“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

~ Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (1949)

The public is invited to see the first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold and his environmental legacy. The movie, titled Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time, will be shown at four locations across western North Carolina in mid-March.

Green Fire shares highlights from Leopold’s extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation and the modern environmental movement. It also illustrates how Leopold’s vision of a community that cares about both people and land continues to inform and inspire people across the country and around the world, highlighting modern projects that put Leopold’s land ethic in action in a multitude of ways.

Green Fire will be shown on the following days and locations:

  • March 15, 6 p.m.: Sylva, N.C., Jackson County Public Library, Community Room
  • March 16, 6:30 p.m.: Asheville, N.C., University of North Carolina-Asheville, Highsmith University Union Grotto
  • March 17, 6 p.m.: Crossnore, N.C., Crossnore Forestry Training Facility, Main Cafeteria
  • March 21, 8 p.m.: Swannanoa, N.C., Warren Wilson College, Canon Lounge

Curt Meine, the film’s on-screen guide is scheduled to attend all four showings. Meine’s doctoral dissertation was a biography of Aldo Leopold, published as Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (University of Wisconsin Press, 1988).

“The making of Green Fire has been a process of discovery,” says Meine. To give the film its modern perspective of Leopold’s influence in the conservation movement today, Meine was charged with conducting hundreds of interviews with people practicing conservation all over the country. “Meeting all those people has really yielded new connections between Leopold and nearly every facet of the environmental movement, including ocean conservation, urban gardening, and climate change—issues that Leopold never directly considered in his lifetime but has nonetheless affected as his ideas are carried on by others,” said Meine.

Panel following the film: To examine and illustrate those connections around Leopold’s land ethic, each of these screenings will include a panel discussion with Dr. Meine and local conservation leaders. Panelists will include David Ray: North Carolina Mountains Program Director of The Nature Conservancy, Brent Martin: Southern Appalachian Regional Director of The Wilderness Society, Josh Kelly: Public Lands Biologist at the Western North Carolina Alliance, and Robert Hawk: County Extension Director at the Jackson and Swain County Extension Center and regional liaison of the North Carolina Leopold Education Project.

Please contact Joy Irby at 828-258-8737 or by email (joy@wnca.org) if you have any questions about the March 16th event in Asheville!

For more information about the local showings of Green Fire, contact Jill Gottesman, with The Wilderness Society, at 828-587-9453. For more information about the movie, visit: www.GreenFireMovie.com.

 

Sponsors:

The U.S. Forest Service is a Green Fire national partner. Local event sponsors include: N.C. Leopold Education Project; N.C. Cooperative Extension; The Wilderness Society; Western North Carolina Alliance; The Nature Conservancy; Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy; Environmental Leadership Center at Warren Wilson College; Student Environmental Center at UNCA;  North Carolina Forestry Training Facility; and The Balsam Mountain Inn.