Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/544343
JULY 22-28, 2015 UCW 11 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Sustainable Sandhills Saturday Film Series Brings The City Dark Downtown to the Cameo Theater on July 25 By HANAH EHRENREICH Are we, as Neil deGrasse Tyson asks in The City Dark, missing a cosmic per- spective? This gorgeous feature-length documentary film showing at the Cameo Art House Theatre on Saturday July 25, at 11 a.m. (free screening) transports us across the nation and through the brief history of the light- bulb in search of the night's sky. We hear from a light bulb retailer whose grandfather knew Thomas Edison and a volunteer animal res- cuer on the impact that the growth of light in our cities and towns has on us as a society, on nature and the wild creatures we seek to protect, and even on our ability to dream and grow spiritually as people as we turn into a nation surrounded by ever- present artificial light. The filmmaker, Ian Cheney, asks us to consider what is it we lose, when we lose the dark? And it might be more than you'd imagine at first. Doctors have documented a rise in cancers among shift workers whose night-time work hours switch their natural circadian rhythms from day-centered to nocturnal. The movie talks with astronomers who are pushed further from the bright lights of civilization to glimpse the heavens, including some with an important mission to save the world. The astronomers in Hawaii work to spot planet-killing asteroids; a perilous job with encroach- ing light pollution. The experience of our over-lit urban spaces and how secure we are with bright lights everywhere has a cost. The City Dark interviews the light design- er of Highline Park in New York City, who tells us that what we think makes us safer could have other consequences — making us sicker, less wealthy and less happy in the places we live. Imagine yourself on the beach as sea turtles hatch, then wander dis- oriented and distracted away from the ocean, drawn by the neighboring lights of Boca Raton, Florida. As we follow the intrepid storyteller from rural Maine, to the rooftops of New York City, across the Arizona des- ert, to the dark sky observatories of Hawaii, we are captivated by the ques- tion, "Is our society taking over the wilderness" with light? The sadness of the sea turtle beach is offset by the awe and wonder as we follow a troop of Boy Scouts from Washington Heights, New York, to the star-studded sky of their wilder- ness campground. These tweens talk honestly and eloquently about the awe they feel in the beauty of a dark night. An awe we have experienced in the Sandhills for many generations, and hope to pass on and protect for the next generation of Scouts through smart public policy. Remember to turn off your lights tonight — and come see The City Dark at the Cameo during the Sustainable Saturday Film Series, a free commu- nity education initiative, made possible by the generous sponsorship of PWC. It is a film of beauty and purpose of galactic proportions. HANAH EHRENREICH, Executive Director of Sustainable Sandhills. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910.484.6200. Call to schedule an appointment to see the venue. 6775 Irongate Drive • Fayetteville, NC 910.425.6667 www.gatesfour.com Once in a lifetime... Come Discover What's Behind the Gates Yourself... Allow Gates Four to make your day even more special 30,000 sq. ft. Clubhouse with seating up to 300 People. New Outdoor Pavilion that seats up to 250 People.