Greenfield, MA—The Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRC), as a non-profit underwriter, is pleased to support the Project Native Environmental Film Festival. The free festival will kick off Sunday, March 15th at the Tower Theaters in South Hadley, MA. The Festival will bring a full day of films to the Pioneer Valley. Of the five films being shown, “DamNation” and “Plastic Paradise” particularly highlight issues we are dealing with right now along the Connecticut River. Click here for show times & details.
“Healthy rivers are so important because they contribute so much, both to our economies and the beauty and enjoyment of our communities,” says CRC Executive Director, Andrew Fisk. CRC works to balance environmental protection for our rivers with human uses, such as hydroelectricity generation. CRC is currently involved in the relicensing of five hydroelectric facilities along the CT River and the removal of obsolete dams on smaller rivers.
Additionally, CRC coordinates the annual Source to Sea Cleanup—a two-day trash clean-up event in all four states of the 410+ mile Connecticut River watershed (NH, VT, MA, CT). Each fall, thousands of volunteers of all ages and abilities head out to clean the Connecticut River and its tributaries on foot or by boat. Volunteers remove trash along rivers, streams and stream banks, parks, boat launches, trails and more. Volunteers use human power and sometimes heavy equipment to pull out everything from recyclables, fishing equipment and food waste to tires, televisions, refrigerators and junk cars. To date volunteers have prevented more than 897 tons of trash from flowing downstream.
“Keeping this trash from flowing downstream into the Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean keeps it from adding to the large floating garbage patches and harming our environment and wildlife,” notes Fisk. “Our goal is to keep this trash from getting in our rivers in the first place. We all have a responsibility to solve this problem—individuals, manufacturers, businesses, and government.” CRC uses trash data to help inform policies and legislation that will keep waste out of our rivers. All are welcome to join this year’s Source to Sea Cleanup on September 25 & 26. Learn more at ctriver.org/cleanup.
About CRC: The Connecticut River Watershed Council works to protect the watershed from source to sea. As stewards of this heritage, we celebrate our four-state treasure and collaborate, educate, organize, restore and intervene to preserve its health for generations to come. Our work informs our vision of economic and ecological abundance. To learn more about CRC, or to make a contribution to help protect the Connecticut River, visit ctriver.org or call 413-772-2020, ext. 201.
About Project Native: Project Native is a non-profit environmental education organization committed to growing native plants, maintaining a native butterfly house and wildlife sanctuary, and promoting stewardship of the local landscape. For more information about Project Native visit www.projectnative.org.
DamNation (2014)
This powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has moved beyond the fictional Monkey Wrench Gang to go mainstream. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds, after decades without access. DamNation‘s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature.
Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (2013)
EVERY single piece of plastic that has ever been created since the 19th century is still SOMEWHERE on our planet. So if it never goes away, where does it go? Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. And yet it has become ground zero for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, syphoning plastics from three distant continents. In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. Along the way she meets scientists, researchers, influencers, and volunteers who shed light on the effects of our rabid plastic consumption and learns the problem is more insidious than we could have ever imagined.
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