The Fall Sustainability Series at the Athena Cinema continues with showings of Sludge and Broken Landscape as the Athens community is invited to take part in a discussion of coal mining and its effects on communities and the environment
The Sustainability Series will continue at The Athena Cinema with a discussion of the effects of coal mining that will unite the environment, film and music.
Two films, Broken Landscape and Sludge will be screened at The Athena Cinema, 20 S. Court St., Wednesday at 7 p.m. Along with the two films, a discussion and a musical performance will highlight the practice of coal mining from both a local and a global perspective.
Broken Landscape is a documentary that exposes the effects of coal mining on communities in India, such as exploitation of migrants and the impact on water and the environment. One of the filmmakers, Sean Peoples, originally planned to take part in the discussion after the film, but will be rescheduling his visit to Ohio University.
Geoffrey Dabelko, professor and director of the environmental studies program in the Voinovich School and a former colleague of Peoples, said the film speaks to the blessing and the curse of fossil fuels.
Sludge, a film by Robert Salyer, investigates the 2000 Martin County Sludge Spill in Kentucky.
The spill resulted in the contamination of main water sources in Martin County due to the collapse of a sludge pond, which is the product of washing the impurities out of coal, into a mine below. Millions of gallons of poisonous waste water were released into the environment.
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The film was produced by Appalshop, an Office of Economic Opportunity program developed to train young people to work in film and audio.
Jack Wright, a retired professor of documentary film and film studies, was one of the founders of the government program which promotes opportunity in poverty stricken rural and city areas. “Appalshop in still in existence and it is one of the great rural film centers in the countries,” Wright said.
Wright will join in the discussion Wednesday, offering his own perspective on the effects of the coal industry based on his personal experiences with the negative environmental impacts.
“I grew up in the coal fields in Wise County, so my whole life I’ve thought about coal and what it does — pro and con — for the economy and for the people who are affected by the economics of coal,” Wright said.
He plans to perform two songs from his 2007 work Music of Coal: Mining Songs of the Appalachian Coalfields. This book and music project features a number of artists and was nominated for three Grammys.
While Sludge puts the destruction of mining into a more local context, Broken Landscape branches out, exploring the impact of the industry in India.
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“The geographies are so different, but the (problems) are so common,” Dabelko said.
Past films have explored seed savings, the future of agriculture, food waste and the clothing industry.
“(The series) raises important questions about the many faces and dimensions of sustainability,” Dabelko said.
Film is one way to advance the discussion, Dabelko said. Combined with the panel, student and faculty participation, these films will allow the audience to connect sustainability and individual activity to a global level.
“This is not just about the environment and clean water, but it’s also about the effects that one industry can have on a region and a people,” Wright said.
@graceoliviahill
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