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Women Arise to lead environmental justice initiatives

May 11, 2013 By

Idanha Films

Women lead environmental justice around the world in Arise. Exquisite cinematography and music are enhanced by Daryl Hannah’s evocative narration. These voices for change may be new to you.

Arise emphasizes women’s wisdom and spiritual connection with the Earth as they live sustainably. Mother and daughter Lori Joyce and Candice Orlando direct.

The film will be offered on DVD and streaming in the future. Contact them to host a screening.

Shared stories inspire

In this era of ecological peril, women across cultures are stepping forward. Arise finds beauty and hope even in extreme poverty. Reverent vignettes of art, scenery, music and poetry read by Hannah shine in this well edited production.

The filmmakers told The Huffington Post that they persevered for seven years to bring these important stories to the screen. Each leader displays compassion, intelligence, conviction and active commitment. Among those featured are:

Judy Nyguthi Kimamo, Project Officer, Women for Change – The Greenbelt Movement, Kenya

“Once you’ve empowered a woman, you’ve empowered a nation,” notes Judy Nyguthi Kimamo. “We all need each other.” Kimamo follows in the footsteps of Wangari Maathai, the founder of Kenya’s Greenbelt Movement. Participants draw well water, tend crops and animals, sing and dance together. Through Greenbelt’s civic and environmental education programs, they’re building food security.

Many no longer sleep hungry since they have learned to cultivate arrowroot, cassava and yams. Planting trees is a cornerstone of their work. It’s the easiest way to safeguard groundwater, prevent flooding, and grow crops.

Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva, Founder, Navdanya, India

One of the most eloquent voices for food democracy, physicist, activist and author Vandana Shiva founded Navdanya, a biodiversity-based organic farm, to challenge Big Agribusiness and its genetically modified seeds. She was inspired in the 1970s by the Chipko women, who hugged trees to save their forest from development and feed their families.

Women are the backbone of farming in India, says co-director Dr. Vinod Kumar Bhatt. He takes us behind the scenes at the farm’s community seed banks. Local farmers become self-sufficient by conserving and multiplying seed. “Biodiversity-based organic farming can do miracles,” says Bhatt. “It can not only increase the production but also help increase the income of small and marginal farmers.”

“Recognizing the Earth as sacred, as divine, means you first and foremost are grateful,” says Shiva. “Each time we sow a crop we know we need the cooperation of the soil as an active, intelligent, creative, sacred being to even give us the next harvest.”

Winona LaDuke

Winona LaDuke, Executive Director, Honor the Earth and White Earth Land Recovery Project, White Earth Reservation, Minnesota

Winona LaDuke, Native American environmentalist, economist and writer, leads her community in becoming healthy and self-sufficient. By preserving indigenous seed and bringing solar and wind power to White Earth, she’s fulfilling that vision. “I want to restore our food, because these foods are our medicine,” she notes. “I’m trying to relocalize and capture that local food economy.”

The Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people have lived in the region for 9,000 years. “It’s a privilege” to save wild rice from genetic modification, and to stop the damming of a local river. “I don’t consider myself an activist,” LaDuke explains, “just a responsible person.” “You need a green economy.”

Candice Orlando, Executive Director, Urbiculture Community Farms, Denver, CO

Urbiculture Community Farms is transforming empty lots, front and back yards, and school and church grounds into “food wonderlands,” says Candice Orlando. She seeks to ensure food security and to educate as community land is transformed. The food is sold through CSA (community-supported agriculture), with 30% of shares going to low income residents. Denver non-profits are also supplied with fresh food.

 

Majora Carter

Majora Carter, President, Majora Carter Group, LLC, Bronx, NY

A native of the South Bronx, Majora Carter has led revitalization projects to alleviate poverty and remediate the environment. “Communities don’t just happen. They’re made,” she says. Carter worked to establish Hunts Point Riverside Park, the borough’s first waterfront park in 60 years. Green-collar jobs have been created. A place for community celebration was born.

We can become “real heroes and players in our own lives” by remembering that the environment is ours, and we are a part of it, Carter believes.

Diverse voices presented

Also appearing in Arise are: Dana Miller, founder, Grow Local Colorado; Beverly Grant, director, Mo’Betta Greens Farmers Market, Denver; Monica Chuji, Amazonian Quechua human rights activist, Ecuador; Starhawk, author, activist and organizer for global justice; Dr. Theo Colborn, zoologist and president, Endocrine Disruption Exchange; Maggie Fox, CEO, The Climate Reality Project; Aida Shibli, Palestinian Bedouin peace activist; Jessica Posner, CEO, Shining Hope for Communities, Kenya; Bata Bhurji, administrator, Barefoot College, India.

To learn more and to get involved in environmental justice, visit Arise.

You might also enjoy: Dirt! The Movie; Women in the Dirt.

Filed Under: Activism, Character, Community, Compassion, Current Affairs, Documentary, Ecoactivism, Environment, Featured Self-Discovery, Transformation, Women Tagged With: , , , , ,

Economics of Happiness: local initiatives heal global ills

April 1, 2012 By

The Economics of Happiness urges us to go local to solve environmental, economic and human problems caused by globalization. Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick and John Page direct.

Labor of love

Diverse, multicultural views abound here. Five years in the making, the documentary spans six continents. It is now available on DVD.

Eight “inconvenient truths” about globalization are described. Globalization breeds insecurity. It wastes natural resources, destroys livelihoods and accelerates climate change. Overall, it makes us unhappy.

You might be surprised to learn that globalization is wasteful and inefficient. Government hand-outs to big business and false accounting support it.

Tale of the Ladakhis

Ladakh, or “Little Tibet,” a village in the western Himalayas, is shown before and after globalization. Happy people are shown living sustainably on their land. All Ladakhis had spacious homes and plenty of leisure time. Community activities flourished. There was no unemployment.

Ladakh was opened to tourists in the mid-1970s. Subsidized roads were built to deliver subsidized, processed foods. This undermined the local farming economy, says Norberg-Hodge. Unemployment, depression and conflict followed. Air and water pollution appeared. Western advertising made folk ways seem passé.

Outside economic pressure “created intense competition, breaking down community and the connection to nature that had been the cornerstone of Ladakhi culture for centuries,” she explains.

 

Having more means less

Psychiatrists speak out about rising levels of depression in the West. Striving to measure up to media images of affluence, “there is a constant pressure on people to have bigger, better, more,” says psychotherapist Mary-Jayne Rust. “It doesn’t bring us happiness.”

Boston College professor Juliet Schor, author of Plenitude, notes that multinational corporations drive the food and entertainment choices of children. Comparison and competition exploit greed, says Samdhong Rinpoche, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Children feel pressured to emulate Western culture.

Ecologies, resources depleted

“Encouraging consumerism threatens the ecological fabric of the entire planet. Natural resources are already stretched to the breaking point by population pressures,” Norberg-Hodge explains.

“It’s a terrific onslaught of marketing, merchandising, advertising, brainwashing,” says Balaji Shankar of India’s Kumarappa Foundation.

“The very logic of globalization requires that goods travel ever-longer distances from producer to consumer,” says Norberg-Hodge. “Because of hidden subsidies and skewed regulations, food from the other side of the world tends to cost less than food from a mile away.”

We pay for waste, inefficiency

Government subsidies fuel tremendous waste, according to Zac Goldsmith, Member of the UK Parliament. “Tuna caught on the East Coast of America is flown to Japan, packaged, then shipped back. English apples are flown to South Africa to be waxed, then flown back again to be sold.”

Fuel oil use and greenhouse gas emissions soar as goods crisscross the world.

Treaties such as NAFTA say that international trade will promote economic growth. Yet countries routinely import and export almost identical amounts of the same products such as potatoes, sugar, beef and coffee.

Casino economics

Mergers, takeovers and relocation of business to low wage countries threatens livelihoods, says Norberg-Hodge.

The situation is dire for displaced farmers in the Third World. “The present development model encourages urbanization, and intentionally works to reduce the number of farmers,” says Pracha Hutanuwatr, a leader in engaged Buddhist initiatives.

“All those displaced farmers have nowhere to go but the city, where they become cheap labor for industry, for investment from abroad,” he says.

Human rights crisis

“All we want is our land,” say Indian farmers. “Give us our land and we’ll work hard to make something, to make a life.”

“Removing people from the land is the root of all unemployment,” says Vandana Shiva, a Right Livelihood Award winner and author of Monocultures of the Mind. Shiva notes that “100,000 Indian farmers have been driven to suicide” as they lose their livelihoods.

Forced off the land into cities, religious and ethnic groups are forced to compete for few available jobs, says the film.

 

Free markets are not free

“The irony is that the majority of really polluting things that are happening today would not exist within a genuine free market,” Goldsmith says. States pay massive subsidies for monoculture farming, fossil fuel mining and nuclear power.

“It would be impossible to maintain the current global economy as it is today without enormous support from governments around the world. We’re about as far away from the free market as it’s possible to be,” he adds.

Economic growth at any cost?

More economic growth is touted as the answer to poverty, unemployment and environmental decline.

“Not only our economies but our societies, our political systems, the entire culture is focused on making sure that our GDP [gross domestic product] grows as fast as possible,” says Clive Hamilton, author of The Growth Fetish.

“Using GDP as a measure of societal progress is little short of madness,” Norberg-Hodge elaborates. “If there’s an oil spill, GDP goes up. If the water is so polluted we have to buy it in bottles, GDP goes up. War, cancer, epidemic illnesses . . . involve an exchange of money, and that means that they end up on the positive side of the balance sheet.”

Unplugging the corporations

Bailouts to big banks, stimulus packages to encourage consumer spending, and carbon trading schemes just keep a broken system afloat, the film says.

Small, local farms can produce substantially more food per acre and provide far more jobs, according to research.

When we withdraw legitimacy from big corporations, “they lose their power over us,” says David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy.

Gross National Happiness

The term Gross National Happiness was coined by the King of Bhutan in 1972. He went on to incorporate it in Bhutan’s development policy. Following his lead, world economists have begun to develop more meaningful measures of well being and prosperity.

One example of this is the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). Ron Colman, executive director of GPI Atlantic, explains that GPI takes into account human, community and natural wealth in addition to produced, material wealth. GPI “counts full social and environmental and economic benefits and costs.”

The Economics of Happiness calls for the removal of fiscal and other supports from giant, transnational corporations and banks.

Measuring progress locally

Small business and local economies can generate wealth in more equitable, sustainable ways. “If you shorten the distance between producers and consumers,” says Goldsmith, “you’re putting money straight back into the local economy where it’s desperately needed.”

Going local means that governments will re-evaluate what they regulate, tax and subsidize. Subsidies for renewable energies and mass transit are suggested.

Banking with local credit unions means that your dollars go to local economies. Ecovillages and post-carbon cities are on the rise. City governments are investing more locally. All these support local jobs and tax revenues.

Farmers’ markets allow consumers to pay less and farmers to earn more. Community is fostered at local markets.

Solutions underemphasized

The Economics of Happiness is mostly unhappy. It documents problems thoroughly and outlines solutions briefly.

What can you can do locally? The film’s Generate Alternatives and Become a Policy Changer pages are excellent places to begin. (4 out of 5 stars)

If you like The Economics of Happiness, you might enjoy:  Thrive; 2012: The Odyssey; Timewave 2013.

 

The Economics of Happiness  /   2011  /  NR  /  1 hour, 8 min

Cast Overview:  Helena Norberg-Hodge, Mary-Jayne Rust, Juliet Schor, Samdhong Rinpoche, Balaji Shankar, Zac Goldsmith, Pracha Hutanuwatr, Vandana Shiva, Clive Hamilton, David Korten, Ron Colman

Directors: Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick, John Page

Genres:  Documentary, Economics, New Thought

Filed Under: Awaken, Character, Community, Current Affairs, Documentary, Heal, Native & Life Wisdom, Nature, New Economy, Transformation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Anima Mundi: a call to live in harmony with Gaia

February 27, 2012 By

 

People and planet are one, says Anima Mundi: Permaculture, Peak Oil, Climate Change and the Soul of the World. Australian director Peter Charles Downey’s film advocates permaculture, a “science of resilience” for mindful and sustainable living.

Anima Mundi is now streaming on YouTube’s syndicadoFilms channel, or you can buy the DVD.

Old paradigm blues

With thoughtful discussion, exciting music, montages and archival footage, Anima Mundi shakes loose old beliefs. When you hear a 1950’s announcer call pollution “necessary” so we can enjoy “a chicken in every pot,” you’ll cringe at our outdated world view.

Overconsumption and reliance on dwindling oil supplies threaten our survival, leaders and scholars say. Downey interviews them to explore solutions.

What is permaculture?

Permaculture is a practice of cultivating land sustainably, relying on renewable resources and self-sustaining ecosystems. It treads gently on the Earth.

David Holmgren, who co-founded permaculture, summarizes the philosophy and design principles behind it. Examples from Holmgren’s book Permaculture Principles and Pathways include:

the built environment (passive solar); tools and technology (reuse and recycle); culture and education (participatory arts and music); health and spiritual wellbeing (yoga and other body/mind/spirit disciplines); finance and economics (ethical investment); land tenure and community governance (eco-villages and co-housing); and land and nature stewardship (seed saving and forest gardening).

Soul of the world

Anima mundi, meaning “soul of the world,” challenges the mechanistic world view. Treating the Earth like a dead machine has been a terrible mistake, Holmgren warns. “We need to re-ensoul the world” by applying “the same design principles that sustainable societies did before using fossil fuels.”

Holmgren believes we must redesign “our centralized, highly efficient industrialized machine” as abrupt climate changes begin. Nature teaches us how to survive with diversity and flexibility, he says.

Evolve or perish

“The choice being presented to mankind now is either evolve or perish,” says author Michael C. Ruppert. “Grow up or die. Change the way you view the world and your relationship to it.”

“It’s as if we in science have just discovered a sixth kind of life, which is life at the level of our planet,” says Dr. Stephan Harding, ecologist and professor. “We have to act now. Immediately.”

We need to bond with Gaia as our mother, says Dr. Christine James, psychologist. Dr. Mark O’Meadhra, integrative medicine specialist, believes exploiting the earth is “a public health problem.”

Protecting food and seed

“If we don’t relocalize our food system over the next decade, you or your children will be lining up with your ration ticket,” says Holmgren. Centralized food production and transportation “is extremely dependent on the era of cheap energy, and the era of cheap energy is over,” he adds.

Human rights activist Dr. Vandana Shiva protects seed from biotech food giants. Shiva compares seed to Gandhi’s spinning wheel, a metaphor for life and self-empowerment. “Earth is the most generous employer and job provider,” she notes, but “lack of work is a product of the marketplace.”

Adam Grubb and Dan Palmer of Permablitz redesign people’s backyards into “very edible gardens.” It’s also a way to meet people, have fun and learn.

Shop ‘til you drop?

“Classical economics is the real religion of this age,” says environmentalist John Seed. “It’s a very insidious religion. It’s consuming the Earth with a fervor.”

Seed was director of the Rainforest Information Centre, which successfully campaigned to save the sub-tropical rainforests of New South Wales. He co-authored the deep ecology classic Thinking Like a Mountain.

Our wasteful way of life is a “systemic trap,” says Holmgren. Harding agrees that “suicidal growth cannot continue.”

Sustainable growth

Perpetual growth is a dangerous practice, Holmgren argues. “Natural systems only grow at a maximum of 5% per annum.” We exceed that at our peril, he says.

Holmgren foresees “the economy of the household, the economy of the community” in gift and the barter economies. Money economies like LETS (Local Energy Trading Systems) are free from “the perpetual need to grow.”

 

Energy ROI stats startle

Holmgren cites world averages in energy returns on investment (ROI) compared to energy expended (e.g., the costs of drilling).

Oil currently gives a 10:1 ROI. (When oil was plentiful, the ratio was 100:1.) PV Solar achieves a 10:1 ROI. Wind energy yields an impressive 25:1 ratio. ROIs from coal (3:1), tar sands (2:1) and nuclear power (2:1) are relatively poor.

“Biofuels (2:1 or less ROI) are a bit like emissions trading schemes,” says Seed. Holmgren warns that using “renewable versions of what we’ve got” to perpetuate overconsumption would “drive us over a cliff.”

Earthships take off

Eco-architect Michael Reynolds, creator of the Earthship concept, says our way of life must change because of the effects of “population explosion and climate change and dwindling resources.”

Earthships are built into the ground with recycled and/or natural materials. Solar energy can fuel flat screen TVs and computers in an Earthship, while heating, cooling and electricity are powered “off the grid.”

Musical mind journey

Downey composed the theme song The Inner Workings. Also featured are The Permie Song by Michelle Morgan, and music by the Jed Rowe Band.

The director-cinematographer-editor says he followed permaculture design principles to make this independent, low budget film with love and minimal resources. (4 out of 5 stars)

If you like Anima Mundi, you might enjoy:  Dirt! The Movie; Thrive; 2012: Time for Change.

 

Anima Mundi   2011  /  NR  /  1 hour, 17 min

Cast Overview: David Holmgren, Dr. Stephan Harding, John Seed, Michael C. Ruppert, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Noam Chomsky, Michael Reynolds, Dr. Christine James, Dr. Mark O’Meadhra, Dan Palmer, Adam Grubb

Director:  Peter Charles Downey

Genre:  Documentary

 

Filed Under: Awaken, Community, Current Affairs, Documentary, Ecoactivism, Environment, Nature, Nature and Science Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,