Chicken Flick:

Backyard Chickens for All

will be one of 4 films featured at the Jacob Burns Film Center Media Arts Lab on Thursday June 16th at 5pm.

Please join us!

RSVP to Theresa Dawson  tdawson@burnsfilmcenter.org

This movie came about as a result of my participation in the Reel Change for Non-profits class at JBFC’s Media Arts Lab. This class helps non profit groups use film in their advocacy work. I partnered up with Nicola Coddington, a kindred spirit when it comes to environmental activism. She is the former executive director of Interfaith Power and Light, and is currently writing a book about how to accelerate positive social change, especially in the areas of climate change, energy, sustainable/local agriculture and water. She and I are both active members of Transition Westchester.

Originally, Nikki and I wanted to create a short film that would highlight what the Transition Towns movement was about: building resilient communities across the United States that are able to withstand severe energy, climate or economic shocks while creating a better quality of life in the process. But we soon realized that this was too big of a story to tell in under 5 minutes.

Instead, we decided to focus on one aspect of re-localizing food. Neither one of us are backyard chicken farmers, but we were well aware that urban and suburban chickens were a growing trend. The “chick(en) flick” was the result of our collective brainstorm.

Another student, Carol Leicht,  came to class all the way from Florida. In addition to being a nurse, Carol has been diligently working as a videographer for her church and was up here in NY to take all the classes that the Media Arts Lab had to offer. Carol was also keen on backyard chickens, she even had a short little chicken video on her iPhone! We were thrilled to partner up with her on this project. Her expertise on Final Cut Pro came in really handy, we learned loads from her!

The three of us put in many hours of filming and editing to make this 5 minute movie that will be used by many groups here in NY and across the country who are trying to convince town boards to change the zoning rules to allow backyard chickens.

How to get our point across in under 5 minutes? We could have bored you with facts and statistics on how industrial egg operations are harmful to human and planetary health. Instead, we told the story of 4 families who are successfully keeping chickens in their yards for healthy eggs and a deeper connection to nature. These examples of parents who want the best for their kids will no doubt convince viewers that backyard chicken keeping is a worthwhile activity.

One of the stars of our movie

If you can’t make it to the big premiere in Pleasantville this week,no worries. The Chicken Flick will be up on Vimeo or YouTube in a short while.

In the meantime, have a listen to this NPR piece on the growing trend of backyard chickens. What the Cluck?

PS: If you live in my town, Chappaqua, you need 10 acres to have backyard chickens! Considering all you need in Brooklyn is 10 square feet per chicken, this zoning seems incredibly unfair! Please consider signing the Chickens for Chappaqua petition. Click here for more info.

Home Sweet Home

After watching last night’s eclipse, I’m reminded that we are all in this together. We’ve got one planet to live on, planetary health and personal health are deeply connected.

I found this in a booklet by Edward Esko, a teacher of macrobiotics. These 7 instructions are derived from the Seven Universal Prinicples of the Infinite Universe described by Michio Kushi in the The Book of Macrobiotics.

1. We all share and are nourished by one planet, the Earth.

2. By changing our diet and lifestyle, we have the power to change the environmental crisis into an opportunity for planetary healing and renewal.

3. The environmental crisis challenges all people to put aside their differences and unite to save the earth.

4. The environmental crisis offers a unique opportunity to establish heaven and peace on a planetary scale.

5. The environmental crisis is the downside to the modern preoccupation with material prosperity, comfort, and convenience, including the modern diet.

6. The greater the threat of environmental destruction, the greater the need for personal reflection and change.

7. The misues of technology has reached its limit; a planetary revolution in consciousness, guided by the desire to live in harmony with the environment, is about to begin.

NASA reported back in 2007 that global warming would bring more violent storms and tornadoes. Last night parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island experienced what sure as heck seemed to be a tornado. This sort of violent weather seems to becoming more common. This summer’s wildfires in Moscow and severe flooding in Pakistan are part of a pattern of weird weather that won’t go away.

Global Weirding is a term that Thomas Friedman coined because that is what actually happens as global temperatures rise and the climate changes. The weather gets weird. The hots get hotter, the wets wetter, the dries drier and the most violent storms more numerous.

We just lived through the hottest 6 months on record in the history of the planet. Pakistan hit 129 degrees this summer. Hello? Is anyone paying attention?

For me this whole global weirding situation is like Groundhog Day.  I remember many years ago trying to convince school administrators that childhood obesity and declining children’s health would be front page news.  They wanted to keep their heads in the sand and continue to believe that the school food environment didn’t matter. Boy were they wrong. As a result of dragging their tails, the problem is bigger than ever and even harder to fix.

Wacky weather is the same thing all over again. Climate change is a conversation that is even more uncomfortable than childhood obesity. It requires all of us to make major changes in how we live. It is complicated further with the reality of peak oil and economic instability, it can be really hard to sleep at night once you start doing your homework on these issues.

This must be my lot in life, to be ahead of the curve working to wake people up. After advocating for better school food for 15 years, there is now a groundswell of school food advocacy coming from a new wave of young mommies. I do what I can to help guide them so they don’t hit the same obstacles I did along the way.  While school food and declining children’s health still  occupy a big part of my time and attention, I’m drawn to this bigger, scarier and even more vital triple threat: climate change/ peak oil/ economic insecurity.

I’m doing what I can by working with the Transition movement. This group  represents one of the most promising ways of engaging people and communities to take the far-reaching actions that are required to mitigate the effects of peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. Their relocalization efforts are designed to result in a life that is more fulfilling, more socially connected and more equitable than the one we have today.

Tomorrow night, I’m bringing my family to hear Bill McKibben speak at the Cathedral of St.John the Divine in NYC, part of an event by Green Faith, an interfaith environmental group.  I hope my youngest daughter will bring back some wisdom and share it with her classmates.

I hope someday to be able to break through this Groundhog Day like trance. Before its too late.

Cheech flipping the bird.

Two of the three Rubin “chicks” are leaving the nest this week for college. I’m not as tearful as I was when daughter #1 headed 5 hours north to VT two years ago. I learned that, thanks to technology, they are never really that far away. Way back in the dark ages when I was in college, I spoke with my parents for 5 minutes every Thursday night. After all, long distance phone calls were expensive! These days with cell phones, texting and Facebook  there is instant access- which may or may not be a good thing.

Daughter #2 is heading to my alma mater, the Univeristy of Delaware, a quick 3 hour zip down through New Jersey, my home state, and just 30 minutes south of my in-laws who live in Wilmington, DE. The school has doubled in size and quadrupled in price since I went there in the roaring 80′s.

It will be much quieter and calmer at home this year with only one child left in the nest.  Daughter #3 is quite a character and is heading into 8th grade this year. 8th graders are hot shots in middle school, just waiting for high school to start.

Hopefully, this fall will be a smooth transition for everyone.

I’m heading up to VT this week to attend the 2nd annual Slow Money Gathering.  What is slow money? Its similar to Slow Food. It’s about knowing where your money is going to and coming from.  Investing in companies you believe in. Supporting local/ regional businesses, especially when it comes to food.  Speakers at the Slow Money gathering include Bill Mc Kibben, his book Eaarth is a must read. Farmers Joel Salitin, Elliot Coleman and Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds will be speaking as well.

For me, this gathering connects the dots between food, farming, and the Transition movement. All things that I am deeply passionate about.  If you can’t make it up to VT, I hope you’ll check out Woody Tasch’s book, Slow Money or take some time and watch the Crash Course online.

This iconic image of oil blasting out on the floor of the ocean says it all.

Its hard to call what is happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico an “oil spill”. Its more like an endless underwater oil geyser that is bringing major damage to  plants, animals, our economy and our way of life.  Its uncomfortable to watch or think about.  We can get really angry with politicians, our government agencies,  and greedy corporations, but I’m not sure that any of that anger will make things any better.  We have to look in the mirror. The reason a corporation would be digging deep under the ocean to get oil, is because we use so darn much of it on a daily basis. The easy oil has already used up.

We use lots and lots of oil and not just in driving our cars and heating our homes. Consider all the products we use that are made from petroleum. The table below lists just a few of over 6000 items that require oil.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and wondering what you can do, I have an answer for you. Get involved in the Transition Movement. Find a group near you or start one on your own, there are lots of resources on the Transition US website that will help you on your journey.  The sooner we decrease our dependence on fossil fuels, the sooner our lives will get better.

If you live near me in Westchester County, you owe it to yourself, your children and your grandchildren to see this movie.  If you don’t live near me, click here to find out more about Transition in your area.

‘In Transition’ is the first detailed film about the Transition movement filmed by those that know it best, those who are making it happen on the ground. The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humor, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. There are positive solutions that are  focused and fun.

Last film of the Transition Westchester Spring Film Series.  There will be a discussion group after the film.  Admission is free, donations accepted.  See www.transitionwestchester.org for more information.

Time: Saturday, May 15, 2010, 7:00 – 9:30 PM
Place: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Westchester, 236 South Bedford Road, Mount Kisco, NY 10549

Time: Sunday, May 16, 2010, 7:00 – 9:30 PM
Place: First Unitarian Society of Westchester, 25 Old Jackson Ave., Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706

Being a mother can be a thankless job. Speaking from personal experience, it can be really really annoying when your kids don’t heed your wise words. Instead, they do stupid things with out planning ahead or considering the consequences. Oftentimes, its mom who comes to the rescue when things get screwed up. This situation has happened twice in the past 24 hours here at the Rubin Rodeo, I won’t bore you with the details.

These days I get the feeling that Mother Earth is feeling the same way. Her kids have been thoughtless, shortsighted and self-centered.  As a result, we’ve got a messy massive oil spill, melting ice caps and shifting weather patterns. For some people, myself included, this is serving as a wake up call.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting the concept of  the Gaia Theory, the idea that the Earth is a living system. Right now we are out of balance with Mother Earth. We take and take and take what we want without consideration of the consequences. Native Americans consider seven generations whenever making a decision. The idea is: whatever you do today will impact things far into the future. Chopping down a tree today will mean depleted resources years from now.

Happy Mother’s Day.

On this day and every day, don’t forget about Mother Earth. Take time to go outside, plant your feet on the ground- not on pavement or sidewalk. Take a deep breath in, and give thanks to this mother that supports us with every breath we take.

What is so friggin’ happy about it?

OK, I hate to sound like Debbie Downer here, especially after yesterday’s blog post about Gratitude, but we’ve got to have a serious talk about Earth Day. I’m sick and tired of all the “eco-friendly” blah blah blah and the corporate greenwashing that lulls most Americans into a complacent stupor. Sadly Earth Day has become another Hallmark Holiday with people wishing me a happy Earth Day like its Easter or Valentines day. ENOUGH of the hype, let’s talk about what really matters.

Earth day was originally created in 1970 as a nationwide  teach-in to challenge corporate and government leaders about environmental issues.  Today, thanks to collective environmental apathy, our continued existence on this planet is more questionable than ever. We’ve thoughtlessly depleted resources like fossil fuels and water to name two. This is the only planet we can live on, there is no “Plan B”.  If each one of us doesn’t wake up and take some solid action, we are screwed.

I’ve known this information most of my life. My dad read a book entitled “Limits to Growth” in the 1970′s. As a tween, I rolled my eyes as he rambled on about future economic, political and environmental instability as we waited in the gas lines to fill up our car.  My dad is no longer with me, he passed on in 1999, he’d be saying “I told you so” if he was here today.

So what can YOU do to have a “happy Earth Day”? Please don’t buy another “eco-tote” or green cosmetics.  Read a book instead. From your local independent bookseller or from the library if you like.  Here’s two that will help you to understand what my dad knew back in the ’70s and will help inspire you to move forward in creating a better world for all of us.

One of my favorite authors, Bill McKibben, explains that we are already living on a different planet.  He eloquently opens our eyes to the kinds of change we’ll need to make in order for our civilization to endure. The endorsement below says it all:

“Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important.” —Barbara Kingsolver

I stumbled upon The Transition Handbook  a few years back. As they say, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.  This handbook is a goldmine of inspiration to get you started.

There is a growing Transition Movement worldwide and in the US, check it out online, connect with those nearby or start a group yourself.  I’m part of Transition Westchester.

Speaking of gratitude, I am very grateful for Bill McKibben, The Transition Movement and Transition Westchester. As I said yesterday, what you think about grows. Stop thinking about useless eco-friendly stuff and start thinking about real solutions: Transition is  the one that I’m focusing on.

Happy Earth Day.