4237 Raleigh St. Charlotte, NC 28213
Poster for CIFS: Charlotte Earth Day

CIFS: Charlotte Earth Day

Dates with showtimes for CIFS: Charlotte Earth Day
  • Sat, Apr 11
  1. 9:00 am

 

Run Time: 390 min. Release Year: 2026

IPH’s Community Impact Film Series: Charlotte Earth Day

“OUR POWER, OUR PLANET”

Saturday, April 11, 2025 | 8:30am – 3pm | FREE

IPH’s Community Impact Film Series sparks dialogue and builds bridges between people and organizations through the power of film.

Charlotte’s annual Earth Day celebration brings together community members to celebrate our environment, engage families with fun educational activities, foster lifelong connections with nature, and connect attendees with environmentally conscious organizations and businesses from the Charlotte area.

Charlotte Earth Day is open to all members of the community, including children and their families, young adults, educators, and everyone passionate about sustainability. The event will feature dozens of exhibitors representing Charlotte-based organizations and businesses.

  • 10am – 11am
    Resource Fair

Resource Fair Organizations

  • 11am – 11:10am – Introduction: Eboné M. Lockett, Harvesting Humanity
  • 11:10am – 11:40pm
    Poetry Response featuring Glenis Redmond
    Glenis Redmond is Greenville, South Carolina’s inaugural Poet Laureate and a 2025 recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor. This award is bestowed by the Governor in recognition of a lifetime of extraordinary achievement, service, and contributions on a national or statewide scale. She received the 2025 Highlights Foundation Inspire Scholarship and is a Baldwin Fellow (2024–2025). In 2023, she was selected as a Poet Laureate Fellow by the Academy of American Poets. Glenis has also been named a Citizen Diplomat by the Jonathan Green Maritime Cultural Center. Glenis earned her B.A. from Erskine College, her M.F.A. in poetry from Warren Wilson College, and is a Cave Canem alumna.
  • 11:45am – 12:35pm | Segment #1 
    Screening: Shringa (12 min.), Portrait of a Seaweed Farmer (10.11 min), Refabricate (27 min.)
  • 12:40pm – 1:15pm | Panel Discussion
    • Jeff Siebert is an Emmy-nominated director and founder of Bananabones, a creative  production company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Since launching in 2009, Jeff has  led Bananabones in crafting award-winning commercials, television series, and branded  short-form content for Fortune 500 companies and global organizations. His work spans 45  U.S. states and 11 countries, blending cinematic storytelling with strategic clarity across  mediums. In 2022, Jeff directed the six-episode documentary series If These Walls Could Rock for AXS TV,  earning a national Emmy nomination for its compelling look into America’s most iconic music  venues. His creative vision is rooted in authenticity, often spotlighting real people and places  with emotional depth and visual flair. Whether he’s filming in a remote fjord or a sold-out  concert hall, Jeff brings a signature blend of curiosity, craft, and heart to every project.
    • Ethan Blumenthal currently works as Regulatory & Legal Counsel at the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. In this role, Ethan works to advance clean energy policies at the NC Utilities Commission and other policy-making venues— providing NCSEA with legal analysis of clean energy policy and supporting clean energy’s advancement in the state’s regulatory landscape, while also ensuring organizational legal protection and compliance.
      Ethan previously represented four environmental justice and indigenous rights organizations before the NC Utility Commission during the development of North Carolina’s inaugural Carbon Plan. Ethan also co-founded and ran Good Solar, a 501(c)(3) that created renewable energy solutions for nonprofit organizations and low- and moderate-income communities. Born and raised in Charlotte and the North Carolina mountains, Ethan graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Environmental Studies, and an Economics minor. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law with Honors before working as a fellow at the Center for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Economics (CE3) at UNC Law. Ethan also currently serves as a Southeast Chapter Director for Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), as a North Carolina Advisory Board member for the Environmental Defense Fund, and as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Zoo Society.

    • MaryAnn Sanders is a dedicated environmental community organizer working across North Carolina to advance solutions that strengthen communities and protect the state’s natural resources. As a grassroots organizer with the Sierra Club (NC Chapter), she partners with volunteers and organizations in Charlotte and throughout Western North Carolina to lead outdoor experiences, drive environmental advocacy campaigns, and mobilize support for leaders committed to strong environmental policy.

      MaryAnn previously served as a fellow with the NC Conservation Network, where she educated and empowered college students around pressing environmental issues and helped cultivate the next generation of community advocates. Before graduating with her Bachelors in Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University, she also led a collaborative partnership between Watauga County Habitat for Humanity and Appalachian State University to advance housing justice initiatives and expand access to affordable housing for lower-income residents.

      Grounded in the belief that environmental progress is rooted in community connection, MaryAnn’s work brings people into meaningful engagement with outdoor recreation, environmental justice, and the policies shaping North Carolina’s future.

    • Dr. Fushcia-Ann Hoover is an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in social-ecological urban systems. She employs a range of approaches and perspectives from the fields of planning, engineering, social and environmental sciences. Her research centers environmental justice, green infrastructure planning, and relationships between people, place and the environment.Dr. Hoover joined the department in 2021 as an assistant professor of environmental planning, where her projects explore green infrastructure planning, urban water quality, and environmental decision-making. Prior to joining the department, Dr. Hoover held postdocs at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), and the Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, OH. She is also the founder of EcoGreenQueen LLC, a company dedicated to teaching and expanding the knowledge and use of environmental justice frameworks and methods across research and practice. Beginning Fall 2026, she will be the director of the new minor in Sustainability program at UNC Charlotte.
  • 1:20pm – 2:15pm | Segment #2 
    Oceans 2050 (5.45 min), Go Tell It to the Bees (15 min), Environmental Justice is Food Sovereignty (31 min)
  • 2:20pm – 2:50pm Panel Discussion
    • Alesha Ray is a seasoned broadcast meteorologist, digital strategist, and content creator with a passion for delivering compelling, data-driven storytelling. With an extensive career spanning on-camera meteorology, digital production, social media strategy, and audience engagement, Alesha has left an indelible mark on the media landscape. You might have seen Alesha Ray on TV for her work as a national meteorologist, serving as a Weekday
      Morning Meteorologist for The Weather Channel -LN streaming service in Atlanta, GA, forecasting the weather but also interviewing NASA scientists, covering climate change, and creating engaging digital content that resonates across multiple generations. Her expertise in audience engagement and content
      production has contributed to increased viewership and national recognition.
    • Eboné M. Lockett is an award-winning poet, educator, and humanitarian whose voice, vocabulary, and visionary leadership champions sustainable, community-driven solutions across the social drivers of health and wellbeing.  A published and performance poet since the age of 13, Eboné understood early on that her words wielded power and in the spirit of that conviction, she powerfully serves local, national, and global communities as a Poetic Archivist, Alchemist, and Activist.After spending over two decades in service as an English Language Arts and Humanities public school teacher, Eboné founded and continues to lead Harvesting Humanity LLC, (circa 2018) which she has coined “A School Without Walls – learning for life and lifelong learning”. Harvesting Humanity provides a vehicle through which Eboné leverages language and love to nurture and nourish.
    • Jeff Siebert (see above)

    • Maya Espinosa (she/her) is a community organizer and Lead of the Charlotte hub for Black Girl Environmentalist. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and has been integrating environmental education and advocacy into her work since 2019. From launching a plastic pollution campaign at Publix by promoting reusable bags in her hometown to teaching children about the water cycle through interactive activities, Maya is committed to making sustainability accessible and engaging.

      Maya’s passion for environmental justice was ignited during her time at UNC Charlotte, where she sought to make a tangible difference. After learning about Flint, Michigan’s water crisis, she became deeply motivated to advocate for clean water, sustainability, and environmental equity. Feeling the lack of representation in environmental spaces, she discovered Black Girl Environmentalist (BGE)— a community that provided her with support, hope, and connection. Through BGE, she works to create inclusive and accessible safe spaces for Black and Brown communities to engage in and take action in the climate change movement.

  • 3pm – 3:30pm
    Exhibitors Fair
  • 11am – 3pm
    Carolina Farm Trust Food Truck

*Join us on Sunday, April 12th, for a nature walk at Anne Springs Close Greenway (2201 Old Nation Road, Fort Mill, SC 29715).

This series is made possible, in part, by the generous support of Kathryn & Luke Kissam, along with funding from:

Thank you to our event partners.

 

 

 

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