Heart of Green

Return To The Wild

Before seeing Mofilms' brilliant new movie Return To The Wild: A Modern Tale of Wolf and Man, I must say that I was not fully on top of wolf current events. I am now. What happens when you re-introduce gray wolves into the Northern Rockies for the first time?  Excitement, friction, love, hate, compassion, conspiracy.

This balanced masterpiece of a film does an excellent job showing both sides and the vast open space of compromises available in a fast-moving 27 minutes. In one memorable scene, a rancher says in a thick accent with a twinkle in his eye, "If the wolves are now bringing in $35 million in eco-tourism revenue per year, then why now kick back a small percentage of that into wolf management?"  It is hard to argue with such logic. 

You can currently watch or download the Return To The Wild film on Mofilms complimentary. If you like the film, please consider supporting these passionate, dedicated and talented filmmakers. They are the real deal and have a huge heart of green. Don't miss their other award-winning films Justicia Now and Freedom Fuels.

For an excellent look at where we are with wolves (the political situation is changing rapidly!), see Defenders of Wildlife and NRDC's BioGems Wolves and take action to help save the Yellowstone wolves.  www.mofilms.org

Up The Yangtze

In China, the Yangtze is known simply as “The River.”  I highly recommend seeing the film Up The Yangtze about the infamous Three Gorges Dam in China on the big screen.  The beautiful cinematography is epic.  It will be playing in San Francisco at Landmark Theatres at the Bridge on Geary starting on June 13, 2008 for just one week.

This film by brilliant rising star director Yung Chang surprised me. I expected an environmental documentary about a gargantuan dam and instead got a moving personal, fictional-like account of the young people and families whose lives are transformed by the dam. As the frames play, the water rises. The farewell luxury cruise ships sail. The Chinese teenagers leave home to work. The American tourists act goofy. The peasants are forced to move everything, on their backs.

As Chang said with a smile, “This is the Love Boat meets Apocalypse Now.” The remarkable thing is that Up The Yangtze is a documentary with rare live footage of moments that will never occur again. You feel like the cat on the hut floor, and it is a poignant and priceless place to be.  www.uptheyangtze.com

Over a Barrel, not!

With gas hitting a nice round $4.00 per gallon, there has never been a better time to get even with the oil companies. Driving a car with the highest possible fuel economy is one of the best ways to fight back. It keeps more money in your pocket, and it puts less money in their pocket. Both are fun. As a neighbor’s license plate says on his Prius, “Exxon, Ha!” Walking, hybrid-cabbing, busing, and biking are also good take-that-big-oil strategies.

Oil companies are currently rich. Really rich. Consider that Exxon Mobil reported the largest corporate profit in history of $40 billion in 2007. They also fund research that tries to disprove global warming. Chevron has enjoyed 3 straight years of record profits and raked in $19 billion alone last year.

Our next stop is the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador visited recently by celebrities Daryl Hannah, Stuart Townsend, David De Rothschild, Trudie Styler, and Q’orianka Kilcher. They trekked to see the site where Texaco (now owned by Chevron) drilled and dumped 18 Billion gallons of oil contamination into the once-pristine rainforest and indigenous peoples’ homes. This is 30 times worse than Exxon Valdez. This is not an oil spill. This is an oil flood. It is a big black smelly toxic mess the size of Rhode Island for 1,700 square miles. It poisoned all of the air and water the people and animals live on, and Chevron-Texaco refuses to clean it up. Chevron, boo.

Imagine if a company dumped crude oil into the entire Golden Gate Park or Central Park?  I think there might a protest fit for a torch or more. The ah-ha for me was that Chevron-Texaco’s drilling system was designed to pollute from the start. No reinjection technology and no liners for the oil pits. This essentially guaranteed one of the greatest human rights and environmental disasters in the history of the world.

A high-profile lawsuit of 30,000 Ecuadorians versus Chevron-Texaco has been brewing for decades and is reaching the boiling point. The head lawyer Pablo Fajardo and community leader Luis Yanza just won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for their unwavering crusade for justice. The applause was boisterous. In a pivotal moment last week, the court estimated that Chevron-Texaco owes $7 billion - $16 billion in potential damages. Note that $9 billion of this is how much extra profit Texaco made by installing outdated technology designed to destroy life of all sizes and colors in the Amazon. Chevron even tried going to the top of a hill to take soil samples that they hoped were pure, but no such luck. Oil contamination is still everywhere and will be until they clean it up.

Chevron just hired the infamous Sam Singer to attempt to spin its way out of this, but let’s just say, that Mr. Singer is on the wrong side of this issue.

 

Last night, I had the privilege of seeing the premiere of the film Justicia Now. In one great scene, we see Daryl Hannah traipsing around the rainforest and getting down and dirty with the oil. Thanks to the wonders of the web and the visionary filmmakers Martin O'Brien and Robbie Proctor of MoFilms, you can download this short film for free. Over 200,000 downloads have occurred so far. I thought the film was going to be depressing and brought lots of recycled tissue paper with me. But it wasn’t. Justicia Now was riveting and enlightening because you go on a journey with the indigenous people as they protest and with the lawyers as they fight for justice. “Justicia Ya!” the people chant. I felt like chanting too.

A companion photo book called Crude Reflections: Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest by Lou Dematteis is also being released. 

For more scoop or to help, please see Amazon Watch led by the amazing Atossa Soltani, and consider joining one of their upcoming activities. Just released is their new animated YouTube video spoof by cartoonist Mark Fiore. See www.chevrontoxico.com and www.amazonwatch.org

All I can say for now is, thank goodness I finally got that Prius, which has gone 90 mph on the freeway so far without a shake. My average fuel economy is 43 mpg. And just wait until we can buy 100+ mpg plug-in hybrids. Chevron, Ha!

Eco Best of SF Film Fest

Hold onto your straw hat, the Earth Day events are near. Over the next few days, I will be reporting on the Best of Earth Day Week, or rather Month. While Earth Day is officially April 22, there is an amazing agenda throughout the entire month of April for the green at heart.

We begin with my favorite happy meal combo - movies and after parties. The San Francisco International Film Festival from April 24 through May 8 is gearing up to release one of the best feats of environmental programming ever. Here are my picks for don’t miss eco movies of the festival.

FLOW: A movie for the love of water, this must-see documentary won rave reviews at Sundance and is sure to get the conservation flowing. Blue is the new green.

Ice People: Get up close and personal with Antarctica and its inhabitants and experience a time when this frozen sheet of ice was warm and lush. A film that will melt your mind and your heart.

Sleep Dealer: The sci-fi movie counterpart to Flow, festival insiders say this is the film to watch. It sounds like an eco-version of the Matrix.

Up The Yangtze: Yowzers, the Three Gorges Dam being built in China makes for a film subject that is larger than life. See this phenomenon through the eyes of two teenagers and the eyes of the world.

Dust: A story that has never been told, hopefully not for good reason, this documentary gets down and dirty with the thing we all love to hate, dust. Apparently the portrayed beauty of dust bunnies and the origin of the universe will help us see this nuisance in a new light.

Vanity Fair Reel Relief After Party at Temple: What better way to celebrate all of the outstanding eco films than by partying late into the night at the most sustainable nightclub around, Temple. Vanity Fair is hosting a green VIP blow out on the festival’s closing night on May 8. The event doubles as a Reel Relief charity event benefiting the enviro-powerhouse organization NRDC. Organic cocktails will be in abundance.

For tickets to these films and events, please visit the SF Film Festival web site.

The festival home is the new green-remodeled Sundance Kabuki Theatre where I just saw a preview of season two of the fabulous Robert Redford's Sundance Channel The Green series Big Ideas for a Small Planet on TV now. The Lexus Hybrid Living after party next door was drop dead gorgeous. Lights, camera, eco-action.  www.sffs.org

Chicago 10 SF Premiere

From the producers of An Inconvenient Truth comes another earth-changing indie masterpiece film - Chicago 10 - about the power of one man - Abbie Hoffman - to harness and unite the power of people against war in 1968. Hordes of people to be exact.

I saw the first-cut of this movie at Sundance, and it was fantastic. It had it all: protests, moving scenes, rare archival footage, animation, edge-of-your-seat drama, a great soundtrack, and even some long hair and bell bottoms. For me, the best part is that the film makes you feel empowered and motivated to be a part of democracy, a part of our country. You have a voice. I have a voice. Collectively our voices can matter even more. At what point do they become a threat and trigger an immune response by the establishment?  To say that this film is timely is an understatement.

Please join Vanity Fair, Participant Productions, Roadside Attractions, and River Road Entertainment for an evening of film and conversation at the premiere of Chicago 10 in San Francisco.

CHICAGO 10
San Francisco Movie Premiere

WHEN:
Thursday February 21, 2008
6:30 pm Doors Open
7:00 pm Film Screening
8:30 pm Expert Panel

WHERE:
Sundance Kabuki Theater
1881 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94115

PANEL FEATURING:

• Roy Sekoff, Founding Editor of The Huffington Post
• James Rucker, Color of Change
• Meg Garlinghouse, Yahoo! for Good
• Marc Morgenstern, Declare Yourself
• Lisa Tiedt, green.msn.com

MOVIE:
Chicago 10 directed by Brett Morgen
www.takepart.com/chicago10

RSVP:
Call 310-246-7735

Note:  The Washington DC premiere is Tuesday night, and the Los Angeles premiere is Wednesday night.

Escaping the Shopocalypse

What Would Jesus Buy? is a loaded question. I will admit that I didn’t want to see this movie because of its heavy title. I thought it would be one giant reel of a guilt trip, a polarizing approach that would hurt more than it would help. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The film What Would Jesus Buy? is a trip all right, a wild wacky road trip across America by the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and its leader Reverend Billy. In biodiesel buses of course.

The Reverend Billy is a cross between Al Gore and Elvis Presley with blond heavily hairsprayed hair. He leads his choir on crusade across the country to spread the gospel of the true meaning of Christmas. No big box store is safe. He uses humor to wake people up and help them laugh their way to a holiday filled with fewer cash registers and more fulfillment. What makes it work is that it comes from a place of love, not guilt. His big hair helps too.

The Reverend tries to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse. He exorcizes the credit cards of people drowning in debt. He gets thrown in jail. He enlightens the Mall of America (to the extent possible). He exorcizes a Wal-Mart sign. He even descends upon Disneyland to try to convert mouseketeers from an artificial dream to a real dream.

He booms through his megaphone, “Stop shopping!” Shopping has become a national pastime. People list it as a hobby. Is there anything else to do besides shop and watch television? “Stop behaving like sheep,” he yells on Black Friday as the people crush each other at 5:00 am to get through the doors of Best Buy.

The movie suggests that people are caught in an endless loop of shopping to try to find satisfaction, which fails to produce lasting results, which leads to more shopping. We are told that presents equal love. The more we spend, the more we love the recipient, right?

He encourages us to ask about our gifts – where was it made? He takes us to the brutal sweatshops of India and China. It doesn't feel like Christmas there. To remedy this, we can buy presents made in the USA and put money back into our communities.

There is a joy in gift giving that the Reverend doesn't address. I genuinely like giving presents and suspect many others do also. So what can we do?

• Give less = more (with advance warning to recipients)
• Give a gift made locally or Made In America
• Give a green gift or a fair trade gift
• Give a service or an experience, such as a massage
• Give time and love, this is the greatest gift of all

In short, we are people first, not consumers first. As Reverend Billy says, “let's spend less time shopping and more time living.” Amen to that.

The 11th Hour

The hour is fast approaching when celebrity Leonardo DiCaprio’s long-anticipated new film The 11th Hour will open in theaters. The planet is Leonardo’s passion, and The 11th Hour is his ultimate passion project.

Leila Conners Petersen & Nadia Conners from Tree Media directed this stunning film, which showcases an impressive lineup of environmental gurus and stars. The film debuted at Cannes to much paparazzi and fanfare.

The 11th Hour opens in Los Angeles and New York on August 17, and then in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Boston and many other cities on August 24.  Bring your friends and go see the film in the 1st hour on opening weekend. Check out the engaging movie web site and social action campaign at www.11thhouraction.com.

We are experiencing a Green Renaissance like never before, and it is an exciting time to be alive. In The 11th Hour, Leonardo DiCaprio takes on not just the climate, but also the forests, the oceans, the soil, the species, the planetary works. He leaves no stone unturned and takes us on an unforgettable journey that culminates with modern-day solutions. History will show that the 11th Hour will be our finest hour to rally for the planet.

As DiCaprio says, "The hope is us. Let's begin." www.11thhouraction.com

VIP Movie Premiere of The 11th Hour - San Francisco

FEATURING:

• Directors Leila Conners Petersen & Nadia Conners from Tree Media
• The producers and many of the film’s stars
• Matt Petersen, CEO of Global Green
• Specialty cocktails by Square One Organic Vodka
• Organic wine from Organic Vintners
• Guayaki Organic Yerba Mate energy drinks
• Organic hors d'oeuvres
• 11th Hour eco action and solutions
• Climate neutral by Climate Clean (offsetting all six greenhouse gases)

WHO’S THERE:

The coveted Square One Organic Vodka will be serving their famous Goodnight Ginger organic specialty cocktails.

Organic Vintners will be serving an incredible array of all-organic wines from around the world including:
Fleury Fleur de l'Europe Brut Champagne (also biodynamic), Can Vendrell Brut Cava, Pircas Negras Torrontes, and Can Vendrell Barrica Tinto.

Guayaki will be serving their famous Organic Yerba Mate energy drinks which are sustainable, fairly traded, rainforest-grown, and delicious.

The luxurious hip Le Meridien Hotel will be hosting the glamorous by-invitation-only green guests in their Park Grill restaurant and serving a delicious assortment of organic hors d'oeuvres.

Climate Clean is making the movie premiere and after party Climate Neutral and will be offsetting not just the CO2 emissions but all six greenhouse gases.

   

Gavin Rocks & The 11th Hour Rolls

Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom rocked the green house this weekend at the Global Green Millennium Awards in Los Angeles. Everyone was chatting at the dinner in an impossible-to-quiet-down way, and the second Gavin took the stage to accept his California Environmental Leadership Award – silence. Mayor Newsom gave a fantastic speech about the importance of going green in San Francisco and cities in general, since over two-thirds of us are now urban dwellers.

Gavin showed true leadership by emphasizing that now is the time to think bigger and bolder than ever before to meet the global warming challenges ahead. He is right. He finished by saying, “The best is yet to come.” He received a thunderous applause and made us proud to represent San Francisco. Afterwards, many Angelenos in the ladies room asked me when Gavin was going to run for Governor of California and even President!

In a first, the Global Green Millennium Awards were made 110% climate neutral by Climate Clean which offset all six greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide. A whopping 36,000 pounds of offsets in all. Move over carbon neutral, here comes climate negative.

Pierre Andre Senizergues was inspiring as the winner in the Corporate Environmental Leadership category, but he was the antithesis of corporate. Pierre was originally homeless upon immigrating to the U.S. from Paris. He become a famous professional skateboarder and then started the company Sole Technology, maker of popular footwear for action sports including skateboards, surfing, and snowboarding. Get your X Games shoe on. He believes in giving back to the environment and succeeds in running a truly sustainable company complete with solar panels and an eco line of sneakers. Pierre is one cool dude and a role model for young people and business owners everywhere. If business can become regenerative for the planet, rather than wasteful and destructive, we will all win long-term.

David Orr won for Individual Environmental Leadership for his work in ecological design at Oberlin and nationwide. David was really outstanding in the new movie The 11th Hour, which we screened in the afternoon. He spoke eloquently of the need for true leadership to lift the planet out of its spiral. One shining example of this leadership was award recipient Jena King who gave a passionate speech about saving Mother Earth for all children.

Speaking of mothers, Irmelin DiCaprio gave a touching speech while accepting the Community Environmental Leadership Award for running the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. She spoke humbly of growing up in Germany and praised her son’s commitment to the planet. Congratulations to Irmelin, Leonardo, and Tree Media (Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners) on finishing their new  eco-documentary The 11th Hour narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio which just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

The 11th Hour does an extraordinary job of illuminating what is happening to every ecosystem on the planet from a 30,000-foot view. We grasp the sequence of how we got here and where we are going. It is captivating, stunning, and motivating.

The Earth seems vast, but in reality it is becoming quite small relative to our ability to change it rapidly. For example, 95% of old-growth forests have been chopped down and 90% of the large species in the ocean are near extinction. Our soil is eroded due to conventional agriculture. Peak oil is here or near. And then there is that little thing called global warming. We learn that nature provides $35 trillion worth of services to the planet, compared to the aggregate $18 trillion GDP of all countries combined, i.e. we can’t order a replacement for nature on the Internet.

We also hear from Thom Hartman, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, about how society used to be based on current sunlight (supporting a maximum of 500 million people) and then moved to harvesting ancient sunlight in the form of fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution. This has driven our planet’s population to over 3 billion, on its way to 9 billion. And for all of you Leo fans, there is lots of dashing Leo face time in the film.

As I was flying home looking out the airplane window, I could really see the state of the Earth clearly thanks to The 11th Hour. The film does an excellent job of highlighting the Green Solutions that are putting us on a sustainable path including solar power, biomimicry, green leadership, eco-consumer buyer power, and regenerative design that minimizes waste and leaves the planet healthier than we found it. I highly recommend seeing The 11th Hour when it opens in theaters early this Fall. Stay tuned for film party plans and invitations. I promise that they will be positively eco-glamorous and positive. No doom and gloom here!

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!

EVENT: SF Film Festival Green

Films plus eco-cool, what could be better? 

In honor of their 50^th year, the San Francisco International Film Festival is launching an exemplary Green Program.

Here are the must-see green events of the festival:

FILMS:
Everything’s Cool
An excellent documentary movie about global warming that is heart-warming and actually funny, yes it is possible! Directed by Daniel Gold and Judith Helfand.
Showing:
Friday May 4 at 12:45 pm at Kabuki
Saturday May 5 at 5:45 pm at SFMOMA
Sunday May 6 at 6:30 pm at Kabuki

The Unforeseen
A celebrated film about sustainable, or rather unsustainable, development. Directed by Laura Dunn. Presented by Sundance Channel and Robert Redford.
Showing:
Friday Apr 27 at 7:45 pm at Kabuki
Sunday Apr 29 at 12:30 pm at Kabuki

PARTY:
GreenWorld Party
The official green party of the film festival, this is an event not to be missed.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
9:00 pm
Mighty
119 Utah Street at 15th

Featuring:

• Screenings of GreenWorld Contest Video Winners
• Winners of the Golden Gate Awards
• Leading Environmental Organizations
• Beloved Multimedia Bands Halou and Tarentel
• Cocktails and Green Goodie Bags
• Entrance is  $9 for SFFS members or $12

For tickets, please call 925-866-9559 or visit SFIFF50 web site

CONTEST: 
GreenWorld Video Contest
You are invited to make a two-minute film about the environment and the future of our planet. Top submissions will win prizes and be screened during the San Francisco International Film Festival. Videos are due April 22 so hurry, film and submit!

PANEL:
It’s A New (Green) World
Featuring a panel of noteworthy filmmakers and activists who are employing innovative strategies to reach audiences with environmental messages.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
5:00 pm
House 2 at the Kabuki Cinema

* Check out this new link for the full preview of SF Film Fest Green. 

GreenWorld Film Contest

If you had just 2 minutes to change the world, what would you do?

Video your answer and enter it in the GreenWorld Contest of the San Francisco International Film Festival.

The GreenWorld Contest is an online competition of short films focused on the conversations and vision needed for a truly sustainable future. Submit a video today, get discovered, win cash prizes, and inspire a world audience to make the planet a greener place.

PRIZES:
The Grand Prize winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, a Delta Air Lines round-trip domestic flight to San Francisco, a two-night stay at the Orchard Garden Hotel, a festival pass, and carbon offsets from Native Energy. Plus your short film will be screened live at the GreenWorld Party along with the videos of the nine finalists. 

AND THE WINNER IS:
The Grand Prize Winner and the Audience Favorite will be announced at SFIFF50’s Golden Gate Awards Ceremony and celebrated at the GreenWorld Party at Mighty on May 9, 2007.

DATES:
April 22: Deadline to submit videos online
April 23 - May 6:  Selection of finalists and voting by judges
May 9: Grand Prize winner announced at Golden Gate Awards Ceremony & GreenWorld After Party

UPLOAD YOUR VIDEO:
http://www.jumpcut.com/groups/greenworld

WATCH THE VIDEOS:
GreenWorld Contest Films

CELEBRITY ADVOCATES:

See the seven celebrity advocates and read their personal statements about the environment exclusive to the GreenWorld:

Producer Lawrence Bender, 18Seconds Movement
Actor Frances Fisher, Environmental Media Association
Shalom Harlow, Forest Ethics
Julia Butterfly Hill, Circle of Life
Actress Q’orianka Kilcher, Amazon Watch and on-Q Initiative
Isabella Rossellini, Wildlife Conservation Network
Actress Aisha Tyler, Trust for Public Land

JUDGES:
The judges of the GreenWorld Contest are:

• Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC
• Ian Bricke, Director, Sundance Channel
• Chris Paine, Director, Who Killed the Electric Car

VIDEO FORMAT:
All genres are welcome including fictional suspense drama, romantic comedy, investigative reports, essays, documentary, animation and experimental.

SPONSORED BY:
Yahoo! Video, Jumpcut, Heart of Green
Congratulations to the San Francisco International Film Festival on its 50^th anniversary, the first film festival in the nation to reach the historic 50 year mark.

THE GREEN Launch Party

The Launch Party for Sundance Channel’s The Green was off the eco hook. New York’s green glitterati sipped greenteanis among a sea of flickering candles and gorgeous sustainable furniture at ABC Home on Broadway near Union Square. If only I lived in New York, I would furnish my entire apartment with eco goodies from ABC. I have never been so inspired to redecorate in my life.

Just featured in Vanity Fair, the CEO of ABC Home Paulette Cole welcomed us, after someone had to shout “shut the ... up”. And Forest Ethics delivered a short and sweet inspiring speech about the Earth, i.e. the West Coast crowd was in the house. Forest Ethics is working with Victoria Secret, Williams-Sonoma, and Dell Computer to switch to sustainable and recycled paper and save our valuable forests which sequester carbon and cool the planet.

Here's a quick review of A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash. It makes one of the best cases I have seen for peak oil. Some key facts: 70% of crude oil barrels are refined for transportation, and 98% of transportation fuel currently comes from oil. See the film and impress your colleagues the next day with your oil acumen.

We learn about Hubbert’s peak, which predicted the oil peak in the U.S. around 1970. Basically, oil reserves are finite and non-renewable. Once they are gone, they are gone. Oil discovery rises and falls. Oil production then follows, rising and falling.

The ironic thing is that it took 90+ million years for oil to form from compressed organic matter. And in just 100 years, we will extract the majority of it from the earth. Hubbert’s peak now forecasts that the world will reach peak oil around 2010 and then begin the precipitous descent down the curve. We have used up an estimated 50% of the world’s oil, yet demand is increasing. In short, the era of cheap and easy oil is almost over. What is going to happen?  How much of today’s world presumes an endless supply of relatively cheap oil? Hmmm...

One of the best arguments made by the film is that if we're moving to the tar sands in Canada (which consume more energy to extract than they produce), then we really are reaching the end. Just as the world’s oil is peaking, China and India want to have their turn at the gas station. The numbers just don’t add up.

It struck me on the subway that if we superimpose the peak oil crisis on top of the global warming crisis, we get 1 + 1 = 10. Peak oil could be the very thing that helps to save us from the carbon crisis. As oil reserves dry up and oil prices rise exponentially (and the only oil left is in the unstable warring Middle East), we will be forced to find new sources of renewable energy that aren’t fossil fuels. And this will be a good thing for the polar bears and all of us.

A Crude Awakening insinuates that we might have to return to the horse and buggy. It is nice to fantasize going 9 miles per hour in a buggy through a farm, but is this really practical? The film breezes over ethanol and doesn’t distinguish between energy-negative corn ethanol (bad) and energy-positive cellulosic ethanol (good). The film oddly dismisses wind and solar energy without mentioning the promising advances of thin film solar and nanosolar for example. There is hope for the planet though, as exemplified by forbidden lands like Cuba.

This weekend at the Earthdance Film Festival, I saw two incredible films about Cuba: Sin Embargo and The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. I highly recommend both of them!

Cuba is a fascinating test case of what happens when a society hits simulated peak oil and has to transition to survive. After the Soviet Union collapsed and the U.S. embargo began, imports like oil and chemical fertilizer were cut off. 

Cuba entered the Special Period and a modern renaissance of sustainability. Urban organic gardens, bicycles, buses, large-scale organic farming (let nature do the work, not chemicals and oil), recycled material industries, solar panels, solar water heaters, biomass energy plants, small scale distributed wind turbines and more. Cuba gained energy and food sovereignty. A totally fascinating and enlightening case for the world.

Catch The Green premiering this week on the Sundance Channel. For the full experience, sip a greenteani cocktail while watching.

THE GREEN Premieres on Sundance

Coming to a flat screen TV or Tivo near you is the much-anticipated premiere of Robert Redford’s new weekly series THE GREEN on the Sundance Channel. It features original content about the Earth, green living, documentaries, and lots of eco-star talent of course.

Watch the first episode entitled “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” on April 17. View the first documentary called “A Crude Awakening” about oil.  Be there or be un-green.

Stay tuned for the full scoop from the New York launch party!

EVENT: Earthdance Film Festival

You are invited to the Earthdance Film Festival, one of the most fun and original eco-film festivals of the year. Just like Sundance, there are non-stop great movies...but at Earthdance, they are all green! 

April 14 is also national Step It Up Day where people around the country will rally to call for action on climate change. What better way to step it up than to enjoy 1-2 days of cutting-edge environmental films and parties.

Earthdance Environmental Film Festival

WHEN:
Saturday April 14
10 am - 11 pm

Sunday April 15
Noon - 10 pm

WHERE:
Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, CA 94607

FEATURING:

• Two Days of Inspiring Environmental Films
• Fireside Chats with Filmmakers
• Expert Panel Discussions
• Chocolate Tastings by Endangered Species Chocolate
• Wine & Cheese Tastings
• Music & Dance performances

EARTHDANCE Film Festival Schedule:
Watch comedies, documentaries, thrillers, animations, and dramas that celebrate the planet and all things green. Plus attend chats with filmmakers, wine and chocolate tastings, and parties. See the full schedule here:
http://www.earthdancefilms.com

TICKETS:
Half-Day Pass: $15
1-Day Pass: $25
2-Day Pass: $40
You do not have to be a museum member to buy a pass!
Click on the Earthdance Film Festival option:
http://www.museumca.org/tickets/

HOSTS:
Founder & Director Zakary Zide
Film Jury includes Nadine Weil

STEP IT UP 2007:
Saturday April 14 is the first ever National Day of Climate Action. Find and join an event near you, or start one of your own!
http://www.stepitup2007.org

In Total Denial No More

“You are not a true man. You should wear a woman’s sarong,” said the friend.

“But I don’t want to join the army. I want to document and expose the human rights atrocities in Burma to the rest of the world.”

This said by the extraordinary Ka Hsaw Wa. A man wanted in both Burma and Thailand. A man who must maintain multiple identities. A modern hero whose light shines brighter than Times Square. 

Tonight I had the privilege of previewing the new documentary Total Denial by Milena Kaneva. This riveting film chronicles the journeys of Katie Redford and Ka Hsaw Wa during the groundbreaking human rights lawsuit Doe v. Unocal. The first case of its kind, and not the last thanks to EarthRights International.

We hear the testimonies of the Burmese "John and Jane Doe" villagers, whose faces must be hidden for protection. We learn about the fascinating Alien Tort Claims law in the U.S. written in 1789, if you can believe that. It was resurrected to hold Unocal accountable for hiring the Burmese military to light villages on fire and kill and enslave locals, all to build a natural gas pipeline in Burma with the oil company Total.

Is this really the only way?  Stories like this, and there are many around the world, emphasize for me the urgent importance of transitioning from a fossil fuel-based economy to a renewably-powered one.

I don’t want to spoil the film and tell you all if the landmark human rights lawsuit succeeded or not. But please visit EarthRights International and the Total Denial film web site to learn more, attend a screening, or request a copy of the DVD. Nationwide house parties will take place on Sunday, September 16, 2007.

What really touched me about tonight was the force that is Ka Hsaw Wa. A winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, he is a Herculean change agent with this remarkable loving way. We see Ka Hsaw Wa in the Burmese jungle with his daughter, then interviewing 1,000s of victims, and then in the courtrooms fighting for justice. It was an honor to shake his hand. The Total Denial film shows unequivocally that one person can right the great wrongs in the world.

An Inconvenient Truth wins the Oscar!

And the winner is...An Inconvenient Truth! And the whole planet. Congratulations Al Gore, Davis Guggenheim, Lawrence Bender, Scott Burns, and Laurie David for winning the Oscar for Best Documentary.

An Inconvenient Truth is the movie that changed everything. A turning point for the planet. A little over 1 year ago on January 25, 2006 at 8:30 am to be exact, I saw the premiere of An Inconvenient Truth at the Sundance Film Festival. And a radiant Al Gore in the snow.

In just one year, incredible things have happened. Let's review: California passed the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared global warming to be unequivocal and 90% likely to be man-made (essentially a consensus for scientists), the Speaker of the House is targeting July 7 for national global warming legislation, Wal-Mart and Safeway are moving in a green direction, venture capitalists invested $2.9 billion in cleantech in North America (a 78% increase over 2005), and the film An Inconvenient Truth won an Oscar. And now Al Gore is up for a Nobel Peace Prize.

So to anyone who is depressed about the looming global warming catastrophe, I say, "Look at what a difference a year can make." It took the entire Industrial Revolution to create this crisis, and just one year to make great strides in awareness and initial action. Granted, we have a lot of work to do, but it can happen. And it will. No one can stop green now. The habitability of the planet depends on it. There is hope. Let's rally for a national carbon-trading system, incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and fuel economy standards worthy of future generations.

A shout out to TerraPass who stepped in to save the Oscar day when the infamous, bloated celebrity gift bags were scrapped at the last minute. TerraPass provided each celebrity presenter with one year of carbon-neutral living via 100,000 pounds of carbon offsets. The ultimate eco goodie.

On a personal note, Al Gore and the movie continue to be a significant source of inspiration for me. I can't believe I'm admitting this...but I listen to the Inconvenient Truth soundtrack by Michael Brook and the now Oscar-winning Melissa Etheridge song "I Need To Wake Up" frequently on my iPod. Does this make me a green geek?

I first witnessed Al Gore's passion at a small dinner party in 2003. A guest, who had been reading the Skeptical Environmentalist, was challenging the existence of global warming. This prompted Al Gore to go out to his car and get his laptop (the new 17-inch iBook) and give us an intimate look at his slides of CO2 and glaciers melting. What dinner? I then saw AG’s full riveting presentation at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. He brought down the house. I was so moved, I couldn't sleep the entire night. 

The AIT movie winning an Oscar is the culmination of a 30-year journey by Al Gore. When I hosted the opening night after party for An Inconvenient Truth in San Francisco and subsequent private screenings, hate mail and threats came my way. This is a very small taste of what AG must have experienced over the last three decades trying to expose the global warming threat. Thank you Al for not giving up.

Let's seize this historic moment and work together to implement green solutions. As Al Gore said on Oscar night, the climate crisis "is the overriding world challenge of our time. It's not a political issue; it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started." A standing ovation for Al Gore and the An Inconvenient Truth team!

Cool Eco Movies at Sundance

Greetings from the Sundance Film Festival. Hordes of film fans, A list celebrities, rising stars, premier parties, killer documentaries, old and new friends, virtually no sleep, and tons of green tea define Sundance. And I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

I am here seeking the next green movie blockbuster and there are definitely some candidates. Last year at Sundance, I saw the premieres of An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed The Electric Car. This began a transformational year for the modern green movement. In 2005, I was privileged to view the unveiling of March of the Penguins (The Emperor’s Journey), the original narrative version in French. Penguins in Antarctica speaking French. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Here is the Eco Movie Report from Sundance 2007, for your consideration:

Everything’s Cool

The hottest eco film at Sundance was Everything's Cool, the lively documentary about global warming that is an excellent successor to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. The film takes us on a thrilling ride with famous people who are trying to spread the message about global warming and its solutions. It is like professional open mic night for global warming specialists where every act is a hit. We see each in their element, often in the snow or lack thereof. The results are inspiring, engaging, and funny. We learn, we laugh, we cry, we marvel, we mobilize.

Hats off to the filmmakers Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold (of Blue Vinyl fame, the anti-PVC manifesto) for such an outstanding eco documentary. A must-see. This film was near and dear to Robert Redford’s heart, the founder of the Sundance Preserve organization in Utah.

Judith Helfand, of Toxic Comedy Pictures, is a master of using humor and irony to capture people’s imagination about important topics. Among the memorable moments we see in Everything’s Cool are:

• The mobile van with the words Do You Care? traversing the country asking people about G_ _ B _ L W_ R _ _ N G and receiving some eye-opening responses along the way.

• Hollywood stars Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal joining 1,000s of Canadian Inuits in the Arctic Circle to spell out the words "Artic Warning” with their bodies. Brrr...

From the Artic to Sundance, over 1,000 school children gathered on Monday in Park City and spelled out the words "Step It Up - Go Carbon Neutral" in the snow. The symbol meant "I heard you, and I'm going to respond” in Inuit. It was cool of course, and quite large I might add. Check out this aerial photo.

Manufactured Landscapes

No words can do this film justice. Only pictures. Manufactured Landscapes portrays mind-blowing footage of China’s massive industrial revolution underway. To obtain this rare inside view, the filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal followed environmental photographer Edward Burtynsky on his photo-snapping-quest through China. The scale is monumental. The results are terrifying and stunning.

While watching this film, it occurred to me that England and the United States also experienced unbridled stage-one industrial revolutions in the past. No environmental laws. Pollution running rampant into rivers and the air, poisoning citizens and eventually reaching code-red proportions. In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was born to meet growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. Prior to 1970, the federal government had no real authority to protect people from polluters. This was less than 40 years ago...

The Chinese government is facing similar issues. China is manically driven to achieve annual economic growth targets at any cost, but China’s Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has no authority to shut down polluters; they can only make suggestions. The alarming number of cancer villages, dust storms, and stage 5 contaminated water sources point to an eco-breaking point approaching. The Chinese government could give the SEPA true power before their landscapes implode. The whole world is watching.

Man has become a force of nature. But will nature fight back? A fundamental question raised by Manufactured Landscapes is: does development have to equal destruction or is there a better way. The new green is about producing and consuming in ways that are good for the planet’s inhabitants and good for business both. It is possible. This is not your mamma’s industrial revolution. This is the green revolution.

In The Shadow of the Moon

An awe-inspiring film was In the Shadow of the Moon about the Apollo space program. Man landing on the moon, told in the words of the surviving astronauts. Visually stunning, never-before-seen NASA film footage. You are right there as they take their first step on the moon and experience revelations about the Earth and their place in the universe.

This lunar documentary masterpiece was directed by David Sington at DOX. Sold to ThinkFilm, the film will hopefully be coming to a theater near you soon.  In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with admiring the full moon from afar or playing with Google Moon.

Speaking of the moon, I learned recently that there were outspoken people against Apollo; they said putting a man on the moon was impossible and a waste of money. Now it is revered as one of mankind’s greatest achievements. The debate is forgotten. There seems to be a lesson here. Naysayers will always negate, tell us why we can't or shouldn't shoot for the moon, literally or figuratively.  Take global climate change and energy independence. Many pundits pontificate on why we can't or don't need to transition to clean renewable energy. But we must persevere. Some day these anti-green skeptics will become like the moon pessimists, rendered to mere cosmic dust. Ending oil addiction will be heralded as another of humanity's great triumphs. See the Apollo Alliance.

Sundance Glitz

And now onto some glitzy Sundance-only moments:

Justin Timberlake out and about

P. Diddy chowing down on pizza at 1:00 am

The clandestine green Ice Lounge that melted away, leaving no eco-footprint trace…

Bono, without his sunglasses on

Meeting the actors from Padre Nuestro, that's all I'm saying, go see it

Sienna Miller looking oh so winter-blond-chic at the midnight premiere of Interview

No Paris Hilton this year, thank goodness

This year the theme was "Focus on Film" - the ultimate stars were the films

Diamonds: a Green Girl’s Best or Worst Friend?

Ever since Marilyn Monroe sang a breathy "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in 1953, diamonds have been etched in our minds as the ultimate sexy shiny treat. Women swoon and men shell out the suggested “2 months of salary” for the coveted diamond engagement ring.

But are diamonds really our best friend? Enter stage left Conflict Diamonds or more graphically, Blood Diamonds. It’s more like Diamonds are a Guerilla’s Best Friend.

We always hear about the 4Cs of color, cut, clarity, and carat. But let’s add a fifth C: conflict. During the past decade, more than 6,500,000 people from Sierra Leone, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have died or been made refugees due to diamond wars. Funds from the sale of rough diamonds are used by rebels to finance military coups and commit horrifying atrocities against civilians. Hmmm…I wonder what Marilyn Monroe would have to say about this.

I highly recommend the new blockbuster movie titled Blood Diamond staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. It shows a rare inside look into the conflict diamond world in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. Congratulations to Leonardo on being nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor! Blood Diamond movie 

The industry is taking glittery baby steps. In 2003, the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme was signed to curtail the conflict diamond trade. Governments are supposed to be certifying rough diamonds as conflict-free. When you buy a diamond, you are supposed to receive a “conflict-free warranty” from the seller. This is a self-policing, self-enforcing process by the diamond industry.

As you can imagine, there are bloody 2-carat loopholes. $23 million of conflict diamonds are entering the legitimate diamond trade every year from rebel-infested Ivory Coast in West Africa. Conflict diamonds from Liberia are being smuggled into neighboring countries and exported as part of the diamond trade. Diamonds are forever and so are dead people. Not very glamorous or acceptable.

If you like music, listen to the hot Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars and check out their popular new CD Living Like a Refugee. Also Kanye West won a 2006 Grammy for his song "Diamonds From Sierra Leone featuring Jay-Z" on his Late Registration album. Forever ever, ever ever...

Take Brilliant Action:

• Check out the Blood Die-mond Campaign by Global Exchange
• Sign the Petition to the World Diamond Council
  
• Learn more at Blood Diamond Action and Global Witness
  

When You Buy:

• Ask your jeweler for a Conflict-Free Warranty for your diamond
• Consult the Conflict-Free Diamond Buying Guide
• Go to Tiffany’s. Tiffany & Co is one of the best. An early leader of change, Tiffany’s tries to buy diamonds from conflict-free mines in Canada. Ultimately they hope to trace all diamonds from the mine to the store.
• Check out Brilliant Earth for high quality Canadian conflict-free diamond jewelry made with renewed gold and platinum
  
• Avoid De Beers. They are one of the worst. De Beers knowingly purchased millions of blood diamonds. They also buy up surplus diamonds to keep worldwide price sky high.
• Consider a beautiful antique diamond ring

Let’s rewrite the script…Conflict-Free Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.

Design to the E Power

The emerging mega-green celebrity Brad Pitt made an eco-appearance as the narrator of design:e2, the outstanding documentary film series on green design produced by kontentreal and sponsored by Autodesk.  In short, the Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious. Hence the 2 e's. It really is groundbreaking work. Design:e2 is the first film to present why it makes compelling economic, cultural and social sense to build green in the real-world.

Some exciting tidbits we learn in the series are:

From Red To Green: In China, William McDonough is helping to build green housing for 400 million people moving from the country to the city over the next decade. What happens in China will affect the entire world.

The Green Apple:  New York is becoming the big green apple with its leading-edge green buildings. A shining example is the Solaire in Battery Park City, the first LEED Gold residential high-rise tower in North America complete with 2 green roofs. Imagine buildings where the air coming out is cleaner than the air coming in.

Gray To Green: Construction is one of the greatest unknown contributors to global warming and waste. This show puts construction waste in a new light, as a bounty of materials that can be recycled and re-used. San Francisco is making great strides in greening gray. Now that is smart and e-powered.

The Green Machine:  Chicago is one of the greenest cities in the nation. Who knew? Mayor Richard Daley is really kicking some eco booty with his 20,000 square foot green roof on Chicago’s City Hall, which absorbs rainwater, cools the building, and reclaims space for the environment. They are saving $25,000 in energy costs. Daley has sprouted a Green Revolution 200 roofs deep. Even the McDonald’s has a green roof. Hmm…not sure what to make of that one.

Green For All: Green isn’t just for mayors and celebrities; it’s for all of us. Sergio Palleroni takes on green housing and wins in Mexico, empowering and inspiring everyone along the way. The pivotal ah-ha moment is when we see the pre-Sergio rows of uniform, unintelligent, uninhabitable hot boxes (supposed houses) and we think, how stupid they are! And then we realize that most new houses even in the U.S. aren’t built to take advantage of local sun positions and local materials – but easily could be. We also hear from TED star Cameron Sinclair, the founder of the heralded Architecture For Humanity,i.e. design like you give a damn.

On August 7, 2006, design:e2 premiered in San Francisco with great fanfare. 500 members of the eco-glitterati vied for a seat at the premiere and were treated to a lively panel discussion with the Director Tad Fettig, green building experts from USGBC and SF Department of the Environment (Laura Ingall and Mark Palmer), and the film’s star green architects. We hosted an After Party to celebrate. Here are the film premiere party photos thanks to Drew Altizer.

DVD:  Many people have asked, and I am thrilled to report that the design:e2 series is now available on DVD. Here is the Design e2 DVD from PBS. There is also a Teacher's Edition too with extra education.

Breaking News: By popular demand, more e2 is coming soon. Kontentreal just received the green light to produce the second season of design:e2 and a new six part series about energy called energy:e2 both sponsored by Autodesk. Congratulations!  www.design-e2.com

An Inconvenient Truth on DVD

The highly-anticipated DVD of An Inconvenient Truth is almost here! Expected launch date is November 21, 2006. Demand is expected to be huge. If you’d like to reserve one, you can pre-order the An Inconvenient Truth DVD.

An Inconvenient Truth is the pivotal movie of our generation. A turning point in the way we see the world. A national calling to acknowledge, tackle and solve global warming. A mission not unlike putting a man on the moon. This time, we need to put man back on planet Earth. A scientific reality and a moral imperative to secure future generations. The truth may be inconvenient, but there are convenient solutions. And we must act quickly. Vice-President Al Gore is my personal hero and a constant source of inspiration. Please see www.climatecrisis.net.

On June 2, 2006, I had the opportunity to co-host the An Inconvenient Truth Opening Night and After Party in San Francisco at Landmark Embarcadero Theater. The eco-glitterati came out in droves. Producer Lawrence Bender came up from LA to greet the crowd. There were even a few hard-core party crashers including a polar bear. Here are a few Movie Premiere party photos courtesy of Valerie Britt.

On a special note, Paramount is launching an incredible program to make the An Inconvenient Truth DVD available to every teacher, student, educator and non-profit organization who cannot afford to purchase a copy. By popular demand, a new Educational Curriculum about global warming and environmental science will accompany the DVD. You can sponsor any number of DVDs to be sent to schools, from one to 100+. The donation amount is $21 per DVD which includes sales tax and shipping. Charitable contributions are being made through the nonprofit Environmental Media Association. For more information, please contact Jackie Papier at Paramount Classics at 1-866-397-6339.

I've probably seen the film over 10 times now, and I still love it every time. Does this make me an IT groupie?  The book version of An Inconvenient Truth is amazing too. Lots of big color pictures of the glaciers and the charts, or rather, the off the charts.

Al Gore was a surprise guest on the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) this year. Here is the video of Al Gore on MTV. And who says AG isn't hip?