The Gibsons United Green Team pulled off a successful inaugural Environmental Film Festival. On Friday, Oct. 3, viewers packed the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse to watch the amazing movie FLOW: For the Love of Water, just released a few weeks ago. It was introduced by Dan Bouman, and follow-up discussion, facilitated by Jay Richlin of the David Suzuki Foundation, drew many comments and suggestions about how to protect drinking water on the Coast.
The second movie, A Crude Awakening, shown on Saturday morning at Gibsons United Church, was well attended. Discussion centred around the need to encourage governments to pass legislation encouraging development of alternative energy sources. A tasty and nutritious lunch featuring locally grown produce was well received by over 50 diners. Mike Clarke of Fiddlehead Farmers' Market was on hand to talk about the importance of eating locally and found that this event was a terrific way to build "social capital," as people got together to connect and share ideas.
Sharing ideas was the order of the day as the many environmental displays on hand were presented and discussed by the crowd. Johan Stroman talked about his car, which runs on waste veggie oil, and then the audience was invited to view it. He also discussed alternative energy forms and raffled off a small solar powered car.
There was a short animated film, The Story of Stuff, followed by the movie Oil + Water, an adventurous petroleum-free road trip including lots of white water kayaking, which were also well-attended. The organizers were pleased with the success of their event.
