By Janice Tran
With the heavy advertising the Eco-Club has invested in promoting their Eco-Club Movie Nights, students should be familiar with what these movies are aimed at doing by now. In the hopes of raising awareness of the catastrophic impacts industrialized societies have inflicted on the environment, the Eco-Club is showing a series of three environmental documentaries in the Science Theatres aiming to educate and entertain students. To embrace the theme of environmental consciousness, these movies use projectors entirely run by wind energy–so while you kick back and enjoy the film, there are no environmental side effects to worry about.
“The point of the movie [screenings] is to be able to raise enough donations so that we can buy enough wind power to power an entire computer lab,” says Lisa Tan, the advertising spokesperson for the Eco-Club. “It will cost $39 to power one desktop computer for three years with wind power.”
The award winning documentary, Oil On Ice is the last documentary of the Eco-Club Movie Nights series. The film focuses on the controversy over the Bush administration’s decision to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refugee. It deals with the detrimental effects drilling will have on the ecosystem and cultures of the natives living in the area.
“Because it is in the Arctic, the project is going to cost much more than any regular drilling expedition,” explains Tan. “The cost benefit ratio is not good. When they drill under the ice to get the oil, it is only a few billion dollars worth of barrels which is only going to sustain the American economy for 200 days. Then they are going to [abandon] it, damaging the whole refuge, and the people.”
By presenting Oil On Ice, the Eco-Club hopes to raise awareness of the urgent issues brought on by oil drilling and consumption, encouraging students to think about sustainable development.
To entice students to attend the film, the Eco-Club is making admission free but are relying on donations to fund the screening and raise money for future events.
“Hopefully if these films are successful we will do more next year,” says Tan.
If a free movie isn’t enough to get the students running to the Science Theatres, then the cheap popcorn and free organic coffee should–just remember to bring your own mug.