Progressive Film Hour - The Film, Field Biologist, and guests Jared Flesher & Tyler Christensen - 11/04/14

Tuesday November 4, 3pm EST: The film being featured this week is Field Biologist,about a teenager in NJ who seemed to have little aptitude or interest in the academics of high school, but when given the opportunity to fly on his own, had come to virtually master the colorful and in-depth world of birding. One of the several points of the film is that when people are allowed to do just what they feel drawn to do they can become competent, even masterful, and in this case, doing much to preserve several bird species.

click here to check out the trailer

To discuss the film will be Tyler Christensen. Field Biologist is the story of this 22-year-old a remarkably talented but somewhat rudderless high school graduate from New Jersey still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Tyler’s great love is being outside, chasing birds and studying wildlife. One day he decides—brushing aside his lack of a college degree or scientific credentials—to drop everything and travel to Costa Rica to start doing his own conservation-oriented research on birds in the tropics.

Tyler’s adventure takes him from the cloud forests of Monteverde to the mangrove swamps of the Nicoya Peninsula, culminating in a plan to try to help save the highly endangered mangrove hummingbird. The film presents the major challenges facing biodiversity on Earth—climate change and habitat destruction chief among them—while also raising some fundamental questions: What makes someone a scientist? How important is a formal education? What risks are worth taking? What should you do with your life?

Also to discuss the film will be filmmaker Jared Flesher. In the gentlest of ways, the viewer is apprised of the seriousness of the global warming issue before us and how love of Nature itself can motivate many to seek to preserve her.

Jared is an award-winning reporter, photojournalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is also the editor of Edible Jersey magazine. He has directed three documentary films that have screened at film festivals around the world: The Farmer and the Horse, Sourlands, and Field Biologist. Jared’s articles have been published by The New York Times Online, The Wall Street Journal Online, The Christian Science Monitor, Grist.com, and many others. For fun, he enjoys growing food in his home garden, jogging with his dog, and exploring forests.