A free movie is being hosted by the Wayne State College Green Team in the Majestic Theatre at 7 p.m. on April 6.
The movie being shown this year is “Rubber Jellyfish.” According to the film’s website, it “explores the effects of helium balloons on the environment, wildlife and human beings.”
The film, despite exploring a topic that some may find discouraging, has inspired many positive changes since its release in 2018. According to the Rubber Jellyfish website, “the film has been especially useful for marine environmental activists that have been working to make change around marine debris and balloon litter for years.”Marine environmental activists are not the only ones impacted by this documentary, though.
According to the film’s website, “People walk away from [the] screenings feeling motivated to help spread the word about the environmental damage caused by balloons.”
Laura Dendinger, the faculty sponsor for the WSC Green Team, is excited to show this film to students and community members.
“Every year, this is one of the ways that we commemorate Earth Day. It’s to get people to think about how we can minimize our impact,” Dendinger said.
Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22. On campus, though, the Green Team hosts events all month to emphasize its importance.
“It’s just important to think about reducing consumption and minimizing impact because we only have one Earth,” Dendinger said. “We want it to be healthy for the folks that come after us.”
Dendinger said there are things that students can start doing here in Wayne to help keep the Earth clean and beautiful for the coming generations.
“One of the things that students might not be aware of is that Wayne has free recycling at the Wayne Recycling and Transfer Station. You can recycle most things. There are also lots of items that can be recycled at the public library,” Dendinger said.
A virtual Q&A with the filmmaker will be held after the film’s showing. Dendinger has high hopes for what can be expected of this experience.
“I think that she’ll have ideas about things that can happen more locally. She’ll know the impact of balloon releases in our state and be able to tell us the meaning of that,” Dendinger said.
Dendinger is also looking forward to hearing from students.
“We’re really interested, both the Wayne Green Team and the Wayne State Green Team, in student ideas about reducing, reusing and recycling,” Dendinger said.
She wants to see and hear from as many different students as possible at this event and the club’s future events.
“Everyone is welcome. It’s not a group that is major-specific, it’s open to everybody,” Dendinger said. “I think that we all have a shared interest in the sense that we want to be able to go to parks and have clean water and those kinds of things.”
For more information about the film, visit rubberjellyfishmovie.com.