Monday 16 June 2008

Canadian Film: "Be The Change"

I wanted to help spread the word about this film by David Chernushenko, Canadian filmmaker and environmentalist (among other things). Its full title is: Be The Change - Living Lightly and Loving It.

It's not a doom and gloom film, but rather one that is a "celebration of the human spirit" and shows how living sustainably is a rewarding way to be and to act. According to the website, the film was even made locally to the film maker's Ottawa home base, and bus and bike directions are given to the film's premiere in Ottawa, this coming Friday, June 2oth. The trailer for the film is encouraging, not despairing, and fits well with what a bunch of bloggers have been talking about lately -- that people want to be part of something joyous and uplifting, not a movement that only talks about sacrifice, hardship and guilt.

Have you had a joyful moment related to sustainability recently? One that comes to mind for me was when I used my mesh produce bags at the grocery store and the teen-aged bag-person said, "Hey, that's cool." Tasting my home-grown kale in my noodle stir-fry yesterday was also pretty darn good!

6 comments:

hmd said...

I have a couple:

1) I helped the neighbor girls make jam for the first time. We used local berries they had picked the weekend before. At the last minute they entered the jam in the local 4H competition and it won first prize!

2) This weekend my father brought over a bushel of peaches. When it was all said and done, I had rows of jam, canned peaches, and a couple bags for the freezer. I did it all myself. Two months ago, I never would have imagined I'd have come so far so quickly.

Sustainability is definitely a beautiful thing for me. It's so not about sacrifice or hardship. It's about discovery and imagination and beauty. Go green!

Theresa said...

I read about your delicious jam and peaches and you had me drooling all over the place! I must try my hand at canning this summer.

Kale for Sale said...

Thanks for the film tip.

My joyful moment was yesterday sharing blueberries I bought at the farmers' market with the different farmers and some friends. People couldn't help but smile because they were so good. And it's unpredictable to share food with the farmers and the people buying food. They are always so surprised.

Later we had kids at the house and I gave them blueberries. The five year old ate the first one and smiled as surely as the farmers had earlier and said, That's good. He meant it. It made my day.

Thanks for asking the question. I feel happy all over again.

hmd said...

Canning is soooo much easier than I thought it would be. It just takes time. Go for it!

Anonymous said...

Hi Theresa

I was just saying to my hubby yesterday that I'd like to get some mesh produce bags. Where does one get them?

Liz

Theresa said...

Hi Liz;

I got mine through reusablebags.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Heather, that is very encouraging - now I just have to get the canning equipment! I have a feeling produce is going to be coming in fast and furious here pretty soon, from my garden and the CSA, so I'm going to have to get on the ball and get some canning equipment and we're still looking at which chest freezer to get as well....

Kale - it's fun to be unpredictable like that, hey? I like it :) I can visualize your 5-year old's post-blueberry smile - it just doesn't get any better than that, does it?