Can a local docuseries’ screening help San Diegans ‘think differently’ about the environment?

A crowd gathered at the Pacific Beach library this week for a screening and discussion of part of a San Diego-produced documentary series about humanity’s impact on the world hosted by its director and City Council President Joe LaCava.

“Human Footprint” is a PBS-commissioned series by Day’s Edge Productions’ 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 — including the impacts of global fashion, supermarkets and invasive species.

“Documentaries like this present the conversation in a different way, and sometimes in a different way, so that you’re being influenced without even realizing — you’re just enjoying this fascinating story,” LaCava said. “But the hope is that some of this will become ingrained in how you think, and how you think differently.”

The episode screened Wednesday night asks if humans can save declining bee species before it’s too late, as pesticides, climate change, loss of habitat and parasites wipe out bees across the globe — including half of North America’s 4,000 species.

In the episode, beekeepers, scientists, farmers and conservationists emphasize how essential pollinators are to the planet and ecosystems, and share what people are doing and can do to protect them.

Protecting pollinators has been a priority for LaCava.

At the back of the screening room hung a brightly colored sign distinguishing San Diego as California’s “bee city” —a reminder of an initiative launched by LaCava and UC San Diego professor Dr. James Nieh in 2023 that made the city the nation’s largest to receive the title. Two years earlier, the city made a similar pledge to help preserve habitat for monarch butterflies, another important pollinator.

“The 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,” LaCava said. “What I like about it is it’s always in the workflow of what the city does — and more importantly, these days, it’s always in the budgets of what the city operates.”

While serving on the council, he said, he’s learned that little systematic changes like these can help the city to pivot in its operations.

The city also held a public vote on what should be the city’s official native flower earlier this year, in order to encourage residents to reconsider how they design their yards and support local bees, birds and butterflies.

And LaCava said he’s also focusing on mitigating habitat loss by relocating sensitive plants and habitats, encouraging housing developing within existing urban areas and restoring wetlands, such as with the city’s long-term plans for northeastern Mission Bay.

But pollinator protection is just a piece of the puzzle.

LaCava said documentaries like “Human Footprint,” along with nonprofit organizations, advocates and public discussions help him determine what issues his office needs to focus on. “They inform me about the direction I should be taking,” he said.

Both seasons of “Human Footprint” are available to stream for free on the PBS website and app.

During the discussion after the screening, Dappen said the series’ funding — which comes from an endowment — will instead go to help keep other operations running, following federal funding cuts to the broadcasting service.

On Friday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the federally funded entity that helps fund PBS and local public radio and television stations nationwide — said it was shutting down, days after Republicans in Congress defunded it following President Trump’s urging.

“The main thing that I’ve been telling people in the run up to this season is just that we hope this show represents everything that’s great about what PBS provides for the American people,” Losin told The San Diego Union-Tribune ahead of season’s two premiere in June. “I really hope that if people do like this season as much as folks like season one, that they take an opportunity to maybe reach out to their elected representatives and let them know that public media matters.”