the earth to extract all value, all resources, they put forth a wholly indigenous perspective in their own words, without narration. Each story touches upon a facet of the current global crisis.”

More information at www.heart-of-sky.com

Coming up: 

On Tuesday, April 28, in Carver Hall, Green Campus in conjunction with the International Faculty Association will present Gringo Trails at 7 pm. Gringo Trails shows the environmental impacts of expanding travel into the most remote parts of the world. The stories told reveal the effects of ever-increasing, unplanned and mismanaged growth in tourism. Another award winning presentation, the film has been heralded as “Required viewing for all thoughtful travelers,” by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

Documentary 'Chasing Ice' to be shown

Bloomsburg University's Green Campus Initiative is screening of “Chasing Ice” tonight, Oct. 15, at 7:30 pm in Carver Hall’s Gross Auditorium.

The film has won numerous awards including an Emmy for its airing on the National Geographic Channel, an Academy Award nomination and it is a New York Time’s Critic’s Choice. The documentary chronicles the efforts of environmental photographer James Balog, whose National Geographic assignment was to bring back from the Arctic undeniable evidence of changes in climate. Through time-lapse photography in extreme conditions his amazing images tell the story of his quest.
The film is being screened with no admission fee, and Green Campus Initiative is inviting the public as well. More information at www.chasingice.com.

Film explores genetically modified seeds

The Green Campus Initiative at Bloomsburg University and the Moose Exchange are partnering to show two movies related to agriculture and nature.

Bitter Seeds will be shown Tuesday, April 8, at 7pm at St Paul's Episcopal church (at the corner of Iron and Main, Bloomsburg). India has more farmers than any country in the world, and they are in a crisis that is unprecedented in human history. Every 30 minutes a farmer in India kills himself in despair. In a village at the center of the suicide epidemic, a farmer and his family struggle to keep his land and a teenage girl makes her first steps to become a journalist and tell the world about the crisis. "Bitter Seeds" raises questions about the human cost of genetically-modified agriculture and the future of how we grow things. This is the third film in Micha Peled's globalization trilogy, following the award-winning Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town and China Blue.

Play Again will be shown on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 pm at St Paul's Episcopal church. Play Again investigates the consequences of a childhood removed from nature. At a time when children play more behind screens than outside, this documentary unplugs a group of tech savvy teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure, documenting the wonder that comes from time spent in nature and inspiring action for a sustainable future. 

Nature Conservancy scientist to speak at BU

Bloomsburg University's department of biological and allied health sciences is hosting a seminar by Dr. Scott Bearer, senior scientist for the Nature Conservancy, on Friday, March 28, at 3 pm in Hartline Science Center, room G38. He will talk on "Current Conservation Issues in Pennsylvania: How The Nature Conservancy is Approaching Modern Threats to Biodiversity and How You Can Help." All are welcome.

Water everwhere. But is it fit to drink?

A premier screening of WVIA’s WaterWise-Part 2 will be held Monday, Jan. 13, at 6:30 pm in Centennial Hall, room 170. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with guests Mark Stephens, P.G., from the PA DEP’s Safe Drinking Water program, Bryan Swistock, Water Resources Coordinator with the Penn State Extension, and Jen Whisner, hydrogeologist in BU's department of environmental, geological and geographical sciences.

WaterWise highlights success stories from grass-roots organizations working to clean up pollution in Central PA watersheds. The panel discussion will focus on strategies we can use in our area to improve and maintain drinking water quality. The program is sponsored by the Columbia-Montour Coalition for Source Water Protection, the Columbia County Conservation District, WVIA, and BU's department of environmental, geographical, and geological sciences.

Miscellanea: Poetry, prose, justice and the Arctic

Poetry:

PNC Television will air  "A Gathering of Laureates" Wednesday and Thursday, March 27 and 28, at 11:05 pm. The program features past and present laureates of Perry, Berks, York, Harrisburg, and Montgomery counties, including Melanie Simms of Sunbury — a familiar face in the Bloomsburg poetry community.

Prose:

Puerto Rican writer Marta Aponte Alsina will give a talk "We Had Never Seen Such People Before: Puerto Rican Literature and the Writing of Other" on Thursday, March 28, from 7 to 8 pm in Kehr Union, Multipurpose Room B. In connection to that lecture, there will be a series of talks related to diversity throughout that day.

• Paul Loomis, faculty, "Student Life in South America" (1:20-1:50 pm)
• Tom Aleto, faculty, "Carnival in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico: A Ritual of Inversion² (2:00-3:00 pm) 
• Kendal Arthur, international student, "St. Lucia: French and British Culture" (3:00-3:20 pm) 
• Marthe Beauvais, student, "Once Upon A Time, Haiti" (3:20-3:40 pm) 
• Iker Omar Belsaguy (exchange student, Mexico), "The Importance of Learning a Foreign Language. Experiences on Chinese language" (3:45-4:00 pm) 
• Study Abroad Panel (China, Germany, France, Haiti, Panama, Peru, Spain): 4:05-5:00 pm 

Justice: 

Terrence Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine, will speak on Lessons from Little Rock, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 in Bloomsburg University’s Kehr Union, Ballroom. Roberts was a 15-year-old 11th-grader when he joined eight other African-American students in 1957 and entered all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Roberts’ presentation, open to the public free of charge.

The Arctic:

Arctic scientist Martin Jeffries will speak on "The Arctic Report Card: On the State of an Environmental System in Rapid Transition" on Wednesday, April 3, at 7:30 pm in BU’s Hartline Science Center, Kuster Auditorium. Jeffries, currently on leave from a faculty position with the University of Alaska/Fairbanks, is program officer and arctic science adviser for the Ocean, Atmosphere and Space Research Division at the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va. His talk is sponsored by the Green Campus Initiative and open to the public free of charge.