AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH – COMING SOON TO A CHURCH NEAR YOU

Free showings of An Inconvenient Truth will be hosted by twenty Houston area churches, of a variety of denominations, during the first week of October. Press materials for the event say the Al Gore film “explains how global warming could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics, and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.” Some churches are making the showing a special event. St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston will, with advance registration, have child care at its showing next Friday, and First United Methodist Temple in Port Neches will have popcorn and soft drinks for its showing Oct 14. On Oct 8, First Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston will hold a panel discussion with Rice University professors Ronald Sass and Elizabeth Long.

The weeklong event, called “Spotlight on Global Warming,” is sponsored nationally by Interfaith Power and Light, an organization of congregations and individuals devoted to deepening the connection between ecology and faith. There are 18 state Interfaith Power and Light chapters, including Texas Interfaith Power and Light. More than 130 Texas congregations will be among 4,000 congregations across the US showing the film that week. For details of showings, go to the Texas Interfaith Power and Light or Houston Climate Protection websites.

Also, six students from different interest groups and high schools came together this summer to produce a documentary that would heighten awareness of critical issues that East End neighborhoods face everyday. The students developed the story of their community and the environmental issues that are damaging to the area. They interviewed and filmed each other and experts on the issues. Mothers for Clean Air partnered with Texans for Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) and the NIEHS Center/Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to produce “Wish You Were Here… Stories From The East End.” The film will be shown on Tuesday, Oct 3, at 7 pm at Magnolia Multi-Service Center, 7037 Capitol Street; on Wednesday, Oct 4, at 7 pm at Raul Yzaguirre School for Success, 2950 Broadway; and on Thursday, Oct 5, at 7 pm at Cesar Chavez High School, 8501 Howard Drive.