The St. Joseph’s College community is aware of our use of the Earth’s natural resources and our responsibility as members of a leading liberal arts college dedicated to serving the common good, considers environmental sustainability to be an important component of its core mission. Members of St. Joseph’s College community have individual and collective responsibility for environmental stewardship. We commit ourselves to environmental awareness and to actions that promote a just and sustainable future in the academic life of St. Joseph’s College, in all institutional decisions, and in the global world.

OUR GOALS ARE:

• Incorporate methods into the First Year Orientation program to educate incoming students about sustainable initiatives and goals at St. Joseph’s College

• Prioritize and select a feasible number of sustainable initiatives for the committee to help implement including relevant student projects

• Continue to integrate sustainable initiatives within relevant academic courses

• Participate in on and off campus events that increase College community awareness and provide an incentive for changed behavior

Fantastic Fungi (NR) FANTASTIC FUNGI, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offer us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges.

Directed by Louie Schwartzberg
Featuring Brie Larson, Paul Stamets, Michael Pollan

Reinventing Power (NR) Reinventing Power: America’s Renewable Energy Boom takes us across the country to hear directly from the people making our clean energy future achievable. These individuals are working to rebuild what’s broken, rethink what’s possible, and revitalize communities. These stories are proof that America does not need to choose between keeping our lights on and protecting our communities. Critically, Reinventing Power underscores the notion that we don’t have to sacrifice jobs for a clean environment. Supporting a clean energy future means building a better, more prosperous future for everyone. Over the film’s 50 minutes, you’ll meet people in eight states whose lives were changed by the renewable energy industry while exploring various aspects of the clean energy industry from innovation to installation. For more information, please go to ReinventingPowerFilm.org.

Chasing Ice (PG-13) In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk. Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.

Directed by Jeff Orlowski
Starring James Balog, Adam LeWinter, Jeff Orlowski

Before the Flood (PG) If you could know the truth about the threat of climate change—would you want to know? BEFORE THE FLOOD, presented by National Geographic, features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction. He also discovers a calculated disinformation campaign orchestrated by powerful special interests working to confuse the public about the urgency of the growing climate crisis. With unprecedented access to thought leaders around the world, DiCaprio searches for hope in a rising tide of catastrophic news.

Directed by Fisher Stevens
Featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton

The Age of Consequences (NR) The Hurt Locker meets An Inconvenient Truth in THE AGE OF CONSEQUENCES, which investigates the impacts of climate change on increased resource scarcity, migration, and conflict through the lens of US national security and global stability. Through unflinching case-study analysis, distinguished admirals, generals, and military veterans take us beyond the headlines of the conflict in Syria, the social unrest of the Arab Spring, the rise of radicalized groups like ISIS, and the European refugee crisis, and lay bare how climate change stressors interact with societal tensions sparking conflict.

Directed by Jared P. Scott

Chasing Coral (NR) Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers, and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.

Directed by Jeff Orlowski

Rooted in Peace (NR) In celebration of the upcoming International Day of Peace, September 21st, we are hosting Greg Reitman’s ROOTED in PEACE - a globally transformative, socially-conscious, environmentally-based film. Reitman’s journey of self-analysis resonates with audiences seeking inner peace in a world full of people dominated by war, affected by global warming or haunted by inner conflict. The film follows him as he speaks to thought leaders around the world having conversations around sustainable development, discussing the challenges of our never-ending wars, and facing the realities of uncertainty placed on the world’s institutions by our current political climate. Reitman’s introspective and socially relevant documentary was most recently screened at the United Nations.

From the US to Costa Rica to India, award-winning filmmaker and environmental activist Greg Reitman traveled around the world to visit such luminaries and activists as Deepak Chopra; music legends Donovan, Mike Love, and Pete Seeger; film director David Lynch; Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Maguire and Archbishop Desmond Tutu; media mogul Ted Turner, many others. Together, they seek inner peace in a world full of people dominated by war, affected by global warming, and haunted by inner conflict.

Directed by Greg Reitman
Featuring Deepak Chopra, David Lynch, Ted Turner

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (PG) A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Cameras follow him behind the scenes-in moments private and public, funny and poignant-as he pursues the empowering notion that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion. Renowned filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk (Audrie & Daisy, 2016 Sundance Film Festival) have taken the baton from 2006 Academy Award-winner Davis Guggenheim. What started then as a profound slide show lecture has become a gorgeously cinematic excursion. Our extraordinary former vice president invites us along on an inspirational journey across the globe that delivers the tools to heal our planet. The question is: Will WE choose to take the baton?

Directed by Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen
Featuring Al Gore

Green Fire (NR) Celebrate Earth Day at The Plaza with the first full-length documentary film ever made about legendary conservation thinker Aldo Leopold, GREEN FIRE explores Leopold’s extraordinary career and his enduring influence—tracing how he shaped the modern conservation movement and continues to inspire projects all over the country that connect people and the land. Watch the trailer here.

Featuring Aldo Leopold

Seed: The Untold Story (NR) Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. As biotech chemical companies control the majority of our seeds, farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fight a David and Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a harrowing and heartening story, these reluctant heroes rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture connected to seeds.

Directed by Jon Betz and Taggart Siegel
Featuring Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke, and Raj Patel

The Burden (NR) THE BURDEN is the first documentary of its kind to tell the story of our dependence on fossil fuels as the greatest long­‐term national security threat confronting the U.S., and how the military is leading our transition away from oil. The troops are crying out, in the words of Gen. James Mattis, “to unleash us from the tether of fuel.” But is Congress listening?

Produced, Directed and Written by Roger Sorkin

Merchants of Doubt (NR) Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, MERCHANTS OF DOUBT takes audiences on a satirically comedic, yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver- tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities—yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change.

Directed by Robert Kenner
Produced by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo

Racing Extinction (NR) In RACING EXTINCTION, a team of artists and activists exposes the hidden world of extinction with never-before-seen images that will change the way we see the planet. Two worlds drive extinction across the globe, potentially resulting in the loss of half of all species. The international wildlife trade creates bogus markets at the expense of creatures that have survived on this planet for millions of years. And the other surrounds us, hiding in plain sight—a world that the oil and gas companies don’t want the rest of us to see. Using covert tactics and state-of-the-art technology, the Racing Extinction team exposes these two worlds in an inspiring affirmation to preserve life as we know it. From the Academy Award® Winning Filmmakers of “The Cove".

Directed by Louie Psihoyus
Produced by Olivia Ahnemann and Fisher Stevens
Written by Mark Monro

Love Thy Nature (NR) Narrated by Liam Neeson, is a cinematic immersion into the beauty and intimacy of our relationship with the natural world. And while our environmental crisis threatens the very survival of our species, a renewed connection with nature holds the key to a highly advanced new era.

Directed by Sylvie Rokab
Featuring Liam Neeson, Ameenah Kaplan, Suelen Romani