My inbox is flooded every day with emails that go like this: “I saw Red Gold… It made me cry [men, women, children all write this]…What’s going on with Pebble right now and can I help?”
Of course the answer is Yes! Yes! Yes!
On November 14, 2008, Ben and I stood before 500 people at the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to show Red Gold [what an honor]. On the very same day, just a block away from the theater in the Bureau of Land Management building, President’s Bush’s staff put out a Record of Decision for the Bristol Bay Area Management Plan. It opened nearly 2 million acres of federal land surrounding the Pebble Site to mining exploration. 2 million acres. So while citizens continue to battle development of the Pebble mine on Alaskan State land, we now face the worst – Pebble amidst a mining district in the heart of the world’s largest remaining sockeye salmon fishery. When the Obama administration comes into office, our leaders of change will have 30 days to reverse this decision.
State Land. Federal Land. To me, the land classifications are borders drawn for management purposes. But in reality Bristol Bay and its pristine waters, the abundant wild salmon runs, the life this watershed sustains are global resources we cannot replace. We need more people standing up saying “No – not here, not this place. Wrong location. A risk not worth taking.”
Support for gaining permanent legislative protection for the Bristol Bay watershed continues to grow. The Trout Unlimited Alaska program is currently engaged in a number of projects to stop development of the Pebble Mine. We are placing emphasis on necessary science research so we can understand more of the critical water and habitat issues. We are also working with state and federal policymakers to support legislative protection, and we are leading a nationwide campaign to educate and engage salmon consumers on the values of wild salmon conservation and cuisine (www.whywild.org).
We continue to raise state, national, and international support for protecting this world-renowned watershed, a mosaic of unconfined rivers supporting nearly a 1/3 of our wild salmon supply.
Yes! You can help.
Write members of congress today and express you support for protecting the watershed from mining development. Ask the new administration to keep BLM lands in Bristol Bay closed to mining.
Donate. To do more good work to protect Bristol Bay, we need more financial support. www.savebristolbay.org
Host a Red Gold screening. Contact Emily Long: emily@feltsoulmedia.com.
When you’re at the grocery, or at your favorite restaurant… please request wild salmon. You’ll be supporting sustainable, well-managed fisheries and increasing the demand for what Bristol Bay is famous for. Avoid the farmed stuff unless you have a thing for artificially colored dinner.
And then lastly I’d like just like to thank the people who believed in this project, Ben and Travis for asking questions and listening, and then all those who understand there are still some places left on this planet we must protect.
Please go flood the email boxes of your congressman and tell them they have a chance to save one of our last great salmon runs.
-- Lauren Oaks, Co-Producer, Red Gold (Ironweed Films: June 2009: Volume 43)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
"Mission to Break up Pacific Island of Rubbish Twice the Size of Texas" by Frank Pope
A high-seas mission departs from San Francisco next month to map and explore a sinister and shifting 21st-century continent: one twice the size of Texas and created from six million tonnes of discarded plastic.
Scientists and conservationists on the expedition will begin attempts to retrieve and recycle a monument to throwaway living in the middle of the North Pacific.
The toxic soup of refuse was discovered in 1997 when Charles Moore, an oceanographer, decided to travel through the centre of the North Pacific gyre (a vortex or circular ocean current). Navigators usually avoid oceanic gyres because persistent high-pressure systems — also known as the doldrums — lack the winds and currents to benefit sailors.
Mr Moore found bottle caps, plastic bags and polystyrene floating with tiny plastic chips. Worn down by sunlight and waves, discarded plastic disintegrates into smaller pieces. Suspended under the surface, these tiny fragments are invisible to ships and satellites trying to map the plastic continent, but in subsequent trawls Mr Moore discovered that the chips outnumbered plankton by six to one...
Full Article at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/02-3
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Recently Heard on Our Community Site...
Did you know Ironweed has an interactive community website located at http://www.ironweedfilms.com/community ?
Members and non-members alike may log in to browse recent films, make commentary, read news and much more.
Check out one of our latest community comments below:
"Finally! A film club that does not require wading through thousands ofdopeyaction movies.....and one that also provides incredibly powerful informationon a host of important issues in films that are thoughtful and well made!Thanks so much for all you do.....Ironweed is an essential resource in bothour lives and our work!" --Maureen F. of Essex, MA.
Members and non-members alike may log in to browse recent films, make commentary, read news and much more.
Check out one of our latest community comments below:
"Finally! A film club that does not require wading through thousands ofdopeyaction movies.....and one that also provides incredibly powerful informationon a host of important issues in films that are thoughtful and well made!Thanks so much for all you do.....Ironweed is an essential resource in bothour lives and our work!" --Maureen F. of Essex, MA.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
"Crips and Bloods" Film Screening
A free monthly screening series, Community Cinema features films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. In over 50 cities nationwide, screenings are followed by lively panel discussions that bring together citizens, organizations and public television stations to encourage dialogue and action around important and timely social issues. Last season, over 30,000 people attended 400 events nationwide.
Crips and Bloods Film Screening:
It's a civil war that's lasted 40 years. Passed down from son to son. Fought eye for an eye. Over 15,000 dead and counting, while the world stands by. Welcome to South Central Los Angeles. But what's at the root of this long-standing battle? Filmmaker Stacy Peralta hits the streets of LA to find out, and speaks with former and current members of the Bloods and the Crips, two of the most notorious and violent street gangs in America. Please note: This film contains scenes of graphic violence.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Pacific Design Center - Silver Screen Theater
8687 Melrose Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Light Reception 7:00 PM
RSVP Required at LACommunityCinema@gmail.com
Panel Discussion to Feature:
Stacy Peralta - Filmmaker
Skipp Townsend - Community Organizer Featured in Film
Shaka - Former Member of Bloods Featured in Film
Dr. La Tanya Skiffer - Professor and Expert on Female Violence and Incarceration
Dr. John Quicker - (Moderator) Professor and Expert on LA Gangs
To find a local screening in your area, visit: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/cripsandbloods/getinvolved.html
Filmmaker Chris Metzler Introduces "Greener-Schnitzels"
Ironweed filmmaker Chris Metzler (Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea, Long Division) announces the launch of GREENER-SCHNITZELS - a new series of environmental webisodes that blends sketch comedy and documentary filmmaking to deliver funny truths about our warming planet. With energetic irreverence, the short videos provide some informative comic relief amidst the more serious Green programming you'll find this Earth Day. Come watch the first episode here: www.greenerschnitzels.com
Monday, April 6, 2009
Filmmaker Jeremy Kaller on "The Recyclergy"
Thanks to Ironweed Films for giving me this amazing opportunity to share my first documentary, The Recyclergy, with you. I hope you find it both enjoyable and inspiring.
The film was made under the assumption that you, the audience, had already heard several times in your life that “you should recycle.” For that reason, I tried my best to eliminate that direct message from the film. I’m hoping that I am correct, and you have been recycling for years, but have never met a professional recycler, nor heard about the porn found in recycling bins.
If you devote the 33 minutes to watch The Recyclergy, you will meet some real characters who have devoted their lives to diverting goods from landfills and hear their entertaining stories. I hope that their devotion is contagious.
I took on this challenge because I met these inspiring and hilarious individuals and recognized that they are leaders in the recycling movement. Berkeley was the first city to collect recycling at the curb. San Francisco was the first city in the nation to collect food scraps along with recycling and trash. Two local organizations, Building Resources and Urban Ore, both salvage tons of building materials that would otherwise get landfilled, making the materials available for the community to utilize. The list goes on.
Not until midway through conducting this series of interviews, did I learn about the history of scavengers, who were pre-World War II garbage collectors. I was shocked by my ignorance because I had worked in recycling for several years. Without giving too much away, recycling was a normal, behind the scenes, everyday occurrence before the United States’ post-WWII affluence. Recycling all but disappeared until the first Earth Day in 1970. Even in early 2006, when completing the film, I felt that recycling was still considered another component of tree-hugging. I’m relieved that again, recycling is getting the mainstream attention that it deserves.
The film’s website, www.recyclergy.com, contains links to most of the organizations in the film. If you live in the Bay Area, visit them! If you do not, please contact them for guidance in bringing more recycling into your community.
-- by Jeremy Kaller, Director, The Recyclergy (Ironweed Films: Volume 41: April 2009)
For more information, visit www.ironweedfilms.com/films
The film was made under the assumption that you, the audience, had already heard several times in your life that “you should recycle.” For that reason, I tried my best to eliminate that direct message from the film. I’m hoping that I am correct, and you have been recycling for years, but have never met a professional recycler, nor heard about the porn found in recycling bins.
If you devote the 33 minutes to watch The Recyclergy, you will meet some real characters who have devoted their lives to diverting goods from landfills and hear their entertaining stories. I hope that their devotion is contagious.
I took on this challenge because I met these inspiring and hilarious individuals and recognized that they are leaders in the recycling movement. Berkeley was the first city to collect recycling at the curb. San Francisco was the first city in the nation to collect food scraps along with recycling and trash. Two local organizations, Building Resources and Urban Ore, both salvage tons of building materials that would otherwise get landfilled, making the materials available for the community to utilize. The list goes on.
Not until midway through conducting this series of interviews, did I learn about the history of scavengers, who were pre-World War II garbage collectors. I was shocked by my ignorance because I had worked in recycling for several years. Without giving too much away, recycling was a normal, behind the scenes, everyday occurrence before the United States’ post-WWII affluence. Recycling all but disappeared until the first Earth Day in 1970. Even in early 2006, when completing the film, I felt that recycling was still considered another component of tree-hugging. I’m relieved that again, recycling is getting the mainstream attention that it deserves.
The film’s website, www.recyclergy.com, contains links to most of the organizations in the film. If you live in the Bay Area, visit them! If you do not, please contact them for guidance in bringing more recycling into your community.
-- by Jeremy Kaller, Director, The Recyclergy (Ironweed Films: Volume 41: April 2009)
For more information, visit www.ironweedfilms.com/films
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Water Crisis Hits Iraq
This article has been re-posted from our friends at Huffington Post.
by Inter Press Service
BAGHDAD, Feb 12 (IPS) - There is less water now in the Tigris, and it is less clean. The river has fewer fish, and rising fuel and other costs mean they are more costly to catch. It's not, as Hamza Majit finds, a good time to be a fisher.
"It's getting worse everyday," Majit told IPS on board his fishing boat.
"You see the low water level," Majit said, touching the bottom of the river, just two metres down, with a wooden pole. "We need higher water to hold our nets up. And this is the deepest point in the Tigris in this area. With the water this low, it makes it difficult to catch any fish."
Plastic bottles, grocery bags and other garbage are now more commonly seen floating down the once clear river. "Fish are a treasure from God, but now so much is preventing us from reaping our treasure," said Majit.
Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Majit says, it was common to catch several dozen fish daily. Now, "we are lucky to catch ten." Now the government too is alarmed.
"The Tigris remains extremely polluted, and this situation continues to worsen," Minister for the Environment Narmin Othman told IPS. "So many Iraqis are suffering from this. We realise it is a crisis, and we are looking for more ways the government can actively begin to solve the problem."
The matter is being considered urgently, she said. "We have to do this, because if we don't, nobody else will, and the suffering will continue. The Tigris is one of Iraq's treasures, and we must safeguard our treasures."
The government has been before. "The situation is critical," Prof. Ratib Mufid, environment expert at Baghdad University, said back in 2007. "The river is gradually being destroyed, and there are no projects to prevent its destruction."
Since then it has only become worse. The new difficulties begin at the source, and multiply along the way.
"The problem of decreasing water flow starts in Turkey's Taurus mountains," Seif Barakah, media officer at the Ministry of Environment had warned, about the same time in 2007.
"Between there and Kurdistan, many dams have been built which reduce the water flow. The idea was to prevent floods which over the years affected northern communities, but the consequence can now be seen with nearly half the previous water flow."
The Tigris flows from the mountains of south-eastern Turkey through Iraq, where it ends up in the Persian Gulf.
Majit has been a fisher since he was 10, and like most fishers on the Tigris, inherited the family business of generations. Two of his children work with him.
Fishing is not just difficult now, but also unpleasant and hazardous. The smell of burning plastic, or at places of raw sewage, is overpowering. And, Majit says, he has been shot at by U.S. soldiers from the Green Zone, whose concrete walls line the banks along one stretch.
Iraqi environmentalists report that the river is contaminated with war waste, oil derivatives, industrial waste, and toxins. "Sometimes I find crude oil on my nets when I pull them up," Majit said. "The fish also sometimes taste like crude oil."
Big rubbish heaps have come up on the banks. Dumping garbage in the river was punishable during the days of former dictator Saddam Hussein. Today there is nothing to stop people.
The ripple effect of fish scarcity has inevitably hit the markets. The average cost of a fish has risen from two dollars to eight dollars (8,000 Iraqi Dinars).
"That is too expensive, so fewer people are buying," says Amar Hamsa, a 25- year-old fish seller. "Business is bad, it's not a good situation for us nowadays."
Roast fish was considered a treat once, says Ali Sabri, still in the business though with many empty fire pits around him of vendors who had to abandon business. "Few people in Baghdad can afford this now as they used to."
Read more from Inter Press Service
by Inter Press Service
BAGHDAD, Feb 12 (IPS) - There is less water now in the Tigris, and it is less clean. The river has fewer fish, and rising fuel and other costs mean they are more costly to catch. It's not, as Hamza Majit finds, a good time to be a fisher.
"It's getting worse everyday," Majit told IPS on board his fishing boat.
"You see the low water level," Majit said, touching the bottom of the river, just two metres down, with a wooden pole. "We need higher water to hold our nets up. And this is the deepest point in the Tigris in this area. With the water this low, it makes it difficult to catch any fish."
Plastic bottles, grocery bags and other garbage are now more commonly seen floating down the once clear river. "Fish are a treasure from God, but now so much is preventing us from reaping our treasure," said Majit.
Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Majit says, it was common to catch several dozen fish daily. Now, "we are lucky to catch ten." Now the government too is alarmed.
"The Tigris remains extremely polluted, and this situation continues to worsen," Minister for the Environment Narmin Othman told IPS. "So many Iraqis are suffering from this. We realise it is a crisis, and we are looking for more ways the government can actively begin to solve the problem."
The matter is being considered urgently, she said. "We have to do this, because if we don't, nobody else will, and the suffering will continue. The Tigris is one of Iraq's treasures, and we must safeguard our treasures."
The government has been before. "The situation is critical," Prof. Ratib Mufid, environment expert at Baghdad University, said back in 2007. "The river is gradually being destroyed, and there are no projects to prevent its destruction."
Since then it has only become worse. The new difficulties begin at the source, and multiply along the way.
"The problem of decreasing water flow starts in Turkey's Taurus mountains," Seif Barakah, media officer at the Ministry of Environment had warned, about the same time in 2007.
"Between there and Kurdistan, many dams have been built which reduce the water flow. The idea was to prevent floods which over the years affected northern communities, but the consequence can now be seen with nearly half the previous water flow."
The Tigris flows from the mountains of south-eastern Turkey through Iraq, where it ends up in the Persian Gulf.
Majit has been a fisher since he was 10, and like most fishers on the Tigris, inherited the family business of generations. Two of his children work with him.
Fishing is not just difficult now, but also unpleasant and hazardous. The smell of burning plastic, or at places of raw sewage, is overpowering. And, Majit says, he has been shot at by U.S. soldiers from the Green Zone, whose concrete walls line the banks along one stretch.
Iraqi environmentalists report that the river is contaminated with war waste, oil derivatives, industrial waste, and toxins. "Sometimes I find crude oil on my nets when I pull them up," Majit said. "The fish also sometimes taste like crude oil."
Big rubbish heaps have come up on the banks. Dumping garbage in the river was punishable during the days of former dictator Saddam Hussein. Today there is nothing to stop people.
The ripple effect of fish scarcity has inevitably hit the markets. The average cost of a fish has risen from two dollars to eight dollars (8,000 Iraqi Dinars).
"That is too expensive, so fewer people are buying," says Amar Hamsa, a 25- year-old fish seller. "Business is bad, it's not a good situation for us nowadays."
Roast fish was considered a treat once, says Ali Sabri, still in the business though with many empty fire pits around him of vendors who had to abandon business. "Few people in Baghdad can afford this now as they used to."
Read more from Inter Press Service
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