Greendrinks, food, and film

Tuesday night was quite busy for me, whew! I made my usual stop at the monthlySeattle Greendrinks. If you have a Greendrinks in your city, you should go...if not, you should start one. As usual, lots of good people and discussions.

Next, it was off to a screening of The Real Dirt on Farmer John hosted by none other than Seattle's own The Warren Report. Being a hippie-greener type small town farm boy from Nebraska myself, this movie touched about every emotion in my body. The story of a farm boy growing up in Illinois, with classic themes of the looming loss of a farm, family members passing, neighbors turning against one another, etc. But in Farmer John, you get a few, shall I say, "fabulous", twists and turns along the way. The story itself is wonderful, the film beautiful, but the fact that it is a great explanation of the importance of community supported agriculture (CSA) makes it by far one of my favorite movies of all time. It's one that I will see over and over again and encourage everyone I know to see as well.

Flock of Dodos - ID vs. Evolution

I Went to a screening of Flock of Dodos last night. LOVED IT! The movie explores the 'circus' around the intelligent design vs. evolution debate going on in America these days...and a circus it is indeed. The movie was directed by Randy Olson, a former marine biologist now turned filmmaker (see also Shifting Baselines for another example of his work). Randy does a great job treating both sides of the intelligent design vs. evolution debate fairly and pointing out the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the debate, but he has no issue making it clear which side he comes out on.



Having degrees in behavioral ecology and conservation biology myself, I'm pretty much right there with him. But I also fall in line with biologists like Jane Goodall that find studying the natural world IS like studying the mind of god, the creater, a designer or whatever. Physicists have long said you don't get organization from chaos so the fact that we have a very organized universe means 'something' somehow has caused the universe to be so organized. In addition, the fact that you have things like the Fibonacci sequence that appears throughout nature in plants, animals, crystals, the curve of waves, etc. makes one wonder sometimes. Furthermore, being a bit of an animist and having a keen interest in Eastern and First Nations spirituality keeps things interesting for me too. Which takes me back to the movie. Perhaps the biggest star of Flock of Dodos is Randy's outspoken 83 year-old Mom, Muffy Moose (aka Muffy Olson). She was by far the most interesting character as she seemed the most open to hearing both sides, the most curious about both sides, and the most interested in the crossroads of her own personal spirituality and beliefs. You go girl!

Children of Men

Whoa! I just saw the film adaptation of P. D. James' Children of Men. WHOA! This is an amazing flick. And, I'm very pleased that an environmental issue other than global warming has made it into the media. The basic storyline is that, among many other major social and environmental problems the world is facing in 2027, women have become infertile...so the human race is literally doomed to extinction. England is the last bastion of civil society but has chosen to deport foreigners and even stooped to internment camps to facilitate the process. In the book, I believe it is male fertility that has been lost, even scarier since scientists are already seeing this very situation starting to happen today.

I want to read the book to get more insight on how the world spirals downward so quickly and disastrously, but the fact that chemicals in the environment have affected the human endocrine system resulting in infertility is incredible bold and timely. True, global warming threatens to change the world as we know it, making human life not so fun anymore in many ways, but chances are we will still go on somehow. Lose fertility and we could really be in trouble. The movie is completely depressing but does provide moments of hope along the way. Again...whoa. This movie is a must see.

Mama Earth

Tonight I attended the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Network's Monthly Green Film Series. The film tonight was Leslie Bloom's Mama Earth. While it was by no means a Hollywood budget blockbuster, it was a wonderful film. The content was superb, the format charming, and the message loud and clear. I think the film hit pretty much every major environmental issue, including some controversal topics like using taxes to create change. The experts in the film were very accessible and the humor throughout the film was perfect since the topics presented could be heavy if not balanced well with some lightheartedness.

Snaps all around

Snaps for Legally Blond 2. In fact, my Snap Cup runneth over in praise for the movie. I laughed (a lot...couldn't stop for about 5 minutes after one scene), I cried (several times) and totally dug the many causes...animal testing, gay rights, empowering women, system reform. Awesome!

Our LB2 Afterglow was fabulous as well. Three Elle look alikes, Aveda mesages and gift bags, raspberry cosmos as the featured 'cocktail with a cause'. Stay tuned...I'll post a page on the event soon.

Finally, thanks to everyone for continuing to send the links and other resources to add to the online source books. Keep them coming.