CT Green Scene

Farmageddon screening at Westport Cinema

Friday, November 18th
7:30 p.m.
Christ and Holy Trinity Church
75 Church Lane
Westport, CT

Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.

Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of government regulations and excessive enforcement actions.

Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.

The film is presented by Westport Cinema Initiative and the Westport Farmers Market. The event is sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

Do You Love Trash?

If you think Americans are wasteful, you don't know the half of it. Here's the trailer for I Love Trash, a documentary about two friends who get what they need for three months by dumpster diving (courtesy of YouTube).

 

 

French Documentary At Audubon Greenwich

Alliance Francaise of Greenwich & Audubon Greenwich invite you to a special screening of:

"Solutions Locales Pour Un Desordre Globale" (Think Global, Act Rural)

Saturday, July 9, 2011
6:00-9:00 pm

Audubon is pleased to collaborate with Alliance Francaise of Greenwich for a special screening of a food-themed film by French filmmaker, Coline Serreau. Join members from both organizations from 6:00-7:00 pm for a reception featuring "organic" wines from Le Wine Shop and tasty hors d'oeuvres prepared with ingredients from our local farm markets. Then, at 7:00 pm, the film in French with English subtitles, will begin.

In the beautiful and inspiring film, "Solutions Locales Pour Un Desordre Globale", the industrial agronomy methods known for producing heavily contaminated food and arid wastelands are challenged by several examples that highlight the sensitive, organic approach to producing food. In the words of the filmmaker, "Disaster films have been done before, and they have certainly served an important purpose, but now we must focus on the solutions that are available, we must hear the thoughts of farmers on the question, those of philosophers and economists who, while explaining why our model of society has sunk into ecological, financial and political ruin, are inventing and experimenting with alternatives."

The Internet Movie Database describes the storyline as, "Ukraine, South America, India, France - farmers, scientists, producers of organic food present their views as well as successes of their work with earth, which is presented in second plan as a woman. Earth as living ecosystem itself is compared to the soil sterilized and destroyed by pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, machine processing - where new crops grow only thanks to another doses of chemical stimulants. In vicious circle, food becomes dependent on and controlled by oil & industry, food barely edible, while seeds - which should not be owned and marketed as such - are reduced to a few state-allowed modified species and sold. The macho-hero approach of controlling, forcing and raping of the earth is becoming the subject of irony, criticism and appeal - in more layers - social, economic, agronomic."

Coline Serreau is one of the founding members of "Focus on French Cinema" film festival created by Alliance Francaise of Greenwich. Her film, "Chaos" ( 2001) starring Vincent Lindon, Catherine Frot and Rachida Brakni,  was nominated for a Cesar Award (the French equivalent of an Oscar) and was the opening night film at the first "Focus on French Cinema" event in 2005.

$12 per person benefits Audubon. Space is limited & RSVP required. RSVP to Jeff Cordulack at jcordulack@audubon.org or 203-869-5272 x239.

For a trailer, visit: http://www.focusonfrenchcinema.com/film_SolutionsLocales.htm

For more information, visit http://www.solutionslocales-lefilm.com/en/accueil

A FRIDAY NIGHT FILM EVENT AT Audubon Greenwich

InGREEDients--a film about the many additives in food with Special Guest Speaker, Dr. Madhu Mathur

Friday, February 25
6:00-9:00 pm

Do you know what is in the food you eat on a daily basis? Do you know what partially hydrogenated oil is? What does zero grams of trans fat per serving really mean? If you eat food then you have to see this movie.

The documentary film inGREEDients took the independent film festival circuit by storm, winning several awards and was accepted at top international festivals. The film connects diet and health; teaches how to read a food label; and uncovers some scary truths about our food supply. Ride along on this culinary roller coaster as David sets the table with a cornucopia of leading researchers and the most respected scientists and healthcare professionals in the world. What you will discover is an alarming connection between what you put in your mouth and some of the most disgusting, unpalatable and life-threatening ailments known today!

Plus, Dr. Madhu Mathur, Director of the KIDS'FANS Wellness Program; Medical Director of the Medical Home Initiative Southest CT; and the Chair of the Obesity Task Force; for Stamford Hospital, will be the special guest speaker and take questions from the audience. 

Space is limited & RSVPs required. $15 for adults. Under 21 years old: $5. Includes a wine & cheese reception from 6-7 pm. RSVP to Jeff Cordulack: 203-869-5272 x239 or email: jcordulack@audubon.org. To buy discounted tickets for adults online for $12, visit: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/158490.
This film is not suitable for younger children but is suitable for older children and teens. For more information about the film and the event, visit greenwich.audubon.org.

Audubon Highlights CO2 Effects On Ocean Food Web

Imagine a world without fish. It’s a frightening premise, and it’s happening right now.

To increase awareness about a very real and disturbing phenomenon called 'ocean acidification', The Menunkatuck Audubon Society, a local chapter and Audubon Connecticut, the state office of the National Audubon Society, will host a free public film screening of the highly-acclaimed film, A Sea Change. Chock full of scientific information, this is the first documentary about ocean acidification.

Get Your “Fracks” Straight

by Angela Hotaling

A biting controversial issue about the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing has recently caught my interest. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is the process of extracting natural gas from under the earth’s surface. Wells are drilled deep into the ground and then water, sand, and chemicals are pumped at high pressures to break shale formations and release pockets of natural gas. The gas industry has exploded over the past several years creating jobs and supplying energy; however not without stirring up some very hot debate in the process.

Last week, The New York Times published an article about hydraulic fracturing. The article, written by Clifford Krauss and Tom Zeller Jr., says, “Natural gas currently satisfies nearly a quarter of the nation’s power needs. And with vast methane reserves now available in previously inaccessible layers of shale deep underground, its position as a cornerstone of the domestic energy supply may well be secured for decades--if the public supports it.”