The Carbon Rush

The Carbon Rush

How to view: http://www.thecarbonrush.net/
Watch the trailer now and watch the whole movie on YouTube on August 13th 2014.

Director: Amy Miller | Producer: Byron Martin

Produced | Country: Worldwide

Run Time: | Language: English

Synopsis: Hundreds of hydroelectric dams in Panama. Incinerators burning garbage in India. Biogas extracted from palm oil in Honduras. Eucalyptus forests harvested for charcoal in Brazil.

What do these projects have in common? They are all receiving carbon credits for offsetting pollution created somewhere else. But what impact are these offsets having? Are they actually reducing emissions? And what about the people and the communities where these projects have been set up?

THE CARBON RUSH takes us around the world to meet the people most impacted. They are the least heard in the cacophony surrounding in this emerging “green-gold” multi-billion dollar carbon industry.

From indigenous rain forest dwellers having their way of life completely threatened, to dozens of Campesinos assassinated, to the livelihood of waste pickers at landfills taken away, THE CARBON RUSH travels across four continents and brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations, Kyoto Protocol designed Clean Development Mechanism. This groundbreaking documentary feature asks the fundamental questions “What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis? Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?”

Opinion:

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Earth to Mouth

Earth to Mouth

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/earth_to_mouth

Director: | Producer: Yung Chang 

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 41 mins | Language: English Subtitles

Synopsis: Filmed at the Wing Fong Farm in Ontario, this documentary follows the tilling, planting and harvesting of Asian vegetables destined for Chinese markets and restaurants. On 80 acres of land, Lau King-Fai, her son and a half-dozen migrant Mexican workers care for the plants. For Yeung Kwan, her son, the farm represents personal and financial independence. For his mother, it is an oasis of peace. For the Mexican workers, it provides jobs that help support their children back home.

Opinion: 

Recommendation:

Ladies of the Land

Ladies of the Land 

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/ladies_of_the_land

Director: | Producer: Megan Thompson 

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 29 mins | Language: English 

Synopsis: As small, family farms continue to disappear, and large, mechanized farms dominate American agriculture, a new kind of farmer is sprouting up across the land: women. Although women have always been involved in farming, it has long been thought of as a "man's job." Traditionally, farm women have often identified themselves as something other than the "farmer." That's all changing. According to the USDA, between 2002 and 2007, the number of women who identified themselves as farmers increased by 19 percent, and the number of women "principal operators" increased by 30 percent.

Today, there are about one million women farmers in the U.S. - 30 percent of the total. Women are a fast-growing demographic in American agriculture, and they are doing things differently. While the average farm size in the U.S. has grown dramatically over the last 50 years, women tend to run smaller operations. Many choose organic and natural methods.

Opinion: 

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The Last Farm in Lowell

The Last Farm in Lowell 

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_last_farm_in_lowell

Director: | Producer: Andrew Szava-Kovats

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 1 hour | Language: English 

Synopsis: Director Andrew Szava-Kovats presents a portrait of Rollie's Farm in Lowell, Massachusetts, where the Parron family has been growing fresh produce and more for over 50 years. Family owned since 1953, Rollie's Farm has eschewed the corporate trend, and thanks to the supportive locals they've always managed to stay in business. But that's not to say that it's been all smooth sailing for the Parron's; a conversation with Rollie and his elderly parents reveal just how close they came to losing the farm due to taxation issues in the mid-1970s. 

As always, however, they managed to bounce back, and today their farm is the pride of the entire community

Opinion: 

Recommendation:

Farm to Table

Farm to Table

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/farm_to_table


Director: | Producer: The International Documentary Challenge is a timed filmmaking competition where filmmakers have 5 days to make a short non-fiction film

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 5 min | Language: English  

Synopsis: The story of how far our economic world has been separated from the natural world.

Opinion: Respect and imitate Mother Nature, go back to the past

Very simple message in a very short film.

Recommendation:

Ripe for Change

Ripe For Change

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/ripe_for_change

Director: Emiko Omori | Producer: Jed Riffe

Produced | Country: United States 

Run Time: 54 Minutes | Language: English 

Synopsis: California -- always a fascinating marriage of opposite extremes -- is at a cross-roads in agriculture. Many Californians are struggling to fend off overdevelopment and the loss of farming lands and traditions while embracing innovative visions of agricultural sustainability. At the same time, California is where fast food was born and a center of the biotechnology industry and large corporate agribusiness. The debates raging in California over issues of food, agriculture, and sustainability have profound implications for all of America, especially in a world where scarcity is the norm and many natural resources are diminishing.

This fascinating documentary explores the intersection of food and politics in California over the last 30 years. It illuminates the complex forces struggling for control of the future of California's agriculture, and provides provocative commentary by a wide array of eloquent farmers, prominent chefs, and noted authors and scientists.
Opinion: The film examines a host of thorny questions: What are the trade-offs between the ability to produce large quantities of food versus the health of workers, consumers, and the planet? What are the hidden costs of "inexpensive" food? How do we create sustainable agricultural practices?

Recommendation:

The Farm Sanctuary

The Farm Sanctuary

How to view: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_farm_sanctuary

Director: | Producer: Fly Up Media

Produced | Country: USA

Run Time: 6mins | Language: English

Synopsis: The Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, they have worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the factory farming industry through research and investigations, legal and legislative actions, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and shelter efforts.

Maryann Hedaa, the head of Saint Ignatius School, sent the fifth grade boys to learn documentary filmmaking while visiting The Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glens, NY. She hoped to teach her students about farm factories and abused animals while also exposing her students to filmmaking as a creative outlet. Since the completion of the film, student groups from Saint Ignatius continue to travel to The Farm Sanctuary to learn about practices of farm factories.

Opinion: Adorable! More about fifth graders sleeping over at a farm than the work on the Farm Sanctuary!