Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Doubleheader: Two Good Green Hits - March 7, Friday

This blog is about preventing us from degrading our environment and endangering the health and beauty of this earth and our bodies. So I'm happy to share with you a wonderful film I went to see last night, by an old documentary-days pal - Mark Kitchell.

It's a called A Fierce Green Fire and it's a 110 min. history of the environmental movement, featuring a huge list of participants and an overarching story of what's happened in this movement over the last 150 years, with a focus mostly on the last 30-40 years. (It's great to see the contrast between our heroes when they were young and how they look today - as well as see the impact of their work).

Paul Hawken and Stewart Brand share some very wonderful insights and Carl Pope is spectacular in describing how environmentalists were conned by "industrial America" into abdicating a huge opportunity. It's a heartfelt look inside a movement (that can't possibly be contained within one film - but it's fun to try).

Also speaking at the event was Polly Higgins, a London-based (formerly) corporate attorney who's had the brilliant idea to incorporate a new legal concept - Ecocide - into the UN legal system, making it a crime for company executives to harm the earth.

Earth Island Journal is covering the idea extensively in its current issue and on its blog (see here).

Just like genocide, ecocide recognizes environmental degradation of the commons as a crime against life.

The group's gotten coverage in the Guardian.

Polly Higgins and Paul Hawken will be appearing with the film Friday night at the Cowell Theater in SF from 7-10 pm. Details here.

Here's more about the movement:

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