Meira Blaustein, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Woodstock Film Festival, Strikes a Pose with My Prius Plug-In Hybrid

Woodstock, NY,  My Latest Stop during the 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-In MPG Challenge.

  Meira Blaustein, Co-Founder and Executive   Director of the Woodstock Film Festival

I love the tranquil beauty and stunning scenery of the Hudson Valley of New York, Ulster County, in particular where I happen to reside.  And, one of the things I love the most about this spectacularly inspiring area is the wonderful Woodstock Film Festival which takes place in and around the eclectic (and electric), historic little Village of Woodstock every fall.  (They don't call Woodstock the "Colony of the Arts" for nothing as it has been attracting creative artists and performers since the late 19th Century.)

I have been lucky to regularly attend the Woodstock Film Festival as a writer/journalist in the past years, allowing me to see important films before they are released to the public.  Last year, for instance, I saw the stunning film "Chasing Ice" and I was so blown away by this film about our melting ice caps that I wrote this article about it for EcoWatch: Chasing Ice: Ground Zero of Climate Change.

 Meira Blausten, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Woodstock Film Festival outside the festival's headquarters in Woodstock.


At the 2011Woodstock Film Festival I saw the thought-provoking film, "Cape Spin", and wrote a well-received post on this blog after interviewing the filmmakers at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock. The Colony has been a vital presence in Woodstock since 1929 and serves as a hip hub for the festival participants when they are in town.

You can check out my post: Woodstock Film Festival Premier of "Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle" - Epic Battle Over"Clean Energy Becomes Entertaining Film Platform Exploring Ups and Downs of America's Energy Future.  

 

 Meira Blaustein and I talking about the upcoming 2013 Woodstock Film Festival which
will take place in October.

Coincidentally, Toyota is also a sponsor of the Woodstock Film Festival. Meira told me when I spoke to her: "As Toyota's Prius was a sponsor of the 2012 Woodstock Film Festival, it was the vehicle of choice during the run of the festival for some of our VIPs and staff, myself included. We all love the Prius and look forward to a continued relationship with it this year and in the years to come. "

Meira Blaustein and her fellow co-founder of the Woodstock Film Festival, Laurent Rejto, have been major forces behind the Hudson Valley becoming a hot spot for filmmaking. They played an integral role in the establishment of the Hudson Valley Film Commission, (HVFC), which is affiliated with the Woodstock Film festival.

For the past 14 years, HVFC has positioned the Hudson Valley as a prominent venue for film, television and associated hi-tech activity within New York State by attracting working producers, directors, industry personnel and new businesses that in turn use the local communities for production purposes.

The HVFC reported this summer that it has been working with a record number of film productions in 2013. As of June, 85 projects have been in contact with the film office for support including 11 Feature Films, TV Shows, Shorts, Music Videos, Industrials, Documentaries, and Photo Shoots. Celebrities enjoying Hudson Valley productions include Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2), Nick Damici (Stake Land), Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker), Mariss Tomei (The Wrestler), Max Minghella (The Social Network), Tina Louise (Gilligan's Island), Tom Noonan (Damages), Jason Ritter (Parenthood) and Rhinebeck native Emma Roberts.

Some of the Many Films Shot in the Hudson Valley of NY

Click here to see list
of films shot in the
Hudson Valley-Catskills


Background Info On The 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in MPG Challenge.

   
From July 12th to Aug 12th, I will be driving a Prius Plug-In Hybrid as part of the 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in MPG Challenge.  Toyota has partnered with seven prolific environmental influencers (myself included) from the tri-state area for Wave Two of the 2013 Prius Plug-In MPG Challenge – a fun competition to help educate local communities on the benefits of electric vehicles. The winner of the challenge will receive a $2,500 donation to the charity of their choice. 

(Check out #Pluginforcharity on Facebook and Twitter.)

The charity I am competing for is New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance, a global movement of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect over 100,000 miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.

 
I would like to thank Earth Day NY for facilitating my participation in the Prius Plug-in MPG Challenge in NYC. Check out Earth Day NY on Facebook.

And, a big shout out to  Element, Times Square West for providing hotel accommodations while I am in NYC for the challenge.

Copyright 2013 Paul E McGinniss

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Must See Video: This Is What Democracy Looks Like - Van Jones Makes Rousing Speech at Largest Climate Rally in U.S. History, Washington, D.C. February 17, 2013

 Please Double Click Video Below to Watch Full Screen
 
 
 
 Link Here to Video

 Copyright 2013 Paul E McGinniss

Portraits of The Revolution: Images From the Forward on Climate Rally

by Paul E McGinniss

On Sunday, February 17th, 2013, approximately 50,000 people marched in Washington, D.C. at the Forward on Climate Rally.  I was lucky enough to be among the masses of the concerned and sending news reports live to EcoWatch.  

Here are some snapshots of the participants I engaged on the streets of our nation's capital.   Thanks to everyone I met who emailed me pictures via their cell phones live from the rally!  

Linda Cahill from Virginia dressed as a Polar Bear as part of a Polar Bear Parade organized by the Alaska Wilderness League.   Here she is before the rally started with the Capitol Building off in the distance.   Linda is a supporter of the Gwich'in : A First Nations people who live in the northwestern part of  North America mostly above the Arctic Circle.  Photo by Molly Masterton.

Linda said when I asked her why she came to the rally:

Linda: "I am against oil subsidies, drilling in the Arctic, fracking, and the keystone XL pipeline.  It's time we take action. President Obama should require environmental impact studies before any drilling in the Arctic.  I was shocked to find out that my President, for whom I voted, had not required Shell to do an environmental impact study on drilling in the Arctic. If there is a spill, it would take one year for them to clean it up because of short seasons. I am inspired by proactive people like the winners of the Goldman Environment Prize for excellence in protecting the environment: advocates like Maria Gunnoe, from southern VA, who fought to stop clear cutting of mountains for mountaintop removal coal mining.   And Marc Ona Essangui from Gabon who helped publicly expose unlawful agreements behind a huge mining project that threatened Gabon’s rainforests. Marc now has a wheelchair, but his father used to take him to school on his back. I guess what I'm trying to say is that anyone can play a role, regardless of where they live or education, in improving the environment and that saving the environment can create jobs, contrary to what some people say.

Photo of Jennifer Metzger (on right), Chair of the Town of Rosendale New York Environmental Commission. Jennifer and I sat together on the ride south to Washington, D.C. on a bus with fifty people from New Paltz, New York.  The trip was coordinated by the Sierra Club.  Pictured on left: Amy Trompeter, Redwing Blackbird Theater, Rosendale, NY (on the same bus from New Paltz, NY.)

 

Jenn said when I asked her why she came to the rally:

"There is no more important issue we face today than the climate crisis and, as a mother, I am terrified by the thought of the kind of world we will leave to our children and their children if the status quo continues. I'm here to deliver the message that it's time to change course. President Obama expressed a strong commitment to address climate change in his State of the Union address and he must now act on that commitment, reject the Keystone XL pipeline and take meaningful action to wean this country off of fossil fuels."

 

I met John and Gretchen Mann in front of the White House as crowds gathered.  Climate Santa John and his wife, Gretchen, are from Chestertown , Md.  

 

I asked them why they came to the rally and they said:
 

John: We wanted to be a force of momentum. I take kids kayaking on the Chesapeake Bay and we are both passionate about the environment.

Gretchen: I am an environmental science teacher in High School and I am practicing what I teach.

 

I met a group of students from Harvard after the march ended at the Washington Monument.   They were super excited to have traveled  from Boston together. From left to right:Dylan Cruz, Krishna Dasaratha, Akhil Mathew and Alyssa Chan.

When I asked Krisna why he came to the rally, he said:

"I came to the rally because I think constructing the Keystone pipeline is incredibly destructive and needs to be stopped."

 

 Backstage, before the march started and just before Bill McKibben took the stage, I met a cool group of Native Americans.  From left to right:  (L-R): Lisa Montellongo, Cherokee, North Carolina; Missy Crow, Cherokee, North Carolina; Richard Ray Whitman, Oklahoma; and Tony Walking Stick, Cherokee, North Carolina. Photo by BJ  McManama of  the Indigenous Environmental Network.

Richard Ray Whitman explained why they had to come to the climate rally: 

“We are indigenous people. We are the host peoples of this continent. We are the evidence of the western hemisphere, South America, Central and North America.  So our actions today, we are speaking and acting through the generations. Not only as human rights, but as human responsibility. We are a circle of many circles. Today we are sharing solidarity with our Canadian relatives, the origins of Tar Sands in Alberta.” 

 

 An activist group from Seattle, Washington who are members of BackboneCampaign.org.

("Artful Activism: Create visual soundbites for multitude of issues.") Photo by Celia Herrera.  

Thank you Celia!!!

  

Denise Henrikson of BackboneCampaign.org told me:

"This is our future. We are here to speak for our future. It's crazy not to be here. We need clean energy now!"

Copyright 2013 Paul E McGinniss

The Power of Collective Action Gangnam Style

 
by Paul E McGinniss

Wow! A music video by Korean pop star Psy is watched worldwide by more than one billion people. Imagine if a billion plus people joined forces to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. 
Think it’s possible? 

Check out the full post on EcoWatch