How Green is Gainesville?

By Henry Taksier

Gearing up for our town’s first environmental film and arts festival

Note: Follow The Fine Print’s complete coverage of the festival, which runs March 19 through March 24, here.

Environmental journalist Trish Riley has lived in Gainesville for three years. The one thing that bothered her was what seemed like a lack of environmental news, especially regarding local issues. In the summer of 2008, while signing books at Goering’s Book Store, she asked the audience, “How green is Gainesville, anyway?”

Everyone in the audience, which included UF students and Gainesville residents, had a story to tell about some kind of grassroots project they were working on, but not a single person knew about anyone else’s project. What the community needed, she realized, was the opportunity to get together and combine their efforts. Without widespread awareness, this could not happen.

“I realized there’s not much environmental news that makes its way through this town,” Riley said.

She started a web site called GoGreenNation.org, a resource for environmental awareness, and a Gainesville chapter of Green Drinks, an international organization for people interested in living sustainable lives. Her goal was to post information on every environmental project in the community so concerned citizens could gather and collaborate.

Green Drinks started meeting on the first Wednesday of every month. At first, there were only three members. By December 2009, there were 60 people at the organization’s first anniversary. This is where she met Shirley Lasseter, the cinema director of the Hippodrome State Theatre.

“I told her we need to have an environmental film fest,” Riley said. “There are so many cool movies that don’t show up in Gainesville, you know, because they’re not Avatar.”

Lasseter had been thinking the same thing. She enjoyed showing documentaries, but they were a hard sell. She and Riley worked together to create something new in order to open people’s eyes.

On March 19, their creation will come to life: The First Annual Gainesville Environmental Film and Arts Festival. It’s a 10-day celebration of the earth and its resources – a chance to learn about the problems the earth is facing and how to build a better future.

“It’s all about positive personal action,” Lasseter said. “We were careful to choose films that give you a way out, that give you an idea, that provide light at the end of the tunnel.”

The festival will be more than just a series of films. Everyone will have the opportunity to speak with local experts in the lobby of the Hippodrome about what can be done in Gainesville to make a difference. There will be long feature films, as well as short ones. Topics include environmental history, overfishing, green building construction, plastic, soil, lawn fertilization, the importance of organic farming and organic foods, herbal medicine, phosphate mining (a huge issue in southwest Florida), water contamination, vegetarianism, and alternative energy, among others.

“We’re planning to have special organic treats and goodies on certain movie nights from local farmers and local restaurants,” Lasseter said.

On March 27, there will be an Eco Fair at the Sun Center with vendors, community organizations, musicians, artists and eco-dancers. The Heart of Florida Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, as part of a Haiti relief project, will demonstrate how to build an “earth bag home,” a sustainable, earthquake-resistant shack. The materials required to build an entire shack can fit neatly into a rain barrel. The goal of the project, known as Barrels of Hope, is to send rain barrels filled with supplies to Haiti, thereby providing people with a means of shelter and water collection.

The Alachua Department of Environmental Protection will sell rain barrels at the fair. A rain barrel is a 55-gallon drum that can be put underneath agutter system. It captures rainwater, which can then be used instead of sprinklers to irrigate a lawn.

“Fresh water is a finite resource, and to pour half of it on the ground, as we do in Florida, is crazy,” Riley said.

On March 28, there will be nature outings with local professional tour guides. Throughout the festival, all of Gainesville’s most prominent galleries (basically, everyone who participates in Art Walk), will showcase art with a focus on ecology and sustainability. Lorelei Esser, a self-taught sustainability artist, and Chris Fillie, a co-manager of the South Main Community Arts Center, have been working together to rally local artists behind the festival.

The gallery at the Hippodrome will feature work by local eco-artists, like John Moran, as well as work by Dom Martino, a renowned Gainesville photographer who recently passed away, leaving a legacy of beautiful pictures that highlight the plants and wildlife of Paine’s Prairie.

The films and art will come together to serve a unified purpose.

“My goal is to spread environmental education to the community,” Riley said. “This festival is an extension of that work for me.”