The documentary Grown in Detroit, directed by Mascha and Manfred Poppenk, is an award winning documentary featuring urban organic farming efforts. Detroit was the home for mass producing automobiles, however, due to the decline of the auto industry one of the nation’s wealthiest cities has become one of the poorest. Nature in all its glory has taken over the empty lots and the city has started “greening” from within. Taking this opportunity into consideration the residents of the city have opted to use the land and its resources for their necessity.

The documentary is one hour in length and it follows students at the Ferguson Academy for Young Women, which is a high school for pregnant teens. They work in the school’s urban garden and learn how to grow nutritious food for their children. As one can imagine these teens aren’t able to cope in the beginning and they dislike farm work. However, as time goes by they see the fruits of their labor growing and then being sold for profit, which changes their attitudes completely. I think the insight into the lives of these teens can be an eye opener for the rest of us. We can learn from them valuable lessons about facing your struggles head on and coming out the victor. As well as, necessity being the mother of invention and how, when given resources, people will come together to reap the benefits.

Flatbush Food Film Forum presents GROWN IN DETROIT
sponsored by Sustainable Flatbush, Flatbush Food Co-op, and Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association

WHEN: Wednesday, May 26th at 7pm
WHERE: Prospect Park Temple Isaac, 1419 Dorchester Road (entrance on Marlborough)

Free popcorn provided by Flatbush Food Co-op! Kosher snacks available for purchase

Sustainable Flatbush, Flatbush Food Co-op, and Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association present a special Earth Day film screening of NO IMPACT MAN.

This movie is all about taking a new look at the way we impact our environment. Colin Beavan sets out to experience life without any automated transportation, electricity, no more non-local food and overall to make as little impact as possible for one year. No problem right? That is, until his wife who has completely different ideals from that of Beavan and their daughter is brought into the fray. How will this family cope with the new way of living? How will they be tested and what will they find out along the way?

As for me, after doing a little bit of research what I found interesting was the fact that the family had to give up a lot for that one year. I haven’t seen the movie yet so I would like to see what kind of strain it put on their relationship. All the struggles they endured and how they overcame, as well as learning from them what I can do to make less of an impact on environmental degradation. Isn’t that interesting? Shouldn’t all of us give this a thought and come see what this family has accomplished?

COME SEE AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF!

Flatbush Food Film Forum presents a special Earth Day film screening of NO IMPACT MAN
sponsored by Sustainable Flatbush, Flatbush Food Co-op, and Ditmas Park West Neighborhood Association

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21st at 7pm
WHERE: Prospect Park Temple Isaac, 1419 Dorchester Road (entrance on Marlborough)

Free popcorn provided by Flatbush Food Co-op! Kosher snacks available for purchase

Kensington, Brooklyn (photo by Jon Melnick)

After I finished explaining to my father, my mom asked me what is the point for all of this that the organization you work for is trying to do. Her question reminded me of something we were talking about in our Friday meetings. We were talking about a campaign called the 2030 Challenge, which wants reduction in energy consumption and green house gas emission to become a priority in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. I thought this would spark her interest since she’s a mother, she would care more about the impact of not becoming more energy efficient for us.

All in all, both my parents are now interested in the Neighborhood Energy Forum and what it is trying to accomplish. It was hard at first to explain what I wanted to get through to them because they weren’t educated here. Most people from my country could care less about such problems because they really don’t have the educational background to understand such things. I think everyone can benefit from the information that will be provided at this forum in some way or other. That is why, we need to figure out a way to educate people who should know about this but don’t because of their inability to understand. When everyone has an equal opportunity to understand the facts and impact of energy efficiency, we can hope to reach our goal faster.

photo by Afroza Amin

Hi, My name is Afroza Amin and I’m going to be interning with this great organization for the Spring 2010 semester. I’m an undergraduate junior at Brooklyn College, majoring in psychology and accounting.

I’m ashamed to say I’ve never really thought about sustainability issues as being such a big problem. However, a year ago I went back to my country Bangladesh, a country situated in Southern Asia. The state of poverty and overall environmental degradation in some parts of that country I visited, opened my eyes to the issue. People were struggling to make out a living but still not having enough to eat day to day. The roads were covered with garbage and people would walk by it without giving it a second glance, like its something they were used to. People are so busy struggling to live in such poverty, that they don’t really care what they are doing to their environment.

Once I got back to New York I did some research on sustainability groups or if there was any sort of action being taken for this state of Bangladesh. There wasn’t much being done about it and that got me thinking more about the issues. In the end, not really knowing what to do, I pushed the thought to the back of my head until I was in one of my psychology classes last semester. Professor Nancy Romer was offering a class for individuals who were interested in interning with sustainability groups.

Sustainable Flatbush was one of the organizations I was interested in because it was close to my neighborhood, so I emailed Anne. She replied back to me saying that they were interested in spreading the word to the South Asian community so my language skills would be needed. I was thrilled to hear this and after doing some research about the organization, I just knew this was the organization I wanted to intern with. The goals of this organization greatly interested me because it was the things I thought needed to be addressed in my country. Energy solution, zero waste, livable street; these goals of the organization are things I became interested in and would like to find out more about. All in all, I’m hoping to gain more knowledge so that I can help others in my community understand these things and become aware about what they can do.