Students for Environmental Protection Awareness (SEPA) and PSJ hosted a screening of The 11th Hour, Leonardo DiCaprio's new environmental documentary, in Tognino Hall, last Wednesday, April 9. The film featured dozens of experts ,including Stephen Hawking, discussing the dire state of the Earth's environment, what people did to cause it, and what people must do to change it, lest they cause the extinction of the human race.
Omar Freilla, who was featured in the film representing the Green Workers Cooperative in the Bronx, spoke and answered questions from the roughly 50 students who attended the event. He said that what needed changing, was, in a word, "everything," but stressed that activists had to start small.
"Just by sitting in your room with a couple of friends, you can identify on a very basic level, what you can do to help, even here on campus," Freilla said. "I don't want anyone to make the mistake of thinking 'the problem is so big and I am so small.' You look at a messy room - it looks like a big job, but if you take it one step at a time, you can clean it."
Dr. Jude Jones, professor of philosophy, is also active in promoting environmental awareness on campus, and she enjoyed the different perspective offered by this documentary.
"What I like about the movie is that it covered even more bases than An Inconvenient Truth," Jones said. "I'm very interested that everything is ultimately connected, and each of us can help. I find it exciting and frightening, but it's trying to empower people."
Dan Auriemma, CBA '10 and a member of SEPA, attended the event.
"More people should start getting involved on campus," he said. "Like Mr. Freilla said, it's the little things that you can do - trying to improve recycling on campus, reducing waste. We're pushing Fordham to be an advocate for environmental awareness."
2008 Woodie Awards
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