When a country is at war, both its people and its biodiversity are under attack. As warfare kills, wounds, and traumatizes countless humans, it also destroys, damages, and endangers soil, air, water, wildlife, flora, and fauna—elements that all humans depend on for life. Warfare is, in short, an act of destruction that disproportionately affects all the planet’s essential ecosystems.
In Chicago, it’s possible to buy an old, deteriorating building for one dollar, provided you promise to save it from the wrecking ball and spend your money renovating it. Not only do you avoid the wasted energy and resources associated with demolition and starting from scratch, but you can also make the building more sustainable in the process.
The story of this stuff begins in the once-upon-a-time land of the late 1800s, when Coca-Cola was an environmentalist’s dream—served in stylish, refillable glass bottles that were washed and reused dozens of times. Today, however, according to the Story of Stuff website, Coke has become the world's biggest plastic producer and polluter, “pumping out a quarter of a million plastic bottles every minute . . . almost one-quarter (23%) of the world’s PET plastic bottles.”
The annual One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Global Awards Celebration is gearing up to take place at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, both in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., and online virtually anywhere in the world. Featuring the top 10 winning films from among 403 submissions, this event is the first with global reach.
Reserve free tickets here: tinyurl.com/yfc23awards
Germaine Caprio launched Majamas Earth in 1999 after designing, patenting, and selling the first nursing tank top to Nordstrom Department Stores. “I thought,” she says, “I could sell one of these to everybody. I dove in, and I wanted to be big, like Lululemon.” So she added other clothing lines, basics for women (including those who are pregnant or nursing), men, and babies. And the business grew.
Since its inception in 2013, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest has grown from a local, Oak Park/River Forest, Illinois, project accepting just 12 submissions to a highly competitive international competition garnering 403 submissions. Countries such as Brazil, Australia and Mexico and states such as California, Georgia and Indiana will be represented among this year’s winners at the Global Awards Celebration at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., in Chicago, or online virtually anywhere in the world.
Reserve free tickets here: tinyurl.com/yfc23awards
