How is a toxic dust crisis in Salt Lake City relevant to us here in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts?
The new documentary “The Lake” follows the urgent race to save the Great Salt Lake, which has been swiftly evaporating. A conversation afterwards will explore how what’s happening in Utah can offer some lessons in addressing the impacts of climate change in our region.
For the Weekend 401, afternoon host Mareva Lindo spoke with Cathleen Carr, Executive Director of newportFILM, which is presenting the documentary “The Lake” tonight at the Avon Cinema in Providence.
Interview highlights:
A ‘documentary thriller’
Cathleen Carr: It is thrilling. It is a behind-the-scenes film that follows scientists, politicians, policymakers, and business leaders in Utah as they are facing the current and urgent ecological crisis of the Great Salt Lake evaporating. It is something that is a huge threat to the population of Salt Lake City and the surrounding communities because as the lake is evaporating, it creates all these dust plumes with a lot of toxic compounds in them. And that has implications for everyone outside of Utah as well because … dust has no geographical boundaries. So this film is so fascinating because It shows in real time how people with a lot of different agendas and needs and stories and interests have to come together at the table and figure out a really really urgent crisis.
On how ‘The Lake’ offers a ‘blueprint’ for addressing the impacts of climate change in our region
Carr: This film is an opportunity. It’s almost like a blueprint, a manual to see how people who have to act quicker than us are dealing with it and the difficult conversations that they’re having to have. Because what’s happening in Utah all of the same themes exist for every community. … It really gets us thinking about how we can approach this and what mechanisms that we can utilize as a community and come to the table and have these difficult conversations. It’s just a really great and entertaining opportunity to learn how we can address these urgent issues that are coming to us right now here in Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts.
On the post-film conversation
Carr: We have Terry Gray, who is the director of Rhode Island DEM. We have Senator Dawn Euer, who’s going to be speaking on the panel and we have Joanna Detz who’s from Eco RI. It’s going to be moderated by Bill Bartholomew, and we have an opportunity for folks to ask questions in the audience as well. So it’s a really great opportunity to get people in the room who can bring different perspectives and understanding about what the themes of the film bring up just in general around climate change, and how we’re dealing with it as a country and a society. But also localizing it and how we are dealing with it here in our community. So really a great event for people who are interested in this and want to know more and have an opportunity to talk to people in the space who are following this really really closely.
“The Lake” is screening on April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Avon Cinema in Providence, with a post-film conversation about its relevance in our region.
