Here are a few suggestions of events to go to if you feel like getting out and about:

• Earth Day at J. Black’s from 5-9pm. J. Black’s started recycling at the beginning of 2010 and have since cut their waste amount in half.  Black’s will be featuring Mojitos and celebrating with lots of prizes and giveaways (first 50 guests receive a VIP gift bag).
• Earth Day at the Belmont from 6-10 featuring eco-friendly cocktails and reusable gift bags filled with green goodies.
• Free showing of Nourish: Food + Community at Whole Foods South Lamar at 7:00.

And here are a few links with some fun/helpful tidbits about Earth Day:

• What not to do on Earth Day
• Check out these hilarious Earth Day e-cards from someecards. We here at GAD strive to accomplish this one
• Top 5 household tips for Earth Day
• The Austin Chronicle has an interesting article about the first Earth Day, including how Austin celebrated 40 years ago.

This movie came up on my Netflix queue recently, and I found it to be an inspiring and honest film. It’s a story of a family living in New York that attempts to live without any impact on the environment for an entire year. Colin Beavan, the husband/father/creator of the no impact idea, is the driving force behind this experiment, largely to see what kinds of green changes can be done by an average family. It’s interesting to see the contrast between his earnestness and his wife’s reluctance and skepticism about the project, which I think is pretty representative of the way people feel in general. Many people want to make changes to be greener but aren’t always willing to make the sacrifices to accomplish those changes. Watching this film, you realize that it isn’t necessarily super easy to go this green–no lights, no refrigerator, no cars, no buying food at a supermarket, no TV, no washer/dryer, etc…sounds pretty difficult! But you start to realize that it is possible! What really made an impact on me (ha!) was that the family found they had become healthier and closer with each other, on top of more environmentally responsible. I found the washing-clothes-in-the-bathtub scene especially touching.  Also, it was inspiring and informational to see all the ways you can try to reduce your impact, even if you’re not going to the no impact extreme. I would definitely recommend this movie, and you can watch it for free tonight! Check out the preview below:

I recently watched Food Inc. after hearing about it from Carsi.  Specifically she mentioned that the movie portrayed chickens who had been so genetically modified they couldn’t stand upright, which sounded so crazy I wanted to see it for myself.  The movie did show that, as well as chickens closely clustered together in a filthy pen – and this was in the facilities where the chickens had more fresh air via mesh screens, not the completely closed-up facilities where the movie says most chickens are raised.  I enjoyed the movie and would recommend seeing it, but I think I had higher expectations for it because everyone was raving about it.  It did a very good job of noting that most food production is controlled by a handful of companies.  It also did a very good job pointing out how many items have corn by-products in them, and seeing the movie has made me more likely to analyze food labels to discern what’s really in the processed foods I eat.

I think my biggest problem with the movie was the number of issues it tried to tackle in a short time span.  It was like 5 documentaries rolled into 1, and could have done a more complete job of explaining each issue if it had been split up.  For example, the movie talked a lot about why corn fed diets are not as good as all grass diets for cows, and then at the end calls on viewers to buy organic.  But for one of the final conclusions of the movie to be “buy organic,” there could have been more detail about the chemicals these companies use on our food and the byproducts that remain on our food when we take it home from the grocery store – to me those reasons are more compelling to eating organic.  But for an introduction to the agricultural business, the movie did a very good job, and it’s influenced a lot of people.  If you haven’t seen it yet, what better way to enjoy it than at the Alamo for free – check it out!

- Food, Inc., April 19, 7:00pm at Alamo Village on Anderson Lane

- No Impact Man, April 21, 7:00pm at the Whole Foods Lamar Plaza

- Nourish: Food + Community, April 22, 7:00pm at the Whole Foods Lamar Plaza