Urban and Suburban Community Gardens - The Nature of Cities , Beyond Organic and Homegrown Revolution

When: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 7pm

Credits

The Nature of Cities
Directed by Chuck Davis, MD, MFA & Tim Beatley, Ph.D. (English, 60m)
Offical website

Beyond Organic
Produced by Jon de Graaf and narrated by Meryl Streep (English, 31m)
Official website

Homegrown Revolution
Produced by the Derves family (English, 16 m)
Official website

We often associate environmentalism with the effort to protect pristine wilderness. These three documentaries show that it can be just as much in our own backyards, in modern cities and suburbs. Eckerd College Professor of Environmental History Kent Curtis will be here to introduce the films and to discuss possibilities for environmental change within our own city.

The Nature of Cities
The Nature of Cities - explores both the nature in are own backyards- Austin and San Diego and the possibilities in projects of cities of the future- Malmo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Freiburg, Amsterdam and Paris. The film features Sustainable Communities professor Timothy Beatley as he tours these places with City Planners, Landscape Architects, Ecologists and Residents.

Beyond Organic
Tells the story of Fairview Gardens, a 12-acre urban organic farm in California, and its long battle to survive and thrive in the face of rapid suburban development.

Homegrown Revolution
In the midst of a densely urban setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over twenty years, the Dervaes family have transformed their home into an urban homestead. They harvest nearly 3 tons of organic food from their 1/10 acre garden while incorporating many back-to-basics practices, as well as solar energy and biodiesel.

Kent Curtis

Prof. Kent "Kip" Curtis teaches in the Environmental Studies program at Eckerd College. His current research focuses on the historic development of environmental values, broadly conceived; he is interested in the full palette of values that people have developed toward nature, not just those that led to environmentalism. He has a deep and abiding interest in place-based education, which he is currently implementing in the form of two local landscape projects,The Organic Garden at Lakewood Elementary and The Zero Carbon Brazil Pepper Removal Project

News & Views

  • March 29, 2010

    The 2010 award recipients have been announced! Click here to see the winners.

  • February 5, 2010

    The 2010 films have been announced. Learn more.