Earth Matters joins Swap-o-Rama-Rama in unleashing a massive clothing swap, a series of DIY (do-it-yourself) stations and a fresh, alternative message which touts a resistance to consumerism, discovery of creativity and development of community. Swap-O-Rama-Rama events recycle tens of thousands of pounds of clothing each year by teaching creative reuse through clothing alteration: sewing, embroidery, silk screening, etc. At Swap-o-rama-rama, do-it-yourself workshops combined with artist-run how-to areas, and recycled fashion shows let people gather together for the purpose of transforming would be textile landfill into a celebration of community creativity.
Swap-o-Rama-Rama begins with each attendee and their contribution of one bag of unwanted clothing. Collectively this produces a 5,000 to 10,000 pound pile of free clothing that is saved from landfill and made new as it is redistributed and then transformed by each participant. Artist taught how-to workshops, and thematic workstations such as silk screening, stenciling, or hand & machine sewing, offer inspiration. As well, skilled local re-use designers, artists and do-it-yourselfers are there to share their knowledge.
Kate Goldwater of AuH2O and Caroline Flach will be designing and producing the fashion show which will feature recycled clothing and cutting edge designs while exploring re-use, as well as a fashion show for attendees of the event in which they are invited to show off the modified wearables that they made earlier in the day.
Swap-o-Rama-Rama will feature DJs from WNYU, Brad and Kareem.
Co-sponsored with OSA Earth Week
It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.
Co-sponsored by Sierra Club NYC
President George W. Bush may not know it, but someone took his advice of 2001 when he challenged people to visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to: "go and see how beautiful that land really is."
In 2003, beginning April 8 and ending September 8, filmmaker Leanne Allison and wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer migrated on foot with the 120,000-member Porcupine Caribou Herd from Old Crow, Yukon, Canada, to the caribou calving grounds in Alaska, and back.
They took along a 15-inch George Bush replica doll.
Spectacular footage and intimate video diaries give a glimpse into a landscape and a way of 'being human' that create a journey never before undertaken. The experience transforms the team leaving them to try and convey their story to Senators on Capitol Hill one short week after returning with the caribou to their winter range in the Central Yukon.
As for the 15-inch President, he refused to return home at all.
New York Botanical GardenThe NY Botanical Garden is one of the wonders of the five boroughs. In the Bronx, we visited during their world famous Orchid Show. We were also lucky enough to have one of our members, Marcela, who has worked there in the past, give us a guided tour.
Nominated for Best Documentary at the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards
2 Awards at the 2003 Berlin Film Fetival
9 other Awards at film festivals
Co-sponsored by Sierra Club NYC
In an environment of pervasive corruption, assassination, and street rioting, the story of chaotic post-Soviet transition is told through culture clash, electricity disconnections and blackouts.
AES Corp., the massive American "global power company," has purchased the privatized electricity distribution company in Tbilisi, capital of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. AES manager Piers Lewis must now train the formerly communist populace that, in this new world, customers pay for their electricity. The Georgians meanwhile, from pensioners to the Energy Minister, devise ever more clever ways to get it free.
Amidst hot tempers and high drama, Lewis balances his love for the Georgian people with the hardships his company creates for them, as they struggle to build a nation from the rubble of Soviet collapse.
Power of Community: This uplifting film tells the story of how, when the cuban people lost access to Soviet oil in the early 1990's, they survived through cooperation, conservation and community.
French Fries to Go: French Fries to Go is a funny and hopeful short film that documents the origins of Telluride, Colorado's Biodiesel project, and features cameos by Daryl Hannah, Dennis Weaver and Dr. Andrew Weil.
SUV City: A short satirical animated film about the absurdity of big SUVs. Some people might find it funnier than others as the underlying messge about four common types of big-SUV buyers may ring true.
Official selection at the London, Seattle, Sundance, Rio de Janerio and Melbourne film festivals
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.
But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.
Against the backdrop of Tadesse's journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world's coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.
A primer on global warming, the HBO documentary TOO HOT NOT TO HANDLE features contributions from leading scientists in the field. In addition to in-depth discussions of such subjects as the greenhouse effect, hurricanes, snowpack, hybrid vehicles, and alternative power sources, the film shows how businesses, local governments, and citizens are taking positive actions to reduce global warming emissions.
Over the past century, consumption of carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) has risen to staggering levels, especially in the United States, where five percent of the world's population is responsible for 25 percent of the world'scarbon dioxide emissions. TOO HOT NOT TO HANDLE offers a wealth of chilling evidence that the greenhouse effect is intensifying and the Earth is warming faster than at any other time in human history.
Encouraging viewers to think "outside the barrel," the film explores innovative ways Americans can reduce global warming and literally change the world with Earth-friendly options such as biodiesel and hybrid cars.
Co-sponsored by NYC chapter of the Sierra Club
During our normal meeting time we instead screened the Award-winning documentary based on Al Gore's slideshow about global warming. It was very exciting because most of the audience had not yet seen the movie! It is intellectually and morally engaging and surprisingly riveting. Wholly recommended.
In conjunction with Per Scholas and NYU Recycling we collected over a hundred pieces of computers and electronics. The drop offs came in all different sizes, from a man on a bicycle with small electronics collected from his office, to a delivery truck with 16 computers and monitors in the back. Fax machine, printers and phones were turned in. As were old video cassettes, rechargeable batteries and cell phones.
It had been too long since EM went hiking and we could have not asked for a much better day. It was partly cloudy with temperatures in the 50s-60s. We started off early, catching an 8:51 train from Grand Central. The train then dropped us off in seemingly the middle of nowhere, even though we were only 60 miles north of the city. The station consisted of four steps to dismount the train and a small footbridge to safely cross the tracks. We knew this would be good.
All we had to work with was a computer printout of a suggested hiking route. But we followed the people to the start of the trail, and from there it was generally well designated with white markers. The assent was more difficult than we anticipated. There were many "rock scrambles", or steep rocky patches that more closely resembled mountain climbing than hiking. We rested periodically, and admired the fantastic Hudson River views. By the time we got to the top we rested about half an hour to let our president Marc, who was feeling quite ill, recover.
From there we moved along on more even terrain, periodically running into other hikers. This was fortunate because we found a hiker with a map and tried to figure out where we were going and how to get back. Tried, because it was not long before we discovered ourselves to no longer be on the trail. After briefly trying to get back to the trail, we decided to just walk west, because we would eventually get to the river. To make things easier, we stayed walking in the valley, where the terrain was more even. One time, when we stopped to rest, we encountered a whole band of maybe fifteen hikers. They were clearly on the confused side of life, passing us one way, turning around, reversing again, then splitting up briefly until one claimed they had found the trail. We were somewhat skeptical, as it did not particularly resemble a trail (you could always find one if you look hard enough), but we followed them for a short time anyway. We ended up breaking off from them, because they were heading up and we wanted to go down, and sure enough, after traversing the valley westward, we stumbled upon the trail that would lead us back. That was very exciting. This part of the trail was very easy going and we made it back to the "station" with about twenty minutes to go before the 16:55 train.
We had over 400 attendees to the first free "shopping" event on campus. Thanks to all the students who rocked the free stuff! This was one of the smoothest FreeMeet events ever run, and we can thank our FreeCycle NYC veterans for the help. They were as excited as we were about how well everything went.
Brought items included:
Ben Jervey, author of The Big Green Apple, spoke to an enthusiastic crowd about the process of writing his guide to green NYC living and some of his favorite tips. He is a big fan of CSA's (check our links page if you don't know what they are) and the Con Ed wind power program.
The OSA club fair at Coles Gym. Earth Matters was there with our attractive plant filled table. We handed out over 150 fliers and got over 100 names to add to the listserve.
Visit the OSA site for more info.
Upcoming events:
Come to our first meeting of the Spring 2009 Semester on Tuesday January 27th in Kimmel 803! We'll be starting to discuss our plans for the upcoming semester!
For all events, go to the events page.
Meet at 11:30 AM at 'the Greenhouse' dorm for a BikeShare bike ride November 23! If you ride one of the Bikeshare bikes, you get a free hot chocolate!
On November 25, we will be holding elections for next semester since many of our organizing members are going abroad next semester! Make sure to attend the meeting if you would like to run/vote!
Earth Matters! Presents:
POST APOCALYPSE PROM
Thursday, October 23rd at 9pm
Kimmel Center, Rosenthal Pavilion, 10th Floor
Our general meetings will be on Tuesday nights at 8 PM in Kimmel 803. We hope to see you all there!
To email:
nyu.earthmatters at gmail.com
To join the listserv go to NYUHome, or send us an email if you do not have an NYUHome account.
To get the latest news on what's going on in EM, take a look at our google calendar!
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