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Within Reach (trailer)
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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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Little Mountain: A Fight for Social Housing
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Little Mountain is the oldest public housing site in Vancouver, home to families and a rich community for over 60 years. What was once public land has been sold to private developers who plan to evict all of the tenats and demolish the site.
The Steenhuisen family have lived in Little Mountain for close to 50 years and are not leaving without a fight. Along with support from community advocates and city council members, the Steenhuisens fight for social housing in a city that is rapidly losing affordable homes.
Directed and Edited by...
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Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas
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From Venezuela's Communal Councils, to Brazil's Participatory Budgeting; from Constitutional Assemblies to grassroots movements, recuperated factories to cooperatives across the hemisphere- This documentary is a journey, which takes us across the Americas, to attempt to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What is Democracy? Directed by Sílvia Leindecker & Michael Fox. Estreito Meios Productions, 2008. Distributed by PM Press.This video is part 1 of the full documentary, split into small parts. Click the red website link...
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Eat the Suburbs: Gardening for the End of the Oil Age
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EAT THE SUBURBS takes the oil debate from the browser to the backyard and follows Melbourne's "permablitzers" as they prepare for the end of the oil age... one garden at a time. A film by Tanya Curnow.
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Energy Co-op Brings Power to the People
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What if a community owned its electric utility cooperatively, rather than paying a for-profit company? Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative could be a model. Energy Services manager Jessica Nelson describes how this locally owned, democratically governed non-profit serves the good of the community. Besides lower rates, customers benefit from incentives to conserve electricity, install geothermal heating/cooling systems, and solar panels (photovoltaics). The coop’s dream? To not only distribute power but to generate it — through a wind...
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The Transition Movement Comes to America
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One response to the global crisis that is gaining enthusiastic momentum is the Transition Towns movement. Jennifer Gray, a pioneer in the Transition Initiative in the UK and cofounder of Transition US, describes it as “a community-led response to the twin crises of peak oil and climate change. It’s … positive, pro-active [and] engages the whole community in building resilience into their world.”
Sharing highlights from The Transition Handbook by founder Rob Hopkins, she elaborates on a flexible twelve-step process to empower community...
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Bailout Protest - Lawrence, KS
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Bailout protest on October 10th, the first of many. The people are waking up. Unlikely individuals are teaming up. We've had enough and the message is spreading in the streets. Dennis Moore, local to Lawrence's 3rd District in the House of Representatives voted twice to support the corporate bailouts of predatory lenders and he is up for re-election. Interestingly he was lone federal politician in the State to support both plans. Its time to kick the bums out of Congress. They've sold out their constituents for the last time.
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The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (trailer)
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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 inspiring look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they...
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Community Responses to Peak Oil
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Peak oil educator and author Richard Heinberg discusses what communities can do to prepare for peak oil. He covers transportation, including a novel ride-sharing scheme, assessing municipal vulnerabilities, local food and energy production, as well as the Hirsch report's conclusion that 20 years will be needed to make an energy transition -- very possibly more time than we have.
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How Much Food Can I Grow Around My House?
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In summer 2006 Judy Alexander embarked on an experiment to see how much food she could grow, and how many neighbors could benefit, from the garden around her house. Check out her homegrown rainwater collection and irrigation system - watering her 60+ edible crops. Meet the bees, the chickens and the worms. And catch her joy in producing so much food for so little effort.
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City Repair - Permaculture for Urban Spaces
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What happens when citizens apply permaculture principles to a city grid? They create friendly places within the grid that invite people to come together. Mark Lakeman, co-founder of Portland, Oregon's City Repair Project describes these "creative intervention" projects as placemaking at its best. People learn to work together, build trust and have fun. The results, from painted intersections to cob benches and other organic structures, invite people "to inhabit the planet on our own terms" rather than the grid-locked culture imposed by the...
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The Take: Occupy, Resist, Produce
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In the wake of Argentina's dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They're part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system. Directed by Avi Lewis and writer Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, the two directors champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century.
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Practical Tools to Grow an Intentional Community
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Peak Moment TV: Communities Magazine editor Diana Leafe Christian concisely spells out what the successful 10% of intentional communities do: common vision and purpose, fair participatory decision-making, clear agreements in writing, good balance of right and left-brain knowledge, methods of staying accountable to agreements, criteria for new members, good communication and processing skills. She also discusses peak oil effects on the wider community.
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Thomas Linzey: Challenging Corporations through Direct Democracy
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On February 10, 2005, Thomas Linzey lectured in Seattle on the history of community organizing against corporations in Pennsylvania and his work on the Democracy School program with Richard Grossman. Provides some excellent ideas for activist strategies that will cut right to the root of so many problems local communities are dealing with.
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