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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Free local screening of Naomi Klein film Apr. 13, Citizens' Climate Lobby workshop Apr. 16 to offer info on climate issues

This Changes Everything, a film based on climate author Naomi Klein's book of the same title, will be shown at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, at the Orpheum Theater in Hancock. (Poster image courtesy Anne Newcombe)

HANCOCK, HOUGHTON -- Two free community events concerning climate issues will be offered this week in Hancock and Houghton.

The Orpheum Theater in Hancock will host a free Community Screening of Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 13. A brief community conversation will follow the film. This film is co-sponsored by Transition Marquette, Transition Keweenaw, and the Green Film Series.

This film, by Avi Lewis, is narrated and inspired by the book of the same title by Naomi Klein, who states the following in that book:

“Can I be honest with you? I’ve always kind of hated films about climate change.

"What is it about those vanishing glaciers and desperate polar bears that makes me want to click away? Is it really possible to be bored by the end of the world? It’s not that I don’t care what happens to polar bears. It’s just that we’re told that the cause isn’t out there, that it’s in us, it’s human nature. We’re innately greedy and short-sighted. And if that’s true, there is no hope. But when I finally stopped looking away, traveled into the heart of the crisis, met people on the front lines, I discovered so much of what I thought I knew was wrong. And I began to wonder: what if human nature isn’t the problem? What if even greenhouse gases aren’t the problem? What if the real problem is a story, one we’ve been telling ourselves for 400 years.

"I was in a stately home in the English countryside that looked an awful lot like Downton Abbey. It was an invitation-only meeting hosted by the world’s oldest scientific organization, the Royal Society. Instead of ordering around the servants, the people here were trying to order around the sun. I mean the sun, in the sky. They were discussing a plan to spray chemicals into the stratosphere to turn down the temperature for planet earth."

Shirley Galbraith of Houghton (in orange vest, to left of "No Tar Sands" sign) holds hands with Canadian journalist Naomi Klein during the Nov. 6, 2011, protest in front of the White House -- aimed at convincing President Obama to say "No" to the Keystone XL Pipeline. (Keweenaw Now file photo © Allan Baker)

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the international bestsellers, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate (2014), The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007) and No Logo (2000). Her books have been translated into over 30 languages. In 2004, Naomi Klein wrote The Take, a feature documentary about Argentina’s occupied factories co-produced with director Avi Lewis. Naomi Klein is a columnist for The Nation magazine and the Guardian and a contributing editor at Harper’s magazine. She is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute and sits on the board of directors for 350.org, the global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis.

Whether or not you have read the book, come to the Orpheum Theater Wednesday evening to learn more.

The second community event will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16, at Portage Lake District Library: A Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Houghton Chapter Launch. Please join a group of concerned citizens for this workshop to create the political will to address climate change. Become a citizen climate advocate and help create a livable world.

* Click here to read about the film and see a trailer.

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