My Virtual Journey Through Climate Change

During this CBLR program, we were asked to attend one sustainability-related event. I chose Martha Groom’s movie screening event because first off, the title of that movie sounded really appealing to me, and second, I am a cinematographer so I like movies in general. The movie I attended was called “How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change” by an Oscar-nominated director named Josh Fox. It was deeply personal for him. He talked about how he decided to travel the world to Africa, South America, Asia, Oceania and much more after the hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, to investigate what climate change has done and its consequences. The movie was a little bit more than 2 hours long, but it didn’t feel like it because all of the overwhelming truth about the current condition of the environment kept coming in and surprised me.

I went in hoping it would be a cheerful documentary, but it was not. Half way through the movie, there was a footage of how Chinese people can’t open their windows due to too much pollution but the government is trying to cover it up. Later on, Josh shared a story about a Pacific Islander who couldn’t find his father’s grave near the shore because of sea level rise. All of the visuals and information are really thought provoking. It makes me think that everyone who Josh documented was from different political, racial and economic backgrounds, and they also were dealing with different problems. And all of the problems come from one cause only: climate change due to industrialization. The movie has changed my outlook on environmental issues. I guess that we have to be more aware of our impact on the environment because the consequences would not only harm us as a local community but also on a national and international scale.