Tuesday night's showing of "Kilowatt Ours" in the Student Union Theatre served as another installment in EcoHusky's Green Week.
Director Jeff Barrie's documentary creates awareness and informs its audience on how the United States, as a nation, can greatly reduce the amount of electricity that it uses throughout the day.
EcoHusky co-coordinator Kayleigh Lomardi hoped that the film's viewers would learn "ways to conserve electricity and become more informed on the benefits of sustainable energy."
Barrie's self-narrated documentary invites its audience on a journey that covers all four corners of the country. The cameras follow Barrie as he investigates where electricity comes from and the conflicts that continue to swirl around America's overuse of energy.
The film is quick to point out the dangers of coal-generated energy, the nation's most popular method of creating electricity. Barrie and his camera crew begin their journey high atop Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. Here, they find that coal companies are blasting into mountains in order to construct hundreds of mines. Many of the documentary's images depict flat areas that were, at one time, mountains that reached high into the sky.
Moving from the mountains, the film visits multiple national parks that have been drastically impacted by the rate at which America is burning coal. Clouds of haze invade what would otherwise be perfect scenery. No organism is left unaffected. The plant life is suffering and experts have observed drastic changes in large ecosystems.
While the first half of the documentary explores how the effects of coal burning are adversely affecting Americans' quality of life, the latter portion provides the viewers with hope for a better tomorrow. Barrie continues the journey by taking his audience into his own home in order to demonstrate how we can create an energy efficient living environment. Everything from air-conditioning units to light bulbs are covered and Barrie even visits some homes that generate electricity using wind and solar energy.
"It was amazing to see that even the smallest changes can help improve our energy crisis so greatly," said Eric Markow, a 3rd-semester allied health major.
At the heart of the film's message lies the concept that people are harming the planet, but it is not beyond saving if they move in a new direction.
Prior to the screening of the feature film, EcoHusky aired a short promotion for the "350 Movement," a movement dedicated to inspiring people to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis. A "350" rally will be held in the Student Union at 3:50 p.m. on Friday.
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