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The River and the Wall - Reflection (Mountainfilm 2019)

6/8/2019

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This is first in a series to reflection on each documentary I saw at Mountainfilm Festival 2019.  Each post will be a reflection on the documentary and a focus on the impact and the issue that documentary is raising.  My goal is to share my authentic take on watching the films as a witness who cares about having an impact. This is not a film review.  Spoilers are probably all up in this.
Like every American and likely every person around the world, we've all heard the sitting President of the United States talk about the wall.  I won't do that justice by linking out to it.  I've always said when the topic comes up in conversation that having grown up in San Diego, I realize how pointless a wall as a concrete barrier is.  Pointless both because people find a way around it always, but pointless also in a greater sense.  The amount of folks who crossed the border from San Diego / Tijuana everyday for commerce, for work, for recreation...it always was and continues to be high.  I remember vacationing in Rosarito and Ensenada growing up.  I remember my neighbor working in Tijuana, driving himself to the border and walking across to save time so his company would pick him up on the other side.  The talk and rhetoric about the border has always been puzzling and annoying to me as someone from a border community.  The rhetoric is so heated that other side from the United States could besome form of oozing evil that will come through any gap, when in reality, the border is an artificial construct in a way you really understand only by living near one.  In reality it's always porous like Swiss cheese going in both directions, and we're better off economically, politically and as humans when we think about it this way.

I had heard that the monarch butterfly which migrates across the border by the millions was being threatened by Trump's border wall, and so was intrigued to catch this documentary at Mountainfilm 2019.  The premise of the film is a fascinating concept.  The filmmaker and a team of characters (literally and cinematically) will travel along the 1200 miles of the Colorado River that forms the border between Texas and Mexico from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico.  Canoes or kayaks, sure.  I fully admit that I didn't expect before immersing myself in the film that this would involve bikes and horses.  Bikes for the first stretch from El Paso because the river is fairly dried up, and horses through the amazing wildlands of Big Bend National Park.

Check out this beautiful imagery from The River and the Wall webpage and read more after the jump.
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Everyday Eco: In the wake of soundbites

10/6/2015

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So often what I face in my day-to-day eco-worklife is the same issue that we all face in our day-to-day lives.  Soundbites.  People who have already heard all they want to hear [insert person covering their ears and saying 'la la la laaaa'].  There are real hazards of people not being able to listen with empathy and understand another perspective.  We all have an inherent fear and ego of allowing ourselves to be challenged (let alone be proven wrong).  But it’s an absolute must, not just on the society but on the personal level.

I have so many posts I’ve wanted to write these last months as I transitioned jobs and made big life changes to a shiny new city.  This is the thing I wanted to say that tipped the scales (never fear though, Pope-est with the Mostest and Laudato Si will be coming in hot. Soon.)  And it’s all thanks to a communications lead at Monsanto.
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Last year I came to SXSW Eco and sat in the panel session when Monsanto underwent what I can only describe as a live feeding frenzy of pent-up anti-GMO fervor.   A courageous woman from Monsanto did one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen from a sustainability professional: she invited more conversation in the heat of the moment.  Which is exactly what these most thorny issues desperately need the most.  Real dialogue.  But how do we get there?  How do we increase everyone’s personal responsibility to listen better?
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Photo courtesy of: https://canadiansituations.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/monsanto-protest_7946.jpg

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EverydayEco: Not All Recycling Created Equal

2/4/2015

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OK, what I'm about to say is going to be pretty unpopular with the "dark greens" as I like to call them.  The uber-eco, off-the-grid, Greenpeace-level peeps that want you to do everything possible to save the planet right now and make you feel like you are not doing enough. (Rinse, repeat)

But listen up, we are enviro(ish)....and ish-ness is the most critical ingredient of this entire works.  It means relieving yourself from the guilt of not being perfect and doing everything, all the time.  And that brings me to recycling...

You see, there's this secret about recycling.  Our waste stream is not created equal*.  We know this because of a handy process called lifecycle assessment.  It tells us the energy it takes to make a product, the energy all the way from getting raw materials out of the ground, to manufacture, to customer, to use, and to the end of life. 
*actually the inequality of municipal waste collection and recycling in this country is abysmal....so it really is an unequal experience depending on where you live, but that's another post for another time.

What it tells us, is that materials are not created equally (duh), but I mean really...think about that.  It tells us the ecological impacts of materials when/if they get into the environment at end of life, as well as energy it takes to recycle those materials.  Which inherently means that there's some materials that have worse impacts when tossed into nature than others (obv)....and there's some materials that are too energy-intensive or degrade when trying to be recycled (true).  On the flip side, it tells us there are some materials that are of utmost importance to recycle.  You ready for a list of some of these?  enviro(ish) peeps unite!

So picture this scenario: you have an item to dispose of in your hand, and there's no recycling can in sight.  Maybe you are traveling, on a plane, or in a different city.  Do you throw away or hold onto it until you can recycle?  Ask yourself these three questions....
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Inspirations: Enviro(ish) is Onto Something!

2/2/2015

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A quick note to say huzzah!  There was national news coverage last week on centenarian Edward Gerson, Dartmouth '35. (He's my enviro(ish) inspiration for checking and directing an entire century of passion!) 

For no reason that makes sense besides sheer happenstance (zeitgeist? Centenarians@SuperBowl?), my blogpost from last Monday was a day before a lengthy, amazing article in WSJ profiling Ed....and the next day NPR had a segment on it as well.  Congrats Ed!

I am taking it to be a sign from the universe that enviro(ish) is really onto something.  And in honor of that spirit, here's a nod to living every day to the fullest....and to the Dartmouth alum and my ultimate inspiration, Dr. Seuss.  Obsessed with him I am. 

So let's keep doing this shall we?   Oh the Places We'll Go.....

"You are hearing from the luckiest person on earth. I am able to live to be 100 years old, and am still living a life that just gets better and better."
                                                                                - Ed Gerson, '35
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Inspirations: Getting Dirty

11/5/2014

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We had some miraculous rain on Halloween here in Los Angeles.  About an inch when the last we've had was one tenth of an inch April 1.  Considering the Biblical/DEFCON4 drought in these parts, it was glorious!

The next day I was playing flag football and got mud under my fingernails and had a moment.  The kind of moment gardeners must have all the time...how wonderful that feeling of earth is.  

It's all about the frame isn't it?  Dirt on a chair/bench when I'm dressed up purty is very UNwelcome.  But digging my toes into the sand or the feel of soil when you're playing on a field or in a garden is kind of magical.  Do you ever have those moments?  How do they make you feel?
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Robert Redford speaks for the trees

10/23/2014

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Listen to Robert Redford channel the Lorax and speak for the trees.  In this case, the beautiful Redwoods in my home state of California (although Truffula Trees are fantastical).  Nature IS speaking. And I welcome all voices great and small to join my beloved Dr. Seuss who is from where I grew up, went to that dear college on the Hill like I did, and wrote the most perfect book about conservation out there. 

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.  I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.  And I'm asking you sir, at the top of my lungs.  Oh please do not cut down another one."
                                                    -The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
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