‘Renewal’ screening prompts dialogue

Photo by De'Noia Woods, Photography Intern

Students, faculty and staff interested in the intersection between world religions and sustainability had the opportunity to view a screening of Renewal on November 3 in Pugh Auditorium. The screening was a product of Office of Sustainability intern and junior Holly Fuller’s interfaith internship. Fuller has worked hard this semester to meld a new interest in sustainability with her passion for interfaith dialogue.

Renewal is the first feature-length documentary film to explore the wide range of ways Americans are working to make their lives more sustainable through their faith traditions. The film is divided into eight stories about eight different religious communities across America. These segments range in topic from a Jewish summer camp seeking to instill young campers with the value of oneness with nature to a Muslim community’s integration of local, free-range meats into their religious dietary requirements.

“In our own faith traditions, we are called to care for the environment and there’s a lot of different ways that you can do that,” Fuller said. “This screening was designed to bring better awareness of sustainability to campus ministries to show them the variety of ways they can make a difference.”

The most impactful section of the film for Fuller was the first story shown. “A Crime against Creation” detailed the trip during which a group of Evangelical Christians bore witness to the mountain-top removal mining currently taking place in Kentucky and West Virginia. Through this process, thousands of tons of mountain tops are removed to reach coal veins to fuel American power plants. In the process of literally removing the tops of mountains, deadly heavy metals and other pollutants seep into the water system, destroying the health of the local community and permanently altering the landscape and local ecosystems.

“Seeing images of the mountain top removal is really moving. The mountains are left barren,” Fuller said. Fuller, a political science and religion double major, spends much of her time outside her internship working with the university’s Interfaith Council. The group, which meets weekly, seeks to bridge the gap between the religions represented on campus through discussion and authentic engagement.

By Caitlin Brooks, Communications and Outreach Intern