A standing room only crowd packed the Roxy theatre in Owen Sound and stuffed the donation box to show their support for the locally produced film Resilience:Transforming Our Community.

The documentary film, three years in the making, was a collaboration between marine scientist Dr. John Anderson, and Liz Zetlin, a poet and filmmaker. Cinematographer Darlene Vanwyck and artistic consultant Paul Eichhorn helped bring it to the screen. They call it “a different kind of climate change film.”

Anderson has been studying local, Grey-Bruce data and lays out the science in a variety of scales – geological, social and family - to illustrate the speed of recent changes. The film's website offers his climate change presentation in its entirety, a 50 minute video.

But the film is not merely about the catastrophic problems associated with climate change. It speaks to the transformational opportunities this moment in history offers for community building, innovation and the economy.

(photo by Leigh Grigg)

A question and answer session after the film brought wisdom and queries from children, farmers, retirees and students. One attendee from Hamilton – which he referred to as the “brown belt” - said he was inspired by the knowledge that a tipping point of only 18 to 30 percent of people getting on board can bring absolutely transformational change.

Zetlin referred to the evening as the beginning, and encouraged the audience to meet with their neighbours to watch the film,  available free to the world on their website, talk about what you can do together and get started.  The website also has dozens of links to action of all kinds, from "what you can do from your couch" to reducing your flood risk to local and national groups you can join.

Next Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Harmony Centre there will be a public follow-up focussed on action.

The event ended with Coco Love Alcorn and her Wonderland Singers leading the audience in her original song, The River.  The community voices, and the lyrics, left the room hopeful and inspired.

The river is a healer
The river is a sage
The river knows no end
And the river feels no age
The river is a leader
Every single day
It's living in the moment
And it always finds a way