General Meeting : Thursday May 9

Movie Night  – The Cloud Forest Project

Join us for popcorn with truffle oil and a movie. “The Cloud Forest Project” film is based on a group of U.S. scientists’ funded by the National Geographic and the National Science Foundation, working on experiments about orchid mimicry, decomposing fungi, and their pollinators in the tropical cloud forest of Ecuador. Dr. Bitty Roy from the U of O, and one of her students and CMS scholarship recipient, Roo Vandergrift, will be present to answer questions following the film. Dr. Roy has been working for the last four years in the cloud forest working out the pollination system of a mushroom-mimicking orchid in the genus, Dracula.

This film is the work of British film maker and nature photographer, Jacky Poon, who vividly captures a never-before-seen moment of a newly discovered method of pollination used by Ecuadorian orchids in a cloud forest. This film is filled with spectacular footage ranging from birds to monkeys to orchids to interviews with villagers who have been threatened by mining operators. It was filmed with personal-diary style in mind, with lots of interesting science as well as banters and moments of laughter. The film also documented conservation issues and mining conflicts in the heart of the Intag Valley, what the local people are facing, and what we can do to help.

Our general meetings are the second Thursday of the month. Meet at 7 PM, Room 115, Science Building (Bldg. 16) at Lane Community College in Eugene. As always, the presentation is free and open to the public.