Fresh Greens

Keep on reeling in the green world

Sustainable OKC, the Cimarron Chapter of Sierra Club, and Slow Food OKC are sponsoring a film series, "Sustainability on Film," at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Wed., Sept 15 - Sun., Sept 20, with a panel discussion following the Sunday film.

The films highlight a complex array of the challenges facing us. Film Curator Brian Hearn describes the series:

As our economic, social and environmental activities become increasingly integrated on a global scale, the human species faces unprecedented challenges. In the wake of the groundbreaking documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” filmmakers have been examining the complex issues facing our species and planet: climate change, dwindling natural resources, population growth, economic crises and political conflict. Along the way humans are finding innovative, simple solutions from growing their own food, to green building, to developing new forms of renewable energy. These films explore how we meet our needs in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

Films

Wed., Sept. 16 – “Fresh” & “Food for Thought”

Thurs., Sept. 17 – “The Great Squeeze: Surviving the Human Project” & “Greening in the Heartland”

Fri., Sept 18 – “The Greening of Southie” and “Food, Inc.”

Sat., Sept. 19 – “The Garden” and “No Impact Man”

Sun., Sept. 20 – “Earth Days”

Join us Sunday after the final screening for a panel discussion, “Sustainability in Oklahoma: Where Do We Go from Here?” with local experts on how Oklahomans are dealing with the global issue of sustainability. Panelists for the discussion following Sunday's film:

Bruce Edwards, Director, Urban Harvest at the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank

Kenneth Fitzsimmons, architect, U.S. Green Building Council, Oklahoma Chapter

Stephanie Jordan, Sierra Club Conservation Committee / Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Oklahoma

Jim Roth, attorney and Chair of the Alternative "Green" Energy practice group, Phillips Murrah P.C.

Shauna Lawyer Struby, Sustainable OKC / Transition Town OKC

Jonathan Willner, Professor of Economics, Oklahoma City University

Complete listing of films, screening times and summaries of each film available here.

Look how far we’ve come

by Robbie White

From paper to plastic to paper again, from tape to disc to digital files, Robbie takes a thoughtful look at how technology is changing the way we consume, hopefully for the better.

The other day I picked up a paper straw at the OKC Zoo to drink a coke-flavored Icee and was transported back to my childhood when paper straws were the norm. At first the paper straw was kind of annoying because I crushed the end, and unlike the plastic version, the paper straw did not return to its original shape. I turned the straw over and was careful not to crush the drinking end again -- firmly resisting the urge to get a new straw -- and this led to pondering differences in consumption since my childhood.

Consider for a moment television and movies: I was recently telling my kids about elementary school days in the late 1970s, when we watched movies and film strips sparingly at school. We filed into the old gymnasium at Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Bettendorf, Iowa, and watched nature films projected onto a huge screen using 16mm projectors. These films were carefully cared for by our teachers who shared them with the whole district. I can’t remember being told this specifically, but I always knew the films were valuable and had to be checked out in advance.

The early ‘80s saw the advent of Laserdisc, VHS and Betamax consumer video recording and viewing formats. As a young married couple, we started accumulating VHS tapes purchased or received as gifts. We were so excited to finally own a player! I recorded my favorite shows and even catalogued a few seasons of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Our collection of VHS cassettes was impressive by the time DVDs became readily available in the late ‘90s. We still have a collection of favorites on VHS we can’t bring ourselves to part with, but we’ve slowly replaced many titles on DVD as they become available. Admittedly, we’ve created a small nostalgic but wasteful set of movies on both formats. The ten years that passed between the purchases does not excuse the waste.

In 2008, we discovered Apple TV which allows us to build a library digitally stored and accessible from any of our authorized devices. Apple TV is not perfect but it is getting better. We can rent a movie without using any resources at all (except money and electricity) for store visits or delivery by mail. We can purchase other media this way as well. There are no discs to scratch, no magnetic tapes to deteriorate, but there are some limitations with regard to licensing agreements, sharing media with others, and decades from now when we pass away, we wonder whether our digital media will become nothing but virtual debris.

The movies we love (and hate) create a story of their own about us. My unique set of movies is a way of describing myself. For example, I liked “The Departed,” but not “The Godfather;” the Keira Knightly version of “Pride and Prejudice,” but not the ‘80s version; and I love “iCarly” and “M*A*S*H,” but not one other TV sitcom in the intervening decades has engaged my attention. Much as the books we keep and reread over years say much about us, I wish to preserve our film and video collection for our children and grandchildren, or at least the essence of it.

The same questions apply to e-books. My husband and I both have Kindle readers. We love the experience of reading on this elegant device, and appreciate the fact this digital tool allows us to control our consumption so we can again enjoy reading daily newspapers without waste or mess. I am discovering periodicals again because of Kindle. I cannot, however, loan you a magazine, but I can send an email with an article or selected text, or if really necessary, print it in the old-fashioned way.

I see new media delivery and storage devices as an improvement over the consumption of paper, but I don’t know what is involved in the production of a Kindle device. Will we discover some toxic secret (such as mercury in compact fluorescent light bulbs)? Will new technology in a few years cause us to recycle outmoded Kindles for something more cutting edge?

While none of us knows what the future holds, what each of us can do in the present is consume less of this planet’s resources by making decisions based on the best knowledge available in the present, and by doing so, contribute to a better future.

A reel green thing at the deadCenter Film Festival

Now in its ninth year, the merry, amazing, ever-growing deadCenter Film Festival has a reel green thing going on this year with an entire block of four films devoted to sustainability, Sat., June 13, 1 p.m. at the Kerr Auditorium, Oklahoma City. Click here for details. Of course the whole festival is worth checking into for a few days of creative immersion, but if you can’t make if for the full film

enchilada, then at least save time for the sustainability slice.

Here's what's reeling in the deadCenter green world:

Chase the Can | DEQ | An aluminum can makes an unexpected journey in this wind-powered video from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

Soil in Good Heart | Deborah Koons Garcia | Soil In Good Heart is a taste of a documentary currently in production by Deborah Koons Garcia, director of The Future of Food (2004). The importance of understanding, preserving and rebuilding this essential resource is the foundation of sustainable agriculture. We are all part of the soil community and we ignore this at our peril.

Seeds

by David Brooks

It is time once again to put the seeds in the ground, and with that come some questions: Do I put one seed in the hole or two? What happens if I put three? How close together should I put the seeds? Can I squeeze one more plant in this row, or will that crowd out the others and lead to the ruination of the entire garden? To a seasoned gardener there is no quandary concerning the seeds, but to a novice that plot of ground can be a puzzle of immense proportions. 

The seeds planted determine a lot about your garden. So, let’s look at seeds. Where did you get them? Are they safe? Did you choose organic seeds to try and control what is inside you food? 

 

There is a lot of research going into seeds and crop output in the country now. Over the past 20 years we have seen the introduction of a number of bioengineered crops throughout the world. The argument rages as to whether we are making it possible to feed the world, or setting ourselves up for a genetic mess and an insect or disease infestation that cannot be stopped.

 

Many of you are seasoned enough to remember in the mid-nineties when it became almost impossible to buy a taco in America. A bioengineered corn seed named Starlink made it into the food supply and was quickly deemed unsafe and not fit for human consumption. The corn had made it so deep into the food supply that anything made with it was pulled from the shelves and millers nationwide had to stop milling and empty any silo that could possibly have had Starlink in it. To this day labs check each load of corn delivered to a processor for traces of Starlink corn. 

 

The quality of the seed determines the quality of the product you grow. Choose wisely.

 

The Future of Food is a good documentary to watch concerning this issue. The length is around 1 hour and 30 minutes, but it’s well worth the time spent.

 

After you watch the documentary the timeline following will make more sense. Please take time to watch it and then enjoy your backyard garden.

 TIMELINE

• 1901 - Ishiwata Shigetane discovers that the cause of a disease outbreak in silkworms is a new species of bacteria, later called Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.
• 1905 - Sir Roland Biffen shows that the ability of wheat to resist infection with a fungus is genetically inherited.
• 1907 - Erwin Smith and C. O. Townsend discover that the cause of crown galls is a bacterium called Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
• 1930 - In the 1930s, plant breeders notice that plants infected with a mild strain of a virus are protected from infection with a more destructive strain.
• 1938 - The first commercial insecticide that contains Bt hits the market.
• 1947 - Armin Braun shows that A. tumefaciens introduces a factor into plant cells that permanently transforms them into tumor cells.
• 1950 - In the 1950s, studies show that proteins produced by Bt bacteria kill insects.
• 1972 - Ernest Jaworski reports that glyphosate herbicides work by inhibiting a critical biochemical pathway in plants.
• 1974 - Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu discover that a circular strand of DNA (a plasmid) carried by A. tumefaciens transforms plant cells into tumor cells.
• 1977 - Eugene Nester, Milton Gordon, and Mary-Dell Chilton show that genes on the A. tumefaciens plasmid are transferred into infected plant cells.
• 1981 - Helen Whiteley and Ernest Schnepf, at the University of Washington, clone a Bt toxin gene.
• 1983 - Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and colleagues, and scientists at Monsanto introduce genes into plants by using A. tumefaciens plasmid vectors.
• 1986 - Roger Beachy shows that plants bioengineered to produce a viral coat protein are protected from infection with the virus.
• 1990 - Field trials show that Bt cotton strains resist bollworm and budworm.
• 1996 - Genetically engineered virus-resistant squash seeds hit the market.
• 1996 - Bt cotton hits the market.
• 1996 - Herbicide-resistant strains of soybeans, cotton, canola, and corn reach the market.

 

All You Can Take With You

by Nancy Love Robertson  

Part 1
Sometimes little gems of truth come at me from unexpected places. Take this quote for example: “All that you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.” This quote hangs below a picture of Peter Bailey, the founder of Bailey Brothers Building & Loan.

“Who’s Peter Bailey?” you might ask. For those of us who cherish film and consequently hang on holiday traditions through movies, Peter Bailey is the father of George Bailey, the protagonist in It’s a Wonderful Life.

I surprise myself every year about this time. Somehow in all of the busy-ness of the holiday season, I find the opportunity to steal 130 minutes, time I’ve decided to climb off of the merry-go-round and indulge myself and my family in a bit of nostalgia and sentimentality. In fact, I never tire of re-living the life experiences of George Bailey and the goodness of his guardian angel, Clarence, who finally earns his wings after helping George through a profound life crisis. Even though I know how the movie ends, I always cry when all of George Bailey’s friends extend themselves to a man who has given selflessly and loved large.

Last Saturday night was our night to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, and the quote – “All that you can take with you is that which you’ve given away” –jumped off the TV screen, demanding my attention.

What does this mean? How will this notion manifest itself in my life when it’s time for me to take something with me?

Part 2
My brother-in-law, Rod, held a family meeting via e-mail back in October.  The father of four grown daughters and grandfather to a 2½ year old Mighty Mouse named Cal, I consider Rod the steady hand in my family, and when he speaks, I listen. His message was simple: Given the economic crisis that is gripping our planet, let’s let Christmas 2008 be about family, friends, good times, love. The subtext was, “No presents.” It didn’t take me long to speak for the Robertson-Short side of the family. “We’re in,” I cried, in my best e-mail voice. It was a dog pile from that point on and unanimous! There is no stress of holiday shopping, only cooking problems to solve, which, to me, is the best kind of holiday stress.

Part 3
So far, this is the best holiday season I’ve experienced in years, perhaps the best ever in my life. I have a partner I adore, and family and friends I’d throw myself under a bus for. I dig the notion of not acquiring more stuff, as well, and I relish the idea of not contributing to the commercialism that has plagued this time of year for too long.

So, it’s back to the basics for the Robertson-Short, Warner-Welker-Ellingson-Holton, Robertson-Farha-Patrick households. Rather than root around in search of more stuff, I’m responding to e-mails about what’s on the Christmas Day menu and whether to bring champagne or full-bodied cabs as well as which game we’re going to play as a big ol’ family. (Pictionary is becoming a holiday favorite, by the way!)

Part 4
As I was sharing the It’s a Wonderful Life quote with an out-of-town friend last night over dinner, I identified what the quote means for me: I’ll be taking love with me. Like George Bailey, I’m the richest person I know. I feel so much love for the people in my life, and I don’t ever want a day to come when those closest to me ever wonder whether I love them because loving them is the most sustainable thing I’ve ever done. Besides, when you’re the richest person you know, who needs more stuff to take with you anyway?