Each year we Earthly inhabitants throw away billions of tons of waste. But there is no “away.” We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it.
On November 13 Awareness Film Night will present the film Trashed in the Edward Milne community school theatre. There will be a MiniFair of sustainable upcycled wares in the theatre foyer, a gift exchange, a door prize and a post-screening discussion with Laura Byrne and Mayor Wendal Milne from the District of Sooke.
The 2013 feature documentary Trashed, produced and directed by British filmmaker Candida Brady and selected to receive a Special Screening at the Cannes Film Festival, follows Jeremy Irons as he sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem.
From China to Indonesia to the Pacific Ocean to Icelandic incinerators, this is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons and us from skepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope. At the end of the film he goes in search of solutions.
From individuals who have changed their lives and produce almost no waste to increasing anti-waste legislation, to an entire city which is now virtually waste-free, he discovers that change is not only essential, but happening.
“We’ve made this movie because there are so many people who feel strongly the urgent need for the problem of ‘waste’ and ‘sustainability’ to be addressed... this is where movies can play such an important role, educating society and bringing ‘difficult’ subjects to the broadest possible audience,” said Irons.
Can Sooke implement some waste reduction strategies? The post-screening discussion will be lead by Laura Byrne, Parks and Environmental Services Coordinator, and Mayor Wendal Milne for the District of Sooke. Mayor Milne will be in attendance to field any political questions that may come up re: transfer stations, etc.
Bring your ideas, concerns and questions around ways that we, as a community and as individuals, can lessen our garbage footprint.
The evening will also feature displays and a MiniFair in the theatre foyer. Five local Upcyclers will be showing the creative, unique and beautiful wares they make from found and recycled items, providing a chance for theatregoers to do some early local and sustainable Christmas shopping.
Upcyclers will include: Discarded Couture - Jenn Bell (www.discardedcouture.org), Love In Everything (http://loveineverything.blogspot.ca), The Hollow Tree (find them on Facebook), Dana Sitar, and Earth Elf (www.earthelf.ca).
There will be information on Sooke Street Bank and CRD recycling plus a free gift exchange and a door prize. Bring a “gift” of a useful item that you no longer need for the gift exchange.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., film at 7:00. The evening will conclude at 9:30. Admission is by donation.
For more informfation go to: www.awarenessfilmnight.ca