OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi Environmental Studies program will kick off its second film series on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Overby Center Auditorium with a screening of “Surviving Progress.” A second film, “Dirt,” will be shown on Wednesday, March 27, at 7 p.m., also in the Overby Center Auditorium.
Both films are free and open to the public, and complement topics that students in environmental studies courses are learning about this semester, said UM professor of English Ann Fisher-Wirth, who directs the minor in environmental studies.
“Surviving Progress” questions the concept of progress, Fisher-Wirth said. Through brief interviews with notable scientists, economists and other thinkers from around the world, it discusses drawbacks as well as benefits that accompany technological progress. “Dirt,” which focuses on dirt and the topsoil needed to make food, was chosen as an accompaniment to the food segment that is taught in ENVS 101, the gateway course for the environmental studies minor.
“We overlook it, we ignore it, sometimes we just cover it over with concrete or we just fill it with poisonous chemicals,” said Fisher-Wirth.
For more information on the environmental studies program at UM, contact Fisher-Wirth at afwirth@olemiss.edu or visit environmentalstudies.olemiss.edu