Call for Volunteers: Become a Fest Booster

Call for Volunteers: Become a Fest Booster

For the past 9 years, the One Earth Film Festival has filled up to 600 volunteer slots for everything from registration table greeters to clean up crews. This year. . . well. . . it’s going to be a little different. Due to COVID restrictions on large gatherings, we’re going virtual and national for our 10th anniversary season March 5-14.

Instead of a brew and view at Great Central Brewery or an after-service film at St. Giles Church, we’re bringing click-to-watch parties to sofas across the country.

GCC Midwest Becomes One Earth Collective

GCC Midwest Becomes One Earth Collective

We’re getting a new look and a new name! GCC Midwest Inc is now One Earth Collective. Our 501(c)(3) organization will retain the same board of directors and has a new logo and new digital home at www.oneearthcollective.org.

One Earth Collective has three program areas: One Earth Film Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary season in 2021; One Earth Youth Voices, which focuses on programs for youth ages 8-25; and One Earth Local/Green Community Connections, which focuses on local sustainability programs in Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois.

GCC/One Earth Expands Board of Directors from 4 to 7 Members

GCC/One Earth Expands Board of Directors from 4 to 7 Members

The Green Community Connections/One Earth Board welcomed three new members at its November board meeting. They will join the other four sitting directors. We are grateful and excited to have them join the board. Their unique talents, expertise and perspectives will help us further our mission to support the growth of environmental awareness and inspire the adoption of solution-oriented actions through inclusive educational events and programs.

Two Secrets in a Chrysalis: Butterfly Guardians Remembered

Two Secrets in a Chrysalis: Butterfly Guardians Remembered

The art show “Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate” was scheduled to close on Friday, Oct. 30, but will reopen Monday, Jan. 11, and continue through Friday, Feb. 19, at Columbia College Chicago’s Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash.

After seeing the show recently, one of its artworks continues to haunt me.

This Land Was Their Land: Forest Preserves Honor Native Americans

This Land Was Their Land: Forest Preserves Honor Native Americans

Begin with this: Today, nearly 65,000 Native Americans, representing more than 100 tribal nations, live in Chicagoland—making this one of the largest urban Native American populations in the country.

Move on to this: I have lived in Chicagoland for over 30 years, and I only recently learned what I’ve just told you. For this new awareness, I credit the Forest Preserve Foundation’s October symposium, called “Racial Equity and Access to Nature.”