Celebrate Earth Day two days early at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (the MAC). On Saturday, April 20, 2-4pm, the museum will screen the new documentary by filmmaker John de Graaf, “Stewart Udall: The Politics of Beauty.” The film celebrates the work of former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall, sharing the story of his advocacy for social and environmental justice, international cooperation, the arts, and most of all, the protection of our shared environment. It highlights Udall’s bipartisan efforts and calls on us all to move beyond the polarization of our time and work together to protect our world’s natural heritage.

Udall pushed legislation through Congress mandating clean air and water, wilderness preservation, pesticide restrictions, strip-mining reclamation, and the establishment of the Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Trails systems, while providing greater self-determination for American Indians. The film explores the hard choices Udall had to make regarding both the Vietnam War and plans to dam the Grand Canyon (a plan he helped ultimately stop).

After the screening, John de Graaf will be joined by Eastern Washington University Professor of Recreation Management Emerita, Barbara Brock, and Tom Banks, former National Park Ranger, now Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science and Conservation at Vincennes University in Indiana for a panel discussion about Stewart Udall’s influence and legacy.

De Graaf has been producing and directing documentaries for public television for more than forty years. His fifty films, including 15 prime time PBS specials, have won more than 100 regional, national, and international awards. The John de Graaf Environmental Filmmaking Award is presented annually at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in California.

“Don't miss this masterpiece!”—Gus Speth, former director, UN Development Program, Dean, Yale School of Forestry, co-founder, Natural Resources Defense Council