Homegrown Revolution (2008) is a film short that gives a brief introduction to the Dervaes Family's urban homestead which they call "Path to Freedom." On this tiny city lot, a beautiful and productive oasis was created, producing 6,000 lbs of food annually and is a model of urban sustainability.

Film premiers at the WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL (Jan 9-11, 2009)

http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org

Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean -- and shocking stats about its rapid decline -- as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet.

Sylvia Earle, called "Her Deepness" by the New Yorker and the New York Times, "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress and "Hero for the Planet" by Time, is an oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer with a deep commitment to research through personal exploration.

Earle’s work has been at the frontier of deep ocean exploration for four decades. Earle has led more than 50 expeditions worldwide involving more than 6,000 hours underwater. As captain of the first all-female team to live underwater, she and her fellow scientists received a ticker-tape parade and White House reception upon their return to the surface. In 1979, Sylvia Earle walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any other woman before or since. In the 1980s she started the companies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies with engineer Graham Hawkes to design and build undersea vehicles that allow scientists to work at previously inaccessible depths. In the early 1990s, Dr. Earle served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. At present she is explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society.

Sylvia Earle is a dedicated advocate for the world’s oceans and the creatures that live in them. Her voice speaks with wonder and amazement at the glory of the oceans and with urgency to awaken the public from its ignorance about the role the oceans plays in all of our lives and the importance of maintaining their health.

"We've got to somehow stabilize our connection to nature so that in 50 years from now, 500 years, 5,000 years from now there will still be a wild system and respect for what it takes to sustain us." - Sylvia Earle

With lucid exposition and gorgeous graphics, anthropologist Stephen Lansing exposed the hidden structure and profound health of the traditional Balinese rice growing practices. The intensely productive terraced rice paddies of Bali are a thousand years old. So are the democratic subaks (irrigation cooperatives) that manage them, and so is the water temple system that links the subaks in a nested hierarchy.

Lansing and his colleagues applied complexity theory to understand the resilience of this ancient sustainable agriculture system.

Then, when the Green Revolution came to Bali in 1971, suddenly everything went wrong. Along with the higher-yield rice came "technology packets" of fertilizers and pesticides and the requirement, stated in patriotic terms, to "plant as often as possible." The result: year after year millions of tons of rice harvest were lost, mostly to voracious pests. The level of pesticide use kept being increased, to ever decreasing effect.

A fascinating exploration of the disruption by modern technology of a system of agriculture that has been sustainable for over 1,000 years.  There is some important lessons here for our own efforts to navigate the transition to sustainability before it is too late.

The video stream above is the first 15 minutes of Stephen Lansing's presentation. Click on the bottom left corner of the video window to watch the whole presentation.

One particularly interesting point of view on this comes from Ian Dunlop, who was an executive in the coal and oil industries for many years and CEO of the Institute of Directors here in Australia. What if oil does continue to go up and up, and how does he think we should prepare for the inevitable change, as he sees it?

Click on the link below to hear a podcast of Ian speaking on ABC Radio National, 27th July 2008.

The world's organizations are changing. Networking tools are allowing groups to form and collaborate without any of the traditional friction that comes from managing the efforts of multitudes.

Clay Shirky, a noted author and educator on the social and economic effects of the web, spoke in May 2008 about his book, "Here Comes Everybody - The Power of Organizing Without Organizations."

Prices of gasoline have doubled in the last three years in the U.S. What if the same happened to the price of food? ... It's already started to, and according to author Paul Roberts, much worse is looming.

A design and production concept that they call Cradle to Cradle. A concept that is seen as the next industrial revolution.

An inspiring documentary on the Cradle to Cradle design concept of the chemist Michael Braungart and the architect William McDonough.

Winner of the Silver Dragon at the Beijing International Science Film Festival 2006.

Sustainability Triangle by William McDonough

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle

This is a pilot for a film in the making.  It asks: how might a more holistic science broaden our perception of the natural world and inform subsequent understanding, resulting in a deep reconnection with the Earth?

This promising and informative film will be based on the book Animate Earth by Stephan Harding: the story of Earth's functioning as a self-regulating, living being and of our inherent human, spiritual, moral and physical connection to that story.

Stephan Harding holds a doctorate in ecology from the University of Oxford and is co-ordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College, Devon, England. His book is a brilliant synthesis of Gaian science and forward-looking social theory and argues that we need to establish a right relationship with the planet as a living entity in which we are indissolubly embedded and to which, in the final analysis, we are all accountable. Animate Earth will sensitively explore and convey an emerging new scientific understanding on both an intellectual and an emotional level. 

A research paper produced for the Municipal Association of Victoria, Australia explores the energy uncertainty adaptation strategy of relocalisation through case studies. The report also touches on ways in which local governments can encourage these efforts.

Introduction

It is a time of uncertainty as communities around the world consider the implications of climate change and peak oil. Debates over responsibility and appropriate responses to climate change may be turbulent, but one thing is certain; we each need to reduce our impact on the earth’s atmosphere and move away from our reliance on polluting and nonrenewable energy sources.

Communities across the globe have started responding to these pressing issues by acknowledging the importance of acting locally to reduce global impact. Local economies, local food production and local energy production are all strengthened in a grass-roots movement called relocalisation. This is a diverse movement, which comes in many forms and under many names, but the essence is always the same: we must re-embrace the local.

Recognising the importance of relocalisation as a rising trend, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) has instigated this research report into the movement. This timely project will assist MAV in ascertaining the value of relocalisation and assessing the plausibility of Victorian local governments taking up such initiatives. Relocalisation is seen as a potential way forward to assist local councils to become more sustainable, adaptive and resilient in the face of global issues.

The aim of this research report is to provide MAV with a comprehensive and holistic assessment of the emerging relocalisation movement. This has been achieved through the analysis of prominent relocalisation examples in both Australian and international contexts.

Case studies of best practice relocalisation initiatives with local government facilitation and involvement have been identified through the research. This research will aid MAV in establishing a clearer picture of how such projects could be implemented by Victoria’s urban municipalities in the future.

This report assesses the drivers and barriers of local government participation, and provides examples of practical, viable, positive initiatives that can be replicated throughout Victoria’s urban councils. Findings from this body of research should be seen as a stimulant to further research, rather than a finite research result.

Read the whole report...