It’s the ecology… That might’ve been the mantra of the early 1990’s (instead of “It’s the economy, stupid!”) if more American public leaders besides Al Gore been heeding environmentalists’ warnings.

But now current films like  The Age of Stupid,  a terrifying backward glance from future decades, are trying to make up for lost time. This new documentary/dramatization, among many other environment films hitting movie houses and TV airwaves, are challenging our collective consciousness regularly – if not haunting it.

The Age of Stupid, starring actor Pete Postlethwaite (”The Usual Suspects,” “In the Name of the Father”) as a future archivist, will premiere next Monday, Sept. 21, in New York City’s Winter Garden, with an introduction by former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Prize recipient Kofi Annan. During the event, which opens with a Green Carpet (made from recycled soda bottles) The Age of Stupid will be simulcast in 450 American theaters, with tape-delay showings in more than 30 countries.

Held under a solar tent and powered by renewable energy sources, it may well be the first global premiere of its kind, featuring live-satellite discussion with scientists on the ground in the Himalayas and Indonesia. It also will be part of the UN’s Climate Week. Tickets and theater sites are available online at  Fathom Events.

Set in 2055, “The Age of Stupid”  depicts Postlethwaite as a global archivist perusing historical footage of environmental news clips and catastrophes – including “interviews” of six eco-survivors from around the world: a Hurricane Katrina survivor and former oil-company worker; an Alpine tour guide who has witnessed the demise of his homeland and livelihood over previous decades; and a young Nigerian med student who simply can’t access clean, running water in his country.

Yes, the film is meant to scare us and motivate us.

If the former Vice President’s 2006 An Inconvenient Truth galvanized the masses, films like The Age of Stupid promise to keep the viewer in arms, as experts warn yet again that Earth’s ecological tipping point looms ever closer. Presented in a hindsight-is-20/20 fashion, it projects the future, as well as the heart-crushing question: Why didn’t humans act when they could to prevent the inevitable?

“Our response to climate change will define our generation, in the same way that ending apartheid, overturning slavery or landing on the moon defined earlier generations,” director Franny Armstrong (”McLibel”, “Drowned Out”) recently said. “At the moment, we are The Age of Stupid, but there is still time to turn things round. … We’re launching this event in the U.S. and globally, with the aim of inspiring 250 million viewers to leap into action before the world leaders decide our collective fate at the crucial UN Climate Summit in December. All of life on Earth is at stake, so may as well aim high.”

Funded in part by MoveOn.Org and Greenpeace, the film moved actress Gillian Anderson and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke enough to participate in Monday’s simulcast/premiere. After the film and panel discussion, Yorke will play an acoustic version of The Age of Stupid soundtrack. The docu-drama debuted earlier this year in London, setting a Guinness World Record for the largest ever simultaneous event premiere, and requiring just one percent of the CO2 typically emitted during a Hollywood premiere.

Tickets are available at participating theater box offices as well as at Fathom Events.

(Photo: Postlewaite and director Franny Armstrong.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Midway into Ken Burns’ new ode to American history, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (starting on PBS Sept. 27), the filmmaker tells how the nation’s early park caretakers realize that wildlife is integral to preserving the parks.

You’d think this would have been obvious. But it came as an epiphany in the 1930s, decades into the development of the park system.

Oddly, until then, the public had been so busy ogling mountains and gaping at the exotic canyons of America’s national parks, that the animals seemed secondary, even incidental. Wildlife appearances were welcomed, of course. Bison wandering through a Rocky Mountain meadow enhanced the mountain vista beyond. Mountain sheep verified that one was high in the Rockies and the faithful appearance of the Yellowstone bears at the “bear dumps” or roadside feeding stops made an excursion to see Old Faithful complete.

Meanwhile, though, the wolves, bear, foxes, deer, elk and moose were still vigorously hunted, even on public lands. Government logging continued, degrading some of the very areas being preserved. And those Yellowstone bears were becoming a public menace, through no fault of their own, living on public handouts.

It took some new people in Washington to see what was wrong with this picture. One was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a champion of conservation who added national parks to the system nearly as fast as he added government programs to shore up the ailing 1930s economy.

Another key figure was George Melendez Wright, the first chief of the Wildlife Division at the National Park Service.

Wright saw what most others, at least those in the federal government, had failed to see: That leaving the wildlife alone to thrive in the parks without human interference would strengthen the ecosystems and assure the park’s sustainability.

He saw the nearly extinguished Trumpet Swans, for instance, not as potential hunting trophies, but as a species to cherish and be preserved in the wild. He understood the need for predators in the parks, and to balance the rampant recreational use of the parks to keep it in harmony with nature.

Tragically, this forward-thinking man, died in his early 30s in a car accident near Big Bend. But before he did, he pushed his philosophy forward enough that the parks were never viewed quite the same way again.

This is just one vignette in Burns’ monumental six-part, 12-hour series, which begins on PBS channels nationwide on Sept. 27 and will make Sunday evenings learning about National Parks the next best thing to going there. The film, five years in the making, is directed by Burns (who previously gave us the definitive epics, The Civil War, Jazz and Baseball) and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. Needless to say, the cinematography rocks (and not just the footage of the Rockies), and the collection of historic photos and clips presented is awesome. (Thank Burns and his chief cinematographer Buddy Squires.)

Burns excels at homing in on the poignant moments and historic pivots, and there are plenty here, as he and and Duncan tell the sweeping history of the parks through a series of smaller stories about the people who started them, shaped them, revered them and dwelt in them.

We hear about the odd, but visionary, John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, whose love of Yosemite Valley (”the grandest of all the temples of nature”) created the concept of national parks. Later, there’s Teddy Roosevelt, who vigorously promoted the idea of parks preserves but also hankered to nab a cougar whilst visiting Yellowstone.

“Roosevelt will always baffle people who don’t hunt, because he loved the animals and he loved to hunt,” notes one of the many historians and park rangers who narrate this documentary. (Park rangers who are eerily eloquent like Gerard Baker, a Native American ranger, Detroit-native Shelton Johnson, who missed his calling as a writer, and former Ranger Nevada Barr, who did become a writer.)

We learn how George Bird Grinnell, founder of the Audubon Society (and yes, that’s his real middle name), helped save the bison from extinction. And how onetime Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, described as “ruthless, unethical and highly effective” public leader abolished segregation in the National Parks and fended off special interests to create more protected spaces.

This hall of fascinating figures includes both the virtuous champions of the cause and those who undermined it. We meet defenders of rare birds and the nefarious absconder of ancient artifacts from Mesa Verde. The fun folks elevate the story so far above the “travelogue” that critics were worried would emerge, it doesn’t even bear fretting for one minute more about that.

Burns, master of his craft that he is, does not forget the common man/woman. Somehow, he has unearthed precious home memoirs of park aficionados dating back to the turn of the century. We follow one brave couple from Nebraska, Edward and Margaret Gerkie, as they tent alongside their car in various developing parks . We meet another man, a Japanese-born artist Chiura Obata whose spiritual connection to the “Holy Mountain,” Mount Rainier, leads to his life’s work painting scenes from the national parks. And naturally we meet Ansel Adams, photographer extraordinaire of the American West.

Just as the U.S. bureaucrats finally remembered to include wildlife in their plans for the nascent national parks, Burns remembers to put the people into his chronicle, turning what could have been a grand, but monotonous travelogue into a spirited exploration of our social and natural history, our culture and values.

But we would expect no less from our de facto national documentary filmmaker as he expounds on our nation’s presumed “best idea”.

About that claim, some will argue that America’s best idea was something else; something like, say, modern democracy (if you leave the ancient Greeks out of it) or representative government (skipping over the Iroquois here), or great TV sitcoms (a possible contender).

But Burns and team make a good case that the parks, set aside for all to enjoy, are uniquely American and embody our democratic spirit and more.

“The country (and therefore the parks) belong to the people. They are not for the rich alone,” says FDR, in a segment about how this nature-loving president, unable to hike or even walk far, greatly expanded the number of parks including some remote places.

Burns’ mega documentary, all 12 hours of it, is carefully organized, following the chronology of the parks from their inception in the 1800s, spurred by naturalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir, to about 1980 (a little disappointment there, given there are so many parallels with current park issues).

But his execution is multi-layered, creating a nuanced version of history with a panoply of interesting byways, detours and surprises.

He presents the parks as they were first viewed – as amazing spectacles that any American would be lucky to see and follows them though their various incarnations as vacation spots, points of education, and finally as core of our identity.

Our string of magnificent National Parks, concludes Sierra Club executive president Carl Pope, seems to suit a nation of immigrants, giving us places of peace and land that endures:

“They are the meaning of home for many of us.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby knew their documentary about ocean acidification would have to pass a high test to avoid overwhelming a public already grappling with the many technical facets of climate change.

To sound the alarm about yet another looming global warming catastrophe, the potential destruction of all marine life, their film would have to be engaging, accessible, down-to-earth.

Happily, A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish succeeds on all those levels. Humanizing this critical issue like no previous film or book, it follows the soft-spoken Huseby on an odyssey of discovery as he meets with scientists and activists in Alaska, Seattle, California and Norway trying to understand the phenomenon of ocean acidification.

Gently, the story drives home what’s at stake: A healthy planet for future generations, embodied in this case by Sven and Barbara’s spirited grandson, Elias, age 5. The irrepressible Elias serves as the film’s touchstone, reminding us of the urgency of his grandfather’s mission and of the simple wonders of beach and ocean.

Sven writes “home” about his discoveries to Elias, who lives in California (where in real life, he watches Blue Planet and is known as “a very verbal fellow”). He tells him he’s deeply worried about the oceans, but adds that as a former teacher, “I really believe the power to change begins with knowledge.”

On his travels, Sven considers how he’ll explain to Elias about this problem that should rightly fall outside the scope of childhood — the potential complete destruction of the oceans via acidification, the result of the seas absorbing humankind’s carbon dioxide emissions.

In asking, what are we leaving behind for our kids and grandkids, A Sea Change doesn’t mince words.

But this inter-generational interplay also lends the film a warmth, and keeps it clear of the rocky shoals where more strident, proselytizing documentaries sometimes crash. Sven is on a fact-finding mission, not a soap box. His director and wife, Barbara Ettinger, uses ample footage from expert subjects, but also keeps them off the preaching podium.

A Sea Change deliberately reaches out to people of all ages and political stripes. Kids will enjoy Elias’s viewpoint. Newcomers to the subject will appreciate Sven’s Mr. Rogers-like approach to interviews. The film is paced to allow for periodic reflection, and beautifully filmed along the rocky coasts of the Pacific Northwest and Norway, all the way to the Arctic, where we see and hear the ice dropping into the sea.

Sven ultimately meets a score of scientists and environmentalists who are passionate about their mission to save the oceans (which cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface). He also visits with artist Maya Lin to ponder the psychology of why we haven’t been better ocean stewards.

The film, released this spring, is being featured this week at the Downtown Film Festival-Los Angeles on Aug. 20 (Thursday at 7 p.m.) and will have its New York City premiere at the American Museum of Natural History on Sept. 13. It is also playing at cinema festivals around the world. It was conceived of in late 2006 when Sven and Barbara were both struck by the New Yorker article, “The Darkening Sea” by Elizabeth Kolbert. Barbara, a filmmaker, and Sven, a former teacher and headmaster of the Putney School in Vermont, considered themselves enlightened people; Barbara’s last film had even tackled a regional environmental fight. Yet the ocean article was startling.

“We were flabbergasted that we’d never heard of the phenomenon of acidification of the sea,” Sven said last week from his home in upstate New York.

The couple set out to investigate. Sven pursued financing (eventually signing several foundations to back the movie), as Barbara figured out how to turn the story into a film that could reach a wide audience.

“We made a very clear decision. I guess part of it is who we are as people. We didn’t want to make an apocalyptic film. But what we see in this area of ocean acidification are some very big issues,” Sven said in an interview with GreenRightNow.

Much of what the film crew uncovered was disturbing, he said; “I got pretty depressed the first half of this film as we interviewed scientist after scientist.”

As the native Norwegian and former private school headmaster travels from Alaska to the Pacific Northwest US to a scientists’ outpost in Tromsoe, Norway, a dark cloud emerges. Everything out in the deep blue is in jeopardy. The oceans have been absorbing the earth’s mounting CO2 emissions, but now, all life, from the tiniest marine creatures to those at the top of the food chain – to humans – is paying a toll.

“For 20,000 years, we’ve had a relatively stable environment. Now, there are going to be a lot of extinctions,” reports Dr. Jeff Short, then with NOAA, now the Pacific Science director for Oceana.

“Ocean chemistry is being altered on a scale not seen for millions of years,” says marine professor, Dr. Edward L. Miles, ot the University of Washington: “And we don’t know what the consequences will be.”

When the oceans turn acidic, Sven explains in our interview, “it’s like dropping a piece of chalk into vinegar.” That’s an exaggeration, but what happens to the chalk shows how shellfish, coral and the delicate, tiny pterapods at the foundation of the marine food chain are being affected.

Increasing carbon emissions here on land mean more ocean acidity, which is sapping the oceans’ capacity to support life and pushing them to the brink. Fish populations are thinning, coral is dying and the Ph of the water is nearing fatal levels for many species.

We get many visuals. Sven interviews a chemistry teacher who demonstrates with baby teeth what acid (in the form of a soda) can do to a calcium coating, like those on the pterapods. (You’ll understand the oceans better, and reconsider your next Coke.)

Similar mini-tutorials keep us hanging in with Sven as he bikes, hikes and hovers on several coastlines, explaining the threat to our oceans – and during the last part of the film, what can be done to save them.

It’s an enjoyable ride, even under that brooding cloud. Our amazingly robust 65-year-old narrator, his glib grandson, and the fleet of people working to solve things make for an eye-opening tale. There are poignant moments, like when the author of the New Yorker piece Kolbert commiserates with Sven about leaving such an ailing planet for our children.

“I continue to think about that remark and trying to turn this thing around,” Sven says in our interview.

A Sea Change does offer hope, on several coasts. There are the lawyer activist in California, wind engineers in Norway, executives at Google and others, who believe pollution can be stopped and alternative energy harnessed to turn back the carbon clock.

Even in unlikely spots, such as the century-old Solstrand Hotel in Norway, which now operates on renewable energy from the ocean, there’s hope.

How can ordinary people help? “They can think about their carbon footprint,” says Huseby. “They can ask themselves how can they decrease the fossil fuel they use for transportation. They can ask how well have they insulated their homes…through conservation alone we can do the most. It’s not that expensive and it can have a huge impact.”

And, he adds, you should contact your Congressional representative.

“It sounds old-fashioned, even quaint. But it’s really important that people write to their representatives and stress that they want to get off fossil fuels…They all say they need the push. So let’s start pushing.”

Details:

A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish
Director/producer: Barbara Ettinger; co-producer: Sven Huseby; co-producer: Susan Cohn Rockefeller; editing: Toby Shimin; cinematography by Claudia Raschke-Robinson; associate producer: Ben Kalina.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Related video:

Watch the trailer for A Sea Change:

Downtown Film Festival–Los Angeles will hold its fourth annual Sustainable L.A. event, co-presented by arts>Brookfield Properties, on Thursday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 7+FIG at Ernst and Young Plaza.

This special event will be located at 7+FIG at Ernst and Young Plaza in downtown Los Angeles, at the corner of 7th and Figueroa Streets. A farmer’s market and product expo take place on the main level, while the speakers and films will take place at the 7+FIG Art Space on the second level of the center. A reception at the Festival Lounge at the AT&T Center will follow the event, beginning at 7 p.m.

“After four years, Sustainable L.A. is not only an important part of our Festival, but an anticipated event for environmentally conscious residents from all over the Southland,” event director David Andrusia said in a statement. “In the past, our mission has been to educate people about the value of sustainable lifestyles; this year, our goal was to make the event as do-it-yourself as possible so that people can learn exactly how to do so in ways that are rewarding, easy, and—yes—fun.”

The schedule of speakers includes:

11 a.m. — Susan Gottlieb is an environmentalist, water conservation expert, and holds position on boards of influential environmental organizations such as Friends of the Ballona Wetlands and the Theodore Payne Foundation. She owns the “Eco-Conscience” G2 Gallery with her husband, where she showcases work of the world’s most renowned nature and wildlife photographers, donating 100% of the proceeds to environmental charities. Drawing on her extensive experience with gardening and wildlife, Susan shows us how to go green in our backyards by planting native plants which require little or no water.

12 p.m. — JoAnn Cianculli, author of the highly acclaimed L.A.’s Original Farmer’s Market Cookbook: Meet Me at 3rd and Fairfax, is a widely published food writer and Food Network producer who has also been a guest panelist on Bravo Network’s Top Chef. She’ll share lore and anecdotes of what is arguably L.A.’s oldest sustainable market, as well as best-loved recipes of yesterday and today.

1 p.m. — Corinne Trang has been called the “Julia Child of Asian Cuisine.” An award-winning cookbook author, she contributes to Food & Wine, Cooking Light, and Saveur and is author of the just-published Noodles Every Day. She’ll talk about why Asia boasts the world’s original sustainable cuisine — entirely based on local ingredients and regional climates and cultures.

2 p.m. — Michele Carbone is the Santa Barbara-based author of Friday Evening: Creating La Dolce Vita, One Bite at a Time, in which she offers readers a year’s worth of culinary inspiration for less than the cost of a Friday night out. A knowledgeable advocate of Italian cuisine in the Old World and new, Michele will share all the best ways to grow food for and cook a traditional Mediterranean, food-based lifestyle —and the health and well-being it brings.

3 p.m — Bridgett Fernandez created the Bridgett Artise Originals line in 2000 as an inspired mix of trends, vintage apparel, and edgy designs to appeal to the most fashion conscious of the day. She has been nominated for several fashion awards and featured in Lucky magazine, and her designs have graced the shoulders of fashionistas Vivica A. Fox, Sheryl Crow, and more. The author of Born Again Vintage, she’ll discuss how to recreate, revamp, and recycle average vintage pieces through on-site demonstrations of her much sought-after technique.

4 p.m. — Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, authors of The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City and the blog www.homegrownrevolution.com, describe their unique outlook on farming and gardening in an urban setting. Step-by-step projects include harvesting your own vegetables, raising city chickens, and converting to solar energy; the authors’ practical information encourages us to participate in sustainability every day.

5 p.m. — Rubin Naiman, PhD, director of Circadian Health Associates and recognized sleep and dream medicine leader, also lays claim to groundbreaking books that include Healing Night and Healthy Sleep (co-authored with Dr. Andrew Weil). He will present his heralded blend of sleep science and alternative medicine methods—a sustainable and holistic Deep Green Sleep that all will want to adopt.

6 p.m. — Florence Reed, a noted expert on ecotourism and honorary doctorate holder, has been involved in the sustainability movement since her days as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The Founder and President of Sustainable Harvest International, Florence will talk about how traveling green can be rewarding, respectful, and, of course, fun, including a review of the hottest ecotourism destinations of today.

The centerpiece film of the program is the Los Angeles premiere of A Sea Change, a new documentary about ocean acidification directed by Barbara Ettinger, to show at the festival’s main screening venue at the AT&T Center Theater at 7:30 p.m.

Downtown Film Festival–L.A. is scheduled for August 12-22 at venues throughout downtown L.A.

Food, Inc. could have delivered a reach-for-the-Maalox montage of cows mired in manure, pig carcasses whacked about on conveyor belts and immobilized chickens locked in dark crowded coops to make its point about how mass food production has become such an unhealthy affair.

The film does dish up selected grotesque shots of slabs of beef, downer cows, dead hens and grimy CAFOs. There are a few gasp-aloud moments, such as when chickens are beheaded (inexplicably, the scene is chosen from footage of a sustainable farm operation — to show humane life and death?). But that aside, the beauty of this excellent documentary lies in its restraint. Rather than beating up corporate culprits Smithfield, Cargill and others with the big stick of blood and guts, Food Inc. confidently and methodically peels back the labels on our packaged food wonderland, telling an even-handed tale of relentless corruption and greed.

We begin in la-la land — a chilly grocery aisle where cheap subsidized corn infiltrates everything from mayonnaise to pancake syrup and the eerily perfect vegetables come engineered to survive shipping. The camera flows Lynch-like over beautifully arrayed aisles teeming with seeming variety, except that its an illusion. This bonanza of pre-fab food is composed mainly of subsidized commodities — corn and soybeans — and doused in cheap sweeteners like the high fructose corn syrup. A formula for poor nutrition, and diabetes.

Food, Inc. covers a lot of turf. It shows how we got here (agriculture that once nobly tried to pump up yields turned aggressive and restaurants adopted assembly line production — shout out to Mickey Ds!); how bad it is (cows fattened and sickened on grain that build up E. coli in their guts); how big it is (32,000 hogs killed every day at the world’s largest slaughterhouse in North Carolina), how warped (chickens bred to produce more breast meat pitch forward and can’t walk) and how negligent (as the system has grown, food inspectors have declined five-fold since 1970).

Pathogens, food poisoning victims, ineffective regulators, corrupt Washington influences. It’s all here, a feast of good intentions run amok and bad intentions covered up.

The film is relentless, and fascinating, as long as you’re not planning on dinner afterward. Reviewers have called it “riveting” and “horrifying”, (though I bet after a hiatus they’re still eating hamburger). To those familiar with the issues, it won’t be horrifying so much as a call to action. (You can answer that call on the website.)

Director Robert Kenner spent six years on this film, and it shows. Food, Inc. races back and forth between the producers and the consumers, but remains coherent. We get intimate glimpses of a financially strapped family shopping for groceries only to find that the hamburger is more affordable than the broccoli. There’s a classroom where the majority of kids raise their hands when asked if they have a family member with diabetes. A chicken producer reveals how the animals fare in a typical poultry house, risking her corporate contract (which she later loses). Diana De Gette remembers her toddler son, Kevin, poisoned by a hamburger infected with the E. coli bacteria.

The narrators, journalist and co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and author Michael Pollan, (Omnivore’s Dilemma), walk us through the complexities but don’t get in the way.

From Green Right Now Reports

This Friday is World Environment Day and the big event will be the global premiere of the environmental film Home. Narrated by Glenn Close and directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the photographer and author of Earth From Above, the film can be seen in movie theaters, on DVD, and for free on television and the Internet.

The documentary about environmental issues, which was filmed in 50 countries and shot entirely from the sky in high definition, is a commentary on the major environmental and social issues challenging our world and calls for a new awareness that protecting the earth is indispensable. The premise: In 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution. The price to pay is high as humankind has barely 10 years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of the Earth’s riches and change its patterns of consumption.

Arthus-Bertrand’s collaborators on the project were producer/director Luc Besson and Francois-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of the French luxury group PPR, which is the majority shareholder of PUMA and the world exclusive partner for the film.

“Creating awareness of our environment’s emergency state is crucial and the first step for an improved handling of our natural resources,” Jochen Zeitz, chairman and CEO of PUMA, said in a statement. “In line with our PUMAVision concept, PUMA has implemented numerous environmental initiatives through various programs that aim at reducing our ‘paw print’ — the effects that PUMA’s operations and actions have on the environment. The Home film inspires us to work towards making a positive contribution to our planet.”

Proceeds from the sale of merchandising products related to the film will be donated to the organization www.goodplanet.org.

By Melissa Segrest
Green Right Now

Is there any more emotional moment on TV than when you hear the words “Driver! Move that bus!”?

Admit it, you love it. That’s host Ty Pennington’s climactic moment on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition every Sunday, when a family in need sees – for the first time — the beautiful, brand new house that has replaced their dilapidated, crowded or otherwise  inadequate home.

It’s not just the house that’s beautiful — the landscaping is spectacular, too. Meticulous, colorful and interesting, it’s clear that the landscape artists who create new yards for the families are good at their jobs.

The Extreme Makeover team always asks the landscape artists they bring into each project to think green: native plants from the region where they’re building, low maintenance design to conserve water and just generally environmentally friendly, says Diane Korman, the show’s senior producer.

But the landscaping for this upcoming Sunday’s episode has a bit of a twist.

We’re not going to give away the surprise, but let’s just say that the recipient of the next home makeover requires an outdoor space that’s practical and navigable for a person with special needs.

Enter Maury Beckmann and Preston Montague from New Earth Design in Raleigh, N.C. The pair led a team of horticultural designers to create the exterior planting and garden for the new home. Their goal, as with all of their projects, Beckmann said, is to bring together the comforts of an outdoor room, artistry and being sustainable and natural. They pay close attention to native plants, water conservation, waste management, wildlife habitat and even food production.

Another essential member of the team was Erin Weston of Weston Farms in North Carolina. Weston creates “horticultural art” that turns a back yard into a gallery of natural designs using everything from flowering branches to seed pods to magnolia wreaths, for example.

The team ran into a little glitch that would have made most folks run screaming from the scene: The promised 28 hours they were given to create the landscape design was truncated into a couple of hours. They had to revamp and change some plans: no rainwater catchment system off the large metal roof, no wind turbine.

But if you need something great created in a hurry, Beckmann and team may be the ones to call. He said they used native ornamental grasses such as Muley grass, a limited amount of turf (they used Zoysia) and permeable pavers which will make getting around easier.

In the back yard, they created a kind of “Victory Garden” with herbs, blueberries, heirloom veggies, and miniature apple and fig trees. They also incorporated some personal touches that would have meaning and “be empowering” to the homeowner (If we tell you more we’ll give it away). The result, Beckmann said, was very rustic. The owner “was really happy with the back yard, the Victory Garden theme,” he added.

The job went so smoothly that New Earth Design and Weston Farms have decided to form a partnership, pairing the artistry of nature and the creation of “outdoor rooms.” But perhaps you can give them more than a couple of hours to create their masterpieces.

The show will air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC

Photos by Vanessa Price, courtesy “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

These days it’s not just individual Hollywood A-listers who are going green in their personal lives; they’re taking the entire movie set in a sustainable direction. Some eco-driven insiders have even started up side businesses to complement their work in film. And who knows, with emerging companies like Film Biz Recycling in New York and EcoSet Consulting in Los Angeles, the industry may have just conjured up a new wave of green troops.

Shannon Schaefer, founder of the fledgling EcoSet Consulting (website still in progress), is on the front lines. During her stint as production secretary on the Coen Brothers’ film  A Serious Man in Minneapolis last fall, she helped the Coens and FOCUS Features studio divert more than 11 tons of waste from the landfill.

From unused film to leftover food to set props, Schaefer and others recycled or composted the kinds of things that normally end up in a trash dump somewhere.

It started when Schaefer, who has worked in film production for several years (and who officially started her company in December), made it known that she would take charge of greening the set, if the film’s muckety-mucks were interested. As it turned out, FOCUS Features had already instituted a policy to make its operations as eco-friendly as possible, so Schaefer founder herself in charge of not just clean-up, but green-up.

During the 44-day shoot, she says, 80 percent of the 14 tons of trash was diverted. To start, organizers avoided the use of plastic water bottles whenever possible – instead, providing water stations and reusable bottles around the location, preventing an estimated 10,000 plastic water bottles from going to the city dump. Yet only 6 percent of the diverted waste was recycled cardboard, bottles or cans. Surprisingly, 74 percent of the refuse went to compost, including virtually everything from catering and craft services – fruits, vegetables, meat, bones, dairy, paper and corn eating utensils (plates, napkins, cups, forks, knives). “Basically anything that was once an animal or a plant is now compost,” Schaefer said.

The way it began was organic, Schaefer says. She didn’t approach the filmmakers or the set supervisors; she was already part of their crew.

“When I was hired on, I let my supervisors know that I was interested in doing this, and so I was kind of figuring out the logistics for it at the beginning of prep. I’d written up a little memo to the crew and production office, sort of a sustainability statement saying we wanted the film to be as un-wasteful as possible. And so I was already working with my direct supervisors when it came from the top.  FOCUS Features had to be the ones to say, ‘Go ahead’ – because often there can be additional costs to recycling and diverting waste.”

Once given the go-ahead, the production office worked with Minneapolis’s Eureka Recycling and local hauler Boone Trucking. In doing so, they were not only able to set a tone within the industry; they were able to show ultimate respect for their host town – by not trashing it.

“I’ve seen a lot of waste,” Schaefer says, “and I’ve been in the position to where even though I care about it, I’m too exhausted to deal with it after filming. So, I’ve been there – I know how hard it can be. But if you have the prep time, if you know you’re doing it in advance and that you just have to implement some new systems, it’s not that difficult.

“It’s something I really care about, and the industry has to change. I want to be part of that change. You can sit and talk about it all you want, but if you don’t do something, then you’re part of the problem.”

Schaefer says she believes that more and more film production crews and studios are moving in the same direction – away from the city dump and toward a self-created (or pre-existing) compost site.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Piles of cracked and broken shells. Gnawed bones pushed aside. Remnants of what tempted with shameless excess. And in the background, a young Army recruit observes, “This is what we fight for, you know. Not so you can waste food, but so you can have plenty.”

It’s just another day at one of Sin City’s copious casino buffets as depicted in the award-winning documentary, Buffet: All You Can Eat Las Vegas. The film, shown on PBS and at indie festivals nationwide, is MIT cultural anthropology professor and filmmaker Dr. Natasha Dow Schüll’s sometimes humorous, often outrageous look at American indulgence.

“Las Vegas is a great exemplification of things that are shared, that are afoot in American culture in a very extreme way,” says Schüll. “All over America, the buffet amplifies things endemic to our society. It doesn’t surprise me this kind of waste, which is celebrated as a public ritual at the buffet, is carrying over to the more private domain of the household. It’s very OK to throw out food.”

And throw it out we do. As reported in “Food Waste in America, A Growing Concern,” 96 billion pounds of food – or 27% of the 356 billion pounds of edible food available – is squandered every year in the U.S. And the price tag on this flagrant wastefulness? A staggering $130 billion plus annually.

But as the economy continues its free fall, more companies, food service establishments and individuals are reexamining their impact on the environment. We’re beginning to get it: The United States is united with a global community with finite resources and an ever-burgeoning population. What once seemed abundant, shrinks daily. Curbing consumption and waste is mandatory.

Truth be known, however, what we don’t waste, we’re downing in mega amounts. And the statistics – and U.S. waistlines – prove it:

• The prevalence of obesity among adults has doubled since 1976, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Today, says nonprofit Trust for America’s Health, two-thirds of American adults age 20 or older are obese or overweight.

• Broken down by number, that equates to 127 million overweight adults, another 60 million who are obese and 9 million extremely obese. Add to that, 25 million children already obese, overweight or at risk of being overweight. That’s nearly one out of three kids.

While some dispute the notion obesity is an epidemic, there’s no doubt our habits of indulgence are running amok. Costing billions in food waste and disposal, billions more in medical-related problems and fueling a $40-billion-per-year diet industry. Damaging our planet, our bodies and our health.

Our Civic Duty
There’s a kind of human delight in excess and waste, enabled and amplified by fiscal and cultural attitudes prevalent in the “Land of Plenty.” And plenty is revealed in Schüll’s exploration into the American buffet.

“The entire buffet experience – much of which has to do with gluttony and throwing away – is what you’re purchasing,” says Schüll. “It’s almost like purchasing the right and the experience to be wasteful. It’s expected and normalized behavior; there are no social structures in place that frown upon leaving food on your plate. That’s what you’re doing at a buffet. That’s why people get so giddy with it.

While you’re sitting around the table on Thursday, be sure that in addition to giving thanks for whatever combination of fowl and starches sits on the plate you also pay due respect to the water in your glass. As a new documentary insists, it’s not something to take for granted.

FLOW (the title’s an acronym for “for love of water”) is a frightening film full of outrages and dispiriting facts about the state of water here and abroad. Stocked with scary tidbits for Americans who take water safety for granted — Can it be that 40% of the brief but nasty illnesses we attribute to “something we ate” are actually caused by water? Can you believe that drugs like Prozac linger in the water supply so long they’re found in the flesh of fish? — it also travels to areas where the scene is more dire: Bolivia, where the World Bank’s insistence on water privatization led to horrible things; India, where dying of water-borne pathogens is commonplace.

Rest assured that the bottled water racket gets some light shed on it as well — as with a story in Michigan where Nestlé made a fortune by bottling water it didn’t pay a dime for, paying little if any attention to the water needs of neighbors who relied on the same reserves.

French filmmaker Irena Salina was inspired by the 2002 article “Who Owns Water?” in The Nation, and put together this impassioned film using interviews with both obscure self-taught experts and representatives of established organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council. Following an attention-getting stint on the film-festival circuit and some small theatrical engagements, FLOW is being released on DVD December 9; it can be bought either from the studio or through retailers like Amazon.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The latest edition of an annual report by the International Energy Agency was released this week, and while the news may not be unexpected, it’s unsettling nonetheless.

After conducting “field-by-field analysis of production trends at 800 of the world’s largest oilfields, an assessment of the potential for finding and developing new reserves and a bottom-up analysis of upstream costs and investment,” the agency projects that . . . without any new government policies, world primary energy demand will grow a staggering 45% by 2030.

Where the world currently uses 85 million barrels of oil per day, the IEA predicts it will demand 106 billion per day in 2030. Demand for coal, it says, will grow more than any other fuel, and while renewables will grow quickly, “oil will remain the world’s main source of energy for many years to come, even under the most optimistic of assumptions about the development of alternative technology.” (The predictions were actually higher last year, before economic turmoil made slower growth likely.)

That report can’t be bad publicity for Josh Tickell, an activist-turned-filmmaker whose new documentary Fuel is trekking across the country in a series of do-it-yourself theatrical engagements. The film, which has won awards including the Audience doc award at this year’s Sundance festival (and previously drew press attention under the title Fields of Fuel), was inspired by Tickell’s move from Australia to oil-industry-damaged Louisiana, and features interviews about the need for alternatives with everyone from Sheryl Crow to Richard Branson.

Audiences hoping to see the film (and maybe catch a glimpse of Tickell’s “Veggie Van”) can check the schedule here; Portland, OR, Seattle and Texas are the next on the list.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

James Bond has often fought men who sought to bend the Earth to their whims. But this time around, the evil scheme is a tad more realistic than a planet-sized death ray.

In the new Quantum of Solace, which opens tomorrow, the super spy’s personal vendetta (he’s hunting the folks who killed his girlfriend in the last movie) leads him into the world of a big-time operator named Dominic Greene, whose name lends itself to a glitzy organization, Greene Planet, that is ostensibly trying to help the environment and the world’s poor.

In fact, though, Greene is bent on holding the poor for ransom: He’s jumping through hoops to buy up real estate that others assume could only be good for oil drilling, and using vast underground caverns to store water that would otherwise flow to drought-stricken villages. Making yourself rich by stopping others’ water supply upstream? What is this, an espionage adventure or an ecological documentary?

The oddly named Quantum makes a couple of other nods toward green consciousness as well, though the biggest is, predictably, a bit goofy: The film’s climax takes place at a desert hotel whose power comes entirely from hydrogen fuel cells, and when the filmmakers are ready to make the really loud noises telling you it’s almost time to go home, they set all those cells off in a chain of explosions that demolishes the building completely.

Some might view that as a bit of bad publicity for the fuel-cell industry, but evidently product-placement-happy automakers don’t agree: At one point in the film, Bond swaps his famous Aston Martin in for a set of hydrogen-powered wheels.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media