On Saturday, April 20, PWC and Sustainable Sandhills are teaming up to offer a free viewing of the award-winning documentary Chasing Ice. The film has received more than 43 awards at various film festivals around the world, including the honor of Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song “Before My Time,” by J. Ralph featuring Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell.

When National Geographic sent environmental photographer James Balog to the Arctic in 2005, he was looking to take pictures that would document climate change. Balog was a long-time skeptic of the climate change philosophy, but what he found on that trip was an eye opener for the photographer. Shortly after his fi rst trip to Iceland, Balog came up with an idea he knew he had to act on — The Extreme Ice Survey. Balog and his crew risked life and limb installing timelapse cameras throughout the arctic to record how glaciers change over time. The result is a breathtaking visual on the rapid change taking place in the Arctic.

PWC Communications and Community Relations Offi cer Carolyn Justice-Hinson is excited to be a part of bringing such a high-quality fi lm to Fayetteville.

“We were looking for outreach projects and we chose Sustainable Saturday through a forestry grant. This is a win win all around — we are excited that we can also help promote the Cameo and what it has to offer in downtown through this venture. Sustainable Sandhills was great in helping us find the documentary. They suggested Chasing Ice because we had asked them to be on the look out. Once we saw the trailer we knew it was a good fit because it has to do with global warming and trees play a big part in that. So this way we can share our message and it will give Sustainable Sandhills an opportunity to share their message and continue their outreach.”

PWC is also giving away a Crepe Myrtle seedling to the first 200 people who come to the event.

“This is an important part of our tree program and Crepe Myrtles are great for our area. They are suitable for our climate and they are low growing so they tend not to interfere with utilities,” said Justice-Hinson. “This is also a chance for us to educate people about trees and how they improve appearances in the community and help the environment.”

The event is free to the public and after the showing there will be time for interaction and discussion. Representatives from PWC and Sustainable Sandhills will be on site after the showing.

“There will be time to talk and people can come out to the obby and chat with different reps,” said Kelly Bah, Sustainable Sandhills executive director. “When talking about big concepts, sometimes the best way to get the message out is to present it in a good film and then we are there to help connect people to organizations in the community that deal with this issue, if people are interested in learning more.”

The show starts at 11 a.m. at the Cameo Art House Theater in downtown Fayetteville. To get a sneak peek of the remarkable imagery that is featured in Chasing Ice, visit www.chasingice.com. Learn more about PWC and its conservation and education programs at www. faypwc.com. Visit www.sustainablesandhills.org to learn more about how this organization is making a difference in the community. For questions about the showing of Chasing Ice visit the Cameo website at www.cameoarthouse.com.