franny armstrong and ethical living

I've been getting more and more inspired by the maker of The Age of Stupid Franny Armstrong. Here's a quick interview with her about how making the movie increased her carbon footprint and about her fulfillment in making a difference. I also really like this quote about her, from her Wikipedia page: "When, in a few years' time, Franny Armstrong is being discussed as one of the key documentary film-makers of our generation, you can say you were in there at the start."

I want to get a hold of her previous documentary, McLibel, because I don't know much about the ethics of McDonalds, except that they're probably non-existant. I'm going to try to forego my occasional french fries purchase, but without knowing compelling evidence it's sometimes easy to ignore that nagging feeling.

That's an idea that you're probably already familiar with, but I'm going to remind you about it anyway: positive purchasing. When you are a customer of a company, you sustain them and reinforce what they're doing, whether that's ethical or not. It's our job to find out which companies are aligned with our ethics (or which is the lesser evil, in some cases) and to support them. Looked at another way, it's also moral boycotting.

And it's not just at gift-giving time that we can choose handmade. It's a way of every day living, to try to ensure we're being kind to both the environment and people. It doesn't have to be expensive, often it's cheaper. If I eat before leaving home I won't have had to spend money on drive-through fries. A second-hand piece of furniture costs less than a new piece. If I buy less processed foods, I can afford to buy organic basics. Etc.

What have you bought this week? Could you have made more ethical choices instead?

the age of stupid

Australia & New Zealand Trailer HD from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Just found out about this movie, The Age of Stupid. It's about a man living alone in 2055, after the world has been ravaged by climate change. He looks at footage from 2008 and wonders why the hell we didn't stop it from happening.

The movie is screening all over the place except Australia, it seems. But it's launching online on 21/22 September, so I've happily signed up to the newsletter to be reminded. There's a 50 minute documentary here for the meantime though. I'm excited about it for two reasons. The first is because I'm really interested to see what it's like, and the second is that I'm hoping it will be a big step to people understanding just what is happening to our planet (and working to change it).

I was watching Grey's Anatomy the other day and there was a woman on it with four broken limbs because she'd been bulldozed down from a old growth tree she'd been living in to save it. I was a bit offended by how ridiculous they made the character sound - she'd given the tree a name and talked about it like it was a person, she ranted about greedy corporations, and she'd changed her own name to 'Willow'. I get that it might have made the situation more believable, but couldn't they have represented the level-headed side of environmental activism, rather than implying it's for crazies?

Missing Water: A film about sweatshops and refugees

If you're in Sydney on the 3rd to the 14th of June, you'll be able to make it to the Sydney Film Festival. There's a movie showing called Missing Water, about the realities of sweatshops and refugees. A "boldly cinematic work that structurally and emotionally cries out the very simple question: can you imagine what it was like?"

The actors are all non-professional, either refugees themselves or descendants of refugees, and the subject is very close to the director's heart. I hope the movie makes it to Melbourne, because I'd love to see it.

Screening
9 June & 10 June
Click for more info