solutions
In celebration and exploration of all things green, two bicyclists are on a year-long journey around the United States to share what they've learned about sustainable communities. They’ve traveled more than 6,000 miles to visit and film 100 sustainable communities of all types, working to capture in film the abundance of community-oriented solutions out there that are already working. The result of their effort will be "Within Reach," a feature-length documentary to be released in 2011.
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Can thousands of diverse, locally-rooted, grassroots economic projects form the basis for a viable democratic alternative to capitalism? It might seem unlikely that a motley array of initiatives such as worker, consumer, and housing cooperatives, community currencies, urban gardens, fair trade organizations, intentional communities, and neighborhood self-help associations could hold a candle to the capitalist economy. Could a process of horizontal networking, linking diverse democratic alternatives and social change organizations together in webs of mutual recognition and support, generate a social movement and economic vision capable of challenging the global capitalist order?
To these questions, economic activists around the world organizing under the banner of economía solidaria, or "solidarity economy," would answer a resounding "yes."
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Liberty Hall. 644 Mass St. Lawrence, KS - Only $3. 7PM.
We must rethink our policy toward Afghanistan. Congressional oversight hearings on Afghanistan would facilitate a substantial public debate on this war. What's more, these hearings would coincide with President Obama's effort to craft policy that represents the diversity in public opinion and the wide array of tools at his disposal. Help raise public visibility of this issue in Lawrence by attending this event and getting as many people you know to attend as well.
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We'd like to thank everyone who came out to the screening tonight. I saw a lot of regular faces in the audience tonight, and your continued support over the years truly brings myself and all the other folks that are involved in the Films For Action project a great happiness. It is what makes these film screenings worth it, and what energizes myself, personally, to keep working diligently to see the project continue and grow. So thank you.
After the jump, you'll find links to the best videos, articles, and links we've compiled on the subject on 9/11 for researching further, as well as a few other ideas for actions you can take after watching the film. - Tim Hjersted
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Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday, or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons, or that dancing naked around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”?
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I was recently driving past a public high school during its lunch break when I witnessed a troubling sight. A hungry horde of teens was streaming out the doors of the school and looking for a place to eat. A quick glance about the area revealed their limited options: a McDonald’s across the street or a Taco Bell a block further away. If those two options didn’t appeal, there was always the local convenience store with frozen microwavable options. I wondered about the long-term consequences of allowing a fast food “restaurant” to open within walking distance of a school. Now, thanks to the work of economists at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, we have scientific evidence that fast food near schools results in student obesity. Could these findings be the beginning of a movement to ban fast food near our children’s schools?
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Imagine KC from Arnold Imaging on Vimeo. 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 year in a car. Although I'm not totally convinced that light rail equals solar panels and romance, I know it brings walkable transit-oriented development and sidewalk cafes. Awesome.
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The new documentary Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas (buy from PM Press) proves that democracy can and should be more than casting a ballot every four years. This empowering film gives hopeful and concrete examples from around the Americas of people taking back the reigns of power and governing their own communities. Beyond Elections is a road map for social change, drawing from communal councils in Venezuela and social movements in Bolivia to participatory budgeting in Brazil and worker cooperatives in Argentina.
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The financial crisis has put to rest the myths that our economic institutions are sound and markets work best when deregulated.
Our economic institutions have failed, not only financially, but also socially and environmentally. This, combined with the election of a new president with a mandate for change, creates an opportune moment to rethink and redesign.
President-elect Obama has promised to grow the economy from the bottom up. That would be a substantial improvement over growing the top at the expense of the bottom. The real need, however, is a bottom-up transformation of our economic values and institutions to align with the imperatives and opportunities of the 21st century. It involves a five part agenda: clean up Wall Street, play by market rules, self-finance the real economy, measure what we really want, and convert to debt-free money.
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Please visit Worldchanging's Inaugurate Change campaign to add your name to this letter that will urge Obama's administration to deliver a vital message about climate change in his very first speech as President.
On January 20th, 2009, President-Elect Obama will deliver his inaugural address. His words will set the tone for how we as a nation will rise to meet the crises we face, and how our allies abroad will respond.
We at Worldchanging believe the inaugural address must call on all Americans to prepare for a national transformation: to turn America into a climate-neutral nation by 2030. This is a monumental challenge, but it is an even better opportunity. The things we must create to fight climate change are also the things we need to generate a strong economic recovery: livable cities, clean energy, green jobs, new technologies, better transportation, healthy forests and thriving family farms.
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Conversations at the Bioneers conference two week ago (and by e-mail for many days now) have been dominated by a single theme: There is immediate need for a coherent policy with which the new US administration can deal with both the financial crash and the energy transition. Instead of propping up failing financial institutions, the new president must inject investment into the real economy by supporting wide-ranging but tightly coordinated projects to create far more renewable energy generation capacity, build railroads and public transport facilities, insulate millions of homes while providing alternative heat sources, and re-configure the national food system to dramatically reduce and soon eliminate the need for fossil fuels.
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When Green For All founder and green jobs advocate Van Jones started writing The Green Collar Economy, it was a book about how to get green solutions to poor people. But by the time he was done and the book was released this fall, its scope had grown: Global warming had become common parlance, and the economy was on everyone's mind, regardless of class. His new book looks at how we can fix our environmental and economic crisis with a program that will create jobs, lower pollution and return some dignity to working Americans. It sounds great, but what's in the fine print? AlterNet's staff writer Joshua Holland and managing editor Tara Lohan sat down with Jones and talked about whether green jobs are actually legal under our international free trade agreements, what happens if we get an Obama White House, and how the progressive movement must go from "opposition to proposition, from protest to governance" in order to lead our country out of crisis.
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We just hit our three hundredth video added to our Online Films section. Having watched all of these films, we can say that it's a an amazing collection of the best activist-issue films you can find scattered across the internet, all cataloged in one place. We've spent hours watching all sorts of videos, researching the issues they cover, and have done our best to include the best we've watched, while importantly, not including any films that are misleading, contain disinformation, or are simply not that great.
We hope this collection provides a resource for getting informed on so many of the issues that are ignored by the mainstream media, and a way to raise awareness and spread the word to your friends. Just tell them, "Films For Action dot org". Cheers!
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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 on buildings over 25,000 sq ft to be subject to an unprecedented level of LEED and green building certifications, which makes San Francisco the city with the most stringent green building requirements in the nation.
"If we want to get serious about addressing the root causes of global warming, then let's draw down the empty rhetoric and start taking concrete actions," said Mayor Newsom. "A lot of people don't realize that their homes and businesses create a significant portion of our carbon footprint, so today, by signing these strict green building standards into law, we're saying enough is enough. Let's end the stale promises, emphasize conservation, and tackle climate change on all fronts."
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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 first Tuesday of September. All of the commissioners were in full support of the effort, and around 8:30 that night, the resolution to establish a Mayor's Task Force on Peak Oil passed unanimously, 5-0.
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When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope
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