Earth Day
America Ferrera Celebrates Earth Day
The Independent Lens host wishes everyone a happy and healthy Earth Day
We all do our best to recycle, compost, and try to be thoughtful about what and how we consume. But there’s more to being green than hybrids and food scraps. It takes real commitment — both individual and collective.
Join Independent Lens and this year’s host America Ferrera for enlightening visions that will change how you look at your planet, and make you think about getting more involved. However you decide to make the world better and healthier — Happy Earth Day!
Taking Root with Lisa Merton on Earth Day
Lisa Merton’s Taking Root was broadcast on Independent Lens in April 2009 and brought together more than 4,000 people to Community Cinema events in 50 cities across the country.
As we ring in Earth Day celebrations across the country, we wanted to highlight some of the extraordinary films that ITVS had the opportunity to take out to communities through broadcast and on-the-ground engagement. On Thursday, we profiled Dirt! The Movie and filmmaker Eugene Rosow. Today we’re featuring Lisa Merton and her documentary Taking Root.
An Environmental Conversation with the Filmmaker of Dirt! The Movie
Eugene Rosow’s film Dirt! The Movie broadcast on Independent Lens in April 2010 and brought together more than 6,000 people to Community Cinema events in 60 cities across the country.
As we gear up for Earth Day celebrations and events across the country, we wanted to reflect on two extraordinary films that ITVS had the opportunity to take out to communities through broadcast and on-the-ground engagement efforts in recent years. Today and tomorrow, we’ll be catching up with filmmakers whose projects continue to have a deep impact on inspiring and sustaining individual and community action on issues related to environmental conservation. Today’s conversation features filmmaker Eugene Rosow.
Celebrate Earth Day with a Social Screening of Garbage Dreams
The exclusive online screening will be held on Thursday, April 21 at 9PM EDT / 6PM PDT on Independent Lens’ Facebook Page and on Livestream.
Filmed over four years, the documentary goes inside the world of Egypt’s Zaballeen (Arabic for ‘garbage people’) to reveal the lives of two teenage boys born into the trash trade. For generations, the residents of Cairo have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their trash, paying them only a minimal amount for their garbage collection services.
These entrepreneurial garbage workers survive by recycling 80 percent of all the garbage they collect, creating what is arguably the world’s most efficient waste disposal system. Recycling to lift themselves out of poverty, the Zaballeen have, through necessity, devised ingenious solutions to one of the world’s most pressing problems.
› Continue reading
Transformative Transmedia for Saving the Planet
From original online mapping projects to Second Life, ITVS Interactive is constantly finding innovative and creative ways to draw new viewers to Public Media 2.0. Senior Content Producer Cathy Fischer reports on the subject and has the resources to back it up.
Images by Douglas Gayeton from The Lexicon of Sustainability
I recently moderated a panel at the San Francisco Green Film Festival entitled Transmedia in a Green Context, showing how media makers are using multiple touch points to extend story and create opportunities for participation, play, and activism.
What exactly is transmedia? The term seems to be the buzzword of the year. Transmedia storyteller Jeff Gomez defines it as, “The art of conveying messages themes, or storylines to mass audiences through the artful and well planned use of multiple media platforms.”
Happy Earth Day From ITVS!
Earth Day. Maybe for you it evokes happy thoughts of planting trees and gathering with friends to celebrate the planet and toast to its good health. Maybe it’s one of those extra-dose-of-guilt days when you’re extra conscious of separating your trash and ashamed of the fact you still use an internal-combustion engine to get to work. Perhaps you’re aware enough of the climate crisis, species on the verge of extinction, and the plight of the rainforest, that today you’ll just duck your head back under the covers and wait it out until tomorrow.
Whichever Earth Day style fits you best, we’d like to offer up some helpful resources to make your day a little happier and greener. First off, check out our slate of green-themed films for the occasion, including Dirt! The Movie, Garbage Dreams, and A Village Called Versailles, all airing this month on Independent Lens. And from last season, revisit Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. That one’s definitely worth revisiting for its inspiration factor alone.
Ah but as Kermit said, it isn’t always easy bein’ green. For example, have you ever been confused about what you can recycle and what you can’t? Same here. As part of our film Garbage Dreams we’ve put together a handy tip sheet for you. Even better, we’ve launched a super-cool interactive recycling game so you can put your newfound wisdom to work. And check out a resource we found when we were researching this: Earth911.com, a site that lets you know what recycling facilities are near you so you can really pump up your recycling efforts.
As they say, we’ve only got one planet so we better treat it right. We salute the filmmakers, community organizers, and educators who work every day to ensure that somebody speaks for the Earth when it can’t speak for itself. Stay green, people!
Los Angeles and San Francisco Proclaim April 20th to be “Dirt Day”
The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have issued proclamations naming April 20th to be “Dirt Day” in honor of Dirt! The Movie, the award-winning documentary airing nationwide on PBS’ Independent Lens tonight at 10 PM (check local listings). San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry will sign the official Dirt! Day Proclamations in their respective cities today, to ignite the discussion about safeguarding soil and the billions of organisms it contains.
Dirt! The Movie tells the story of the underappreciated stuff beneath our feet. Narrated by award-winning actress, author and activist, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dirt!, tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and least valued source of fertility from its miraculous beginning to its current crippling degradation. Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, the film deftly combines science and humor as it digs into the history and current state of the living organic matter from which we all come and where we will all one-day return. An eclectic group of passionate dirt lovers appear in Dirt! – from world-class biologists to Rikers Island convicts, from community activists to Nobel Laureates – to offer viewers answers to problems while inspiring us to clean up the mess that we have created.
Don’t miss Dirt! The Movie tonight on Independent Lens (check local listings).
Watch an interview with Jamie Lee Curtis, the narrator for Dirt! >>
Dirt! The Movie Premieres Tonight on Independent Lens on PBS
“Charming… Dirt! The Movie digs deep into soil. -San Francisco Chronicle
“An invigorating look at an invaluable substance we take for granted that makes the case that ‘dirt might be more alive than we are.’” -Los Angeles Times
It’s under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it? And how did it get there? Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, find out how industrial farming, mining and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods and climate change. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink and breathe. Which is why we should stop treating it like, well … dirt.
Dirt! The Movie premieres tonight, Tuesday, April 20 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
Community Cinema Screens Dirt! The Movie in Monterey, CA
Community Cinema recently hosted a screening of the Independent Lens film Dirt! The Movie in Monterey, CA. The film looks at how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have endangered soil and resulted in cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods, and climate change. Find out what happened at the screening from Elsa Dooling of the Pesticide Watch Education Fund, who helped organize the event.
Bike powered smoothies at the Dirt! Monterey screening
Torrential rains washed over the Monterey Bay, and heavy winds ripped through the trees. But, at about 3 PM a sudden break in the storm gave me the opportunity to quickly throw on my rain gear and join our organizing team to begin the planned outdoor festivities that were to precede the April 11th screening of Dirt! The Movie. As if by design, the weather softened and welcomed the community out to enjoy smoothies made with bike power, and to get dirty as they made clay and wildflower seed balls and watched compost demonstrations. The energy and momentum of the event got into full swing as the sun peaked out and rainbows could be seen over the theater. Guests mingled and enjoyed delicious treats donated by local restaurants and bakeries, and even sipped wine donated by the Monterey County Film Commission. Table displays offered the audience a chance to learn about the partner organizations that collaborated to bring the event to life: Pesticide Watch Education Fund, Monterey Green Action, Monterey County Film Commission, and ITVS. Our good friend (and local photographer/activist extraordinaire) Michelle Magdalena Maddox, was even screen-printing recycled t-shirts with a beautifully designed calendar of all of April’s Earth Day events right on the spot. It was amazing!
Independent Lens Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Earth Day
Did you know that April marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day? To celebrate, Independent Lens will premiere a brand new line-up of programs, as well as offer free educational lesson plans, and an interactive game to help inspire viewers to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
First up on Independent Lens is Dirt! The Movie, airing April 20 at 10:00 PM, by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, Dirt! takes viewers inside the wonders of the soil and looks at how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods, and climate change. Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book, Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, the film deftly combines science and humor as it digs into the history and current state of the living organic matter from which we come from and where we will one day return. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink and breathe, which is why we should stop treating it like, well … dirt.
Then on April 27 at 10:00 PM, watch Garbage Dreams. Filmed over four years, director Mai Iskander goes inside the world of Egypt’s Zaballeen (Arabic for “garbage people”) to reveal the lives of two teenage boys born into the trash trade. The film reveals how –– for generations –– the residents of Cairo have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their trash, paying them only a minimal amount for their garbage collection services. These entrepreneurial garbage workers survive by recycling 80 percent of all the garbage they collect, creating what is arguably the world’s most efficient waste disposal system. Recycling to lift themselves out of poverty, the Zaballeen have, through necessity, devised ingenious solutions to one of the world’s most pressing problems.
The broadcast of Garbage Dreams will also be accompanied by an interactive game in which players assume the role of the Zaballeen. Players will sort through trash and recycle everyday items found in Cairo –– all against a ticking clock! So put on your eco-savvy hats because you’ll have to quickly sort everything to match the 80 percent recycling rate of the Zaballeen within 12 rounds of play.
Corresponding lesson plans for grades 9-12, complement the game and the film, and further explore the issue of recycling and the globalized economy.
Learn more about Independent Lens Earth Day >>
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