Letters to the Editor - Email addresses:
Climate Change Resources
www.columbia.edu/~jeh1 Climate Change Data and Writings from James Hansen's website, NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies
www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch08_ss2.htm "Protecting and Restoring Forests", by Lester Brown www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch05_ss2.htm "Shrinking Forests: The Many Costs", by Lester Brown
www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2009/Update81.htm "The End of an Era" Closing the Door on Building New Coal-fired Power Plants in America, by Jonathan G. Dorn
www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch06_ss5.htm "When Population Growth and Resource Availability Collide", by Lester Brown
www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch11_ss5.htm "Restructuring the U.S. Transport System: The Potential of High-Speed Rail", by Lester Brown
Public Lands
Clearcutting in White Mountain National Forest: _http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/audio_video/south-carr-mountain-09-30-2008.html_______________________________________________________________
Vermont Sierra Club Environmental Film Library
IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
- All films are in DVD format.
- Under no circumstances can we charge for admission to any of the film screenings.
- All films MUST be returned promptly so we can keep them rotating out to other screening locations.
- It is essential that you view your films before screening to be familiar with the content, and make sure the DVD is in working order.
For questions contact Denis Rydjeski at (802) 885-4826 or DRR@Dartmouth.edu
AVAILABLE FILMS
BEING CARIBOU In 2003, beginning April 8 and ending September 8, filmmaker Leanne Allison and wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer migrated on foot with the 120,000-member Porcupine Caribou Herd from Old Crow, Yukon, Canada, to the caribou calving grounds in Alaska, and back. They took along a 15-inch George Bush replica doll. Spectacular footage and intimate video diaries give a glimpse into a landscape and a way of ‘being human’ that create a journey never before undertaken. The experience transforms the team leading them to try and convey their story to Senators on Capitol Hill one short week after returning with the caribou to their winter range in the Central Yukon. (72 minutes 2004; Alaska, Drilling, Wildlife, Humor)
BILL McKIBBEN LIVE AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE An upbeat account t of the growing popular movement in favor of robust initiatives to address climate change. Filmed at Dartmouth College on March 7, 2007. (Approximately 1 hour).
BIRDSONG AND COFFEE: A WAKE UP CALL What is the connection between coffee farmers, birds, and ourselves? Why are 25 million coffee farmers impoverished while we spend more for our coffee? Why are North American songbirds becoming harder and harder to find? What is the difference between Free trade and Fair trade? This film explores the answers to these questions and many more. We head from experts and students, from coffee lovers and bird lovers. But more importantly, we hear from the coffee farmers themselves and learn how their lives and ours are inextricably joined in ways that we need to understand. Old Dog Documentaries; (Running time 56 minutes)
THE CHINA SYNDROME This successful feature length film featuring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas was nominated for four Academy Awards. This thriller about a near-disaster at a nuclear power plant was released just 12 days before the Three Mile Island meltdown. Released by Columbia Pictures, 1979.
THE CLIMATE OF CHANGE Produced by ICLEI, an international association of 660 local governments that includes cities, counties, towns and villages around the world. The Climate of Change is an examination of how local governments are banding together with activists to fight global
warming in their communities. (30 min) Also check out their other film on the Sundance Summit. Visit their website at www.iclei.org.
CRUDE IMPACT A powerful and timely exploration of the interconnection between human domination of the planet and the discovery and use of oil, Crude Impact exposes our deep-rooted dependency on the availability of fossil fuel energy and examines the dire implications of the pending threat of global peak oil. (98 min) Visit the filmmakers' website at: www.crudeimpact.com.
EARTH TO AMERICA Earth to America is a two-hour comedy special that aired in Fall 2005 on TBS as a fundraising telethon. This hilarious special celebrates life on Earth by taking aim at one of our planet's most serious problems: global warming. . Earth to America features comedians such as Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Ray Romano, Martin Short, Ben Stiller and Jack Black, as well as Tom Hanks, Robert Kennedy, Jr., and nearly a dozen others. (120 minutes 2005; Humor, Global Warming)
ELEVENTH HOUR This new film narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio is the latest (and best?) documentary on Climate Change and its impact on human civilization. Visit the filmmakers' website at: http://wip.warnerbros.com/11thhour/.
FRENCH FRIES TO GO French Fries to Go is a short film that documents the origins of Telluride, Colorado’s Biodiesel project, which resulted in the launching of the first city bus in the nation to run on 100% pure biodiesel. The film follows Telluride’s own affectionately dubbed “Granola Ayatollah of Canola” aka Charris Ford, as he makes the rounds educating and inspiring folks in his veggie powered rig. This funny and hopeful piece features cameos by Daryl Hannah, Dennis Weaver and Dr. Andrew Weil. (15 minutes 2003; Humor, Biodiesel)
THE FUTURE OF FOOD A film by Deborah Koons Garcis. There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America, a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. The FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabelled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled US grocery store shelves for the past decade. From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada, to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies, and push toward globalization, are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed about the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.
THE GREAT WARMING We have a 90 minute version of this soon-to-be-released documentary. Narrated by Alanis Morissette and Keanu Reeves. We are living at the dawn of a new epoch. Year by year, degree by degree, Earth is growing warmer... a legacy of the Industrial Revolution, population growth, and our addiction to technology, speed and power. Just as other generations spoke of a Great Plague and a Great Depression, our children will be compelled to endure The Great Warming - and find a way to conquer its consequences. Filmed in eight countries on four continents, endorsed by dozens of the world's leading scientists, made-for television series is the most factually accurate, visually stunning and wide-ranging production ever mounted about this complex, fascinating subject. (90 minutes 2006; Faith, Global Warming)
HAPPY ENDING A four-minute movie with a happy ending on the subject of “climate change”. If there’s an upside to global warming, it’s that it is a challenge that can bring the people of this planet together. This micro-film describes how a movement called RenewUS triggers meaningful solutions.
HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR Alain Resnais’ classic French film about post-war Hiroshima, Japan weaves past and present, personal pain and public anguish, in this moody masterwork. (Argos Films, 90 minutes 1959; Nuclear)
HURRICANES ON THE BRINK A short film on the possible link between global warming and the increase in sea surface temperatures and the increase in number and intensity of hurricanes. Details the past several hurricane seasons intercut with experts in climatology and global warming. (www.onthebrink.org/about.html 40 minutes)
IRAQ FOR SALE, The War Profiteers Robert Greenwald’s 2006 documentary detailing the no-bid and single-bid contracts awarded to companies politically close to the administration of President George W. Bush. The film produces some hard numbers about the extraordinary profits these firms have made from those contracts and catalogues some of the personal and governmental accounts of fraudulent measures leading to some of those profits.
KILOWATT OURS Kilowatt Ours opens with Vice President Dick Cheney's energy policy speech in which Cheney makes the claim that America needs nearly 1900 new power plants in the next 20 years to meet projected electricity demands. From here, filmmaker Jeff Barrie takes viewers on a journey from the coal mines of West Virginia to the solar panel fields of Florida, as he discovers solutions to America's energy related problems. Kilowatt Ours invites viewers to help build a net zero nation, by conserving energy to the greatest extent possible at home, then using clean renewable energy to provide the electricity used. (64 minutes 2005 Coal, Energy Solutions)
THE LONG VIEW: A PLAN TO SAVE OUR OCEAN FISH Sound fisheries management and healthy ocean ecosystems are critical to coastal communities, businessmen, fishermen, and our environment. The US Commission on Ocean Policy concluded after a three-year study that: “our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are in trouble and major changes are urgently needed in the way we manage them.” (2006 www.conservefish.org; 12:10)
MONEY TALKS: Profits Before Patient Safety This is an outstanding dialogue on the issues of commercial drug promotion and ethics (www.moneytalksthemovie.com 50 minutes)
NOBELITY A stunning look at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of nine Nobel Laureates, Nobelity follows filmmaker Turk Pipkin's personal journey to find enlightening answers about the kind of world our children and grandchildren will know. Filmed across the U.S., and in France, England, India, and Africa, Nobelity Combines The Insights of nine distinguished Nobelists with a first-person view of world problems and the children who are most challenged by them. Our children's future is in your hands. (18 minutes).
OIL ON ICE Oil on Ice is an intimate portrayal of the native Gwich’in Indians taking on powerful global energy interests to prevent invasive oil operations threatening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s fragile caribou calving grounds on which the Native people’s subsistence has always depended. This compelling and thought-provoking film presents the struggle over the sacred land that the Gwich’in call “the place where life begins.” It vividly brings home how our energy decisions—both individually and as a society — critically impact the future of our global economy, wildlife, and the environment as well as the survival of an extraordinary traditional culture. (60 minutes & DVD extras 2005; Native Americans/Alaska, Drilling/Solutions)
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY This uplifting film tells the story of how, when the Cuban people lost access to Soviet oil in the early 1990's they survived through cooperation, conservation and community. (50 minutes)
POWER SHIFT Narrated by Cameron Diaz. Power Shift explores the remarkable ways energy touches our daily lives. Meet activists from around the world and learn personal action steps you can take to reduce global warming. (www.goworldlink.com/main.html 26 minutes)
REHABILITATION OF TORTURE SURVIVORS A copy of the PBS program “To the Contrary” on victims of torture.
SICKO Michael Moores’s “scathing indictment of America’s failing health system. Combining powerful personal testimonies with shocking statistics. Moore pulls the curtain back on the greedy HMOs , drug companies and congressmen who keep us ill” 123 minutes (www.sicko-themovie.com)
SIDE EFFECTS Based on filmmakers Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau's decade of experience working as a drug sales rep, "Side Effects" examines the pill-pushing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry's leading companies. (www.sideeffectsthemovie.com)
SILKWOOD The controversial true story that inflamed a nation. Karen Silkwood, played by Meryl Streep, responds to the discovery that she has been exposed nuclear radiation. Silkwood’s search for evidence of wrongdoing at the firm where she worked makes a dramatic story. (MGM, 131 minutes 1983; Nuclear)
THE STORY OF STUFF With Annie Leonard, this short subject uses a collage of animated cartoon and on-screen actor dialogue to convincingly explain the hidden environmental costs of the production, distribution, and trashing the products of our consumer society. “The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.” (www.storyofstuff.com)
SUV CITY A short satirical animated film about the absurdity of big SUVs. Some people might find it funnier than others as the underlying message about four common types of big-SUV buyers may ring true. (8 minutes 2006; Transportation/Humor)
SUNDANCE SUMMIT: A Mayors Gathering on Climate Protection In July 2005, ICLEI USA co-hosted, with Robert Redford and Salt Lake City (USA) Mayor Rocky Anderson, the inaugural Sundance Summit: A Mayors' Gathering on Climate Protection. A seven-minute film documenting the Sundance Summit and capturing the spirit and accomplishments of the event. Participants to the Summit are currently using the film to promote the leadership role mayors are playing in the United States to advance climate protection. (www.sundancesummit.com 8 minutes)
THE TESTAMENT With her husband away and three frightened children gathered around her, a mother faces the unthinkable – the devastating aftermath of a nuclear attack. A simple and resourcefujl film and one that has been made with unmistakable conviction … powerfully acted, especially by Jane Alexander and William Devane. (Paramount Pictures 89 minutes 1983; Nuclear)
THIRST THIRST is a character-driven documentary that reveals how the debate over water rights between communities and corporations can serve as a catalyst for explosive and steadfast resistance to globalization. It provides a piercing look at the global corporate drive to control and profit from our water -- from bottles to tap. Is water part of a shared "commons", a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in a global marketplace? THIRST tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India, and the United States that are asking these fundamental questions, as water becomes the most valuable global resource of the 21st Century. (Running time: 62 minutes)
TOO HOT NOT TO HANDLE A primer on global warming, this HBO documentary features contributions from leading scientists in the field. In addition to in-depth discussions of such subjects as the greenhouse effect, hurricanes, snowpack, hybrid vehicles, and alternative power sources, the film shows how businesses, local governments, and citizens are taking positive actions to reduce global warming emissions. (90 minutes 2006, Global Warming, Energy Solutions)
THE TORTURE QUESTION Following September 11, 2001, an internal power struggle took place in the Bush administration resulting in a questionable legal framework to give the president authority to aggressively interrogate enemy fighters in the war on terror. This PBS Frontline video goes behind the scenes to provide a definitive document on the subject of alleged interrogation abuses. (90 minutes)
THE TRUE COST OF FOOD Food issues are not simple. To bring some lightness to this heavy message, this attention-getting animated video can be used to introduce the topic of sustainable food production and how that relates to energy issues. www.truecostoffood.org. (Running Time 15 minutes)
VERMONT WIND: LOOKING TOWARD OUR ENERGY FUTURE Renewable Energy Vermont looks at Vermont’s energy future. The world’s first commercial wind turbine was built in the early 1940s on Grandpa’s Knob near Rutland, Vermont. This round-breaking project proved that commercial electric power could be generated from the wind. In 1996 the first commercial windfarm east of the Mississippi was established in Searsburg, Vermont. This program examines the issues and innovations surrounding the future of wind energy in Vermont. Host Chris McClure explores how we get our electric power today and explains the potential of adding wind energy to our future energy portfolio. www.REVermont.org
THE VINEYARD ENERGY PROJECT This film portrays Martha's Vineyard's successful effort to implement sustainable energy solutions through the use of solar power. (www.vineyardenergyproject.org/ 16 minutes)
WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE Everyone has seen Wal-Mart’s lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money convincing you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding? This film takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel … and shop.
WIND OVER WATER In November 2001, Cape Wind Associates of Boston announced plans for America’s first offshore windfarm—130 wind turbines to be installed in Nantucket Sound off the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Almost immediately, a battle between environmentalists and residents on the Cape was bor. Journalist Ole Tangen was on hand to chronicle the fight in this fascinating documentary about land and the future of renewable energy. (33 minutes. 2004; Politics of Energy, Energy Solutions)
WHAT A WAY TO GO: Life At The End Of Empire A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the
American Lifestyle. This documentary will touch you, scare you, and it will make you think. Though the film is hopeful, it will leave you with no easy answers. This documentary does a thorough job of presenting the crises we face and their causes, both technological and social. (123 minutes, 2007; website: http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/)
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR This 93 minute documentary addresses the mystery of the death of a vehicle that could have made a significant difference to our environment. Nominated: Best Documentary - Environmental Media Awards (2006); Won: Special Jury Prize - Mountain Film (Telluride) (2006); Nominated: Best Documentary - Writers Guild of America; Won: Audience Award - Canberra International Film Festival; Nominated: 2007 Best Documentary Feature - Broadcast Film Critics Association
SIERRA CLUB CHRONICLES
1. Episode 1: 9/11 Forgotten Heroes
Air dates: January 12 and 26, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
The terrorist attack on 9/11 was one of our country's most horrific moments, and the damage continues. Told there were no health hazards in the aftermath, the truth shows there was and many first responders are now afflicted and ignored by our government.
John Feal, Marvin Bethea, Jonathan Sferazo and Mike McCormack want justice. Before September 11, 2001, Feal was a jock and robust construction supervisor, Bethea a life-saving paramedic, McCormack was a decorated emergency medic, and Sferazo was proud steelworker. At ground zero all four of these New Yorkers gave everything they had to the search and rescue effort.
What they were told about the safety conditions at the site and what was the truth are now emerging as two very different tales. The federal government ignored its long-body of knowledge about incineration and demolition. It also ignored the results of independent studies that contradicted its findings. Were they afraid of mass hysteria? Did they think the rescue effort would not continue if they were honest with New Yorkers? "I have no idea" says Feal. "All I know is that they didn't tell us what was really in the air down there, and now me and my friends are paying the price for their lies."
Soon after 9/11 Feal and his friends started experiencing serious respiratory problems, a condition they now call "The World Trade Center Cough." Feal spent two months in the hospital last year. Sferazo can't climb a flight of stairs without doubling over in pain. Bethea suffers from permanent sinusitis as well as post traumatic stress and asthma. Hundreds of rescue workers are sick and that number is expected to rise sharply over the next several years. Because of an arbitrary technicality in the law Feal, Sferazo, Bethea, McCormack and many more search and rescue workers no longer qualify for help from the 9/11 relief fund.
Angry and now disabled John Feal says, "They called us "'Heroes'"!? But where are our heroes? We are the ones that need the help now. Where is it?"
We travel with Feal, Sferazo, Bethea and McCormack as they have an important step towards holding their government accountable. They are banding together to lobby congress - traveling via caravan down to Washington DC where Congress is considering an amendment to a bill, the Walsh Amendment, that will set aside $125 million of unspent 911 money to help New York State residence with the current and future 911-related health expenses. If this amendment doesn't pass, Congress will reclaim this unspent money and John Feal and his friends will be left out in the cold again.
In December 2005, $125 million was restored through a defense Appropriation bill. While it will help cover medical screening and treatment, the money will only meet a fraction of the first responders' needs. Meanwhile, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congressman Jerrold Nadler have called for an investigation of the EPA's failure to carry out proper testing and cleanup of 9/11 pollution.
2. Episode 2: The Day The Water Died
Air dates: February 9, 19, and 22, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
March 24, 1989 will forever plague history as one of the worst environmental disasters of our time. Eleven million gallons of oil spilled into the Prince William Sound killing thousands of wildlife and destroying a complex and delicate ecosystem. Exxon promised they would clean up the spill and promised that those affected would get their lives back. Sixteen years later and the people are still waiting for their lives to become "whole" again.
Ross Mullins - commercial fisherman and Cordova businessman, Dune Lankard - Eyak tribesman and environmental activist, Riki Ott - marine biologist and former commercial fisherman, are among many others who describe the historic the spill, the immediate emotional impact it had on them, and how, 16 years later, Exxon has still not paid the court-ordered punitive damages. Our characters go on to tell us that the citizens of Cordova have not recovered from spill: emotionally, spiritually, economically, and environmentally. This devastation has generated a strong distrust for corporations like Exxon and the government that should be looking out for them.
Exxon's promises in the immediate aftermath of the spill were not kept. The film's characters contrast those assurances with the reality they confronted in court. In a class-action ruling a federal court ordered Exxon to pay of $5 billion to 32,000 plaintiffs. But in the years since that ruling, Exxon has pursued endless appeals. The case is now stuck in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with no hearing date set. Meanwhile, 2,000 plaintiffs have died since the first court ruling.
While Exxon has ducked behind the courts, the economy of Cordova has not recovered. The fishermen say at the time of the spill, the salmon and herring markets were the strongest in the history of Cordova's fishing industry.
During the sixteen years since the spill, the environment in Prince William Sound has yet to recover. The strongest evidence is that the herring fishery, Cordova's most profitable fish stock, has been eliminated from the sound. Marine biologist and Cordova resident, Riki Ott, tells us how that fact that the herring hasn't returned points to the fact that the Sound is still toxic.
Exxon-Mobil has made record profits this year, so why can't they make good on their promise?
3. Episode 3: Dioxin, Duplicity & Dupont
Air dates: March 9, 2006 & March 23, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
The DuPont plant in DeLisle, Mississippi has been releasing large amounts of dioxin and heavy metals for nearly 20 years. This film explores health problems being experienced by residents and former workers, and evidence that oysters in the area exported for sale around the U.S. have been contaminated by DuPont's poisonous discharges. About 2,000 people have filed lawsuits against DuPont alleging pollution from this facility has harmed their health.
Delisle, Mississippi: For nearly 20 years, the DuPont plant in DeLisle, Mississippi, has released high levels of toxic dioxin and heavy metals into the air and water. Despite alarming illnesses and cancer clusters surrounding the plant, DuPont has maintained that it upholds a strong public safety record.
"It didn't take a doctor or scientist to figure out - hey, us guys are all working here - there's got to be something here. In two generations the only thing that has changed is the [DuPont] chemical plant built down there - it's not hard to make a connection if you live here and watch it going on and see it," questions Greg Cuevas, a former employee of the Dupont plant in DeLisle, who lost his own kidneys due to the dioxins. Myra Marsh, a Delisle resident, now wonders if in her eagerness to work for the new plant it ended up costing her the use of her legs and put her in a wheelchair for life.
After four years of interviews and tireless researching of the environmental abuses of DuPont the first in a massive lawsuit against DuPont brought by over 2,000 people who worked in, or lived by, the plant is followed in the episode.
With unprecedented access to this Southern court room, we follow the lives of the people who have been directly affected by the pollution as they tell about living with DuPont for years, cope with terminal illnesses suffered by themselves and family members, and as they prepare and then testify - some of them with only months to live.
4. Episode 4: Range Wars Rage On
Air dates: April 13 and 27, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
In the West, The Bureau of Land Management has allowed increased drilling and allowing drilling practices that are killing ranchers' cattle. Now, a coalition of ranchers including Republicans and Bush supporters are fighting back.
A traditional New Mexico ranching couple Tweeti and Linn Blancett, lead their cattle up a slope, past a natural gas drilling platform and around industrial equipment that occupies the once-pristine public land where their cattle used to graze undisturbed. Now they can't believe what they see: a natural gas clean up crew ripping the lining of a waste pit, allowing toxic, industrial waste water to seep into the land. This is a blatant violation of the environmental rules that govern the use of public lands. Chris Velasquez, a fellow rancher shares this same bond to the land and he is just as furious as to what is going on.
Ray Sanchez, the BLM's Northern New Mexico spokesperson, tells us that the fact that the land is publicly owned and managed by the federal government, gives the Department of the Interior the right to lease the subsurface mineral rights to oil and natural gas companies. This creates a tricky situation in which these public lands have "dual leasors" - the ranchers who graze their cattle on the land, and the oil and gas companies that drill for oil and minerals beneath the surface of the land.
The Blancetts and Velasquez share something else in common - their cattle are becoming sick and they are dying. After some reconnaissance they found strange spills near the drilling platforms that peppered their grazing lands. They quickly concluded that their cattle must be drinking the chemical waste spilled by the oil and gas companies.
He and the Blancetts called BLM to show them the oil-contaminated areas on their leased property. The BLM assured Chris that "they would take care of it."
Forced to start selling their cattle by astounding numbers - their very livelihood was being affected. Meanwhile, the oil and gas companies denied that they were responsible for the ranchers' dead cow and the BLM's inaction emboldened them.
Fed up, Tweeti also took action. She did something she never thought she would do. As a long-time member of the Republican Party, she joined the San Juan Citizen's Alliance, a local environmentalists group with the goals of fighting the oil and natural gas companies' pollution of public lands.
But the work of our ranchers and the San Juan Citizen's Alliance is getting harder. In 2005, the Bush Administration's newly passed Energy Bill makes it even easier for oil companies to drill in new areas.
5. Episode 5: Breathless in LA
Air dates: May 11 and 25, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
The Port of Los Angeles is one of the biggest and busiest ports in the United States, not to mention, that it is surrounded by numerous oil fields and with that comes a toxic price to the surrounding residents.
The City of Wilmington, a predominately Latino community, bears the burden of industrial blight, pollution, and the health hazards caused not only by the oil refineries but the growing goods movement industry in Los Angeles where over 40% of the goods imported to the US arrive everyday. With all this international trade comes a tremendous amount of air pollution from the ships, trains and trucks that move goods from the harbor to cities and towns across America.
Wilmington residents like Cecilia Mora and Raul Orasco talk about how their families have been plagued with chronic respiratory problems. Fellow resident and activist Jesse Marquez, founder of Wilmington Coalition for a Safe Environment, and co-chair of Sierra Club Harbor Vision Task Force is fighting to protect his community from the excessive pollution of and around the port.
Most recently, Jesse talks about the oil refinery flares that blackened the skies of Wilmington on September 12, 2005. Alarming local news coverage fills in the details, warning local residents to stay indoors. He and a group of volunteers went door to door asking residents where they were on Sept 12, 2005 and if they experienced any ill health effects. The refineries, 16-story cranes, and rusty abandoned container lots all loom over local backyards.
Jesse went to the new Harbor commissioners, the AQMD, and the Harbor Vision Task Force urging them to consider the undue burden the port places on the people of his community. He presents his "Port Communities Bill of Rights" at each meeting, a document that demands equitable treatment and mitigation for the people of port communities around the world and he wants to make a difference.
Jesse says that today there are many active members of his coalition and he outlines the victories the group has spearheaded over the past several years, including a $60 million settlement from the port of LA and an agreement to improvements including installing equipment so that ships docking at the a new terminal could plug into onshore electric power and turn off their diesel engines.
But there is more work to be done...
6. Episode 6: Storm In The Gulf
Air dates: June 8 and 24, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
When a powerful politician paved the way for the drilling of oil and gas in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, he did not expect opposition from a coalition of unlikely environmentalists who prefer a lasting tourist trade and pristine beach to temporary gain.
The Gulf Islands National Seashore is a thin necklace of pristine barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi. But through a manipulation of the recently passed Energy Bill, a clandestine clause in the Patriot act, and old fashion quid pro quo money politics, Republican Governor (and former RNC Chairman) Haley Barbour has paved the way for oil and to start drilling under this national park.
What he hadn't planned on was opposition by a coalition of unlikely environmentalist that include a patrician Southern woman (and lifelong Republican) who's family donated part an island to establish this Park, and third generation oyster fisher, and a National Park Ranger who's risking his career to speak out.
These are just a few of the growing hundreds of Mississippi coast dwellers who have banded together to expose and shame Governor Barbour for selling the states most valued natural treasure to oil and natural gas companies for a series of campaign contributions and under the guise of national security and responsible energy policy.
As our cameras were there filming this episode, the Category 5 hurricane Katrina was within days of hitting the Gulf Coast forcing us to pull out. We returned to find massive devastation of land and property but the people were resilient. In fact, the destruction could have been much, much worse proving that the coalition and everything they said was right on target. Now, their fight goes on as they rebuild their homes and continue to protect the islands.
7. Episode 7: Rats to Roses
Air dates: July 13 and 27, 2006
Produced by Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions.
This multi-year time arc witnesses the threat and loss of the community gardens in New York - but also the commitment and resilience of community organizers. Charles Louis founder of the Euclid 500 Gardens, says "these gardens have become community centers for people with nowhere else to go."
Since the mid-1970s citizens in the most diverse and economically challenged parts of New York City have created small oases of hope and safety through some 800 "community gardens." In most cases, the gardens were once empty lots full of weeds, trash and graffiti, but local residents got together to plant flowers, foliage, and, in many cases, to grow vegetables and fruits used to feed the needy.
But problems began when then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in an attempt to bring in additional revenue for the city, began to offer up the lots - now gardens - to housing developers. Community members and activists kicked into gear, and NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit in 1999 on behalf of community activists arguing that the years of garden development should confer special status as "protected parks."
We follow two main gardens at the heart of this story, the Esperanza Garden and the Euclid 500 Garden. The Esperanza Garden, created in the mid-1970s, has become a center of the community, where both older people and young maintain it as a community space. The Euclid 500 Garden, operated by Charles Louis, serves a special purpose in the community - the many fruits and vegetables grown there by volunteers are used to supply food pantries for the most needy in the area.
It seemed like Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's lawsuit would save the day for Esperanza - the court would soon order the city to hold bulldozers away from all gardens until further review. But activists and neighbors knew that the threat was imminent. Fearing the worst, a group of local activists and neighbors began a 24-hour vigil in the garden in case bulldozers showed up - and they did.
More police arrived and began to order the protestors away from the garden. Alicia Torres, founder of the garden, says "it was like one of my children dying when the bulldozers came." One by one, the remaining activists were carted away by police. In just a few hours, the bulldozers completely destroyed 25 years of work, just hours ahead of the court ruling.
Eliot Spitzer's office reports the current situation with the lawsuit settlement means that developers are now required to complete environmental impact studies and to seek public comment before bulldozing new gardens. With the settlement of the Spitzer lawsuit, over 200 community gardens are considered protected parks.
