By Berenice Manzano
Climate Change is a topic many sadly shrug over believing it is an issue that won’t affect us until far into the future. However, with the many global changes appearing in our weather and increasing destruction of natural resources, the youth of today are concerned for the future that they may never get to live out.
Directed by Lynne Cherry, Save Tomorrow follows 3 young girls from Lexington MA, Mari McBride, Alice Van Evera, and Lily Georgopoulos, who team up to change a law to allow solar panels on public buildings. Our young trio take on the many challenges in their community to fight for the planet by supporting renewable energy and conserving natural habitats in their city. Although only 9 years old, their young age does not stop them from making big changes in their community.
The film begins with the trio fighting against a town law that prohibits solar panels on public buildings. Writing their own statements and speaking at a Lexington town meeting, they are able to change the town law with unanimous support.
The power and influence of their voices inspires their next project to save their local forest habitat. They create a petition, getting many of their classmates to sign it, and present it to the Lexington Conservation Commission. Once again, they are able to overturn the plans of cutting down a lot of woods and make a small but impactful change in their community.
Throughout the film, themes of teamwork and group empowerment enhance the success of the girls’ work. As Mari McBride states in the beginning of the film, “Working as a team gives you much more courage than if you’re just working as an individual.”
Overall, I would rate this film a 5/5. Their determination and courage to fight for what they believe in is inspirational, especially noting how young they are, and they were able to ignite all these positive changes in their own town. Stylistically, seeing them in action as activists as well as capturing their friendship and youthfulness perfectly demonstrate the power young people have to create positive changes in our world. This film is an important reminder to us all that change is needed, and with unity and passion, anything is possible.
Don’t Miss Save Tomorrow, now screening on Planet Classroom.
Berenice Manzano is a 2nd year Film and Digital Media major at University of California, Santa Cruz. Apart from being a Film Selection intern for CMRubinWorld, she has also worked on many student made short films with the organization Film Production Coalition at UCSC and is an Alumni Board Member for the high school journalism workshop Mosaic created by The Mercury News.
Recent Comments