In May and June I am participating in a flurry of screenings, talks and fundraisers in different parts of Ontario. On my “to visit” list are the Southampton/Port Elgin area, Barrie, Ottawa (many times and in many parts of the city), and something is brewing for Toronto in late June. Then in mid-July I am off to my favourite “art and environment” festival in the Perth area. Details for all of these activities can be seen on the Events page.

Finally, catch a first look at the sharp new trailer we have produced for Powerful: Energy for Everyone, by clicking here.

You DO have the power to live well on renewable energy alone!

David

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SPRING INTO ACTION – VISIONS OF LIVING LIGHTLY
A VIDEO CONTEST AND EVENT

Sponsored by Ecology Ottawa and David Chernushenko’s Living Lightly Project

“Maybe it’s time to stop scaring each other and start inspiring each other instead!”
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Overview

Making the shift to a more sustainable economy and lifestyle will be challenging. But many people are on board and are already forging a path towards living more lightly and building strong and vibrant communities. We are looking for short videos that illustrate some of the ways we can all live more lightly and some of the people and organizations that are doing it already.

Tell us your inspiring story or show us solutions that you have uncovered.

Selected video entries will be shown as part of the Spring Into Action – Visions
of Living Lightly Video Festival on April 4, 2009, from 1 to 4 pm at the Library and Archives Canada Theatre, 395 Wellington St.,
Ottawa, ON.
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Contest Rules

1. Length: All videos will be between 2 and 5 minutes in length, including credits.
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2. Format: Contest entries will be on DVD and authored to be played on a DVD player or computer (2 labeled copies, with the title, contact name and running time)
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3. Language: Entries will be in either French or English, or both.
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4. Categories: (i) Under 25 years of age; (ii) 25 years and older [note: changed from 21 years]
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5. Content: Entries may be either documentary or dramatic. What matters is that they illustrate ways of living more lightly — that is, living with a lighter impact on the planet but with a positive, solutions-oriented outlook. We want to see inspiring stories, practical solutions, fun and fulfilling approaches to big tasks or small. We do not want to see stories about problems. We know all that. What can we do about the problems/challenges? Any subject matter related to Living Lightly is appropriate:
   1. Saving Resources (water, energy, materials)
   2. Growing or serving food
   3. Transportation
   4. Reduce, re-use, recycle
   5. Building and rebuilding vibrant communities
   6. Being the change you wish to see – walking your talk.
   7. Art, music and theatre with a message of living lightly
   8. You name it – if in doubt, send us a message and test your idea..
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6. Permissions: All entries must be accompanied by a signed entry form confirming that you have the permission of all identifiable subjects and music rights holders. All identifiable individuals in your film should sign a Release Form. You can download a standard model release form HERE.
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7. Local content:
   1. Films must have been shot within the cities of Ottawa and/or Gatineau.
   2. Contestants must live within the City of Ottawa or Gatineau
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Deadline

Entries must arrive at the address below by March 18, 2009. They must be accompanied by a completed entry form. Click HERE to download.
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Judges

Films will be judged by active members of the Ottawa film/video and environmental community.

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Prizes

Prizes will be awarded to the best films in both the Under-25 and 25-plus age categories. Additional prizes may be awarded to honorable mention recipients in each category.

An Audience Choice Award will also be given based on audience voting at the Festival.
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Contacts

For more information about the contest, contact:

Erin Ellis, Ecology Ottawa, 613-316-7824 or erinlouiseellis@gmail.com

David Chernushenko, The Living Lightly Project, 613-730-0870 or david@livinglightly.ca

Send video entries on DVD to:
David Chernushenko
99 Seneca St.
Ottawa, ON  K1S 4X8

The inauguration of President Barack Obama has shown us two things: First, that the desire for positive change can manifest itself as an unstoppable force of hope and optimism. Second, that millions of ordinary people coming together to pool their energy and resources can ultimately overpower a legion of vested interests who are working to protect the status quo from which they benefit, and they can overcome a mass of ordinary people who have simply given up hope and given away their power.

On a smaller, personal scale, the past year has shown me that those of us who dream of living lightly and prospering in a greener, more sustainable world are becoming a similar unstoppable force. Every time I have shown my film or spoken to a group — be it a gym full of schoolchildren, a room full of corporate executives, a church congregation or a gathering of the eco-converted like me — I have seen peoples’ eyes light up and their passion fire up when presented with real, practical, inspiring alternatives to some of our society’s socially, economically and environmentally harmful practices.

People around the world are waking up and standing up, demanding better and, most importantly, offering their energy and resources to build something better, lighter and more lasting. My own little piece of proof: more than 50 groups have now been to public screenings of my first film Be the Change. Their feedback has been incredibly positive. More than 700 people have ordered copies of the DVD for themselves, as gifts, and to organize their own screenings. They are thanking me for bringing to them signs of hope. They are also expressing gratitude for not letting them off the hook; for making it clear that real, positive change only happens when every one of us does something – when words come with action.

I was recently invited to bring Be the Change to a film festival in Los Angeles. I accepted! More than that, I am now working hard to set up a Living Lightly West Coast Tour that will take me from Los Angeles to Vancouver, showing my film, speaking and doing more filming and interviewing for my second film (see below).

I want to keep bringing Be the Change to people, because it feels good and it feels right. I want to keep making films that inspire and empower. I want to make long films, short videos, podcasts, video blogs, whatever I can do to share solutions, build energy and catalyze action. And I want you to join me on this exciting journey! Indeed, I need you to join me!

Today, I launch my campaign to raise the $80,000 needed to finance the next phase of my Living Lightly Project. Like President Obama, I want to raise the required money not through a small number of big donors to whom I will be forever beholden, nor through government grants requiring me to do more report writing than filmmaking. No, I want to fund my Films for Change campaign one small donation at a time. I want 1,000 donations of $80, or 2,000 donations of $40. Of course, I won’t say no to larger donations – just keep it under a million, okay? If you believe it is essential to have passionate, independent voices telling honest, unvarnished stories, I ask you to step up, join in and become a committed supporter of Films for Change through the Living Lightly Producers Circle.

When you join the Producers Circle, you won’t get a sticker, a pen or a certificate. Instead, you will get an experience and join a community. In the short term, you will get a chance to participate in the making of my next big film, and what could be more appropriate? It’s called (for now at least) Powerful.

Powerful: Energy Security for Everyone, is a film about energy and power. Powerful will showcase the remarkable achievements and inspiring examples of people and communities promoting clean energy, renewable energy, wise use of energy, and getting empowered and re-energized in the process. It is about taking back, or perhaps discovering for the first time, the power to do more and to be more and to work within a community to accomplish more together. You can watch the trailer by CLICKING HERE.

The viewer will join me as I explore how fossil fuels and nuclear have been granted an undeserved second life by our governments – with public money – and yet renewable energy and conservation continue to receive crumbs. I am sure we can do better. I am sure we have the power to achieve a cleaner, healthier, high-employment future, and I am sure the pursuit of this future will re-energize us as individuals, strengthen our communities and revitalize politics for the common good.

I have gone a long way on a shoestring, with most of what I need already filmed, but now I need your help to complete Powerful by June. Contributions are already streaming in, but so are the bills for filming, editing, equipment, legal clearances, etc. You can help me stay ahead and keep Powerful moving towards a late-spring release by CLICKING HERE now.

But contributing money is not where your involvement ends. No way. You’ll have fun actually watching the film being made, and even more fun giving your feedback on “chapters” of the film as they get made, via the website. Members of the Producers Circle will receive a brief email notifying them whenever a new segment is ready for your viewing and comments. If you are near Ottawa, you will even be invited to a viewing of a rough cut, and possibly a focus group screening or two. I want you to get as much as possible out of your contribution.

By signing on now to be a supporter, I will regularly inform you of progress, I will send you links to some rough cuts and clips taken from the evolving film, and I will offer you a chance to offer comments and even attend a focus group session. I want to involve supporters as much as possible in the process of making the film.

Please join me in making Films for Change, today.

David Chernushenko

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jay Sinha and Chantal Plamondon launched their business LifeWithoutPlastic.com/vivresansplastique.com to provide people with healthier alternatives to common plastic products such as baby bottles and sports bottles. David Chernushenko and the Living Lightly team visit Jay and Chantal at their boutique in Wakefield, Quebec.

When it comes to pursuing a better quality of life on a healthier planet, most Canadians are ready to act. Or nearly ready — and there lies the challenge. Most of us want to take action, but we are waiting for someone to lead us. The problem is we are looking in the wrong places.

A national study conducted in 2006, corroborated by recent polls, found that over 80 percent of us believe we need to live more sustainably — to consume resources less voraciously, to waste less and pollute less, and to protect and rebuild what remains of our ecosystem – our life-support system. Four out of five of your neighbors and mine understand this and want to make it a national priority.

 But, and this is a really big but, only 15 percent are actively working to adopt sustainable lifestyles, while another 67 percent, though receptive, is still only dabbling,

 Excuses are varied but there is a common theme: leadership. We want somebody else to go first, we want somebody to show us how, we want to be inspired and reassured. We want a leader with vision and passion to rally behind, to be our team coach or captain, but we are not finding it.

 It may surprise you to hear that we do have leaders, thousands of them. Millions even! Remember the 15 percent figure? Over a million Canadian adults are sustainable living leaders!

 So where are they? Don’t look now, but there is one sitting next to you. Several just cycled past your door. A whole bunch are waiting for you, or with you, at the bus stop.

 Millions of citizens are working each day to make their way of living more sustainable. They are making decisions, big and small, with some thought going to the “right thing” to do. They haven’t achieved perfection. But that’s just fine. They are on the path to living more lightly. And they are enjoying it. Enjoying the rewards of the pursuit and not just the results. 

So why don’t we notice these leaders? Because only a few of them look like leaders, in the way we might expect: prominent, well-dressed, white teeth. The rest are just doing their thing. No preaching. No press conferences. No bumper stickers.

 These are the people we might dismiss as bit players on the big stage. Which is unfortunate, and it has to change if we are to leap forward to a better future for all. To an attractive life of cleaner air, more jobs that are safer and more fulfilling, efficient mobility, increased energy autonomy, tastier and healthier food, and safer, more vibrant neighbourhoods.

 Speaking of neighbourhoods, that’s where the leadership search starts. At least mine did when I set out to make a film about the people in our midst who are working to live more lightly, and about the challenges and rewards that go with it. 

 Just around the corner there is Randi Cherry and Robert D’Aoust. For decades they have been exploring and practicing dozens of new ideas, and old ones, with a new twist. Forming an organic food buying co-op before organic was hip, planting urban gardens, saving heritage seeds, teaching kids about composting, upgrading the energy efficiency of old houses, and much more.

 A little north lives Denis Bouillon, a resident of the Terra Firma Co-Housing Community and an avid cyclist, in all weather. His neighbours cite him as an example of how we can be inspired by the action and determination of others. Denis cycles in blizzards because he likes it. If that makes him a useful role model, it’s icing on the cake.

 Head west to meet Franklin Holtforster, a businessman with a mission. The construction industry consumes vast amounts of resources, and inefficient buildings are becoming increasingly expensive to operate. So Franklin is reshaping his company, MHPM Project Managers, to be at the “green building” forefront. His staff finds this approach exciting and rewarding, and many clients are seeing it as the way of the future.

 There are many more stories to tell, because there som many leaders in our city. In every city. And town, and village.

 Heroes and leaders are everywhere. But they are easier to identify when you reevaluate what makes a leader. Is it the richest or most powerful? Or is it somebody like Rebecca Aird, who teams up with neighbours to create a community garden on idle land, and to pursue a group purchase of solar domestic water heaters?

 Who on your block is building community bonds, planting trees, starting a car-sharing club, offering insulation tips? If you use those criteria, you’ll find your leaders. Your local heroes.

 But what about the corporations and the politicians?, Shouldn’t they be leading? Sure, elected officials should be offering vision and progressive policy direction, and a few are. CEOs should be demonstrating corporate social responsibility while providing safe, healthy, efficient products. A few are.

 But, we can really only expect strong leadership from the top, if we consistently demand it. If we are ready and willing to use the power of our votes and our wallets.

 It is too easy to expect somebody else to do the work for us, to pass laws that make us behave with common sense, to offer only green products, at any price. But that’s not the way the world works.

 Real change happens because people demand it and support it.

 So how will the big shift happen? When will the ranks of the sustainability “activists” leap from 15 percent to 82, and higher?

 It will happen when we start looking for leadership in the right places: Next door, and in the mirror. Yes the mirror.

 Ultimately real and lasting change will happen when we all take on the job of being a leader, of leading ourselves and, for some of us, of inspiring – quietly or loudly – the people with whom we interact.

 Only we can choose to insulate our homes, to replace a car journey with a stroll, to buy a little more local produce, to finally put in those efficient bulbs and water-saving devices, to not buy something frivolous. Nobody decides for us.  In this way we can vote every day.

 The tree-hugging minority has evolved into a green-loving majority, and it is time to embrace our power and use it wisely, but quickly.  It is time to act on what we feel is right. To share what we are learning. To step up and take a leadership role, alongside our community and business leaders. And to be ready if necessary, to step out in front of them.

 If not now, when? If not me, who?

 David Chernushenko