MEET THE VALVE TURNERS

Ken Ward

I spent the first half of my life working as professional staff for major environmental and public interest organizations, serving as Executive Director of New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG), Deputy Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, President of the National Environmental Law Center, and co-founder of U.S. PIRG, Environment America and the Fund for Public Interest Research. In those positions I played by the rules, using every legal device for influencing energy policy, beginning as a coordinator for the national Campaign for Safe Energy in 1980.

Nothing we did then worked, and there is no plan of action, policy or strategy being advanced now by any political leader, climate action group or environmental organization playing by the rules that does anything but acquiesce to ruin. Our only hope is to step outside polite conversation and put our bodies and ourselves in the way. We must shut it down, starting with the most immediate threats; oil sands fuels and coal.

Emily Johnston

I’ve said enough about why I’m doing this: it needs to be done. I feel incredibly privileged to be alive in this moment, when so much is still so beautiful, and there’s still a chance to save it. But for years (decades, for some people) we’ve tried the legal, incremental, reasonable methods, and they haven’t been anything like enough; without a radical shift in our relationship to this Earth, all that we love will disappear. My fear of that possibility is far greater than my fear of jail. My love for the beauties of this world is far greater than my love of an easy life.

If others feel the same way, there’s hope for us yet.

Annette Klapstein

It is my job as an older person to step up and put my body on the line to protect my children and all children. Being retired and freed from those obligations, there is nothing more important than insuring a habitable planet for all our children. Our political system has failed to respond to the grave threat of climate change — this is my taking responsibility.

There was a call for International Days of Prayer and Action with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe this week — this is my prayer and this is my action.  My life is only marginally affected by climate change right now, but there are mothers and children around the world in frontline communities — mostly low-income communities of color  — who are being drastically affected right now. This is my act of solidarity.

Michael Foster

In the last four years I volunteered to teach climate science, the impacts, and the solutions to over 10,000 people. I organized with a dozen amazing groups, including Our Children’s Trust in their landmark climate victory for children’s air and water in Washington state. I helped on Keystone XL and getting SHELL out of the Arctic. Yet all the good we have done today at slowing the expansion of oil and gas, does not begin to protect my children from the excess CO2 already warming the sky.

I am here to generate action that wakes people up to the reality of what we are doing to life as we know it. All of our climate victories are meaningless if we don’t stop extracting oil, coal and gas now. 10% less each year, plus 1 trillion new trees globally, puts our kids on a path to a stable climate near the end of the century. Let’s DO this.

Leonard Higgins

Because of the climate change emergency, because governments and corporations have for decades increased fossil fuel extraction and carbon emissions when instead we must dramatically reduce carbon emissions; I am committed to the moral necessity of participating in nonviolent direct action to protect life.

FOR MORE ON THE VALVE TURNERS VISIT: http://www.shutitdown.today/activist_bios

At the 2018 Wild & Scenic Film Festival! Photo by Juan Diego Reyes.

CREW

Steve Liptay: Director, Producer and Cinematographer

The climate emergency and our response to it are Steve's primary focus as a documentary filmmaker and photographer. In 2016, he co-directed, produced and edited DIVEST!, a feature-length concert film that chronicles the origins of the fossil fuel divestment movement. He contributed cinematography and editing to the award-winning HBO documentary How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change which premiered at Sundance 2016. From the campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline to the Valve Turners direct action, his work has centered around movement-building and keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Earlier in his career, Steve was a biologist in the Gulf coast region working on research and conservation of coastal bird populations. He holds an M.S. in Environmental Policy from Bard College and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Prescott College. | www.steveliptay.net

Matthew Sanchez: Editor and Producer

Matthew is an Emmy nominated filmmaker whose work ranges from documentary to experimental, often combining the two. Most notably he is editor, cinematographer, and co-creator of the Oscar nominated and Emmy winning, Gasland series. Over his career, his work has been integral to many feature documentaries for HBO and Netflix, commercials for VH1, and documenting the underground NYC music scene; with varied clients such as Wired Magazine, College Humor, Sephora, and PBS. 

Alex Tyson: Cinematographer

Alex is an American filmmaker and artist known for his films Mountain Fire Personnel (2015), 3 Minutes in America (2015) and his work on the Oscar nominated and Emmy winning documentary Gasland (2011) for HBO. He has worked as a cinematographer in China, Brazil, Italy, The South Pacific, Scandinavia and extensively throughout the USA. He primarily works as an editor and producer for non-fiction films. | www.alextyson.net

Martin Crane: Original Music

Martin is a NY/NC-based composer whose most recent projects include the forthcoming feature, The Escape of Prisoner 614, starring Ron Perlman and Martin Starr. After releasing two albums and touring nationally under the name Brazos, Martin started working in film as the music supervisor on the Oscar-nominated documentary, Cutie and the Boxer. Since then, he’s scored many shorts and commercials, including the Emmy-nominated science documentary series, Animated Life. He also writes music under his own name. He most recently released an EP of original string quartets, called Noon Quartets, in December. | www.martincrane.net