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Alan Heeks explores the pathways that can take us from the ‘old story’ of addictive materialism into a new, creative and regenerative post-industrial society.
Waiting for political change to come about once every few years at election time is not only frustrating, but is an almost sure-fire way of ensuring that the changes you really want don’t get delivered within the time frames that are necessary. If we really want to see...
CAN YOUR EATING HABITS REALLY CHANGE THE WORLD?
A deeply moving journey through Japan, Korea, and the United States that turns our perceptions of food and life upside down in an amazingly simple and poetic way.
This 11 minute video manages to be informative, satirical, and poetic as it covers serious issues that affect all of humanity. It offers simple solutions to government and corporate involvement in unconstitutionally drugging the American people via the air we breathe and the...
Watch the 6th graders at Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School in Queens, NY transform an unused piece of their campus into a beautiful permaculture garden.
The next generation needs a paradigm and a code of identity that bind with a sense of purpose, community, and mission; an idea and a feeling that transcend superficial characteristics (like skin color, gender and orientation).
A majestic journey through Japan, Korea, and the United States that turns our perceptions of food (and life) upside down in a simple and poetic way. Solutions for our most pressing social and ecological issues come from unexpected places in a bite-sized film that New York...
The way we grow food has become one of the largest threats to our survival as a species, yet we’ve had a simple answer for millennia…
For young people not raised on the land, getting into farming can seem daunting. Even for people who have worked on farms before, it is easy to feel isolated and overwhelmed when it comes to starting a farm of one’s own.
‘Use and value diversity’ is one of the ten core principles of permaculture — for good reason. Studies have shown that small, diversified farms can yield more than twice as much food per acre when compared to large monocultures. Crop diversity significantly contributes to...
WATCH OUR MESSAGE! ACT NOW! SHARE IT! We are dedicated to planting trees that tell stories, and we are really happy to share this special work with you! The Short Film is an important message of the Indigenous Elder Mamo Rumaldo Lozano Gil guardian of the sacred site TEYUNA...
Seen as the father of modern day natural farming, Masanobu Fukuoka  (1913-2008) was the author of The One Straw Revolution, a fundamental volume for understanding how human beings can live together with this earth. This three part film series features previously unreleased...
“There is in fact no significant difference between the mass destruction of warfare and massive destruction of industrial land abuse.” ~ Wendell Berry
After COVID-19, we can return to stressful disconnected lives and climate catastrophe or we can slow down, scale down and rebuild our connections to each other and to the Earth. On June 21, we hosted an inspiring online festival of ideas and inspiration in celebration of...
The term ‘Nowtopia’ is increasingly used by both activists and academics to describe a variety of interconnected tendencies. It can, for instance, apply to seeking freedom outside the confines of wage labour, or the creation of liberated common space in the here and now.
"The consumer society - it's hyperindividualism - and hyperindividualism is a form of disempowerment, and they know it. So you get to express your personal identity, while you are being stripped of collective power. And the elites are not going to go without a fight. Look at...
In this video essay, I examine the causes and destruction of our current industrialized food system. Specifically, I dive into the capitalist commodification of food, and how most of the industrialized farming that takes place in the imperial core doesn't produce crops for...
The City Food Commons shares the story of Roimata Food Commons, an urban food forest initiative driven by Ōtautahi Christchurch local Michael Reynolds. The aim of the project is to empower the community to co-create space in a public park, reviving the notion of the Commons...
2013 was another incredible year for fantastic, forward thinking social change films.
If we want to build a broad-based movement, a regenerative movement that can heal and renew the world, a movement that attracts people as they really are, not just as we think they should be, a set of guiding principles can be helpful. Here are thirteen, to start with.
Valuing Ecosystem Function higher than material things is the paradigm shift that determines whether we understand the meaning of our lives and survive or whether we remain ignorant and selfish and destroy our own habitat trying to gain more wealth or more power. If we reach...
Earth needs humans to figure out our shared destiny, says Alan Seid, whose interest is both the outer and inner dimensions of sustainability. Outside there's ecology, social systems and economics (e.g., in Permaculture). Inside is the psychological dimension of personal and...
Linda Buzzell-Saltzman and Larry Saltzman of Santa Barbara share a love for their garden in more ways than one. Larry is creating a lush food forest and teaches permaculture to promote local food security. Ecotherapist Linda helps people heal their relationship with nature...
They laughed and said it couldn't be done... but sure enough, a group of permaculturist's were able to turn an area of desert into a lush garden that could support food and plants, using permaculture principles established over the last several decades. This film explains how...
Are you worried about climate change? What if we could actually do something really effective right now to halt it? In this short 3 minute film, WeForest shows how permaculture, and more broadly, preserving, expanding, and re-growing the world's forests may be the "first...
Lawrence, KS -- After 12 months in development, Films For Action has launched its new website - a head-to-toe redesign that lays the foundation for a vibrant community-powered news site dedicated to inspiring positive social change. At the heart of the new site is a...
Meeting Jesus Christ on Easter SundayMeeting Satan on Easter MondayOut and about in Cambridge with Jon from We Are Change Birmingham and showing Associated Press how we do things - of course they edited down the interview for maximum drama and juxtapositionSee the AP piece...
With a humorous spirit, The Urban Farming Guys present: How to use guerrilla tactics to get several tons of free compost (BLACK GOLD) with very little effort. For several years now, this rag-tag team of urban permaculture entrepreneurs have been baking up the finest compost...
The belief that what currently exists must necessarily exist is the acid that corrodes all visionary thinking. - Murray Bookchin
This film tells the story of one small family practicing urban sufficiency. They live on 1/10th of an acre in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. By living more simply and utilizing alternative technologies this household draws 75-80% less electricity from the grid than the...
Hou Xueying, a mother from Shanghai, was tired of food safety scares and of a city life disconnected from the land. So she moved her family to the country to learn about sustainable farming. Her parents disapproved; they had struggled to give her a comfortable life in the...
This is a 'No Fresh Carbon Footprint' Docuseries.
This video is a demonstration of how to turn your yard into a garden.
Today Happen Films is taking a tour of this incredible tiny house truck that runs on waste vegetable oil! BEV, the biosphere emergency vehicle, is the mobile home for artists Brenna Quinlan and Charlie Mgee when they're on the road traveling in Australia. The house features a...
Fourth generation cattleman Will Harris shares his evolution from industrial to regenerative farmer.
In 2007, Ole and Maitri Ersson bought the rundown Cabana apartment complex in the city and immediately began to de-pave parking spaces to make space for what today is a huge permaculture coliving space and urban food forest. Today, the Kailash Ecovillage has 55 residents who...
Scientist Suzanne Simard explains the complex intelligence of how trees communicate with one another and are super cooperators rather than competitors. This beautiful story takes you into the forest to see how trees share resources and protect each other from invaders and...
"Awakening of the Soil" is a compelling 42-minute documentary that follows the transformative journey of Barbaros, a skeptical farmer from Edirne, Turkey as he discovers the world of regenerative agriculture with the guidance of his friend, Begonia. Together, they embark on a...
Ecosophia means ecological wisdom in Greek and this documentary explores the meta-crisis and interrelation between energy, the laws of thermodynamics, the economy, resources, exponential growth, climate change, population, psychology and degrowth solutions.
Solarpunk is a vision of a future that is sustainable, equitable, and optimistic, where humanity has learned to live in harmony with the natural world and technology is used to improve the lives of all beings. One of the key aspects of Solarpunk is decentralization and a...
Bryce and Misty have spent the last 12 years building a cob home, homesteading, living off the grid, and homeschooling their two daughters. They live without a car, so for transportation, they use taxis and bicycles, and they eventually hope to have a cart that their two...
Solarpunk is an aesthetic and genre which envisions a sustainable future built around social and ecological resilience. It often includes concepts such as renewable energy, rewilding & harmony with nature, counter-culturalism and decolonialism, collective living, optimism...
If you're a regular reader of The Salt, you've probably noticed our interest in foraging. From San Francisco to Maryland, we've met wild food experts, nature guides and chefs passionate about picking foo
In the gorgeous setting of central Brazil, a rag tag group of 10000 mayan calendar followers, bioregionalists, permaculture experts, Rastafarians, alternative health practitioners, and NGO executives come together to imagine another way of being.
Our Recommended Independent Media Links: Adbusters Aljazeera AlterNet Black Agenda Report Boiling Frogs Post
Over the last 7 years, Films For Action has been cataloging an online library of the best social change films that can be watched free online. Opting for quality over quantity, the site has grown slowly to include 500 documentaries and 900 short films, trailers and...
We need to recognize we share the planet with millions of other life forms   Time to celebrate! Woo-hoo! It’s official: we humans have started a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. Who’d have thought that just one species among millions might be capable of such an...
“Once in a while a film comes along that has profound impact – this is a delicious taste of what can be.” - Polly Higgins
This is the crash-course in 'what the hell is going on here' that we surely all wish we got from our education growing up but probably never did.
The Power of Humility, Forgiveness, Gratitude and Love
Abundant Land is a one-hour documentary about a Hawaiian community on Moloka’i opposing the biotech industry’s use of the island to test genetically engineered seeds. Agrochemical biotech corporations, including Monsanto and Mycogen Seeds, are depleting Moloka’i’s topsoil and...
These days, city living feels much more difficult than it used to be. It seems everyone has a ‘town planning’ issue or gripe. What’s yours? This animation explores why we need to break from a system of endless economic and population growth. Otherwise, our neighbourhoods will...
While a lot of time, energy, and resources will be necessary to stop the erosion of civil rights and defend democracy during a second Trump administration, it’s essential that we don’t neglect the equally important work of building alternative systems and cultures.
I think now is a good time to be talking about Bucky’s vision of a World Game.  We have the technology to do this and a new administration could easily provide the funding.  I don’t think any of this material is Utopian or far out, but if you do, let me know why.
This series will attempt to roughly give some examples as to how the urban environment can be altered so that cities can not only sustain themselves but also become ecologically rich environs benefiting mankind and servicing nature. In order for us to do so, we must create...
Over the last 7 years, Films For Action has been cataloging an online library of the best social change films that can be watched free online. Opting for quality over quantity, the site has grown slowly to include 500 documentaries and 900 short films, trailers and...
It would seem there are certain strands of thought within many religions that are highly unsustainable, for the health of individuals, society and the planet as a whole.
The Transition movement is a loose network of thousands of communities (ranging from favelas in Brazil to Japanese towns; from rural villages in England to Transition Los Angeles) unified in their drive to devise and implement positive solutions that build local resilience...
From left to right: Starhawk, Julia Butterfly Hill, Majora Carter, Vandana Shiva, and Patricia Gualinga. August 26th is Women’s Equality Day, a day to honor when American women gained the right to vote, 95 years ago. In honor of women’s equality, we present 5 fearless women...
The Blueprint project is an integrated response system especially applicable in emergency situations. The model includes permaculture practices, solar and biogas energy usage, natural building methods and water harvesting structures. We only offer what we use ourselves – for...
In the vast emptiness of space there are an unimaginable number of galaxies, each galaxy containing billions upon billions of stars. Looking at one galaxy we find an average star that hosts eight unassuming planets – four gas orbs, and four rock orbs. But one of these planets...
When I graduated from high school in 1985, college was the unquestionable next step for an intelligent, middle-class or upper-middle class young person. I entered an elite school not out of any particular ambition, but because the story that surrounded me said that this is...
Films For Action is a learning library for people who want to change the world.
Sierra Robinson is a seventeen-year-old farmer, homeschooler, and environmental activist from Vancouver Island, BC.
I've struggled to make sense of what is going on. My suspicious mind wandered around restlessly, examining all theories and possible explanations, yet I must admit: I don’t know what is happening. I do know this is a crucial moment of choice for humanity. In this essay, I...
Our present moment is saturated in dystopian, apocalyptic fantasies of the future.
What can one person do? What can a group of people do? What do we want to leave behind? In the film "Imprint" we visit 13 projects in 13 different places where committed groups work for a vibrant future. A personal and poetic depiction of what it means to be fully human in...
Explore 5 sustainable ecovillages and communities that are built on the premise of building a brighter future. See these locales that are built with focuses on permaculture, and other design techniques that you can use to make your home more friendly to nature and the Earth.
More than 96 per cent of all the food grown in Britain is reliant on synthetic fertiliser. Without it there would be serious trouble. But without artificial fertiliser there's not enough nutrients for the crops to grow, and without ploughing there is nothing to aerate the...
Hope in a Changing Climate optimistically reframes the debate on global warming. Illustrating that large, decimated eco-systems can be restored, the BBC World documentary reveals success stories from Ethiopia, Rwanda and China which prove that bringing large areas back from...
A video about the many cooperatives in Maleny, Australia, and the beneficial effects they have on the local community. It includes interviews with people from the Maleny Credit Union, the health food store, environmental coops and the kindergarden.
When I was seven, I was given an Apple Macintosh in the hope that Mavis Beacon would teach me how to touch type. It was an unreasonable expectation, for I was actually more interested in escaping to the fantasy lands of computer games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Lode...
O.U.R. Ecovillage is a sustainable educational center and a presentation ground situated in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Their activities are rooted in Permaculture standards and give educational opportunities for natural architecture...
A short film fom Over Grow The System that showcases young farmers who are growing the change they want to see in the word.
”An organic farmer is the best scientist of today, because they actually have to understand how nature works in order to produce.They are the best health specialist of today, because they are giving us the food that gives us health. An organic farmer is the best steward of...
RESIST: The Unist'ot'en's Call To The Land is a short documentary that was filmed in the summer of 2013 on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory, 1000 km north of Vancouver in northern BC (western Canada) over the duration of the fourth annual Environmental Action Camp, hosted by...
“Give a man a gun and he’ll rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he’ll rob the world.”–Unknown
Communities in Senegal, Colombia, Jamaica, Palestine and Egypt are experimenting with more sustainable ways of living
We are living through the collapse of the first truly global civilization in Earth’s history. This is bigger than the fall of Rome. Much more dramatic than the end for the Mayans. Greater in magnitude than the fall of the ancient Egyptians. And yet there is still hope for...
Tony Wrench of Wales had a natural building that radically challenged and altered the government’s policy on low impact housing. This paved the way for Lammas - the UK’s first planned ecovillage, on brilliant display in this film.
Our food system is linked to an economic system that is fundamentally biased against what’s good for people and the planet.
Every person on earth needs food every day. Every day food is tended, harvested, transported, stored, and served up on our tables. In a very real sense, food cannot be separated from life itself. And so it has been said that changing the way we grow and eat food is one of the...
Have you noticed the memes circulating about the end of normal?
Inhabitants is an inspiring documentary about the work many of our indigenous relatives are doing today to restore our world.
Planet Local Voices is video and podcast series featuring cutting-edge thinkers, writers, movement-builders and activists from across the world, united by a planet local vision of ecological economies, healthy communities and local food systems.
One of the most frequent criticisms leveled against the sustainable agriculture movement is that its proponents want to send farmers back to 19th-century hard labor, with hand weeding and harvesting. Here's an incredibly cool group of eco-minded "farmer-scientists" who aren't...
With excellent independent media sites like Common Dreams, Truth Out, Grist, and others providing progressive news and perspective in written form, Films For Action has dedicated itself to filling in the progressive video niche.
The city of Detroit isn’t looking too pretty to date. On July 18th as many know, Detroit filed for bankruptcy after falling an estimated $20 billion in debt to over 100,000 creditors. Due to the inability for the city government to provide for goods and services it once...
Itʼs a cool spring day in Merville, BC as Moss Dance, sole proprietor of Ripple Farm, unfurls irrigation lines along tightly spaced rows of lettuces. Itʼs early in the season, but there are already fresh greens, radishes and onions ready to harvest for the weekly farmersʼ market.
Transformational Festivals Panel for “Practicing The New World” LIVE at 7:00pm April 29th following the LIVE MASS VIEWING of THE BLOOM PART II
I’m dealing with massive cognitive dissonance right now. Multiple, contradictory beliefs and perceptions inhabit my mind, each compelling on its own terms. How do I choose?
A “memetic” observation about all the resistance marches since Trump took office… the protests feed what they oppose. There is a finite amount of emotional energy available in the world — the aggregate of all things that people are thinking about and acting on in any given...
Recognizing the design flaws in our default programming is the first step to envisioning the world we know is possible.
Precisely 50 years ago, the international anti-imperialistic students’ movement culminated in the uprisings in France. At that time, Dieter Duhm, a psychoanalyst and sociologist, was a spokesman of the “new left” in the German students’ movement and coined the slogan...
Ever since the Brexit referendum was first announced, we have been bombarded by an array of starkly contradictory pronouncements – from the Leave camp’s now infamous claim that withdrawal from the EU would release £350 million a week for the NHS to the former Chancellor...
For many of us who actually live along the U.S.-Mexico border, the “Mesquite Manifesto” addresses economic and climate problems by building up industry around the native tree.
Humanity has a lot of problems these days. Climate change, increasing economic inequality, crashing biodiversity, political polarization, and a global debt bubble are just a few of our worries. None of these trends can continue indefinitely without leading to a serious...
Localism taps into a deep need for community and a sense of place. Nationalism, on the other hand, destroys our sense of interdependence with human-scale community and the living environment.
This inspiring off-grid homesteading family lives in a renovated stone earthship. They grow their own food, collect rainwater, use solar power, have composting toilets, and they have a pond that filters their grey water. On top of living an eco friendly lifestyle, they...
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