2009 Film Series
Each year the National Brownfields Conference features an array of films, screenings, and documentaries. These films not only educate but provide an entertaining, thought-provoking, and emotional springboard for innovations in environmental studies, community participation, stakeholder involvement, and sustainability.
The Film Series will be held in room 356.
Sunday, November 15th
Brownfields, Community Involvement, and Smart Growth
1:15pm - 1:45pm
In this documentary, experts discuss the importance of community involvement in brownfields reclamation. Renewal projects from Denver, Trenton, Baltimore, Phoenix, and elsewhere illustrate how sustainable redevelopment depends on sharing information, balancing minority and majority interests, and long-term planning.
The New Metropolis
2:00pm - 3:00pm
America's "first" suburbs, those suburban communities built next to America's urban centers, were once the birthplace of the American Dream. Sixty years later, many of these original suburbs are facing a crisis: a dwindling tax base, population and business loss, decaying infrastructure, increased racial tensions and white flight. Lacking policies to help reverse these trends, many towns are looking for strategies for revitalization.
Poisoned Waters
3:30pm - 5:15pm
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem. Through interviews with scientists, environmental activists, corporate executives and average citizens impacted by the burgeoning pollution problem, Smith reveals startling new evidence that today's growing environmental threat comes not from the giant industrial polluters of old, but from chemicals in consumers' face creams, deodorants, prescription medicines and household cleaners that find their way into sewers, storm drains, and eventually into America's waterways and drinking water.
Monday, November 16th
Home: The American Dream, The American Pastime, and Urban Renewal in York, PA
10:45am - noon
This film follows York's efforts to build a minor-league baseball stadium in a downtown neighorhood in hopes of economic revitalization. "There's this question . . . is urban redevelopment good? Certainly," said Film Maker Brian Plow in the York Daily Record. "But there are costs associated with it. When do the costs become too steep?" The film challenges the notion that redevelopment is good but also reinforces the idea that it is necessary in a community like York. The film also examines urban poverty, community development needs, eminent domain, and displacement.
Double-header - Swim for the River & Learning to Love the Mousam
1:00pm - 2:15pm
Filmmaker Chris Swain braved whitewater, sewage, snapping turtles, hydroelectric dams, homeland security patrols, factory outfalls, and PCB contamination to become the first person to swim the entire length of the Hudson River from the Adirondack Mountains to New York City. In the film Swim for the River, Swain’s experience links together stories of the river, which begins in wilderness and ends in one of the nation’s densest population centers. The film brings together the stories of citizens who are fighting to protect the Hudson against a range of threats from industry, inept regulatory agencies, and public indifference. Learning to Love the Mousam is a short film about the threats to the Mousam River in Maine.
Sprawling from Grace: The Consequences of Suburbanization
3:15 - 4:45
Over the years, Americans have spread across the country in waves of movement from cities to suburbia. This thought-provoking documentary explores the negative aspects of this situation, especially the dependence on automobiles and foreign oil. A host of prominent figures—including former President Bill Clinton and former Governor Michael Dukakis—discuss innovative ways to build cities and our need for new energy strategies.
Tuesday, November 17th
Arlington's Smart Growth Journey
10:45am - 11:45am
This documentary film traces the dramatic history of the past half-century of growth and development in Arlington, Virginia. This tale of political wheeling and dealing, visionary planning, missteps, and challenges is a glimpse into the recent history of Arlington, as told by many who were there.
Double-Header - Build Green & Main Street: More than a Home
2:45pm - 4:00pm
David Suzuki discusses Canada's best examples of green building. Build Green examines processes such as LEED certification, retrofitting, and the use of rammed earth. Then, the film Main Street: More than a Home follows the story of the construction of one of Habitat for Humanity's first LEED Certified homes, in Tennessee.
Wednesday, November 18th
Double-Header - Nourishing the Kids of Katrina: The Edible Schoolyard & Katrina 2005: Mississippi Gulf Coast
9:15am - 11:30am
Nourishing the Kids of Katrina tells how creating an organic garden at a low-income charter school in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has positively impacted both students and the community. Then, Katrina 2005 presents news coverage from the region during the hurricane as well as footage from other areas of the Gulf Coast.