Film

Slow Food Huntington Dazzles with Film and Local Food Event

by

SlowFoodSlow Food Huntington pulled off an amazing sold-out night of film and food at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY last night, which I was so proud to be a part of.

After showing a film called “Growing Farmers,” about local farmers right here on Long Island and the Peconic Land Trust, we were treated to a brief presentation by Scott Chaskey, the farmer of many years of Quail Hill Farm in East Hampton.

Volunteers dished out 117 bowls of vegan miso vegetable chowder, followed by a film “Letting Salt Just Be Salt” on locally made sea-salt from Amagansett, with a serving of sea salt braised roasted vegetables. This was followed by a film on the truth about beef, “The Secret Life of Beef “ and a film on local pickles called “Divine Brine”, and a serving of veggie sliders with the pickles from the film.

The fourth course was a film on fresh pasta-making, called “A Pasta Story” followed by a dish of fresh locally made radiatore pasta described by a local pasta maker, and the final course was a film, “Greyston Bakery,” with desserts made by the Bronx bakery of the same name, whose mission it is to provide jobs for people who might otherwise have a hard time getting hired due to a checkered past.

It was a unique and fantastic night, combining education, film, and sustainable food. For more information on Slow Food Huntington and it’s upcoming activities, see slowfoodhuntington.org

The Truth About Clothing Discussed at Columbia Forum

by

 

Yael Aflalo, Catherine Tyc, Sass Brown, Gretchen Jones, and Raz Godelnik
Elsa dress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On January 17th, 2013, the Columbia Business School Sustainable Business Committee held a packed forum in Manhattan entitled, “Sustainable Fashion- Timeless or Trendy?,” discussing the sustainability of our clothing. Many audience members were shocked to hear about how toxic the production of fabric is, given the amount of pesticides and chemical dyes used. The panel included several eco-designers (hemperjeans.com; gretchenjonesnyc.com, thereformation.com) who use natural or repurposed fabrics. Also speaking were film-maker Catherine Tyc, and Sass Brown, Dean at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and author of a beautiful book entitled “Ecofashion” and the blog Ecofashiontalk.com. Q&A centered around how to make more people aware of this issue, and the concept of transparency and labeling requirements for clothing. Several designers brought their designs, and particularly impressive was a NY-based designer who created the “Elsa” dress- simple and classic, made of organic cotton (See Elsa and Me) . Also of note was another NYC company encouraging clothing exchange, called Closet Dash. For more on this event see http://www.cbsacny.org/article.html?aid=1260.

LI Small Farm Summit Inspires Gardeners & Foodies

by

      The 2012 Small Farm Summit on 4/14/12 was the culmination of months of dedicated work by the North Shore Land Alliance, and numerous Long Island gardening, local food, and healthy school lunch advocates. Hundreds came to Hofstra University to hear football-player-turned-farmer Will Allen of “Growing Power” from Wisconsin, and Renegade Lunch Lady and Author, Chef Ann Cooper (See ChefAnn.com). Will Allen started the day with many success stories of projects he’s started, teaching kids how to grow their own food in urban areas. (See www.growingpower.org). I also got to hear about innovative rooftop farms like Brooklyn Grange, a 40,000 sq ft farm growing on warehouse roof in Long Island City, Queens. (See http://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com). On a scary note, Professor Birgit Woelker, Nassau Community College, reminded us of the many reasons to be concerned about genetically modified crops being grown around the globe, the need for labeling here in the U.S. (See http://tinyurl.com/GMO-NO). I also learned how to make a vertical green wall from teacher Steve Ritz of  Green Bronx
Machine (greenbronxmachine.weebly.com/index.html).

With numerous exhibits and workshops happening at once, the Farm Summit was a smorgasbord of positive learning and sharing. Glad I got to be a volunteer and a sponsor as Green Inside and Out Consulting, to help make this day a wonderful success. See http://www.smallfarmsummit.com/.

Beth Fiteni & Will Allen, Growing Power
Professor Birgit Woelker says no to GMOs
Steve Ritz, Green Bronx Machine, displays a vertical green wall made by his students

An Evening with Frances Moore Lappe’s Small Planet Fund

by

Frances Moore Lappe and daughter, Anna at the Small Planet Fund Gala & Auction

One of the reasons I love living near New York City is the opportunity to attend events like I did last night. I had the great fortune of spending an evening with Frances Moore Lappe, her daughter Anna Lappe, and 100 of their closest friends. It was the 10th Anniversary of their Small Planet Fund, and an auction was held to benefit this year’s grantee, Real Food Now (see realfoodchallenge.org). The event took place in a beautiful private loft in Soho, NYC, and guests included many from around the region who work to support local food production, fresh food access for all, and healthy options in schools — such as Catherine Gund, maker of the film “What’s On Your Plate?” and Bhavani Jaroff, of Slow Food Huntington. It was a pleasure to meet Frances Moore Lappe, whose seminal book “Diet for a Small Planet” published in the 1970s created such a wave of awareness, and it is doubly inspiring to see how her daughter Anna has followed in her footsteps. They co-authored the book, “Hope’s Edge” several years back, and each have newer books out since then: Frances has written “Eco Mind” about the psychology of changing our attitudes towards the earth, and Anna has written “Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It.” See smallplanetfund.org.

Gasland’s Josh Fox honored on Long Island

by

The Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, a statewide New York based environmental organization, honored Josh Fox, creator of the Academy Award nominated film Gasland, at its annual gala this past week. Gasland was the film that shed light on the controversial issue of hydrofracking for natural gas in the shale under areas of the country including upstate NY and Pennsylvania. Due to the numerous chemicals used in the “fracking” process, which are unfortunately exempt from the Clean Drinking Water Act, this method of gas extraction has been the cause of numerous cases of poisoned drinking water wells. Land owners are paid by gas companies to drill under their property, often not realizing the dangers. Josh is a personable, creative and committed film-maker, and his courage in making this film has exponentially raised awareness on this issue. See gaslandthemovie.com.

Josh signing copies of his film for guests, after receiving an "Academy Award" from CCE
Beth Fiteni and Josh Fox, maker of "Gasland"

Urban Roots Film

by

I just saw the new documentary Urban Roots, about the growing interest in urban farming in the economically stressed city of Detroit, MI. It was made by a young film-maker from Detroit who wanted to tell the story of local people who are turning vacant lots into places to grow food and build back the community, where old and young alike can have a role. The most inspiring stories were of people in a drug rehabilitation facility who had to do community service hours. They worked at a local urban garden, and got so much out of it that they kept working there even after they completed the required hours. One said, “what I once took from the community I now am giving back.”

It also covered the obstacles faced by urban farmers in terms of cooperation from the city, even despite the benefits the urban farms bring. The city zoning laws aren’t necessarily keeping up with the will of the people to feel the empowerment of being able to grow their own food. See UrbanRootsFilm.com for ways to be involved.