Feel Good Guru

In a time when people all over North America are losing their homes, super-storms are destroying entire cities, and global warming has become the biggest threat humanity has ever faced, the concept of radical sustainable housing doesn’t seem so radical anymore.

After over three decades of experimenting with self-sustaining eco-friendly homes in the high mesa of New Mexico, renegade eco architect earthship pioneer, Michael Reynolds, has finally found himself in a world which values his vision. Garbage Warrior, an inspirational and timely award-winning doc, tells the story of this 21st century hero who will fan the flames of your off-the-grid fantasies. Watch the trailer below, then get the dvd! (more…)

Forty-eight hours after watching “What About Me?” at the Downtown Independent in Los Angeles, I am still vibrating with excitement. I’m listening to the soundtrack as I write this and can barely contain my enthusiasm.

“What About Me” is a musical meditation around the planet that explores the complexities of human nature, revealing our universal connection through our creativity and our collective insanity. Yes, we’re mad! And we’re fabulous! We’re on the tipping point of an evolve-or-die planet. “What About Me” makes evolution feel within a mere thought or idea’s reach. Flip the switch in your mind and we’re there… (more…)

Ten years ago, Mark Johnson was on his daily commute to work in New York when he was stopped in his tracks by the music of two brown-robed monks playing and singing in the subway. He looked around at about 200 people from all ethnic backgrounds and all walks of life sharing the moment together, some in tears, some with their jaws agape.

Then and there, Mark understood that music was the key to a better world. He felt his calling to go out and find “as many of these inspiring human moments as possible.” The result is “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music”. And it’s groovin’ with the woowoo! (more…)

Get your green on in Toronto this weekend! The 9th annual International Environmental Film and Video Festival is on now through Sunday and the focus is on food.

Saturday afternoon has a great lineup of shorts, presented by Slow Food Toronto, starting at 1pm at the Innis Town Hall. I’m looking forward to “Alchemy”, a film about the beautiful art of baking bread, once common practise in almost every household.

Also, don’t miss “Fields of Fuel” on Friday evening at 5pm at the Innis Town Hall.

“America is addicted to oil…it’s time for an intervention.”

We’re not drilling our way out of planetary oil depletion, so we may as well get hip and get inspired to do something different before it’s too late. Join Josh Tickell in his revolution to change your fuel, change the world.

The house was packed on Sunday afternoon at the timely L.A. premiere of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Best Documentary Audience  Award winning film, “Fuel”. Celebrities, environmentalists and the eclectic crowd that makes up the biodiesel (more…)

dewie-duck

Earth lovers and animal lovers, mark your calendars! Two fabulous evenings of feel good films are fast approaching in Venice and Santa Monica.

On October 11, animal rights author Mira Tweti presents “Little Miss Dewie”, a “ducumentary” about her real life quest to find a perfect home for an abandoned pet duckling.

The screening and silent auction, with an introduction by the filmmakers, followed by a Q&A starts at 6:30 and goes til 9pm. Vegan hors d’oeuvres and music will also be served up, all for a mere $15 donation that goes toward the (more…)

All the bad news of late getting you down?

Don’t slit your wrists! Get inspired!

If you’re in L.A. this weekend, head to the Elevate Film Festival all afternoon on Sunday at the Nokia Theater and be among the world’s biggest hearts and minds visioning a new reality through film and new media.

Spend the day watching amazing dramas, documentaries, music videos, commercials (more…)

I’ve posted “The Story of Stuff” on my facebook page twice, a month apart, as have probably countless others. Since its release in December, The Story of Stuff has been viewed 2 million times and won the SXSW Interactive Award as an educational resource.

This brilliant piece of viral activism was created by Annie Leonard, an international sustainability and environmental health issues expert. Despite the grim topic of consumerism and pollution, Annie manages to entertain while enlightening. The Story of Stuff explores, in a very matter-of-fact (and fun) way, the global (more…)

Question everything.

See the movie and have your life changed. If you’re lucky enough to have the Alive and Well tour in your town, buy tickets for everyone you know. They’ll be talking about it for the rest of their lives. (more…)

I’m researching and writing a rant for VegNews on water quality in North America and came across this film with an “unflinching focus on politics, pollution and human rights.”

If you go to their website, on video clip 3 you’ll discover that in the last 5 years, fish in the Seine in France have changed sex. There are only females. No males left…

Shocking? Frightening? Essential viewing! (more…)

I’ve been saying for years that I’m done with violence in my media diet, yet somehow it’s been inescapable. Yesterday we saw “Dark Knight” and my main man Ron had also finally had enough. “I don’t go to the movies to see people get shot,” he said after two and a half hours of non-stop gunfire and car chases.

The way the world works now is that you make a wish, speak it aloud and have it granted. (more…)