Grow Your Own

How To Avoid Flesh Eating Ghouls In The 21st Century
(Or, was that How to avoid becoming a flesh eating ghoul in the 21st Century?)

by Paul E. McGinniss

In Case of Zombies Photo via InCaseofZombies.com


In the wonderfully bleak post-apocalyptic film, "The Road", an endearing father and son team travel a barren landscape trying to stay alive.

Miracle of Miracles - the father & son characters in the film, "The Road", manage to find what is apparently the last can of Coke left on earth. (A surely nutritious meal to get up the energy necessary to fight off the cannibals.) Photo via IMDB


One of the biggest fears the ragged, dirty and hungry duo have is being eaten by packs of well-armed, low-life cannibals who eat human flesh because, apparently, all other sources of food are gone.

The Father & Son in "The Road" hiding from very hungry cannibals. Photo via IMDB

In the darkly sunny Denzel Washington film, "The Book of Eli", a similar post-Armageddon scenario unfolds with lack of food and cannibalism also running themes.

Two characters (foreground) from "The Book Of Eli" decide to abruptly leave the remote house of what appeared to be a nice old couple when they find out the old couple planned to eat them. Photo via IMDB

Apparently, the dystopian world of the future doesn't include being able to feed yourself, even meagerly. When the inevitable dystopian breakdown of central services occurs, we are left hungry, unable to fend for ourselves. (Just like most of us had to do, not so long ago.)

Luckily, just as I was getting severely depressed about the state of our future dystopia, I watched a marathon session of the delicious series, "The Walking Dead", on cable's AMC.

Hot hunk, good cop and former pizza delivery boy run from the hungry ghouls in "The Walking Dead."

In "The Walking Dead" nightmare future, also involving yet another version of flesh eating ghouls and lack of food, a small group of feisty, still civilized survivors manage to fish and feed themselves off the land without resorting to cannibalism. Albeit, their food growing skills are minimal and leave a lot to be desired, especially since they need to spend so much time making sure they are not eaten by the virus-infected, living-dead cannibals.

Another hunky cop in "The Walking Dead" cooking up some non human flesh meal.

SO, here are some things we ALL need to do to prepare ourselves for whatever the future might include, or not include, such as takeout food or the inevitable flesh eating ghouls that are sure to pop up one way or another:

*Watch "The Road", "The Book of Eli" and "The Walking Dead" to get yourself motivated to have a happy, greener, non-human-flesh-eating future.

*Proclaim 2011 as the "Year of Growing Your Own" and make a vow to discover ways to grow some kind of food, somewhere, whether it be on the barbed wire enclosed roof or in other protected areas free from ghouls.
(Perhaps a local, preferably well-armed, CSA farm would do.)

*Start a seed library to save and store securely as many kind of seeds as possible so you will not be limited in your choice of chow after civilization collapses and all the Zagat guides are burned for fuel.)

*Get some renewable energy of some kind to power your house and grow lights.
(I am not sure of the best kind of renewable power to use if there is some kind of nuclear or volcano induced winter, but I will get back you on that issue asap.)

Happy New Year Everyone! Looking forward to a great 2011!

Copyright 2011 Paul E. McGinniss

PS: No, I am NOT a communist, but everyone should check out Roger Doiron from Kitchen Gardeners International as he talks about the urban food revolution born out of dire necessity in Havana, Cuba. I saw Roger accept an award at the Daily Green's Heart of Green Awards ceremony a few years back and he is someone to keep an eye on.

Havana Homegrown: Inside Cuba's Urban Agriculture Revolution from Kitchen Gardeners on Vimeo.

Check Out My Q & A With The Daily Green's Brian Clark Howard That Was Posted On Green Real Estate Daily

Brian Clark Howard is a multimedia journalist, editor, writer and photographer based in New York City and Connecticut. He is a web editor at The Daily Green, part of Hearst Digital Media. I've gotten to know Brian over the years, having run into him at everything from Green Drinks NYC events to the awesome Greener Gadgets conferences in Manhattan and Earth Day happenings around the Big Green Apple.

Brian is the co-author of several recent books including "Green Lighting" and "Geothermal HVAC" from McGraw-Hill (2010). I recently spoke with Brian about his new books and some other things!

Here's a link to the Q & A on the Green Real Estate Daily

Click on the video below which was shot & edited by Brian Clark Howard. The video was done with Eco-Chick.com blogger and host, Olivia Zaleski, and is a behind-the-scenes tour of the NYC set for the Project Earth Day Fashion Show which took place in 2007. It's very cool!



The above video, filmed by Brian Clark Howard with Olivia Zaleski as host and Starre Vartan as producer, was recorded the night before the fashion show. Check it out to hear from some of the designers who showed their designs and to learn about the sustainable aspects of the show’s set design. Please click on video to see full frame. Video Courtesy Eco-Chick.

Report From Woodstock Film Festival: Is Eco Film Helping Trigger a Revolution of Renewable Thinking?

The Film panel entitled "Environmentally Speaking – Improving Our Planet with the Power of Film" shows us how the film world is making a difference

by Paul McGinniss



I was excited to attend the recent Woodstock Film Festival(WFF). I was also lucky to spend some time talking with Brian Geldin of Film Panel Notetaker and Brian Geldin Public Relations, the co-organizer of the "Environmentally Speaking" film panel. The panel gathered some of the film industry's leading voices to talk about the power of film to make an impact in the arena of environmental action. The event was moderated by Lydia Dean Pilcher, President of Cine Mosaic--a New York City-based production company. She is also the Chair of the Producers Guild of America Green Committee.

I met Brian initially at the Woodstock Film Festival's opening party which was held at the great local restaurant "New World Home Cooking". Ilene Marder, Communications Director of the festival, made sure Brian and I connected and had a chance to talk all things green. The panel he co-organized with the Woodstock Film Festival asked the questions: "Can film make an impact on how we take care of our planet? Do we need to be more environmentally responsible in how we make our films to get our messages across? Where is the intersection of making films about the environment and making films that are environmentally conscious?"

Brian Geldin of Brian Geldin Public Relations and the blog, Film Panel Notetaker

I asked Brian how the environmental film panel came about and he told me the history: "Last year, I programmed a similar panel called "How Green Was My Production?" at another film festival, The Royal Flush Festival in New York City, where I gathered filmmakers and green production experts to present case studies of films and TV shows that were greening their sets. While that was very informative, I felt as if there was much more to explore, so I approached Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder and Director Meira Blaustein at the beginning of 2010 with my idea for "Environmentally Speaking: Improving Our Planet with the Power of Film" where we would focus on a broader discussion that involved both the delivery of environmental storytelling through documentaries and narrative films, and green practices and strategies to move toward carbon neutrality. Once moderator Lydia Dean Pilcher and the panelists were assembled, Lydia and I conceived the questions."

What was great about "Environmentally Speaking – Improving Our Planet with the Power of Film" was that, in addition to exploring how films can positively encourage audiences to be environmentally conscious, it also discussed how filmmakers, film productions and film festivals can be more green. One of the guests on the Woodstock Panel was Larry Fessenden who wrote a book in 1991 called "Low Impact Film Making: A Guide to Environmentally Sound Film and Video Production." Others at the panel included Katie Carpenter who is "a green production consultant and an award-winning documentary producer specializing in environmental subjects from climate change to bio-diversity."

For a full report, go to Brian Geldin's web site The Film Panel Notetaker

Actor and Producer Larry Fessenden (left) and Director Joe Maggio take a peek at how the viewing of their film "Bitter Feast" is going at the Woodstock Film Festival. Image courtesy Woodstock Film Festival.

After the festival, I asked Brian Geldin what he got most out of the "Environmentally Speaking" panel. He reflected: "I had a good understanding of environmental issues and greening practices going into the panel, but I came out with much greater knowledge and a strong desire to become more active and involved in the green film community, especially in the area of film festivals, as that is where I am most involved. I would like to ask the Woodstock Film Festival to complete the Producers Guild of America Green Committee's "carbon calculator" to determine its carbon footprint, and then set goals for next year's festival to improve its environmental impact."

At the WFF, I also caught the film "Windfall" about the controversy in upstate New York over industrial wind turbines (think 400 feet tall) in rural residential settings. I also saw the fantastic film about Ray Kurzweil, "The Singularity Is Near", which explores our future and includes a mention of nanotechnology solar panels that will be super affordable and enable us to power our entire planet cleanly by the abundant rays of the sun. I'm writing about both films next month in "New York House" magazine so check out my November Columns of "Our Green Future" and "What You Don't Know."

The Cast and Crew of INUK attend the film screening party of "Lennon NYC" at the Woodstock Film Festival. INUK is a film set in Arctic Greenland, a country being seriously affected by climate change. Image courtesy Woodstock Film Festival.

In conclusion, I have to mention that I wrote a previous post on this blog about Planet Green TV called "Saving the World By Turning on Your Television." So, the Woodstock Film Festival event, "Environmentally Speaking – Improving Our Planet with the Power of Film", was close to my heart.

I'm a big believer in the social and political power of eco cinema. I've personally witnessed how filmmakers whom I've met, namely Josh Fox of "GASLAND" and Josh Tickell of "FUEL", have made real impact by telling powerful stories through film and inspiring audiences in person at film screenings to take action to make change. Larger budget feature films, along with such documentary films and grassroots efforts, can also have a significant impact. "Erin Brockovich" (starring Julia Roberts) and "A Civil Action" (starring John Travolta) are but two examples of Hollywood movies that are extremely entertaining, but also serve as an awakening and a call to arms regarding serious environmental issues. Both were artful films that made me care about the characters as much the issue affecting their lives. Both actually managed to get me inspired AND motivated (angry even) to make people more aware about the true stories of criminal pollution such as those depicted in all of these films, and encouraging a holding of responsibility for corporate practices that harm the environment.

Copyright 2010 Paul McGinniss

For an example of the best in powerful films making an impact, check out (below) the official trailer for the documentary film "CRUDE". (PLEASE click below twice and video will open full screen in new tab)


The documentary film "CRUDE" by Joe Berlinger tells the story of grassroots environmental action in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador where 30,000 indigenous residents of the Amazon have sued Chevron over alleged contamination of the rainforest.