The Story of Change: Writing the Next Chapter

Newsflash: we're not going to shop our way to a greener planet. We're also not going to get a greener planet by taking a shorter shower or bringing our own bag to the grocery store. These things are a great place to start, says Annie Leonard, who has just produced her latest film The Story of Change, but they are a terrible place to stop.

The Story of Change is out today, available online on Leonard's website "The Story of Stuff" (we featured "The Story of Bottled Water" in our Mini-Eco Film Festival, Part 3). It features Leonard's characteristic charm and humor as well as her motivating gusto: "If we actually want to change the world, we can’t talk only about consumers voting with our dollars. Real change happens when citizens come together to demand rules that work." She goes on tell us that when people have achieved big changes in the past, three things have been present: 

1. a big idea
2. people working together
3. action

She says we've got the cause and commitment. Look at the numbers:   "74% of Americans support tougher laws on toxic chemicals. 83% want clean energy laws. 85% think corporations should have less influence in government." Pretty compelling numbers; now we just need the action. 

The film finishes with a quiz to take to find out what kind of change-maker we are: investigator, builder, networker, nurturer, communicator, and resister (turns out I'm an "investigator"). Once you identify the type of change-maker you are, you're ready to take action. It's a simple recipe. She's right. We don't need tips for greener living. We need strategies to change the system. Help spread the word. It's up to us to write the next chapter of the Story of Change. 

On Individual Action

We are gearing up for our next installment of Ecofest (after two successful years of the Ecolympics), which runs from April 15-22. In addition to the marquee events that we have planned -- we just added former National Poetry slam champion Regie Gibson to feature at our Eco-slam on April 16, we have a plethora of individual challenge events to help us raise awareness about our footprint on the environment. 

Certainly it's going to take more than committing to shorter showers, eating less meat and using reusable cups and bags to create a sustainable world, especially, according to this article by Chris Hedges, when we find out that individuals and municipalities consume only 10% of water resources while agriculture and industry gobble up 90%, but we must walk before we can run. 

All great movements start with individual action. Someone somewhere decided it was time to stand up and act. Check out these films from the Wild and Scenic Film Festival and see individual action in action. 

Here's Hilton Kelley fighting industrial pollution in Port Arthur Texas:

Here's Annie Leonard educating us that, hey, guess what, we're not broke:

I wasn't able to stay for the evening's feature, but it's a story about the founder of Bikes Not Bombs, located in Jamaica Plain and you can now see My Own Two Wheels. 

The main afternoon feature was Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan who won
the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She started a movement to plant a million trees
and on the way she helped bring down the dictatorship. The new goal for her foundation
(Maathai died of cancer in September 2011) is to plant 14 billion trees. Now
that's a goal! You can read about this very inspiration person and her work here. 







When it comes down to it, individual action is indeed about action. You can find

other great examples at the Wild and Scenic website.

A Mini Eco-Film Festival, Part 3

What can one person do to improve the health of our environment? Here are three films that look at how individuals can have a positive impact on our environment.

1. Change the Message

First up is this short but powerful film that can be applied to branding environmentalism. Maybe you’ve got a better way to spread the environmental message than the one we’ve been using or you’ve been hearing elsewhere in the media.

You may have seen this video from the IUCN on changing the message regarding biodiversity.

Perhaps you can think of a message that will get us all to listen.

2. Educate Yourself, Educate Others

If you don’t know Annie Leonard’s work, here’s a great place to start: The Story of Bottled Water. With abundant wit and a creative presentation, Leonard is educating all of us in a way that makes us want to act. Check out other films from The Story of Stuff Project and help spread the word.

3. Plant some trees

This classic animated film needs to be in your repertoire. Based on the short story by Jean Giorno and directed by French-Canadian filmmaker Frederic Back in 1987, The Man Who Planted Trees is a moving, well-told story that can be watched again and again. Enjoy.

As always, we welcome your comments.

Check out the Mini Eco-Film Festival, Part 1 and Part 2.