Sustainable Sandhills presents the viewing of the 1973 film Soylent Green on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 11 a.m. at the Cameo Art House Theatre in downtown Fayetteville.  

The purpose of this event is to start a dialogue on climate resiliency in Fayetteville. The film is a part of the Sustainable Saturdays film series and the plot entails the year 2022. Food rations are short, global warming has taken effect and the earth is overheating. Investigator Robert Thorn, from the New York Police Department, investigates the death of an executive at the company that makes the food ration Soylent Green. 

“The film was produced in the early ‘70s and people are rioting and the government is trying to control the riots,” said Denise Bruce, environmental outreach manager for Sustainable Sandhills. 

“We chose this film because it is actually one of the first films that Hollywood produced that references climate change,” said Bruce, adding that although they use the term global warming, Hollywood in the ‘70s took a look at what could happen if the population on Earth continued to grow and they wanted to take a look at what would happen if global warming continued. 

“At the end of the film we are going to have a discussion about climate change, where science is now on climate change and the UN’s climate talks,” said Bruce. “We are also going to talk about the Fayetteville-Cumberland County climate change action plan.” Sustainable Sandhills and many partners throughout the county created a climate change resiliency plan for whenever we have major climate events such as a major hurricane, heatwave or flooding. How do we not lose people at the hands of a climate event in our area?

Sustainable Saturdays feature documentaries that have generated lively discussions among the group. 

“We try to put forth a topic that creates a dialogue,” said Bruce. “We understand that some of the issues that we work on can be very political and polarizing.” 

Bruce added that rather than hammering away on that side of it, we look at what the real solutions can be.  

Donations are strongly encouraged. Doors open at 10:45 a.m. For more information, email Bruce at greenaction@sustainablesandhills.org.