The Green American Dream

Thanks to the San Francisco International Film Festival, I had the opportunity to see two films about the American Dream in the last two days.

One, a brilliant Italian film called The Golden Door starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and the dashing Vincenzo Amato about an Italian family immigrating to America. They dream of money growing on trees, giant-sized carrots, and a river of milk and honey - literally; postcards of these images were sent to the peasant Sicilian family beforehand to lure them to our shores. The promise of America. The soul of our country.

Second, a stirring film executive-produced by Robert Redford called The Unforeseen about the sexiest of all topics, urban sprawl. The American Dream of everyone owning a large house with a white picket fence and a lawn…ultimately leads to developers carving up our country into ever-expanding, concrete-jungle subdivisions. The Santa Clara Valley orchards, gone. The natural Barton Springs swimming hole in Austin, polluted. All for short-term profit and perceived progress. All for the deliverance of the American Dream.

(Side note: The Italian name of the first film is Nuovomondo, which translates to New World, not Golden Door. In an incredible coincidence, there is already a film called The New World directed by Terrence Malick, who was an executive producer of The Unforeseen. Are you confused yet?)

Urban sprawl is a sight we see from the airplane when we fly over Los Angeles and growing cities like Austin. What is the result? Families move into their large track row houses and then face miles of traffic jams, water rationing, and disconnection from the natural world. What have we gained, and what have we lost? We have gained a house, but have we lost our soul?

Urban sprawl is a major contributor to global warming because it forces people to live far away from where they work and drive long distances, not to mention the strain it puts on water sources and open spaces. Let's consider more intelligent land use development as a promising solution.   

This all caused me to wonder...maybe it is time to trade in the old white picket fence for a modern Green Picket Fence made out of bamboo. What if the American Dream were to own a green home with solar panels, plant an organic garden, and take a high-speed eco-train to work. And to restore natural places for adults and children to play in.

As so eloquently said in The Unforeseen, perhaps it is time for "a more mature and evolved view of the future that doesn't leave a wreck behind us." We see this wreck from the airplane. Is this really the best we can do? Why should we be stuck in the past with an outdated dream that no longer serves us?

I believe in the human mind and spirit. Growth can be bad, as in cancer or housing projects that pollute our local water and air. Or growth can be regenerative, as in the green building renaissance. What matters now is the intention and quality of growth. Does it leave us and our world better off in the long run?

As we re-imagine the American Dream, it will help others around the globe to re-envision it as well, and perhaps save the whole planet in the process. Let's create a new Green American Dream and do our ancestors and our children proud. And now onto the party...

The Party Report: The local film and eco-glitterati were in effect at the San Francisco movie premiere of The Unforeseen last night. Stars included Peter Coyote and Julia Butterfly Hill, who has her own hush-hush movie in the making. We were treated to a celebration at the new Sundance Kitchen at the Kabuki, which has replaced the Pasta Pomodoro, grazie a dio (thank goodness). Look out for the cinematically beautiful film The Unforeseen coming soon via the Sundance Channel to the small screen in your living room!