In April 2007, Films For Action screened The End of Suburbia to an audience of 180 people, and launched a campaign to have the Lawrence City Commission create a Peak Oil Task force, which would study the local impacts of peak oil and propose recommendations for the city to take action on.At this time, Films For Action mailed to every commissioner and many of the planning commissioners a copy...
We're excited to announce the launch of our sixth Films For Action city chapter representing Wichita, Kansas! Below is our mission, goals and vision for the chapter, as well as several ways to get involved. Join us!Mission:Our Wichita chapter website aims to provide a definitive web-based resource for the social change community of Wichita, Kansas. By providing a robust set of...
We're excited to announce the launch of our fifth Films For Action city chapter representing Durham, North Carolina. There are so many forward-thinking, innovative groups in Durham that are doing amazing things, we can't wait to see the vision of this project start to take off. We're excited to have Derek Alan Rowe heading up the chapter, so if you'd like to get involved you can contact him via...
We're excited to announce the launch of our fourth Films For Action city chapter representing the San Francisco Bay Area, California. There are so many forward-thinking, innovative groups in San Francisco that are doing amazing things, we can't wait to see the vision of this project start to take off. We're happy to have Kenneth Fax heading up the chapter, so if you'd like to get involved you can...
We're excited to announce the launch of our third Films For Action city chapter representing Indore, India. There are so many forward-thinking, innovative groups in Indore that are doing amazing things, we can't wait to see the vision of this project start to take off. Below is our mission, goals and vision for the chapter, as well as several ways to get involved. Join us!Mission: Our Indore...
Via our local chapter, Films For Action KC aims to provide a definitive online space where people can find out what's happening in the Kansas City social change community. In these times of great change, we believe the role of media must expand - that there is a vitally underserved need for a local news and event hub that is dedicated to representing the voices of the people and groups that are...
We're excited to announce the launch of our second Films For Action city chapter representing Kansas City, KS/MO. There are so many forward-thinking groups in KC that are doing amazing things, we can't wait to see the vision of this project start to take off. Below is our mission, goals and vision for the chapter, as well as several ways to get involved. Join us!Mission: Our Kansas...
Today's LJWorld editorial about voter apathy got me thinking. I also find our abysmal voter turnout deeply troubling, and I think I may have a solution.If we want to inspire more people to go to the polls, they need something to get excited about. We're going to be facing some serious challenges in the coming years, and this can easily get pretty depressing to think about. Simply trying...
Films For Action is proud to present a screening of ‘The Economics of Happiness’, a documentary about the worldwide movement for localization.Both hard-hitting and inspiring, the film demonstrates that millions of people across the world are already engaged in building a better world – that small scale initiatives are happening on a large scale. The film shows that countless...
You know you're a nerd when an animation of parking lots being replaced with sweet, well-designed density gives you goosebumps. And I, my friends, am a nerd. This video created by ArnoldImaging for Kansas City Public Television asks how, within a decade, alternative transit would change life in Kansas City, where the average resident currently spends the equivalent of six work weeks per...
This August, Mayor Newsom signed San Francisco's groundbreaking green building ordinance that imposes strict new green building requirements on newly constructed residential and commercial buildings, and renovations to existing buildings. The ordinance specifically requires newly constructed commercial buildings over 5,000 sq ft, residential buildings over 75 feet in height, and renovations...
The campaign that we launched last year to pass a Peak Oil Resolution has succeeded. Joining forces with members of the Sustainability Action Network earlier this year, we were able to host presentations on peak oil to the City's Sustainability Advisory Board and the City Commission itself. With the helpful initiative of the Mayor, Michael Dever, the resolution was put on the agenda promptly the...
Stinson Beach, Calif. - The success of the environmental movement in calling attention to the dangers of global warming has led to an ironic outcome: It's become easier for the public to adopt a passive approach as we wait on world leaders to sign emissions treaties or huge corporations to "go green." This Earth Day, stop waiting! There are new ways for you to fight climate change in your own...
I was recently interviewed for the cover story of this weeks Lawrence.com mag. A great article by Frank Tankard. You can read it online here, or in the deadwood edition found in shops and restaurants all around downtown. When you get a chance to check it out, you may find another surprise - a tasty peak-oil sandwich! ;) ...Cheers - Tim
Over the past century, our cities have been shaped — literally — for the benefit of the automobile and oil industries. Today, with global oil reserves headed toward irreversible decline, we need to face the challenges of the imminent post-oil reality. Seizing foreign oil fields (then “spinning” the story to make a prophet of Orwell) will not solve our environmental problems. Building Green Cities...
One of the world’s most inspiring green roofs is the ACROS Fukuoka building in Fukuoka City, Japan. It houses offices, retail space, a 2,000 seat theatre and a museum.
So much that seems obvious from one person's perspective isn't from another’s. For example, cities, towns and villages - the "built environment" or "constructed habitat" – constitutes collectively the largest creation of our species. Talk about obvious, I came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1974 – that’s a long time ago. Now observe the changes: Berkeley and Oakland rise up from San Francisco...
To walk down the streets of a major US city is to experience the impacts of decades of bad design, in streets and sidewalks, in architecture, in density and use of space. I do not use the word design as some subjective stand-in for ‘what I like’ (though aesthetics are a valid basis for criticism); I mean design for the future, design for human beings. Our cities are designed with an overwhelming...
Here's the reality: we in the U.S., Canada, Australia and (to a lesser extent) Europe need to move very quickly to make deep cuts in our climate emissions if we hope for any chance of making big enough global cuts to avoid generating catastrophic global warming. In other words, we need radical change if we want to avoid cooking the planet.
Bike-sharing programs that provide cheap access to inner-city bicycles are popular all over Europe, and Beijing, and even American cities are catching on.