“2040,” March 6

Sunday, March 6, 2 p.m.

Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA

Praised by the New York Times for its "accessible, informative, and optimistic look at solutions to the climate crisis," the Australian documentary 2040 serves as the latest presentation in River Action's QC Environmental Film Series, its March 6 premiere at Davenport's Figge Art Museum inviting audiences to look at the effects of climate change over the next 20 years and what technologies that exist today can reverse the effects.

Released in 2019, 2040 follows director Damon Gameau's imagining of a future for his four-year old daughter Velvet, a world in which climate change has been solved. Described by its creator as “an exercise in fact-based dreaming,” the film is structured as a letter to his daughter whereby Gameau travels around the world investigating numerous solutions that can contribute towards climate mitigation and imagining what a future would be like where they have been implemented at scale. In choosing what to feature in the film, Gameau restricted it to solutions that are either already available or have a realistic potential to greatly contribute to reversing climate change by the year 2040, and the film features interviews with numerous academics, ecological experts, and entrepreneurs.

Covering five broad areas of study, 2040 examines how renewable energy, such as rooftop solar, has enabled micro-grids to form in Bangladesh, enabling communities to produce, own and trade their own energy. The film addresses mobility and how a move away from car-ownership through self-driving cars and ride-sharing can enable the redesign of urban areas by promoting green spaces and more livable cities. It also examines the role of agriculture and how a shift towards regenerative agricultural practices can not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also contribute to carbon sequestration while enabling greater resilience, such as through increased water retention.

The climate benefits of adopting plant-rich diets are also discussed in 2040, while the documentary also looks at the many uses of seaweeds and how bringing seaweed ecosystems to the open ocean through Marine Permaculture can enable the sustainable harvest of seaweeds and fish to help guarantee food security while regenerating marine life and sequestering carbon. Finally, Gameau considers the cascading societal benefits of the empowerment of women and girls, notably through education, as it enables women to have greater control over their life-decisions thereby providing a non-coercive, human-rights based means to reduce population growth. With 2040currently sitting with a 100-percent "freshness rating" on Rotten Tomatoes, the site's critics' consensus states that "Damon Gameau entertainingly surveys possible solutions to the climate change crisis, offering an unusually optimistic way forward."

2040 will be presented at the Figge Art Museum at 2 p.m. on March 6, admission is $5, and more information on the QC Environmental Film Series is available by calling (563)322-2969 and visiting RiverAction.org.