North House Folk School

North House Folk School, Cook County Local Energy Project, and Cook County Higher Education have partnered to engage with Earth Day themed events throughout the month of April.  CCLEP is hosting an Earth Day Fair on Saturday, April 20th. North House will host showings of two climate-themed films, free and open to the public. CCHE features webinars via zoom throughout the month (registration required). Read on for more information and the full list of events.

All Earth Month Events in partnership with Cook County Local Energy Project and Cook County Higher Education

• Film Showing: 2040 [7pm April 4th at North House]
• Spruce Budworm in Minnesota's Forests: 2024 Update [11am April 15 on zoom]
• Film Showing: Sovereign Soil [7pm April 16th at North House]
• Naturalist Book Group: No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference [6:30pm April 18th on zoom]
• 3rd Annual Cook County Earth Day Fair [11am – 3pm Saturday, April 20th]
• Lunch & Learn: Enjoying the Great Outdoors as We Age [12pm April 24th on zoom]
• Community Read - The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of the Northern Sámi [5:30pm April 25th on zoom]

2040

Thursday April 4th at 7pm in the Blue Building at North House

Concerned about his young daughter's future, filmmaker Damon Gameau travels the world in search of new approaches and solutions to climate change. 2040 is a hybrid feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important NOW! A story of hope that looks at the very real possibility that humanity could reverse global warming and improve the lives of every living thing in the process. (92 mins).

2040 - Official Trailer from Columbia Festival of the Arts on Vimeo.

Sovereign Soil

Tuesday April 16 at 7pm in the Blue Building at North House

At the far-flung edge of Canada’s boreal forest, outside the tiny sub-Arctic town of Dawson City, Yukon, a handful of unlikely farmers are growing everything from snow-covered Brussels sprouts to apples. These modern-day agrarians have carved out small patches of fertile soil in an otherwise unforgiving expanse of isolated wilderness to make a living and a life.

Over the course of a year, Dawson filmmaker David Curtis follows these resilient, unassuming farmers—including a German immigrant, a young family that taps birch trees for syrup, a First Nations youth, and a matriarch who can shoot and quarter a moose—exploring life, death, and time through the simple, rich day-to-day of people deeply tied to the wilds. (91 mins).

Sovereign Soil (Trailer 94 sec.) from NFB/marketing on Vimeo.

Thank you to the National Film Board of Canada for the opportunity to share this film with our local community.