** See out latest Enviro-Events Calendar here**

With the holidays over, are you ready to slump into mental hibernation? The Princeton Film Festival appears to have been designed specifically to prevent any such intellectual slacking.

Running from January 2 through 11, the event offers a rich jumble of environmental documentary films, full-length features and lots and lots of discussion.

There are presentations by environmental designers, organic farmers, herb gardeners and forward-thinking folks who are turning crumbling urban structures into exciting new work spaces. You’ll also hear from noted authors and filmmakers, green builders, green educators and lots more.

Holidays weren’t great and you’re looking to vent? Happily you can join in the festival’s not unexpected bashing of environmental villains (plastics and coal, this time). But don’t be surprised if you also make some pleasant new discoveries along the way–“garblogging,” for instance.

Rather than try to characterize all that the festival offers, we thought we’d just run its entire schedule below. If nothing below appeals to you, then maybe you should crawl off for that long winter’s nap.

Friday January 2TALK: Sustainable Princeton
12:00 Noon
Wendy Kaczerski and Matt Wasserman, of the Princeton Environmental Commission (PEC), will speak on how Princeton’s municipal government, school district, businesses and residents are already working to achieve some of the goals in the developing Princeton Sustainable Community Plan. They also will quantify Princeton’s overall “carbon footprint” as well as that of businesses and residents, and discuss the most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions.

TALK: Martin Johnson, President and Founder
of Isles, Inc.2:00 p.m.
Governor Corzine’s energy master plan calls for the audit and energy retrofit of over three million New Jersey buildings by 2020. It’s a laudable goal, but how will it happen? Isles, Inc. is helping answer this question by demonstrating the potential for converting older homes and factories into high performing, low-cost places to be. Martin Johnson will talk about Isles’ development as well as new training and business opportunities in green development. Since 1981 Trenton, NJ based Isles, Inc. has developed tools that families and neighborhoods use to build assets, restore the environment and achieve self-reliance.
Photo: Isles future home: former textile mill located at One Johnston Avenue, Hamilton Township, NJ
FILM: Garden Cycles Bike Tour presents:
Faces from the New Farm
4:00 p.m.
Directed by Lara Sheets, Liz Tylander, and Kat Shiffler ,2008
Running time: 38 minutes
The film chronicles a 2,000 mile bicycle trip made by Lara Sheets, Liz Tylander, and Kat Shiffler to explore the budding sustainable agriculture and local food movement. From the mid-Atlantic up into New England and Canada (including Princeton) they discover people and communities finding solutions to the environmental excesses of industrialized agriculture.
More info on the film

Opening Night Film
FILM: Radiant City7:00 p.m.
Directed by Gary Burns, 2006 – Running time: 86 minutes
Something’s happening on the edge of town. There’s a desperate housewife in the parking lot, a musical chorus line mowing the lawn – and a loaded gun in the upstairs closet. Welcome to Radiant City, an entertaining and startling film on 21st century suburbanites. A chorus of cultural prophets provide insight on the spectacle. James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere, rails against the brutalizing aesthetic of strip malls. Philosopher Joseph Heath fears the soul-eating burbs but admits they offer good value for money. And urban planner Beverly Sandalack dares to ask, “Why can’t we walk anywhere anymore?” Gary Burns, Canada’s king of surreal comedy, joins journalist Jim Brown on an outing to the burbs. Venturing into territory both familiar and foreign, they turn the documentary genre inside out, crafting a vivid account of life in The Late Suburban Age. Burns and Brown rummage through a toy box of cultural references, from Jane Jacobs to The Sopranos, to create a provocative reflection on why we live the way we do. Riffing off sitcoms and reality TV, they play fast and loose with a range of cinematic devices to consider what happens when cities get sick and mutate. More info on the film View trailer

Saturday January 3
FOOD MATTERS WORKSHOP
Why Food Matters – Food: Mood, Behavior, and Learning Issues.
11:00 a.m. – 12:15
Presenter: Dorothy Mullen
In this first part of “Food Matters”, grocery items will be used to help people feel into their relationships with food, in particular, the brain effects of factory foods will be scrutinized; participants will come away with a better understanding of why it’s so important to get connected with food sources and consider the relationship between healthy farming practices and healthy people. Snacks will be served to make the point.

How to Turn Your Lawn into Food12:15 to 12:45 p.m.
Presenters: Dorothy Mullen and other Lawn-to-Food Project Participants
Part 2 of “Food Matters” is an introduction to the new Princeton-based community “Lawn-to-Food Project”, organized by experienced home gardeners demonstrating how to turn a portion of your grass into dinner. People may sign for this 12-month Princeton-based project and will be invited to three free workshops at Riverside School and a fall harvest dinner. Meet experienced home gardeners, demystify the process, get inspired to grow a food garden, and find out that growing food is really easy!

Ask the Expert — Barbara Bromley, Mercer County Horticulturist.
Time 12:45 to 1:30 p.m.
Part 3 of “Food Matters” provides an opportunity to ask questions about turning your own lawn into a vegetable garden. No matter where what the starting point, there is a way to turn a lawn into food, even if starting with a space that has been recently treated with herbicides. Mercer County master gardener and horticulturist Barbara Bromley can tell you how. Dorothy Mullen is a lifestyle counselor and founder of a non-profit organization, the Suppers Programs, which offers table-based support groups to people with health and mental challenges. She is also a Master Gardener and the volunteer coordinator of the 15 model outdoor classrooms at Riverside School, Princeton.

FILM: Green Builders
2:00 p.m.
Produced by Bob Szuter2008Running time: 60 minutes
A quiet green revolution in the building world is evolving, and a first wave of innovative green design projects large and small are already on the ground. NJN’s Green Builders profiles a cast of green building pioneers who have taken the leap into making their part of the “built environment” a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly place.
* The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer Bob Szuter, NJN Television; Mark Biedron, co-founder of The Willow School; Christine Bruncati, Sr. Research Architect, Center for Architecture & Building Science Research / New Jersey Institute of Technology; Jennifer Senick, Executive Director, Rutgers Center for Green Building and Mike Strizki, Chief Technical Officer, Renewable Energy International Inc. More info on the film

SPEAKER: Mark Biedron, Co-Founder of The Willow School
4:00 p.m.
The Willow School, a small, independent coeducational day school for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, is committed to combining academic excellence and the joy of learning and to experiencing the wonder of the natural world. Both the National Geographic’s Green Guide and The Travel Channel have recognized The Willow School as the “greenest’ school in the continental United States.” Co-founder Mark Biedron will talk about the campus and its green design and construction. Their first Classroom Building, completed in September 2003, was the first independent school building (and the second school building of any type, public or private) in the country to achieve LEED Gold status. Their second building, The Barn, completed in September 2007, was New Jersey’s first LEED Platinum building.

FILM: Shark Water
7:00 p.m.
Directed by Rob Stewart2006Running time: 89 minutes
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world’s shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. A talk and conversation on sharks and ocean conservation will be held as part of the festival on Sunday January 4 at 4:30 p.m. with Wendy Benchley and Stan Waterman. More info on the film.

Sunday January 4FILM: Burning the Future: Coal in America
1:30 p.m.
Directed by David Novack2008Running time: 89 minutes
In Burning the Future: Coal in America, writer/director David Novack examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by an emerging coal-based U.S. energy policy, local activists watch the nation praise coal without regard to the devastation caused by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and a government that appeases industry, the film’s heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation’s help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker David Novack, and Jeff Domanski, PhD Candidate, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University.
More info on the film.

TALK: Sharks: 35 years after Jawswith Wendy Benchley and Stan Waterman
4:30 p.m.
Wendy Benchley, board member of the Environmental Defense Fund and widow of Peter Benchley,with Stan Waterman, president of the Advisory Board of Shark Research Institute and famed underwater videographer, will present a program of film and conversation about their marine experiences. Ms. Benchley will show film from personal archives and talk about her journey with her husband over the 35 years since Jaws as they dived with sharks and learned about their behavior, their importance to the balance of ocean life and their critically endangered status. Mr. Waterman has produced hundreds of independent marine life films and he and Mr. Benchley worked together on numerous shark documentaries. Mr. Waterman will speak about his ocean adventures and his first-hand knowledge of the devastating effects of overfishing and global warming on marine animals. He will show unique footage of the amazing rapport some of his fellow divers are developing with sharks, including shots of a friend hand-feeding a sixteen-foot tiger shark!

Monday January 5FILM: Juliette of the Herbs12:00 Noon
Directed by Tish Streeten, 1998
Running time: 75 min.
Juliette of the Herbs is a lyrical portrait of the life and work of Juliette de Bairacli Levy: world renowned herbalist, author, and traveler in search of herbal wisdom and the pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine. For more than 60 years Juliette has lived with the Gypsies, nomads and peasants of the world, learning the healing arts from these peoples who live close to nature. Juliette’s well-loved and now classic herbals for animals and for children have been a vital inspiration for the present day herbal renaissance and holistic animal care community.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Tish Streeten. More info on the film.

TALK:
Whole Earth Goes Green: The Challenges and Rewards of Greening a Commercial Building2:00 p.m.
Princeton’s Whole Earth Center has created a LEED*-compliant home for their vegetarian deli and café out of the retail space once occupied by Judy’s Flower Shop. The project took two years to complete as the store’s Board of Trustees, architect, and builder worked through the challenges of cost, logistics, materials procurement, and zoning regulations to create a retail space that met the Whole Earth’s environmental goals as well as the needs of the store’s customers and staff. The panelists will provide an overview of the project and talk about the challenges and successes of envisioning, designing, building, and using a green retail building. Information will also be provided on the services and suppliers who participated in the project and on the process of acquiring LEED certification. Panel: Herb Mertz, member of the Whole Earth Center Board of Trustees; Ronald Berlin, the project architect; Wayne Pietrini, project manager for Baxter Construction; Alex Levine, manager of the Whole Earth Center deli and café. Moderated by Fran McManus. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design: a third-party certification program for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings

FILM: WWOOF ‘n Wander: Opportunities on Organic Farms from Hawaii to the Himalayas4:00 p.m.
Directed by Joshua Halpern,2008
Running time: 50 min.
Joshua Halpern spent 9 months of 2007 lending a hand on organic farms in Hawaii, The Philippines, Thailand, and India, through an organization called WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms – which connects farmers in 89 different countries with international volunteers willing to help on the farm in exchange for food, lodging and experience. Halpern is a passionate new voice in this movement. WWOOF ‘n Wander celebrates opportunities to honor the earth on an individual as well as global scale, and explores the possibilities of merging indigenous, earth-based wisdom with 21st century permaculture.
Joshua Halpern was born and raised in Princeton, NJ, graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and he is currently working as the Produce Department Coordinator at The Whole Earth Center in Princeton. * This screening is its festival premiere, and it will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker Joshua Halpern.More info on the film

Panel Discussion:
The State of the Organic Farm in New Jersey
7:00 p.m.
A panel of farmers and organic food activists will address the growing interest in safe food, organic practices, farm-to-school programs, and the return of community farmers’ markets. They will highlight the mainstreaming of interest in organics and how the public can participate in ensuring the movement develops in a positive direction. Panel:David Earling, Gravity Hill Farm; Beth Feehan, West Windsor Community Farmers’ Market; Mike Rassweiler, North Slope Farm and a representative from NOFA-NJ. Moderated by Dorothy Mullen.

Tuesday January 6TALK: Greening your Business
1:00 p.m.
Suzan Globus, FASID, LEED AP, principle of Globus Design Associates, illustrates a three-step process to putting your business, regardless of size and industry, on the path to sustainability. Using her firm as a case study, Globus describes the approach to “walking the talk” about sustainability. The former journalist and interior designer, whose firm specializes in designing libraries, highlights why libraries are a natural partner in the sustainability movement because they have a tremendous opportunity to become a community gathering place and resource for those interested in sustainability. Simply by hosting programs, developing and highlighting sustainability collections and resources and seeking opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle in their own operations, libraries can position themselves as a resource in the community. The results can lead to more efficiency, greater visibility and a greater appreciation by the community, and open doors to grant funding.

FILM: Flow
4:00 p.m.
2008running time: 84 minutesDirected by Irena Salina
Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century – The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question “CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?” Beyond identifying the problem, Flow also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround. The screening will be followed by a discussion led by Jamie Ewalt, Senior Environmental Specialist, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Quality and Bureau of Nonpoint Pollution Control. More info on the film

TALK: Communicating Climate Change7:00 p.m.
The talk will feature Berrien Moore III, Heidi Cullen and Charles Lyons from Climate Central. They will address challenges of communicating about climate change and how Climate Central is working at employing a strategy of making climate change a local issue. They will include segments they have produced with and for for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer/ PBS. Climate Central is an accessible one-stop source for timely, relevant, high-quality climate information through a variety of channels, targeting the media and leaders in business, government, and religion. It operates without partisanship, bias, or lobbying. Dr. Moore left his longtime position as Director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire to become the founding director of Climate Central. As coordinating lead author of the final chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) Third Assessment Report, Dr. Moore shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Among his other honors are the 2007 Dryden Lectureship in Research from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and NASA’s highest civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service Medal. Dr. Moore holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Cullen is the climate expert and correspondent for The Weather Channel where she helped start “Forecast Earth,” the first weekly program on climate change and the environment. Before joining The Weather Channel she worked as a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. She received a B.Sc. in engineering and operations research from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in climatology and ocean-atmosphere dynamics from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She was awarded the 2008 National Conservation Achievement Award for science by the National Wildlife Federation.

Dr. Lyons has worked as an associate producer of documentaries for public television, including “More than Broken Glass: Memories of Kristallnacht,” and as a writer-producer for ABC News programs including PrimeTime, I-Caught, and 20/20. He directed the short film “The Ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and aired on the Independent Film Channel. Lyons has contributed articles on film to The New York Times, served as a staff reporter for Variety, and is the author of the book, “The New Censors: Movie and Culture Wars.” He has taught film at Yale, Columbia and UCLA. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre and Film from Columbia University. More info about Climate Central

Wednesday January 7Panel Discussion:
Farm to School Initiatives in New Jersey —
The Whys and Hows of Serving Fresh Local Fruits and Vegetables in Our School Cafeterias
11:00 a.m.
Serving fresh local foods to students in schools is not only tasty but the evidence is out that it helps them focus on their work and perhaps even achieve better grades. It is not an easy task to convince the school board or the food service company to change the way they have conducted business for decades but these panelists are proof it can be done with patience and creativity.
Find out how a private school, a public school and a university have transformed their food service and moved away from processed foods to fresh local fare. The panel will open with students from Princeton University’s Community Based Learning Initiative who will present the findings of their research on how eating whole foods enhances student’s ability to learn.
Panel: Rachel Rizal and David Bejar, Princeton University ’09, Community Based Learning Initiative; Sal Valenza, Food Service Director, West New York, New Jersey Public School System; Gary Giberson, Director of Dining Services at Lawrenceville School, President, Sustainable Fare; and Linda Geren, Resident District Manager for Sodexo Campus Services. Moderated by Diane Landis.

FILM: All in This Tea4:00 p.m.
Directed by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht2008Running time: 70 minutes
All In This Tea follows the world-renowned American tea importer, David Lee Hoffman, to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the finest handmade teas in the world.
Not since Robert Fortune clandestinely made his way through the tea growing districts of China in 1843 to steal plants and seeds for the British Empire has a westerner attempted to gain access to the hidden world of tea, where farmers have been making it for generations. As the Chinese open their doors to the global marketplace, Hoffman opens their eyes to their own ancient tradition that links them, and all of us, to the distant past, while introducing the west to one of China’s finest cultural gems—the artistry and exquisite taste of fine, handmade tea. The film will be followed by a discussion with Paul Shu, owner of Holesome Tea & Herb, Princeton. More info on the film

Talk: Greening the University – A Buying for the Future PerspectiveKevin Lyons
7:00 p.m.
To talk of the importance of using more ecologically responsible products is easy; to implement their use in our institutions is a different journey. As Executive Director for Purchasing at Rutgers University, one of the largest state educational institutions in the nation, Kevin Lyons had the opportunity to put research and theory into practice. His story reveals his dogged determination, attention to small details, consensus-building with stakeholders, corporate social responsibility, frustrations, humble courageousness, and willingness to be marginalized–all necessary to affect change. This presentation will provide insights into how one individual can affect large scale environmental changes. Kevin Lyons, Ph.D., is the director of purchasing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is a research professor in supply chain environmental management and archeology also at Rutgers. Lyons is responsible for all procurement and contracting for the institution and also conducts research on developing and integrating global environmental, social, economic, ethical criteria and data into supply chain/procurement systems and processes. His work includes environmentally preferable products and services research, designing and implementing local, national and international environmental economic development systems, waste-to-energy systems and environmental and sustainable social policy and financial impact forecasting. More info about Kevin Lyons

Thursday January 8Panel Discussion:
The Benefits of School Gardens for Students, Teachers, Schools and Communities
12:00 Noon
The Princeton Schools now have edible teaching gardens at six public schools K-12. The gardens offer hands-on learning that enhances the curriculum in every subject from math to social studies, art to Spanish and more. Students are digging, planting, harvesting and eating fresh fruits and vegetables in class and in the cafeteria. They are investigating bugs, experiencing seasonal cycles and gaining a new appreciation for their environment. This panel will look at the benefits of creating a school garden from the perspective of administrators, principals, teachers and students. The panel will open with a presentation by Princeton University students who have conducted a study of the positive effects of gardening and eating healthy on students ability to learn. Panel: Keerthi S. Shetty and Rosa Mendoza, Princeton University ‘09, Community Based Learning Initiative; Ross Mazur, Princeton High School, Co-President, Environmental Club; Annie Kosek, Principal, Littlebrook Elementary School; Lew Goldstein, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Public Information and Community Relations, Princeton Regional Schools. Moderated by Diane Landis. Princeton School Garden Cooperative K-5 garden-based curricula.

FILM: Swim for the River 1:00 p.m.
Directed by Tom Weidlinger2006Running time: 56 minutes
Christopher Swain braved whitewater, sewage, snapping turtles, hydroelectric dams, homeland security patrols, factory outfalls, and PCB contamination to become the first person to swim the entire length of the Hudson River from the Adirondack Mountains to New York City. Swain’s experience links together stories of the river, which begins in wilderness and ends in one of the nation’s densest population centers. We meet heroes who are fighting to protect the Hudson against a range of threats from industry, inept regulatory agencies, and public indifference. We also see how ordinary citizens can and do make a difference through choices they make effecting the environment, and by joining together around a common cause.
The screening will be followed by a discussion led by Jim Waltman, Executive Director of the Stonybrook-Millstone Watershed Association. More info on the film

TALK: “GARBLOGGING”4:00 p.m.
The world of “garbloggers” is diverse and ever-growing, ranging from artists sharing work made out of recycled materials to armchair environmentalists tracking their own waste to make a political statement. Leila Darabi, creator of the blog everydaytrash, will give an overview of the many voices talking and tracking trash online and the common themes connecting them. Trained as a journalist, Darabi works in international development, a career which allows her to blog about trash from the far reaches of the planet.

FILM: Trashed6:00 p.m.
Directed by Bill Kirkos2007Running time: 60 minutes
Trashed is a provocative investigation of one of the fastest growing industries in North America: The garbage business. At times humorous, but deeply poignant, “Trashed” examines the American waste stream fast approaching a half billion tons annually. The film analyzes the xauses and effects of the seemingly innocuous act of “taking out the garbage” while showcasing the individuals, activists, corporate and advocacy groups working to affect change and reform the current model. Trashed is an informative and thought-provoking film everyone interested in the future of sustainability should see. * The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Bill Kirkos. More info on the film

TALK: Elizabeth Royte
Author of Garbage Land and Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It.
7:30 p.m.
In Garbage Land, acclaimed science writer Elizabeth Royte leads us on the wild adventure that begins once our trash hits the bottom of the can. With a wink and a nod and a tightly clasped nose, the author takes us on a bizarre cultural tour through slime, stench, and heat — in other words, through the back end of our ever-more supersized lifestyles. By showing us what really happens to the things we’ve “disposed of,” Royte reminds us that our decisions about consumption and waste have a very real impact, and that unless we undertake radical change, the garbage we create will always be with us: in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we consume. Read more about it. In Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, Elizabeth Royte ventures to Fryeburg, Maine, to look deep into the source—of Poland Spring water. In this tiny town, and in others like it across the country, she finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that have made bottled water a $60-billion-a-year phenomenon even as it threatens local control of a natural resource and litters the landscape with plastic waste. Moving beyond the environmental consequences of making, filling, transporting and landfilling those billions of bottles, Royte examines the state of tap water today (you may be surprised), and the social impact of water-hungry multinationals sinking ever more pumps into tiny rural towns. Ultimately, Bottlemania makes a case for protecting public water supplies, for improving our water infrastructure and—in a world of increasing drought and pollution—better allocating the precious drinkable water that remains. Read reviews. Elizabeth Royte has written for The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, National Geographic, The New York Times Book Review, the New Yorker, Outside, Smithsonian, and other national magazines. A former Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow and recipient of Bard College’s John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service, Royte is the author of The Tapir’s Morning Bath: Solving the Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2001.

Friday January 9FILM: Herban Garden
12:00 noon
Directed by Chris Allen
2008
Running time: 20 minutes
The Herban Garden was transformed from a vacant lot in Princeton Borough into a garden of food, soundscapes and sculpture, combining the talents of local sound designers, sculptors, architects and a beekeeper to create a memorable park. The garden is now gone, but the film tells the story about its evolution from those who helped to create it. * This screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Chris Allen.

FILM: Coal Ties2:00 p.m.
Directed by Carl Reeverts 2008Running time: 23 minutes
Coal Ties is a documentary that explores the energy connections a small town in Ohio has to Meigs County, an area that is oversaturated in coal-related industry. Yellow Springs is in the process of renewing their energy contracts and has the opportunity to buy into the construction of a new coal power plant in Meigs Country but what would another power plant mean to Meigs County? The film was co-produced by Carl Reeverts and Paul Zink, and it was completed as a senior thesis project for Antioch College in Yellow Springs. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Carl Reeverts.

Talk & Screenings:
“Communicating Sustainability: video and podcast explorations by Princeton University students”3:30 p.m.
Directed by Shana Weber and the Office of Sustainability at Princeton University, the Student Environmental Communication Network (SECN) is a training program for Princeton students in audio and video production around the topic of sustainability. Podcasts and video works produced since 2007 are the result of SECN internships, academic course-work, and a summer intensive training program. The objective of the SECN is to develop a model for student training that can be shared among institutions of higher education to document and distribute student explorations of environmental and sustainability topics important to them. Presenter:
Shana Weber, Ph.D.. Princeton University Office of Sustainability.
Films (10 minutes running time each):
It’s Greener On Top: A Look at Green Roofs directed by Jessica Hsu (‘10), Amy Seymour (‘10), and Alex Renaud (‘09)
The Search for the Schmoo: Adventures in Food Waste directed by Dawn Zhao (‘11), Kristen Davila (‘11), Doug Sprankling (‘10), and Alan Yang (‘10)
Podcast Titles (4-6 minutes each):
Environmental Benefits of Eating Less Meat (2008) directed by Virginia Maloney (‘10) and Chandler Clay (‘10)What We Think of Global Climate Change (2007) by Rebecca Nyquist (‘09), Meha Jain (‘07), Mark Smith (‘09), Susan Lyon (‘09), and Ruthie Schwab (‘09)
For more infomation on the project read this news story.

FILM: Addicted to Plastic
7:00 p.m.
Directed by Ian Connacher2008Running time: 85 minutes
From styrofoam cups to artificial organs, plastics are perhaps the most ubiquitous and versatile material ever invented. No invention in the past 100 years has had more influence and presence than synthetics. But such progress has had a cost. For better and for worse, no ecosystem or segment of human activity has escaped the shrink-wrapped grasp of plastic. Addicted To Plastic is a global journey to investigate what we really know about the material of a thousand uses and why there’s so darn much of it. On the way we discover a toxic legacy, and the men and women dedicated to cleaning it up. The screening is its U.S. festival premiere, and it will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Ian Connacher. More info on the film

Saturday January 10TALK: New Approaches to Community Building and Growing an Environmental Economy
11:00 a.m.
A panel who work in building healthy buildings and communities will discuss ways people can contribute to their own or their family’s quality of life. They will discuss healthy design and sustainable architecture and how it fits into everyday budgets, and the potential for creating eco- conscious communities. The panel, organized by We Are Building Open Opportunity Structures Together (We Are BOOST) includes: Anastasia Harrison, AIA, LEED-AP, IAQA; Associate Director of Business Development, WESKetch Architects. Anastasia is is passionate about better living through healthy design and architecture.and is the first licensed architect in the State of NJ to earn an Indoor Air Quality Certification from the Indoor Air Quality Association. Jason Kliwinski, AIA, LEED-AP, Director of Sustainable SPIEZLE ARCHITECTURAL GROUP, INC. As the Director of Sustainable Design for the Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc., Jason’s role is both to implement sustainable design philosophy throughout the office and to ensure that each and every project completed at Spiezle achieves the highest level of sustainability possible, within the given budget and schedule. Elizabeth Slate is founder and Board President of The Alchemical Nursery Project, a non profit committed to furthering the goals of the urban sustainability movement. This grassroots organization is based in Syracuse, NY, moving forard with their projects: an urban ecovillage development, city-wide community gardening network, and the Community Warehouse.

Recycled Art Project2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
A program for youth ages 8 and up (on their own) and parents or an adult with younger children. Drop in for recycled art projects with librarians and teen volunteers in the Youth Services Department. BYO recyclables including drawings and photographs, some supplies will be provided. Finished projects will be on display on the library’s third floor after the program is finished. For more information call Allison Santos at (609)924-9529 ext. 240.
Donated supplies are welcome too.

FILM: King Corn
2:30 p.m.
A film by Ian Cheney, Curt Ellis and Aaron Woolf. 2007Running time: 90 minutes
King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm. This is a special reprise from last year’s festival, this time with the filmmakers present, for a “double-bill” with their new film, The Greening of Southie, at 7:00 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney. More info about the film

FILM: The Greening of Southie
7:00 p.m.
Directed by Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis 2008Running time: 72 minutes
What happens when you’re asked to build the city of tomorrow… today? Set on the rugged streets of South Boston, The Greening of Southie is the story of a revolutionary Green Building, and the men and women who bring it to life. From wheatboard cabinetry to recycled steel, bamboo flooring to dual-flush toilets, The Macallen Building is something different––a leader in the emerging field of environmentally friendly design. But Boston’s steel-toed construction workers aren’t sure they like it. And when things on the building start to go wrong, the young development team has to keep the project from unraveling. Funny and poignant, The Greening of Southie is a story of bold ideas, unlikely environmentalists, and the future of the way we live.
Created by the co-producers and stars of King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, The Greening of Southie features cinematography by Taylor Gentry, innovative time-lapse animation, and music by the Brooklyn-based duo Force Theory. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney. More info on the film

Sunday January 11FILM: Greetings from Asbury Park
1:30 p.m.
Directed by Christina Eliopoulos2008Running time: 78 minutes
Angie, 91, lived through three decades of rust, riot and ruin in Asbury Park, the one-time postcard paradise of the Jersey Shore. Now the tiny bungalow that she has called home, for half her life will be seized by eminent domain. Hundreds of homes, apartment buildings, local businesses, are boarded up, ready for the wrecking ball. In fact, 29 city blocks, 56 acres of waterfront property and historic boardwalk attractions now belong to a private developer and will be razed to make way for 3,100 luxury condominiums, an ersatz city within a city. But this is welcome progress, and terrific tax revenues, say city officials. The revitalized Asbury Park will be a thrilling combination of SoHo and South Beach. Meanwhile, the bulldozers are in Angie’s backyard, and Angie’s attorney breaks the news to her. A court case challenge is difficult and costly. This could be the last summer her beloved garden will be in bloom. A panel discussion following the film will explore this specific experience in New Jersey and related environmental justice issues. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Christina Eliopoulos, and a panel discussion with Kerry Margaret Butch, Project Director, Association of NJ Environmental Commissions (ANJEC); Bill Potter, attorney, Potter and Dickson; and Roy Jones, Executive Director, South Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. More info on the film

It’s a Wrap
4:30 p.m.
PEFF 2009 Festival Wrap-Up Party — music and refreshments, more details to follow.

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