(CREDIT: Screenshot from “The Wisdom to Survive” movie trailer)

Batavia Environmental Commission and Confident Aire invite the public to attend Batavia’s ninth annual A Green Night Out at the Movies, a free event featuring the documentary film “The Wisdom to Survive”, free popcorn and drinks, an expo of local eco groups and businesses and a lively discussion about the climate change.

The event takes place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 11, at 100 N. Island Ave., Batavia.

(CREDIT: Screenshot from “The Wisdom to Survive” movie trailer)

“The Wisdom to Survive“ accepts the consensus of scientists that climate change has already arrived and asks, “What is keeping us from action?” The film features thought leaders and activists in the realms of science, economics and spirituality, discussing how people can take action in the face of climate disruption.

“In the current contentious political atmosphere surrounding climate change, we felt it was important to find a movie this year that tackles this topic and, crucially, also discusses what we need to do about it,” said event organizer Carolyn Burnham.

Following the movie, Emma Cole of the Batavia Environmental Commission will moderate a panel discussion.

“We are especially excited about our panel discussion this year,” Burnham said, noting the experience and scientific expertise of the panelists.

The public is invited to ask questions at the panel discussion. “If you have questions or concerns about climate change, this is an event you don’t want to miss,” Burnham said.

For more information about this event and local “green” happenings anytime, check out the BEC’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/BataviaEnvironmentalCommission and at www.cityofbatavia.net/environmental

Panelists

Ross Powell: Ross Powell is a Board of Trustees Professor and Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences at Northern Illinois University, where he has been teaching and researching since 1980.

Powell was born and raised in New Zealand and then earned his PhD through the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University. His main research interests focus on processes and dynamics of glacial, ice sheet, sediment and ocean interactions, and in unraveling past ice sheet and climate cycles to better understand future trends.

Reed Scherer: Reed Scherer is a Board of Trustees Professor and Distinguished Research Professor of Micropaleontology and Biostratigraphy at Northern Illinois University. A native of New York City, Scherer earned his Ph.D at Ohio State in Polar Studies.

Scherer is an internationally respected geologist whose research has taken him around the globe and beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. He was a key member of a research team that tackled the ongoing changes in the ice sheets and other studies of climate change, and he has published numerous studies in top-tier journals, such as Nature and Science. He is also Associate Director at the Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability & Energy at NIU.

Earl Silbar: Earl is a retired GED teacher and has been an activist and organizer since the mid-1960s, beginning with civil rights and anti-Vietnam War campus activism and including anti-fascist, international solidarity and union organizing and working-class solidarity.

Recently, he led a discussion on ” Climate change and the need for revolution” at a weeklong retreat and is currently active with Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice, where he works on a campaign to raise the minimum wage and establish paid sick time for workers in Elgin.

Deni Mathews: Deni is a climate activist and Climate Reality Project presenter. She is Citizens’ Climate Lobby Fox Valley chapter co-chair. CCL lobbies Congress to put a price on carbon and return revenues to American households.

She is the Save Our Illinois Land chair. SOIL is working to oppose fossil fuel infrastructure and is currently informing landowners and community members about the proposed ‘twin’ pipeline which will run through Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle and Livingston Counties in Illinois.

SOURCE: Batavia Environmental Commission

• Editor’s Note: This article is a reposting of a news release from the Batavia Environmental Commission forwarded by the Kane County Division of Environmental Resources. It is not an endorsement of any position on the issue of climate change.

About the Batavia Environmental Commission

The mission of the Batavia Environmental Commission is to fulfill the role of environmental advisor, educator and motivator to city government and the community at large. Past A Green Night Out at the Movie titles have included: “The Future of Food”, “Tapped”, “The Nature of Cities”, “Chemerical”, “Bag It”, “No Impact Man”, “Garbage and Bikes vs Cars”.

Green Night Out at the Movies is presented by the Batavia Environmental Commission and Confident Aire, and sponsored by The Resiliency Institute, Wasco Nursery, Marsh Products and Kane County Progressives. Additional supporters include Batavia Park District, Boy Scouts: Three Fires Council, and the Batavia Bicycle Commission.