New Documentary Film Connects Leopold to Modern Conservation Efforts

Green Fire film to premiere at venues across the country throughout the spring

CONTACT: Jeannine Richards, Aldo Leopold Foundation 608-355-0279, ext. 25, or jeannine@aldoleopold.org

BARABOO, WIS.—Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is the first feature length (72 min.), high definition documentary film ever made about famed conservationist Aldo Leopold. Emmy-Award winning narrator Peter Coyote lends his talent as the voice of Aldo Leopold, and the film’s on-screen guide is Curt Meine, Leopold’s biographer. The film explores Aldo Leopold’s life in the early part of the twentieth century and the many ways his land ethic idea continues to be applied all over the world today. In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, premiere screenings in select cities will also celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Weeks Act, the law that lead to the creation of many of our eastern national forests, and sparked the long-term effort to replant and restore forests that still continues today.

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is a production of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Center for Humans and Nature. The film shares highlights from Leopold’s life and extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation in the twentieth century and still inspires people today. Although probably best known as the author of the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac, Leopold is also renowned for his work as an educator, philosopher, forester, ecologist, and wilderness advocate.

The film debuted to a sell-out crowd of nearly 1,000 people at the world premiere in Albuquerque, New Mexico this February. The film’s partners have organized about a dozen additional major premiere events throughout 2011. It has already played to packed houses in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Denver, Portland, and Chicago. Additional premiere events in Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York are set for early fall. The film is also currently being shown at hundreds of public screenings arranged by community organizers across the nation. Green Fire will air on public television in 2012.

“Aldo Leopold’s legacy lives on today in the work of people and organizations across the nation and around the world,” said Aldo Leopold Foundation Executive Director Buddy Huffaker. “What is exciting about Green Fire is that it is more than just a documentary about Aldo Leopold; it also explores the influence his ideas have had in shaping the conservation movement as we know it today by highlighting some really inspiring people and organizations doing great work to connect people and the natural world in ways that even Leopold might not have imagined.”

Green Fire illustrates Leopold’s continuing influence by exploring current projects that connect people and land at the local level. Viewers will meet urban children in Chicago learning about local foods and ecological restoration. They’ll learn about ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico who maintain healthy landscapes by working on their own properties and with their neighbors, in cooperative community conservation efforts. They’ll meet wildlife biologists who are bringing back threatened and endangered species, from cranes to Mexican wolves, to the landscapes where they once thrived. The Green Fire film portrays how Leopold’s vision of a community that cares about both people and land—his call for a land ethic—ties all of these modern conservation stories together and offers inspiration and insight for the future.

“The making of Green Fire has been a process of discovery,” says Curt Meine, the film’s on-screen guide. Meine’s doctoral dissertation was a biography of Aldo Leopold, published as Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (University of Wisconsin Press, 1988). To give the film its modern perspective of Leopold’s influence in the conservation movement today, Meine was charged with conducting hundreds of interviews with people practicing conservation all over the country. “Meeting all those people has really yielded new connections between Leopold and nearly every facet of the environmental movement, including ocean conservation, urban gardening, and climate change—issues that Leopold never directly considered in his lifetime but has nonetheless affected as his ideas are carried on by others,” said Meine.

“Aldo Leopold is one of our nation’s most beloved nature writers,” says environmental historian Susan Flader. “His A Sand County Almanac, published posthumously in 1949, has become a catalyst for our evolving ecological awareness and a classic in American literature.” Leopold is regarded by many as one of the most influential conservation thinkers of the twentieth century, and the film highlights the ways his legacy continues to encourage us to see the natural world “as a community to which we belong.”

If you go:

Premiere venues and dates continue to be added. Check the following web link for the most up to date schedule and ticket information: http://www.aldoleopold.org/greenfire/premieres.shtml

Community screenings have already taken place at hundreds of small venues across the country— find or host a screening near you.

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EDITORIAL NOTES
• The following people are available for interviews about Green Fire. Contact Jeannine Richards to set up an interview appointment.
1. Buddy Huffaker, Aldo Leopold Foundation Executive Director and the film's executive producer
2. Curt Meine, Leopold scholar, conservation biologist, and the film’s narrator
3. Susan Flader, Leopold scholar, environmental historian, featured in the film
4. Steve & Ann Dunsky, US Forest Service filmmakers, directed and edited Green Fire. Also worked on the acclaimed film about the US Forest Service, The Greatest Good.

• Preview copies of the film for media review are available upon request.

ABOUT THE PARTNERS
The Aldo Leopold Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The foundation’s mission is to inspire an ethical relationship between people and land through the legacy of Aldo Leopold. Leopold regarded a land ethic as a product of social evolution. “Nothing so important as an ethic is ever ‘written,’” he explained. “It evolves ‘in the minds of a thinking community.’” Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Green Fire movie at www.aldoleopold.org.

The Center for Humans and Nature explores and promotes human responsibilities in relation to the whole community of life. Connect with the center’s ideas through the free e-journal Minding Nature, and find out more about their work by visiting the Programs & Projects webpage at www.humansandnature.org.

Established in 1905, the U.S. Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that manages 193 million acres, conducts forest research, assists forest landowners and helps formulate international forest policy. Learn more about the Forest Service at www.fs.fed.us.

Download Green Fire Press Releases:

Web:
General Press Release
Wisconsin Press Release
Press Release Template for Community Screeners

Microsoft Word Format:
General Press Release
Albuquerque-specific press release with more information on the venue, and Leopold's connection to the Southwest.
Wisconsin-specific press release with more information on Wisconsin venues, and Leopold's connections to Wisconsin.
Press Release Template for Community Screenings (full length)
Press Release Template for Community Screenings (short version)

PDF format:
General press release
Albuquerque-specific press release with more information on the venue, and Leopold's connection to the Southwest. Wisconsin-specific press release with more information on Wisconsin venues, and Leopold's connections to Wisconsin.