Eric Moe Award for Best Short on Sustainability Presentation: Sallie's Ashes (Winner), The Clearing (Finalist)

Winner, 2026 Eric Moe Award for Best Short on Sustainability Sallie Smith doesn’t know how to retire. The 80-year old from Alabama admits “when I see something that’s a problem, it tends to call my name… and once it’s done that, I need to see it through.” The problem now is threatening her beloved Mobile Bay. Alabama Power’s ‘Plant Barry’ – Southern Alabama’s largest coal-fired power plant – has been depositing its waste ash into an unlined pit next to the plant for decades. It’s a ticking time bomb; if the levees were to be breached, 21 million tons of toxic ash would be released into the Mobile River and Bay. Sallie recruits fellow retirees Diane Thomas and Savan Wilson to her cause, and together they set oﬀ on a late-life crusade to try and force the plant – and the EPA – to move the ash to safer ground. But Sallie is racing against more than one clock. The cancer she once beat has returned and metastasized. With only months to live, can she and her friends pull oﬀ one final fight for their community, the Bay, and for the generations to come? <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/2463fffa867bace729c14e90c9d0a110.png" width="453" style="display: block; margin: auto;">

Sallie's Ashes

Faced with terminal lung cancer, 80-year-old Sallie Smith rallies an unlikely team of fellow Alabama grandmas to fight for the removal of a toxic coal ash pit that threatens the waters of their beloved Mobile Bay.

A Message from Andy Ball, Co-director of The Clearing

Read an update on the environmental activists featured in the film from our Media Partner Mongabay: <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cambodias-supreme-court-denies-release-of-five-imprisoned-environmental-activists/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cambodia’s Supreme Court denies release of five imprisoned environmental activists</a> One year ago, Cambodia jailed five activists from the award-winning environmentalist group Mother Nature Cambodia for plotting against the government, after they had sounded the alarm about river pollution and land reclamation projects. THE CLEARING follows Chandaravuth – the group’s most outspoken member – and his colleagues in the months leading up to their incarceration as they continue on their collision course with Cambodia’s rulers and refuse to buckle under pressure.

The Clearing

The Clearing follows young Cambodian activists risking years in prison for exposing state-sanctioned environmental destruction, as they continue on their collision course with the authorities.

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Eric Moe Award Shorts: Sallie's Ashes & The Clearing

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What does it mean to study a world in crisis? At the edge of uncertainty in a world of accelerating change, these scientists test resilience, navigating the environmental challenges of today. Together, these films capture what can happen when observation becomes action, and when the pursuit of change carries real consequences for both people and the planet.

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