Special to The PREVIEW
On Dec. 1, 2016, over 125 people gathered at our local theater for a special viewing of Leonardo DiCaprio’s environmental film called “Before the Flood.”
It was exciting to watch how a rich, famous and dedicated person is handling this crucial issue. It was sobering to see how serious and accelerated the problem has become. It was helpful to have concrete information and see specific examples of what is happening all over our planet from the Arctic to Antarctica.
After the film, we held a discussion about possible things that could be done in Pagosa to help the environment.
The people at the film decided to continue their discussion in January. That is one of the goals for the open house-style (come and go any time) gathering at the Ruby Sisson Library from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21.
During that time, four activities will be going on: 1. There will be healthy snacks to eat while people socialize and meet other like-minded and concerned members of our community. 2. We will have the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., live streaming on a large screen to follow what is happening. 3. The various environmental groups in Pagosa will briefly present information about their goals, membership, etc. The groups are: Fore-Pagosa, working on solar energy; S.O.S. or Southwest Organization for Sustainability, which has the Farmers Market; the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, which is building the three domes by the river; the Audubon Society; San Juan Stargazers; and the Earth Community, an educational and action group that is hosting this event. If any other group wants to participate, just be there and ask for a time slot. 4. We will continue the discussion of environmental issues and specific things that our community can do. We want your ideas and suggestions. This will be a brainstorming-style session, so any ideas can be considered and developed. Hopefully, we will come up with some concrete actions.
Also, everyone will receive an excellent free bookmark listing “10 Simple Things You Can Do to Help Protect the Earth,” written by the World Wildlife Fund.
It was a great start to watch the wonderful film, but I’m sure Leonardo DiCaprio is hoping that the people who saw it will come up with ideas to help preserve the planet and specific actions to improve each community. That’s the next step. Hope to see you to get the action started.
