It’s what you’ve been waiting for. . . our 2022 lineup of tide-turning films is here! All screenings are free (with a suggested $8 donation) and open to the public. Seventeen virtual events will screen during the week of March 4-13. If the Omicron surge cooperates, we will be adding up to 15 in-person events—they will be offered at the same times and days as the virtual events.
It’s time to look back and celebrate all the things we’ve accomplished together this year. Here’s 2021 by the numbers.
4,046 attendees at 26 film watch parties
At each of the virtual events during the main Fest Season in March and during Earth Week in April, we learned about the climate crisis, were presented with more than 250 action ideas, and pledged to take action.
Much has been written about the lack of access to fresh and healthy foods in the West and South Sides of Chicago. Many of us read about it. Many of us live it. Some brilliant people are actively working to revise that story. People like Liz Abunaw, owner and operator of Forty Acres Fresh Market, which serves the city of Chicago and western suburbs along Interstate 290 up to Westchester, Ill. . . .
Abunaw is not alone in her efforts to enrich the local food supply. Austin Eats Initiative is a collaboration of organizations that promotes grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens, and urban farms in the Austin community, which is Chicago’s second-largest neighborhood by population and size. . . . On Thursday, Oct. 21, the group is staging a screening and discussion of the documentary film, “Can You Dig This.” You have two ways of seeing the film and participating in the discussion: in person or virtually.
Austin Grown is a partnership between BUILD Chicago, One Earth Collective, and After School Matters. Austin Grown teaches an annual summer youth cohort to plant and maintain an urban farm while also educating about healthy food systems, food justice, restorative environmental justice, green entrepreneurship and community-building. All youth earn a stipend while they work and while they learn. The urban farm even houses a flock of 9 chickens and uses solar panels to generate electricity! The youth took part in virtual speaker sessions, chef demos, healthy food tastings, and an eye-opening field trip to Chicago Eco House this summer.
Green Era’s current project is a great model of the circular economy because it involves diverting inedible food waste from landfills and, via a process called anaerobic digestion, producing clean, renewable energy as well as nutrient-rich soil, which will then be used to expand fresh local food production. All this will occur on a vacant, brownfield site in South Chicago, in an area with an urgent need for cleanup and economic development.
In August 2020, after a yearlong competition, Green Era, part of the Always Growing Auburn Gresham team, won the $10 million Chicago Prize to develop their vision of a healthy lifestyle hub and renewable energy and urban farming campus. In addition, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a $2 million investment from the state’s Rebuild Illinois program to fill the final funding gap for the Green Era Renewable Energy & Urban Farming Campus.
The first-ever Virtual Movie Club Night kicked off on July 15 with a discussion of the documentary “The Ants and the Grasshopper,” directed by Raj Patel and Zac Piper. Exclusively for One Earth Collective Members (membership starts at $25 annually), the Virtual Movie Club will meet regularly to analyze environmental films, provide like-minded community, and promote change. New members are welcome to join at any time.
