2008 Woodie Awards
Sustainability Committee presents Oil on Ice
Toby Shearer
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: Campus News
The lights dimmed and the film flickered to life with an arctic fox leaping across snowy banks yelping happily, a caribou herd of thousands trekking north across the frozen tundra to their breeding grounds, a glistening metal oil pipeline fading into the horizon with a fist-size hole in the side spraying thousands of gallons of pitch-dark oil across a formerly pristine, irrevocably altered Alaskan ecosystem.
These were the opening scenes of Oil on Ice, an award winning documentary film presented last Thursday night at the Weatherspoon Art Museum by the UNCG Sustainability Committee and a host of community sponsors. The presentation, hosted by Music Librarian and Committee volunteer Sarah Dorsey, was the fourth film to be presented by the Committee this semester.
Oil on Ice, directed by conservationists Dale Djerassi and Bo Boudart, explores the politically charged question of opening the known oil reserves of the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve to private corporate development and the potential impact on the natural wildlife, specifically the migratory Caribou populations and the Native American population that subsist on the herds.
Skyler Hallgren, a visitor in attendance, hoped that the film would help raise student awareness of environmental issues. "I think it's great that they offer opportunities for the student body to hear these points of view", he said after the screening, "It's important that everyone understands because it's an issue that affects every human being."
The Sustainability Committee of UNCG was created in 2006 to address and implement programs shaping the University's approach to recycling, environmental impact, and education of students and faculty, to "shape a legacy of ecological stewardship, social equity, and economic responsibility" according to the Committee's website.
In sponsorship of the film series the Sustainability Committee is joined by several local businesses dedicated to sustainability and environmental impact including Tate Street Coffee House, the Deep Roots Market community co-op, Proximity Hotel, Print Works Bistro, the Sierra Club, Indelligence, Sweet Basils, Earthfare Market, Green Games, and REI outdoor stores.
The film series returns January 29th with the film Waste = Food. For more information on the Sustainability Committee or to get involved please visit www.sustain.uncg.edu.
These were the opening scenes of Oil on Ice, an award winning documentary film presented last Thursday night at the Weatherspoon Art Museum by the UNCG Sustainability Committee and a host of community sponsors. The presentation, hosted by Music Librarian and Committee volunteer Sarah Dorsey, was the fourth film to be presented by the Committee this semester.
Oil on Ice, directed by conservationists Dale Djerassi and Bo Boudart, explores the politically charged question of opening the known oil reserves of the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve to private corporate development and the potential impact on the natural wildlife, specifically the migratory Caribou populations and the Native American population that subsist on the herds.
Skyler Hallgren, a visitor in attendance, hoped that the film would help raise student awareness of environmental issues. "I think it's great that they offer opportunities for the student body to hear these points of view", he said after the screening, "It's important that everyone understands because it's an issue that affects every human being."
The Sustainability Committee of UNCG was created in 2006 to address and implement programs shaping the University's approach to recycling, environmental impact, and education of students and faculty, to "shape a legacy of ecological stewardship, social equity, and economic responsibility" according to the Committee's website.
In sponsorship of the film series the Sustainability Committee is joined by several local businesses dedicated to sustainability and environmental impact including Tate Street Coffee House, the Deep Roots Market community co-op, Proximity Hotel, Print Works Bistro, the Sierra Club, Indelligence, Sweet Basils, Earthfare Market, Green Games, and REI outdoor stores.
The film series returns January 29th with the film Waste = Food. For more information on the Sustainability Committee or to get involved please visit www.sustain.uncg.edu.
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