Last friday, I volunteered at the Solar-Powered Film Series hosted by Solar One and Green Edge NYC. I found out about this event from Green Edge NYC (specifically Patricia Curry). It was great to meet up with people doing great work in New York regarding sustainability and community outreach! Thanks should go out to both organizations who put on a great series!
This night’s film was The Garden, about a group of urban farmers in L.A. who started their 14 acre garden after the riots in 1992. They go through some hardship starting in 2004 when they have to fight to prevent eviction.
It was an emotional film! It was frustrating how unsympathetic to farming the people trying to get the land were. The community went through several legal difficulties during their fight. I felt worked up about protecting the plants and the relationship that the people developed with the plants, more than the human interests involved. So many of the trees they planted were producing fruit and took many years to reach that point, and the community gained so much from their relationship with the land. But if you watch the film, you will see what happened. The film also brings to the fore the reality that many groups are constantly in conflict with each other because of things like land and development. There are many ways that things could have gone, and the film documents this journey.
Here is a video/slideshow that I made from the pictures and video I took of the events:
It was really a great event overall! The screen had to be inflated, and that was really fun to watch. I’m not sure what it is about watching something inflate, but considering how many people still go to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons get blown up, it has to be some kind of innate human intrigue.
Stacey Murphy ended the night telling us about BK Farmyards. They do very interesting work in Brooklyn with growing food in backyards and contributing to Community Supported Agriculture (I think). Check out their website.
I hope that there are more events like this that more people can go to in the future. I think it is a good idea to show people that we don’t have to sacrifice everything that we enjoy (movie-going) in order to live a more sustainable life. It isn’t about being ascetic. To me, it is about being conscious of what we do, of our choices and trying to make the right decisions.
