The One Earth Film Festival is thrilled to recognize the hard work of our 90 film reviewers who dedicated countless hours to reviewing a staggering number of films for the 2023 festival. These dedicated individuals produced over 1000 film valuations and their tireless efforts have helped us curate an exceptional lineup of films for this year’s festival season.
Here’s a legislative win that folks in Illinois and beyond can learn from, get excited about, and perhaps even replicate. On Nov. 8, 2022, Cook County Illinois voters sparked a major win for their Forest Preserves, approving an additional $40 million in annual funding for these vital public lands. This money will be used to manage and restore the 70,000 acres of prairies, forests, wetlands, rivers and streams; create local jobs; and improve the environment by providing clean air, water, and habitat for people and wildlife.
It is little wonder that Herman Daly’s recent death, on October 28, 2022, passed with little fanfare from the nation’s mass media, for he was a pioneer of “ecological economics” with principles that counter the mainstream economic paradigm of constant growth.
Daly was a promoter of the idea of a “steady-state economy,” which explained that infinite growth is not possible in a world of finite resources. Starting with his textbooks written in the 1970s, Daly taught that rather than being one of several factors in our economies (along with labor and capital), the natural world, with its complex systems and vast resources, is actually the foundation upon which our human-developed systems rest. And therefore, economics must be governed by the laws of nature and the biophysical limits of natural systems such as the climate system, biodiversity principles, and others.
Join One Earth in offering a warm welcome to our new teammates. They are jumping in with both feet, ready to make our 2023 fest season the best one ever. They’ll be writing our communications, planning our programs and engaging donors and members. Join our social media accounts and engage with them there.
Historecycle has emerged from fall hibernation with renewed energy, like an aging building newly retrofitted with LED lights. For the past several months, we’ve been Sherlock Holmes-ing a few “mystery” structures we’ve discovered, to dig into their murky past. And the rigorous pursuit of historical data has been like a shot in the arm.
Take, for example, the former B. & B. Shoe Company factory, which dates to at least the 1920s. Located in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, B. & B.’s workers used sewing machines to turn out footwear by the hundreds, starting most likely in the 1940s. By 1992 the three-story brick building had been sold to the current owners and reopened as the Catherine Cook School.
Representatives from nearly 200 countries will attend the “Conference of the Parties,” or COP27, November 6-18, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. This is the 27th time since 1992 that world nations have gathered to collaborate on global action to fight climate change. Our window for action is shrinking. We really need everyone—elected leaders, corporations, community organizations and individuals—to commit to doing the most we can, as quickly as we can. COP27 is an important symbol of that collaboration.
Sharm El-Sheikh is a beautiful resort town in a country with a dubious grasp on human rights, a fitting mix of hope and despair. Can something productive come out of this conference?
