Climate Change Solutions Documentary to Screen at Global Campus

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Global Campus Theater will screen Carbon Nation, a documentary film about climate change solutions and their impact on social, economic and national security issues, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15. Due to popular demand an afternoon screening has been added at 2:30 p.m. on the same day.

Fayetteville will be one of the first 10 cities in the nation to screen the feature-length film, joining the ranks of New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. The director, Peter Byck, will introduce the film and answer questions after the screening.

Free tickets are available to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis and must be reserved at the Global Campus website in advance. The screening will be at the Global Campus building on the downtown Fayetteville square, 2 E. Center St. Seating is limited.

The Global Campus (School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach), the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arkansas, the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center, the League of Women Voters Washington County, Arkansas Interfaith Power & Light and the Sierra Club collaborated to bring the documentary and its director to Fayetteville.

“The Applied Sustainability Center is pleased to have this opportunity to bring Peter Byck and his documentary, Carbon Nation, to Fayetteville,” said Michele Halsell, managing director of the Applied Sustainability Center, which is housed in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. “The film is focused on solutions that can help to build a green economy and create jobs while reducing our environmental footprint. It is very compatible with the approach we’ve taken at the Applied Sustainability Center; when you save energy, you save money. Happily, you also reduce your environmental impacts. It’s just that simple. Whether you believe climate change is real or not, everyone finds something positive to take away from this film. It is really about common sense solutions that can help our nation stay competitive in the global economy and enhance national security, all while helping the environment; truly a win-win-win.”

Chris Ewin, Global Campus business development manager, said, “We are very excited to have Peter Byck screen his highly publicized documentary Carbon Nation at our new, high-definition Global Campus Theater on the square. This will be the first of many new informative and educational programs and films we hope to bring to Northwest Arkansas at our new venue. The Global Campus is committed to providing continuing education and academic outreach programs, and the documentary film is one more medium we can use to fulfill this mission.”

Carbon Nation was produced by Peter Byck, Craig Sieben, Karen Weigert, Artemis Joukowsky and Chrisna van Zyl, and was edited by Eric Driscoll and Peter Byck. It is narrated by Bill Kurtis.

On the documentary’s website at www.carbonnationmovie.com, filmmakers describe the work as “an optimistic discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing, and what the world needs to do to prevent (or slow down) the impending climate crisis.” Byck maintains that the world has the technology to combat most of the worst-case scenarios of climate change, and the growth of new technology is good business.

Filmmakers interviewed more than 200 people, including business executives, a wind farmer, a former Army colonel, and entrepreneurs linked to environmental innovations – all of whom were working toward solving climate change issues.

“In our travels, we filmed Bay Area radicals, utility CEOs, airlines execs and wonky economists – and they all agree that using as little energy as possible and making clean energy are important goals; whether for solutions to climate change, national or energy security or public health,” Byck said. “I wanted to make a big-tent film where folks of all political stripes could find common ground.”

Byck has more than 20 years of experience as a director and editor. His first documentary, Garbage, won the South by Southwest Film Festival. In addition, he has edited documentaries for the Peter Jackson films, Lord of the Rings and King Kong. Byck has also worked as an editor or director for documentaries and promotional shorts for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20^th Century Fox, MTV, Vh1, BBC, Disney and MGM; for shows and movies including The West Wing, The Matrix, Scrubs, ER and more. In 1986, Byck received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts.

People interviewed in Carbon Nation include Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group; Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times, former CIA Director James Woolsey; Van Jones, founder of Green For All; retired Col. Dan Nolan, U.S. Army; Bernie Karl, geothermal pioneer from Alaska; Amory Lovins, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute; Art Rosenfeld, commissioner of the California Energy Commission; Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day; Ralph Cavanagh of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Lester Brown of Earth Policy Institute; John Rowe, CEO of Exelon; Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy; and Cliff Etheredge, a West Texas wind pioneer.

For more information, visit the Global Campus website at globalcampus.uark.edu or call 800-952-1165.