Discussion Forums

Living Downstream was shown at my community college, in an open continuing education forum available to any faculty member. Attendance was low, due to a scheduling conflict with another program (life lesson-check to see what else is going on!) That said, those that attended had strong interest in the material and I was able to publicize the event at faculty meetings as well as informal opportunities. Email works well here for increasing awareness of an event, but having food works the best!
After the flim, there needs to be time for general discussion about the audience’s reflections of the powerful messages and information. Every time I watch the film, I learn more!
After viewing the film, there was a lengthy discussion about the many ‘low hanging fruit’ the opportunities to minimize our contributions to the waste stream in our community (the school). Items such as having better signage for recycling containers, having more recycling containers, having the cafe offer discounts for reusable coffee cups etc. We have a fledgling ‘green team’ that has just started and we were able to get more volunteers, and more awareness of what the group is trying to accomplish. As well there is a Green Student Iniative-having the students involved in issues on campus is the key-they reach so many more people and the information extends beyond campus into the larger community.
We had discussions about how the movie could be integrated into classrooms dispite the subject matter. For example, having students write a persuasive letter about an environmental topic could be from and English writing class, or public speaking/communication class. In the arts, students could do a documentary, paint a mural (we have one designed by a student that is being painted on campus), a song, the list goes on and on.
I have offered the film for viewing in classes and our hope is to have a campus wide showing of this film and other environmental topic films during Earth Week in the Spring. We have a large auditorium which will allow the campus community to share and enjoy!

Thanks for your post, Kathy! All this information is so helpful for others who are holding an event around LD. Please do keep us updated on what’s happening with the Earth Day event. Also, if you have any resources that you would like to share, I’m sure people would appreciate them.