Mon Jan 24: Permaculture: The Growing Edge: http://www. belili.org
Permaculture: The Growing Edge is an antidote to environmental despair, a hopeful and practical look at a path to a viable, flourishing future. The film introduces us to inspiring examples of projects, and includes a visit to David Holmgren’s own homestead, tracking deer with naturalist Jon Young, sheet mulching an inner-city garden with Hunters Point Family, transforming an intersection into a gathering place with City Repair and joining mycologist Paul Stamets as he cleans up an oil spill with mushrooms. We interview some of the key figures in the Permaculture movement, including David Holmgren, Penny Livingston-Stark, James Stark, Paul Stamets, Mark Lakeman, Dr. Elaine Ingham, Maddy Harland, and others.
Permaculture is a sustainable system of earth care that offers solutions to many of our grave environmental problems and a hopeful, proactive vision of change. The Permaculture movement, started by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the nineteen seventies, is now a worldwide network of skilled ecological designers, teachers, food growers, natural builders, environmental activists and visionaries.
Mon Feb 28: Coal Country: http:www.CoalCountryTheMovie.com
Coal Country takes us inside modern coal mining. We get to know working miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We visit the homes of people most directly affected by mountaintop removal mining (MTR) and hear about health problems, dirty water in their wells and streams, and dust and grime on their floors. We hear from miners and coal company officials who are concerned about jobs and the economy and believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people. Both sides in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a deep love for the land, but MTR is tearing them apart.
Are the people fighting against mountaintop removal really protecting the earth, or do they stand in the way of affordable energy for all Americans? What is behind promises of "cheap energy" and "clean coal." Are they achievable, and at what cost? And what are the alternatives for our energy future?
Learn why getting off coal is critical for climate, social justice, and our health! Learn about the movements to address it at the federal and state levels and what YOU can do to support these efforts.
Mon Mar 28: The Economics of Happiness: http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/
‘Going local’ is a powerful strategy to repair our fractured world—our ecosystems, our societies and our selves
Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work.
The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.
We hear from a chorus of voices from six continents including Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of Tibet's government in exile, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten and Zac Goldsmith. They tell us that climate change and peak oil give us little choice: we need to localize, to bring the economy home. The good news is that as we move in this direction we will begin not only to heal the earth but also to restore our own sense of well-being. The Economics of Happiness restores our faith in humanity and challenges us to believe that it is possible to build a better world.
Mon Apr 11: Gasland: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/
The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudi Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown.
Mon Jun 30: Vanishing of the bees: http://www.vanishingbees.com/trailer/
Vanishing of the Bees, narrated by Ellen Page, examines the alarming, mysterious disappearance of honeybees. Following commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S., the film explores the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder, the phenomenon that has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables.
Wed Dec 2: No Impact Man: http://www.noimpactdoc.com/trailer.php
Every year growing numbers of us are unhappy with the shopping frenzy and sheer waste that accompanies the holidays, but most of us don’t know how to get away from it. This film explores one man's effort to eliminate his carbon footprint.