Protecting America's Greatness
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14th Annual AREDAY Protecting America’s Greatness: The Business of Innovation, Climate Leadership and Resilient Communities 2017 SUMMIT IMPACT FILM EXPO! OUTDOOR CONCERT AREDAY ELECTRIC COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS “If all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.” — President Theodore Roosevelt Since 2004 bringing leaders and educators together to promote the rapid implementation of renewable energy and energy efficient strategies as practical solutions to the climate crisis through presentation, demonstration, performance, film and dialogue. PROTECTING AMERICA’S GREATNESS: The Business of Innovation, Climate Leadership and Resilient Communities Rising Up to Keep America Great WELCOME TO AREDAY 2017. Thank you for being present at the Summit during a time of unprecedented change and historical importance – a time like no other country in the world has experienced. Never before has a clarion call to collaborate and scale global solutions to climate change been answered so unanimously. Regardless of a new political landscape, large-scale investment in clean and renewable energy, aggressive emission reduction policies, and local and state initiatives must persist. The ‘resistance movement’ is a rebellion - for renewing our pledge to a clean, healthy and unpolluted world that will support the magnificent diversity of life on this planet we call ‘Home’. Through a lengthy and thorough 30-year process by the UN - starting with the 1987 Montreal Protocol, then the 1988 establishment of the IPCC, the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Declaration of the Precautionary Principle, the World Charter for Nature and the Kyoto Protocol - the Paris Accord was finally agreed upon by 193 countries in December 2015. Every word - every comma - took enormous energy and deliberation of thousands of global advisors, scientists, citizen activists, NGO’s, Heads of State, and the official Delegates. The Paris Accord is aspirational, not punitive, calling on countries to voluntarily set and implement their goals for emissions reduction, which they wholly embraced. When the President sent a signal demonstrating an unmistakable and dangerous lack of comprehension of our responsibility to the world community and of climate change science, America’s leadership and credibility took a global hit. To state he is willing to “re- negotiate” so the Paris Agreement does not harm US workers, the economy or give unfair competitive advantage to other countries over America, is a highly reckless application of the math and turns a deaf ear to the world’s leaders and to the pleas of sinking Island Nations. He has chosen instead to listen to one or two political advisors who clearly have other agendas. Wise leaders took counsel in the warnings of science and Mother Nature’s protests expressed by more frequent, violent, and costly weather events, droughts, and floods. The withdrawal of the United States from the historical Paris Climate Accord activated the agreement’s four-year exit provision. However, that announcement also catalyzed an even more dynamic and aggressive playing field to emerge. This is good news! In a time when jobs in solar far exceed those in coal, and reducing emissions is no longer a choice but a necessity, renewable energy presents the greatest opportunity to provide environmental solution and economic growth. America’s resilience, resourcefulness, pioneering and innovative spirit has taken up the gauntlet. At the writing of this letter, over 1,200 governors, cities and businesses have signed a letter, “We are Still In,” pledging to advance their emissions reduction to match or go beyond the Paris Accord. Multi-national corporations including Apple, Google, Staples, Autodesk and even Exxon Mobile want to uphold the agreement. Entrepreneurs vow to move even more quickly on innovations and investors are hovering, anticipating opportunities. There is an estimated $1.4 trillion market about to be unleashed. With non-existent leadership at the Federal level, the implementation of the Paris Accord is now a ‘bottom up’ mobilization of the American people. Community resilience, innovation, cooperation and collaboration will be the driving force. The local call to action is more urgent than ever before. The time is NOW for communities to step up and take the ball back into their own hands. As a result of this activated grassroots resolve, a political framework with integrated climate change solutions will become the national agenda. We the People will protect America’s greatness! For the Future, Chip Comins Sally A. Ranney Founder & Chairman, AREI Co-Founder & President, AREI 1 SOLUTION-ORIENTED ACTION BASED FILMS IMPACT FILM 2017 FRIDAY, JUNE 23RD Fri, June 23rd & Sat, June 24th ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOLF PROJECT | 12:00 Starting at 12pm CANIS LUPUS COLORADO (18 min) MEET THE REAL WOLF (3 min) Director: Tom Winston Snowmass Village Town Hall The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project aims to improve public understanding of gray wolf behavior, ecology, and options for re-establishing the species in CO. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC NOBODY’S HOME | 12:45 The Sopris Foundation, Laurel Garrett & Greg Poschman (15 min) *Q&A with Directors and Producers following the films A Documentary on the Loss of Local Residents in Resort Communities RACING EXTINCTION | 1:15 SATURDAY, JUNE 24TH Director: Louie Psihoyos (1 hr 34 min) A documentary that follows undercover activists trying to stave off a man- made mass extinction. CHASING CORAL | 12:00 Director: Jeff Orlowski (1 hr 33 min) TIDEWATER | 3:00 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 (42 min) Director: Roger Sorkin to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world. Tidewater, explores the project’s namesake, the Tidewater region of Virginia and North Carolina, encompassing Hampton Roads, arguably the region whose vulnerability most affects our overall national security. POWER | 2:00 Director: Michèle Ohayon (35 min) GREEN WORLD RISING SERIES | 4:00 Shot across 5 continents with stunning visuals, personal human stories and insights from leading energy executives, government ministers, and CARBON, LAST HOURS, GREEN WORLD RISING , RESTORATION entrepreneurs, POWER tackles the ambitious questions and complex Director: Leila Conners (10 min shorts) geopolitics surrounding the energy industry today. The series is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann and directed by Leila Conners. Executive Producers are George DiCaprio, Earl KISS THE GROUND SHORT FILMS | 2:45 Katz and Roee Sharon Peled, and produced by Mathew Schmid. THE SOIL STORY (4 min) THE COMPOST STORY (7 min) BIOMIMICRY | 4:45 Co-Founders: Finian Makepeace & Ryland Engelhart Healthy soil can balance the climate: it’s a story that must be told, a Director: Leila Conners (22 min) global conversation about the importance of soil health, the possibility of Featuring Janine Benyus and brought to you by Leonardo DiCaprio, this film regenerative agriculture to balance our climate, and how interconnected we covers how mimicking nature solves some of our most pressing problems, from are to nature’s cycles. reducing carbon emissions to saving water. WILDWAYS: CORRIDORS OF LIFE | 3:15 YOUNG VOICES FOR THE PLANET SERIES | 5:15 Director: James Brundige (56 min) SAVE TOMORROW, PLANT FOR THE PLANET, DREAMING IN GREEN Wildways follows scientists and conservationists, from Yellowstone to the Director: Lynne Cherry (5 min shorts) Serengeti, who are trying some innovative solutions to make room for wildlife The mission of the series is to limit the magnitude of climate change and its — tracking them and trying to cut new paths that could help them thrive again. impacts by empowering children and youth, through uplifting and inspiring success stories, to take an essential role in informing their communities. WE THE PEOPLE 2.0 | 4:15 Director: Leila Conners (1 hr 30 min) THE AGE OF CONSEQUENCES | 6:00 American citizens who are normally marginalized, forgotten and left to fend Director: Jared P. Scott (1 hr 20 min) against toxic dumps and other violations, come to understand that the only Produced by Sophie Robinson, the film investigates the impacts of climate way to survive is to frontally challenge the oligarchy that has destroyed change, resource scarcity, migration, and conflict through the lens of US national democracy in the United States. security and global stability. BEFORE THE FLOOD | 6:00 HOW WE GROW | 7:30 Director: Fisher Stevens (1 hr 30 min) Directors: Haley Thompson & Tomas Zuccareno (12 min) Produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the film looks at how climate change affects A film about ambitious young farmers, ranchers and chefs building community our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered around locally grown food in the Roaring Fork Valley of Western Colorado. species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet. PROTECTING AMERICA’S GREATNESS: The Business of Innovation, Climate Leadership and Resilient Communities 11:00 am Panel Discussion Monday, June 19 Creatively Changing Climate Perceptions through Media, Grand Ballroom, Viceroy Hotel Film and the Arts Morning Session - Reclaiming Democracy, Communicating Moderator: Michael Cain EARTHx Films Climate and Creating A New Narrative