A crowd gathered at the Pacific Beach library this week\u00a0for a screening and discussion of part of a San Diego-produced documentary series about humanity\u2019s impact on the world hosted by its director and City Council President Joe LaCava.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman Footprint\u201d is a PBS-commissioned series by Day\u2019s Edge Productions\u2019 co-founders Nathan Dappen and Neil Losin and Princeton University professor Shane Campbell-Staton. It examines how humans are driving evolution, often with negative consequences and explores a wide range of topics \u2014 including the impacts of global fashion, supermarkets and invasive species.<\/p>\n
\u201cDocumentaries like this present the conversation in a different way, and sometimes in a different way, so that you\u2019re being influenced without even realizing \u2014 you\u2019re just enjoying this fascinating story,\u201d LaCava said. \u201cBut the hope is that some of this will become ingrained in how you think, and how\u00a0you think differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The episode screened Wednesday night asks if humans can save declining bee species before it\u2019s too late, as pesticides, climate change, loss of habitat and parasites wipe out bees across the globe \u2014 including half of North America\u2019s 4,000\u00a0species.<\/p>\n
In the episode, beekeepers, scientists, farmers and conservationists\u00a0emphasize\u00a0how essential pollinators are to the planet and ecosystems, and share what people are doing and can do to protect them.<\/p>\n
![\"Director](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-human-impact-0730-10.jpg\")
Director Nate Dappen, left, speaks with San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava at a screening of the fourth episode of \u201cHuman Footprint\u201d on Wednesday, July 30, at the Pacific Beach library. (Zo\u00eb Meyers \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Protecting\u00a0pollinators has been a priority for LaCava.<\/p>\n
At the back of the screening room hung a brightly colored sign distinguishing San Diego as California\u2019s \u201cbee city<\/a>\u201d \u2014a reminder of an initiative launched by LaCava and UC San Diego professor Dr. James Nieh\u00a0in 2023 that made the city the nation\u2019s largest to receive the title. Two years earlier, the city made a similar pledge to help preserve habitat for monarch butterflies, another important pollinator.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Monarch Pledge and the Bee City designation send a message about what we should be thinking about prioritizing when we do landscaping, when we have to replant, when we think about whether we should be using pesticides and herbicides, and it just causes people to think differently,\u201d LaCava said. \u201cWhat I like about it is it\u2019s always in the workflow of what the city does \u2014 and more importantly, these days, it\u2019s always in the budgets of what the city operates.\u201d<\/p>\n While serving on the council, he said, he\u2019s learned that little systematic changes like these can help the city to pivot in its operations.<\/p>\n The city also held a public vote<\/a> on what should be the city\u2019s official native flower earlier this year, in order\u00a0to encourage residents to reconsider how they design their yards and support local bees, birds and butterflies.<\/p>\n And LaCava said he\u2019s also focusing on mitigating habitat loss by relocating sensitive plants and habitats, encouraging housing developing within existing urban areas and restoring\u00a0wetlands, such as with the city\u2019s long-term plans for northeastern Mission Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n But pollinator protection is just a piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n LaCava said documentaries like \u201cHuman Footprint,\u201d along with nonprofit organizations, advocates and public discussions\u00a0help him determine what issues his office needs to focus on. \u201cThey inform me about the direction I should be taking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Both seasons of \u201cHuman Footprint\u201d are available to stream for free on the PBS website and app.<\/p>\n During the discussion after the screening, Dappen said the series\u2019 funding \u2014 which comes from an endowment \u2014 will instead go to help keep other operations running, following federal funding cuts to the broadcasting service.<\/p>\n On Friday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting \u2014 the federally funded entity that helps fund PBS and local public radio and television stations nationwide \u2014 said it was shutting down<\/a>, days after Republicans in Congress defunded it following President Trump\u2019s urging.<\/p>\n![\"Audience](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SUT-L-human-impact-0730-2.jpg\")
Audience members watch a screening of the fourth episode of \u201cHuman Footprint\u201d on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Zo\u00eb Meyers \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n