In October, the world welcomed its seven billionth person, and the global population continues to grow.
Documentary filmmaker Joyce Johnson screened her film Mother: Caring for 7 Billion Wednesday night, a film that warns about the dangers of the population explosion.
“As a filmmaker, I thought it was interesting people weren’t talking about the number of people, but the amount of consumption” Joyce said. “Population goes hand in hand with consumption.”
The idea for the documentary first came after Johnson screened her last film at a festival. The Great Squeeze touched upon the population problem but an overwhelming demand for a comprehensive movie about population led to Johnson and her team looking into the topic.
The documentary examines environmental issues, women’s rights, and children’s rights—but Johnson found there was a significant roadblock to the filmmaking process.
“Population is a really brutal issue, a deeply unpopular issue,” she said. “Everything’s been a real challenge because people don’t want to talk about it.”
Johnson said she also hopes the documentary will help debunk some popular myths about population.
“When doing my research, I saw these myths that there’s enough space for 50 billion people, and people use that to try to argue that population growth is not a problem,” she said. “The issue has never been about space, it’s about quality of life.”
The documentary was hosted by College Green Magazine.
“Our content mainly deals with environment issues and I think we can trend towards social justice as well,” said the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Austen Verilli. “I think that Joyce Johnson’s film is a good way to bring that to Athens. The environment and social justice go hand in hand. ”
Verrilli wished the turnout had been higher, but despite the rain, about 50 people, largely students, made their way to Walter Hall for the screening and discussion afterwards.
“College students are the future leaders of this country,” Joyce said. “This is a critical issue that concerns not only the environment, but all human crises. They need to understand the importance of the issue.”
jf392708@ohiou.edu
