Students and community members packed into Upland Brewing Company’s Banquet Hall on Tuesday night for a casual discussion about “Before the Flood,” a documentary about climate change.
The room was so full, the Fire Marshall had to close the doors.
“If you’re a smaller person and are okay with sharing a chair with someone else, that would be great,” said IU senior Sean Buehler, the founder and director of Science on Tap.
The IU Cinema played “Before the Flood” Friday night. The documentary follows Leonardo DiCaprio on his journey to learn more about climate change and to help others understand it better.
Students responded to the documentary Tuesday with their questions regarding the film and climate change in general.
The discussion originated when members of the IU Biology Club decided to collaborate with Science on Tap.
Junior Sophie Laughlin said she thinks it’s important to facilitate discussions between students and the community so individuals can learn from one another and exchange ideas.
“We felt like there was a gap between people who were knowledgeable and people who were unaware about climate change,” Laughlin said, “We wanted to bridge that gap to empower people to be more environmentally conscience.”
Every month, Science on Tap has an event with a question-and-answer session for students to learn more about science in a casual, fun environment.
“I founded Science on Tap on the principle that science should be fun and accessible for everyone,” Buehler said.
Most of the students attending the event heard about it through their friends. Others said they consider themselves advocates for climate change, so they were interested in the event because they saw “Before the Flood” Friday.
“I’ve always been a big outdoorsman,” master’s student Zack VanDeman said, “Just thinking about the woods not being there is a sad thought.”
VanDeman said one moment from the documentary that stood out to him was when it said in the future people will be telling their children stories about snow because it will no longer exists.
“The world is so beautiful, and it’s so sad that it’s deteriorating,” VanDeman said.
The discussion panel, which consisted of IU professors, said it was disheartened by the fact that some people are still denying the existence of climate change.
“If believing that climate change is not real is a part of your identity, more facts will probably not change your mind,” IU professor Kim Novick said.
The discussion attendees asked questions about where they can find more resources to educate themselves, how they can persuade individuals who deny climate change and how they can educate others who are willing to listen.
The IU professors discussed the importance of listening to climate change scientists and professors who are not denying climate change.
They informed attendees about the negative effects people have on the environment and the new methods scientists are developing to reverse these issues.
One individual in the crowd asked the professors how they felt about the defunding of science programs around the country.
The panel expressed their regret for program defunding, but they said they are optimistic about a future with individuals who are aware and educated.
“My hopes are that we’ll look back and think ‘what a weird time when we thought that it wasn’t important to have people studying environmental science,’” IU professor Rich Phillips said.
