NYC Film Premier of "The Big Fix": The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Is Still Very Much on the Horizon

Wide Coalition of Environmental Advocates To Gather for "7 Nights of Awareness" To Conclude Each Screening of "The Big Fix" at AMC 7 in East Village December 2nd-December 8th

Posted by Paul E. McGinniss

Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell-Tickell uncovering the truth about the oil spill in the Gulf.

Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell-Tickell, the dynamic duo behind the Sundance Award winning documentary, "FUEL". I met them when they drove cross country from California in a green vehicle caravan and arrived to premiere "FUEL" in NYC. Josh and Rebecca are also the producers - directors of an astonishing new film, "The Big Fix". They weave together beautiful, haunting imagery of the Gulf coast. There are spot-on interviews with a diverse assortment of people and plenty of helpful, historical information - all the while uncovering the dirty truth about the BP oil spill.

The BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010. Most of us thought the spill was "cleaned up" and the problem "went away". Unfortunately, to a large extent, the entire event has been supplanted in the media/mass consciousness by other major news stories and events from around the world.

After watching "The Big Fix", it is hard to conclude that things are so rosy down in the Gulf. In fact, the bottom line message from this well-documented film is that the BP oil spill in the Gulf never really went away. And, in fact, the oil is still spilling into the Gulf. Not to mention, the absolutely horrific fact is that the chemical dispersant, Corexit, which was and is still being used in the Gulf to "clean up" the oil, is an extremely toxic substance. The film reports that Corexit is wreaking havoc on the health of the people and marine life in the Gulf. It's the kind of "this can't be true" fact that is so terrible, you don't want to believe it, but must.


Film Poster for the Josh Tickell - Rebecca Harrell-Tickell film, "FUEL", which won the Sundance Award for best Documentary in 2008.

When you see and hear how the the Gulf residents captured in "The Big Fix" have been affected by Corexit and the spill which keeps on spilling, beware, it is both heart wrenching and frightening. When you see and hear Gulf residents driven to tears by this environmental tragedy, you want to cry with them. Rebecca Harrell, herself, was seriously sickened by Corexit during their filming in the Gulf. It is, literally, sickening to watch this toxic crime covered up.

And, when you listen to Marine/Eco-Activist, Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of champion of the seas, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, state so emotionally, "We're being lied to", you realize that the "cover up" depicted in the film is not the rant of uninformed "trouble maker activists", but a real cover up. We all need to unify our voices and join Rebecca and Josh and say - Enough is Enough.

Watch this video from Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society which investigated the BP Oil Spill one year after it occurred.

When Josh and Rebecca emailed to tell me they were opening the film in NYC at the AMC 7 in the East Village and wanted to create "7 Nights of Awareness" in the theater, post-screening, I immediately jumped on board to help build the events and gather as many people and groups in NYC together to see this watershed film. Our purpose for the "7 Nights of Awareness" is, yes, to divulge the truth about what is going on in the Gulf, in addition to stimulating a dialog that will foster positive action and create solutions which will help our planet become less dependent on fossil fuels, more healthy and truly sustainable.

Despite the negative events depicted in the film, the filmmakers make a point to highlight, towards the end of the film, an endearing bayou local. He wears a yellow t-shirt and dons a Mardi Gras-like necklace across his tanned neck while installing solar panels on the metal roof of his modest home. Josh Tickell narrates at the end. He urges the audience to "unite and take a stand" and deal with the truth and get on with implementing clean energy solutions that are at hand. Tickell concludes, powerfully, asking: "In a struggle for true justice and a better world, where do you stand?"

Being solution-based, Josh and Rebecca, currently, have an additional film out, FREEDOM, which focuses on sustainable and renewable energy options already available which will enable us to be free from the use of oil and other sources of not-clean energy.

To date, the inspiring and passionate people and groups that have come on board for the "7 Nights of Awareness" include: NYC-based Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacques and son of Jean-Michel Cousteau) and founder of Plant A Fish; Rocky Kistner from the NRDC; Stefanie Spear and the new web site/newswire EcoWatch; Justin Bloom and colleagues from Waterkeeper Alliance; Dan Miner, founder of Beyond Oil NYC; New Orleans native and NYC-based architect, Drew Lang; Paul Mankiewicz, The Gaia Institute; Margaret Lydecker, Green Drinks NYC and Denise Katzman, EcoEdifier™ and Anti-Fracking activist; Stephen Del Percio, GreenBuildings NYC and Peter Fleischer of Empire State Future.

Any one interested in knowing more about this important film and the events we are organizing in NYC, please contact me asap to discuss. A full press release will be sent out in the next few weeks with additional details.

Please save the dates of December 2nd to December 8th and tell as many people as you can to come to the December 2nd - 8th AMC 7 screenings of "The Big Fix" and meet the inspiring Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell and the passionate NYC people mentioned above - all of whom are making a difference and helping to transform The Big Green Apple into being even more ecologically sound and resilient.

Copyright 2011 Paul E McGinniss

Contact Paul E McGinniss at: Info@PaulEMcGinniss.com

Check out the trailer to "The Big Fix" below.

International Living Future Institute asks: "What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place?"

by Paul E McGinniss



Jay Kosa, Community Coordinator of the Living Building Challenge, at the International Living Future Institute, emailed me recently to tell me about the Understanding the Living Building Challenge Workshop which is taking place in NYC on Thursday, November 3, 2011.

Jay said: "We at the Living Building Challenge have been a fan of your blog dating back to your "Living Building Challenge 2.0 Certification Plays Lady Ga Ga to USGBC LEED's Madonna" piece. We're making steady headway with the pursuit of Living Buildings in the Northwest and around the world, and we'd really like to cultivate some discussion about what the city of New York could accomplish through the Challenge."

Cool. Bring on the challenge! What's great about the Living Building Challenge is it is a challenge. And it's part of a growing number of international eco-educational groups taking root in the Big Apple - groups like the Transition Town movement and Kitchen Gardeners International - social media networks which are spiraling out and reaching people online and also on the ground, block by block, trading information and creating social consciousness.


Picture of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy Energy Lab which was built under the Living Building Challenge standard. Conceived as a high school science building dedicated to the study of alternative energy, the new Energy Lab at Hawaii Preparatory Academy functions as a zero-net-energy, fully sustainable building.


What's appealing about the Living Building Challenge is how much it talks about building not so much just from a structural or technical standpoint but also from a philosophical, even metaphysical standpoint. For instance the challenge is described as: "A visionary path to a restorative future" And it is "at once a philosophy, advocacy platform and certification program". The challenge clarifies: "It defines priorities on both a technical level and as a set of core values, it is engaging the broader building industry in the deep conversations required to truly understand how to solve problems rather than shift them."

Despite how abstract the Living Building Challenge might sound, it is definitely performance based. Thus, while having specific, measurable, technical goals, it "leads teams to embrace regional solutions and respond to a number of variables, including climate factors and cultural characteristics."




And speaking of being performance based - The International Living Future Institute has just announced that it unveiled a Net Zero Energy Building Certification program. This new initiative will surely help foster the idea that all buildings should "perform" and be self sustainable, much like the Earthship model has tried to emphasize, and like the Passive House concept emphasizes as well.

Training and certification programs don't come super cheap these days of "Occupy Wall Street", when lots of the world is just managing to tread water. And there are more and more "green" educational and certification platforms to consider - running the gamut from the NAHB to USGBC. For some, the Living Building Challenge Workshop is a bit pricey, with the cost in the hundreds of dollars for the day, but for building professionals and those serious about green building, it is well worth the cost.

The NYC workshop takes place November 3rd at Acuity Brands Lighting, 5 Penn Plaza, 24th Floor (8th Ave between 33rd and 34th), New York, NY 10001.

It looks like the "Living Building Challenge", which grew out of green building initiatives in Cascadia, Washington State, is taking off internationally with projects emerging around the globe. Currently there are active programs in the United States, Canada and Ireland, with discussions occurring in other countries for future international launches.

In July 2010, The Living Building Institute of Ireland was established by a founding circle of local practitioners to oversee the operation of the Living Building Challenge in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The Institute reports: "It is interested in expanding its program in countries around the globe that have an interest in promoting truly sustainable design and construction practices"

Anyone reading this blog post who has an interest in seeing the Living Building Challenge program in their country can contact the Living Building Challenge to begin discussions. And if you start a challenge anywhere in the world, please let me know as I would love to follow the story and see where it goes.

Copyright Paul E McGinniss 2011

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

By Paul E. McGinniss

Film poster for new must see film.

A thought provoking, almost surreal new feature documentary film called Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle cleverly captures the monumental ten year battle over Cape Wind, America's first proposed off shore wind farm planned for a 25 square mile area in the cherished blue waters of Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts.

This epic, often bizarre battle over the Cape Wind project is a red white and blue microcosm of America's struggle toward a green energy future. Cape Spin has a great soundtrack containing rock, pop, cabaret and Broadway style music. The film has engaging editing and colorfully depicts the rich, transcendent natural beauty of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Sound, all the while showing the down to earth, comical, even ugly side of human nature, as the people depicted in the documentary take sides on a dramatic battle raging within their own "idyllic" community.

Cape Spin has a real ying yang pull, taking the audience from one side of the controversy to the other, showing how complex and layered the developing green energy revolution is, with unlikely alliances forming for and against the proposal to build one hundred and thirty, 440-foot wind turbines five plus miles off the coast of Massachusetts.


Pic Robert Kennedy Jr. on Nantucket Sound as he holds a demonstration against the wind farm. Following Kennedy's boat is a Greenpeace led boat demonstrating for the wind project and against Kennedy. Pic Courtesy Cape Cod Times.

An article in Cape Cod Times called Strange Boatfellows Clash in Nantucket Sound gives one an idea of what strange bedfellows this battle has made. Indeed, some of the eye opening revelations and ironies captured in the film is that Jim Gordon, the seemingly good intentioned developer behind Cape Wind, made a fortune in not so green and friendly gas fired power plants, some of which he still owns. Meanwhile, legendary environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr is strongly against the clean energy project while the notorious activist group Greenpeace has taken the side of big energy developer Jim Gordon against the Kennedy eco icon.

Anti Cape Wind Demonstrators. Pic Courtesy Stage Coach Improv


What's wonderful about Cape Spin is that it manages to leave the viewer agreeing with and then questioning the logic and motives of both the anti wind farm camp and the pro wind camp. At times, the citizen activists in the film, both privileged and not - upper, lower and middle class - actually seem like characters trapped in a fictional drama; one gets the feeling "what a long strange trip it's been" for the subjects who jump out at you from the screen with an intensity and passion captured eloquently by the filmmakers who seem to be invisible and almost like all-seeing flies on the wall.

From left to right: Producers of Cape Spin Josh Levin, Libby Handros, Director and Producer, Robbie Gemmel and Director and Editor John Kirby. Pic Courtesy Woodstock Film Festival

I had the pleasure of seeing the film festival premier of Cape Spin at the Woodstock film festival and attend a lively Q & A with the film's directors and producers. After the Q & A I had the opportunity to interview one of the directors, Robbie Gemmel, the passionate young filmmaker who was the genesis of the film. Robbie was inspired to tackle the subject by a professor while an undergraduate at Emerson College in Massachusetts. Gemmel even went so far as to get a job on a fishing boat in Nantucket Sound to study the subject of Cape Wind. For him the making of the film was a battle all to its own because of all the barriers that come with creating an independent film with more passion than deep pockets.

Pro Cape Wind Demonstrators. Pic Courtesy Enterprise News

Before seeing the film I was hell bent on getting Robbie to tell me what side he took in the Cape Wind skirmish, since the previous press for the film proclaimed it was the filmmakers' objective to be objective and not take sides in the controversy. Despite the successful efforts of the filmmakers not to take a stand, I imagined, surely Robbie had formed an opinion by now.

Robbie said when I spoke with him: "I can honestly convince myself either way - to be for or against the Cape Wind farm. I think both sides have a lot of valid points and there are reasons to build it and not to build it. But in the end I ultimately think the controversy is really good for the course of conversation around renewable energy development and for the awareness it's brought to where our current energy is coming from and the challenges we face to build large scale renewable energy sources."

I also met the film's other director and editor of Cape Spin, John Kirby, who became part of a creative team that produced the film. By meeting and speaking with John along with Robbie, I saw how they, even amongst themselves, debated the merits and downfalls of Cape Wind and still to this day continue the debate by questioning the up-sides and down-sides of the Cape Wind project.

John Kirby elaborated: "This Cape Wind controversy is happening all over the country. There are solar projects that are in contention, there are other wind projects in contention right here in New York. So if there is a lesson to take from this controversy it is - don't wait for a developer or the federal government to come in and say - this is where we are going to put this new energy facility - go ahead and build your own. It belongs to you - the wind, the sun, this belongs to you. That to me is the message to Cape Spin- power to the people."

The Colony Cafe in Woodstock, New York, hub for the Woodstock Film Festival. Pic Courtesy the Woodstock Film Festival.

So what does this writer think about Cape Wind and whether or not it is an appropriate project in that location at this specific time? After seeing the film I was not so sure what I thought. It became clear to me that maybe in eco cinema one not need take a firm position to still get a clear pro environmental message across.

As I told the one of the producers of Cape Spin, Josh Levin, when we spoke at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, part of me is RFK Jr who has come out swinging against the project. And part of me is Greenpeace which has come out vociferously promoting the project, ironically taking the side of the project's developer Jim Gordon, who as I mentioned the film points out, made a fortune on gas fueled power plants and stands to make another fortune on the Cape Wind project if it ever gets completed.

Picture Wind Farm in Denmark

Offshore wind farms are fairly common in other parts of the world, such as Denmark, where large portions of their electricity are generated from wind and other renewables. But as Cape Spin masterfully depicts, here in the USA, a whopping $70 million dollars has been spent by the opposing sides fighting for and against our country's first offshore renewable energy project. One could imagine what good $70 million dollars would do toward making the the Nantucket Sound region more "renewable" with energy efficiency and small scale renewable power than thrown out the window in a surreal fight that seems as absurd as it does endless. But like the team behind Cape Spin points out, despite the enormous amount of money spent, with no clean, renewable energy generation to show for it, the controversy has created awareness about the issues and that helps.

In the end, no matter what you think about Cape Wind, and the film about it, what Cape Spin really becomes is a sly educational tool showing the do's and don'ts about how to move forward to a clean energy future. Cape Spin asks more questions than it answers, raises both red and white flags and shows all the gray within the green.

Pro Cape Wind Image via Greenpeace

To further educational goals, the producers and directors of the film are collaborating on a multimedia educational platform called the Electron Project which was inspired by the Cape Wind controversy and the decade long journey of the film and its subjects. The Electron Project will show citizens across the country, exactly what amount and type of energy they are using and where it comes from. And it will offer resources to show people regionally how to become more energy self-sufficient.

As Robbie Gemmel explains: "The idea is that the Electron Project will accompany the film and as we roll out the film we are going to educate people about where their energy comes from and get them involved in it. We want to make an interactive process and connect audiences to local resources so they can live more sustainably and help develop a cleaner energy future for our country"

The Woodstock Film Festival stated appropriately "Cape Spin was “Fueled by a satiric ‘revolutionary’ soundtrack, and is a gripping and entertaining study of eco-capitalism and grassroots democracy.” One puzzled looking woman in the film says simply yet profoundly at one of the many heated, over-the-top demonstrations about the wind farm: "It's interesting to see the public process unfold at these events - this is what America is all about."

Anyone who gives a damn about giving a damn should check Cape Spin out.

Copyright 2011 Paul E. McGinniss

Check out the trailer to Cape Spin below.

Cape Spin Trailer from Rebirth Productions on Vimeo.