film

...now browsing by tag

 
 

Musicians Go Green

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

A few weeks ago, we highlighted Reverb Rock, an organization that greens music tours and encourages both artists and fans alike to lead a more sustainable life. Since their inception in 2004, Reverb has reduced the carbon footprint of more than 80 tours, one of which was Jack Johnson’s 2008 tour. While it remains unannounced as to whether or not Johnson will pair with Reverb for his 2010 To The Sea Tour, the artist has been staying actively involved with the environmental movement and green music.

Jack Johnson

Johnson recently paired with Tapped, a new documentary about the bottled water industry and the world water crisis. The film answers questions that most of us would never even think about, such as “Where does water come from?” The faucet, obviously, but do you know how it gets there? Or how about where all those plastic bottles end up? I assure you, they don’t all get recycled.

Most artists declined to work with the film for fear of corporate backlash (The film critiques three of the biggest bottled water manufacturers- Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Nestle). Johnson, however, was adamant about the messages portrayed in the film and eager to hop on board. He composed a sort of musical public service announcement in which he promotes Tapped and encourages listeners to “Get Off the Bottle.”

You can watch it on YouTube here.

Over the next month, Tapped will be touring throughout the United States. While the film won’t make a stop in Madison, it does land in Chicago on Friday, April 16. As part of the tour, film producer Sarah Olson and director Stephanie Soechtig will take pledges for Americans to stop their bottled water consumption. Individuals who sign the pledge and bring an empty plastic water bottle can trade it in for a free, reusable Klean Kanteen. The tour and Klean Kanteen giveaway culminate on April 22 (which just so happens to be Earth Day). We encourage you to check out Tapped before then and make a commitment to clean up the Earth by reducing your plastic bottle usage.

Tales from Tales!

Monday, November 9th, 2009

The Powered Green team spent this past weekend enriching our minds by attending the Tales From Planet Earth film festival in Madison, WI.  The free festival was a collaboration of the Nelson Institute’s Center for Culture, History, and the Environment (affectionately known as CHE) and Working Films.

Image courtesy of Tales From Planet Earth

Image courtesy of Tales From Planet Earth

The theme of Justice paved the way for the festival, with each film relating to one of four categories:  Landscapes of Labor, Strange Weather, In the Company of Animals, and Precious Resources.  This year’s Tales attracted 4,600 viewers, an increase of 1,300 from the 2007 inaugural.

Majora Carter spoke on opening night, preceding a screening of Trouble the Water, a film about transportation (or lack thereof) during Hurricane Katrina.  Director Catherine Gund and her daughter, Sadie Hope-Gund, flew in from New York to attend What’s On Your Plate?, a kid-friendly film about where food comes from.  Alex Rivera, Emily Hubley, Ian Cheney, Judith Helfand, Jennifer Redfearn, and a host of other filmmakers graced Madison with their presence this weekend.

One of my courses this semester, Community Engagement Through Film, revolved around Tales From Planet Earth.    I had the unique opportunity to coordinate outreach events with the festival’s community partners and work behind the scenes to help make the weekend a success.  In addition to this, I was able to meet and interact with fantastic directors, writers, and stars for the entire weekend.  Needless to say, I’m pretty worn out.

Stop back in th next few days to see festival highlights, photographs, and interviews.  There is some really great material on my camera!