The seemingly innocuous question comes with all sorts of ethical baggage these days: for many Americans, recycling is not just an initial step into a greener life, but also an activity suffused with moral weight. While many will argue about the significance of individuals and families recycling items they might otherwise throw away, there’s no doubt that creative and innovative reuse of materials is critical for the health of the planet… and the people who reside on it (along with all of those other species). Tonight, the Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet goes beyond the blue bin many of us place on the curb, and looks at three organizations that are taking recycling in some interesting, and effective, directions.

Ever been to the dump? If so, it probably didn’t look like Sonoma County, California’s, which manager Ken Wells (pictured on the left) describes as a “mining operation for the trash of your life.” Yes, there’s a landfill, but there’s also a composting center, an organic garden, a reuse store, and a power plant that creates electricity from landfill gas (enough to power about 7000 homes). Accessory design shop Ecoist, in Miami, definitely looks more upscale, but they’re also reusing materials that would otherwise go to waste: in this case, misprinted or otherwise flawed packaging, and movie billboards. And Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council (CACRC) gathers used computers on a massive scale, “dematerializes” those that aren’t in working condition, and repairs those that are to sell cheaply or donate to public school programs. As in earlier episodes, many of the “big ideas” presented come from ordinary people (well, ordinary people with extraordinary imaginations). And, of course, folks known for their own big ideas provide commentary: David Suzuki, Allen Hershkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Anne Reichman of Earth 911, and Sundance’s own Simran Sethi.

Following Big Ideas, the Sundance Channel presents the eco-documentary Burning the Future: Coal in America. According to press materials,

This timely documentary takes us to the Appalachian Mountains of southern West Virginia to explore the political, economic and environmental issues surrounding coal, the source of more than half of U.S. electricity. At particular issue is the controversial above-ground mining technique known as mountaintop removal, which is defended as safe by the coal industry but opposed by a growing number of residents who believe it is a threat their land, their health and their unique way of life.

If you liked Big Coal, this sounds like one you won’t want to miss.

Finally, keep in mind that there’s Sundance schwag to win: Sundance’s own “What’s the Big Idea?” contest is still taking entries, and we’re giving away a Sundance giftbag to one lucky subscriber to our biweekly newsletter.

Images courtesy of Special Ops Media 

Fittingly, the film begins with a group of incredulous workers in hard hats listening to a project manager describe what a green building is. It turns out he doesn’t exactly know himself. “What does it give you?,” “what’s the point?” they ask. “I can’t answer that exactly,” he responds. But the skeptical laborers make jokes, dismissing the whole idea. After the manager explains that the condos will have “double flush” toilets, one man jokes, “I use that a lot - that system. One never seems to do the job.”

The film makers succeed by not explaining to us what green building is. Instead, they ask different people involved with the project to explain it, resulting in wildly different accounts of what it means to be green. One will focus on the location of the project, across the street from public transportation. One will speak of the regional materials used on the project. Another believes that everything in the building is made from recycled materials (not true - though many renewable materials were used and 90% of material hauled off the site will be recycled.) When asked why a tree was being taken up to the roof, one man guessed, “for good luck?”

What comes across quite clear in the film is the disdain many people involved, including the project owner/developer, have for greenies. Laborers huff about what a waste of time and money building green is. The owner/developer says that the building is not green in the sense of “eating simple cheeses or eating plain meats or something weird like that,” a comment that I had to rewind to make sure I heard correctly. A member of the waste management team says “I viewed green as dorky,” but then by the end of the project has a tattoo of a roll-off truck on her “bum,” which she shows off. I didn’t rewind that one.

The true star of the film is Wayne Phillips, a laborer who at first is skeptical but intrigued. But as he tries to explain his work with the Macallan building to his children he can’t hide his pride, and when his daughter continues to show interest in it - even asking if they can buy a condo there, he responds with a comment more profound than he intended: “I always tell you a good education will get you anything you want in life.” Green building, it seems, is viewed as a luxury for the wealthy, and even the local bar owner fears that buildings like the Macallan will price him and others (and perhaps the south Boston culture) out of the neighborhood. The class conflict in the film is subtle but well done.

The film shows the green successes of the building, rainwater collection tanks, FSC wood decking, energy saving windows, to name a few, as well as the failures. The bamboo flooring buckled, perhaps due to the new VOC free glues, and 72 floors had to be ripped up and replaced. The wheatboard cabinets swelled, causing installation headaches, but none, it seemed, had to be replaced. The green roof represented the largest disconnect between idea and installation, as every slow step had to be done by hand. The installers didn’t hold back their displeasure. And then all the plants died.

By the end, many of those working on the building come around to the advantages of green building, and even the man who joked earlier about “double flush” toilets argues the merits of green building. Others say that they will tell their grandchildren one day that they built the first green building in Boston. Mr. Phillips takes his daughter on a tour of the completed building. She says it makes her want to join a club at school on being green.

“The Greening of Southie” will air at 9:30 eastern and pacific.

For articles on other Sundance Channel “The Green” features, click below:
TV Review: Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas For A Small Planet - Wear Episode
Eco-Libris: A New Film from the Creators of “King Corn”
Sundance Channel Launches Season Two of “The Green” with “Garbage Warrior”

Two weeks ago Eylon Israely conducted an interview with King Corn’s Director and Producer, Aaron Woolf . Today we’ve got interesting updates on the film and its creators.

Firstly, If you haven’t seen this documentary yet, here’s your chance - King Corn airs on PBS on April 15! So mark it down in your calender.

And there’s also a new film from the creators of King Corn - The Greening of Southie. The film will have its world premiere on the Sundance Channel on Earth Day, April 22 at 9:40PM. This time, the filmmakers explore green building, and they’re focusing on the first green residential project in one of the favorite neighborhoods: South Boston, or Southie as everyone calls it. Here’s a little bit more about it:

The Greening of Southie goes behind the scenes and onto the scaffolds to follow the construction of Boston’s first green residential structure, a luxury condominium complex called the Macallan Building. Located in the city’s storied working-class neighborhood, South Boston, Macallan was conceived with the ambitious goal of securing a LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Moving between the idealistic young development team, distant suppliers, and the salty union construction crew, The Greening of Southie maps each step––and misstep––on the road to move-in day.

Following that, Sundance will air its original documentary Garbage Warrior. I got a chance to screen this film a few weeks ago as part of a package I received from Earth Circle Cinema, and it’s well worth staying up past your bed time (if that’s an issue). Garbage Warrior tells the story of architect and Earthship creator Michael Reynolds, and his thirty-five+ year quest to create self-sufficient, sustainable buildings made from natural materials and society’s “waste”: “tires, beer cans, glass, and plastic bottles.”

Filmmaker Oliver Hodge frames Reynold’s story as a true “David and Goliath” epic: after years of developing an Earthship community outside of Taos, NM, the architect and the community he’s created come up against “the Man,” in the form of building and planning regulations well out of step with Reynold’s vision of low-impact housing. Garbage Warrior shows the prices Reynolds paid in challenging the system (particularly the loss of his architecture licenses and certifications for most of the 90s), and the battle he takes on with the state legislature to change laws that ultimately dampen creativity, and discourage building professionals from experimenting with more sustainable forms of construction. Does he win? Well, you’ll have to watch to find out…

Perhaps the most moving element of the film, though, involves Reynolds and team going to the Andaman Islands after the 2005 tsunami. While politicians dither in Santa Fe, the Earthship team provides housing for victims of the disaster. Hodge, and Reynolds, play up on the irony: politicians the world’s most developed nation just can’t wrap their head around what Reynolds is doing (or choose not to), while tsunami victims in the developing world are not only grateful for his work, but immediately understand its relevance to their living situations.

This doesn’t mean, though, that Reynolds promotes a step backwards in living spaces for the developed world; rather, as the film shows consistently, his Earthships are not only built for sustainable use of resources, but also for comfort. Hodge’s frequent shots of the buildings demonstrate that they’re also aesthetically pleasing… a “win-win-win” for a “modern” society.

I’ll put some links up to Reynold’s concepts in the discussion forums for… well, discussion. Garbage Warrior is a really well-made film… but, given the compelling nature of its subject, I’m guessing Hodge and team found that the story told itself.

Let us know what you think about the first offerings of ’08’s The Green… I know I’ll be watching.

Many thanks to Special Ops Media for the images.

UPDATE: Rather than creating a forum on Reynolds, I’ve done one on The Green itself… but always interested in discussing Reynolds and his work.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a good documentary can change your vocabulary.

Josh Tickell’s new film, Fields of Fuel, has just won the Audience Award for Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which opened last Monday to a standing ovation, is a sharp, compelling look at biofuels and the history of America’s dependence on foreign oil. From home-made biodiesel to OPEC corruption, it covers the myriad reasons why we should be changing our fuel to change our lives.

Tickell, the man who essentially introduced the world to biodiesel, has brought us an outstanding contribution to the discourse on biofuels: Fields of Fuel says in ninety minutes what we’ve all been trying to sum up for years. Here’s the trailer:

But hey, I’m at Sundance.

For the next ten days I’ll be on the lookout for films and panels pertaining to biofuels or the planet. It looks like Josh Tickell, the well-known author of From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank (who’s primarily responsible for the biodiesel homebrew movement in the last decade) has a film this year. It’s called Fields of Fuel.

I’ll also be collaborating with a colleague here to finish a short documentary we filmed last year called Veggie Truck. If it isn’t totally embarrassing (I haven’t watched the footage in almost a year) I’ll be posting it here.

Until then, I’ll be watching movies and fighting off frostbite.

U.S. production company, Landreth Associates, is working with the Chinese CCTV Economic Movie and Television Center and The International Cultural Exchange Audiovisual Publishing House (an agency of the Chinese Ministry of Culture), on what is to be a weekly documentary television show in China called “Seizing the Moment in China” beginning in the summer of 2008.

Ted Landreth once headed the international news department at CBS News, and other team members include Peter Pagnamenta, who once ran the BBC Current Affairs show as well as John Liu who has produced documentaries on the Chinese environment while living in China for sixteen years. The team feels that the Olympics in China offers a good focus for the Chinese population and the world to consider the extreme challenges China faces, as well as the little known conservation and restoration projects, which are underway.

To me, this production project is one of the most creative green-based businesses I have heard of in 2007. U.S. investors (and I suppose those from any other country) are being offered a share of the profits, based upon profits from sponsors whose messages are targeted to reach over one hundred million in the Chinese audience and many more abroad in an English version of the shows.

If you would like more information, you can contact Michael O’Reilly, a Los Angeles-based lawyer and consultant working for Landreth Associates via email: michael “at” oreilly “dot” net.

I had the opportunity to meet Martin at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where he was taking refuge from the cold inside a biodiesel-powered schoolbus. We chatted briefly about the film, the message, and sustainability issues surrounding biofuels. Energetic and passionate could describe Martin, and perhaps of the mindset that 'we've got to save the world so let's get started'. Needless to say, he was jazzed about me driving the 1,000 miles to the festival in a vegetable-oil powered truck. The film, which can be watched or downloaded free from http://www.freedomfuels.info/, speaks for itself and is well worth the hour - even for the most diehard biofuel enthusiast.

Download the film here.

For the fourth episode of their Big Ideas For A Small Planet series, the Sundance Channel takes on the challenging topic of dressing green. The first three episodes of this original documentary series have gotten a large amount of critical acclaim for bringing environmental issues to the millions of Americans who tune in. So far, the topics of fuel, building construction, and city development have been examined, offering up three different topic-specific ideas of how to enhance our lives and reduce our carbon footprint at the same time in each episode.

Premiering this Tuesday, May 8th at 9pm Eastern and Pacific, the Wear episode features commentary from Ali Hewson (Bono's wife and founder of Edun Clothing), Simran Sethi, Carson Kressley (the wonderfully flamboyant blond fashion guru from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy), and Graham Hill (founder of TreeHugger.com). I must admit that when I saw Carson come on screen, I was worried that the episode might end up being less than serious, but he had a unique point-of-view to add to the subject of green fashion, acting as a voice for the many that see style as an integral part of their life, just like eating or sleeping. Helping to show people that wearing sustainable fabrics has little, if anything, to do with tie-dye and hippies is one of the most important factors for the growing green fashion market, and this episode does a darn good job of getting that point across.

What makes this film special isn't the 60 country shoot, but the fact that after Boomerang makes back its original invesment plus ten-percent the film will be available for free distribution. The hope is that with free distribution more people will be able to see the film and benefit from its message.