With the Oscars taking place last Sunday, everyone has movies on the mind. If you're looking for great environmental films like the ones that come out of Sundance and Wild & Scenic Film Festival, look no further than the Environmental Film Festival, which runs March 17-29 in Washington, DC. Now in its 23rd year, it's the nation's largest and longest-running environmental film festival, which will screen more than 160 films on a wide range of environmental issues, and 96 of those films will either be DC, U.S. or world premieres.
The 2015 festival features films from 31 countries. Most screenings include discussions with filmmakers, environmental experts and cultural leaders. In addition to over 60 filmmakers who will present their film, speakers will include environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau, climate expert Joe Romm, actress Kristin Davis and Tommy Wells, the new Director of the District Department of the Environment.
The festival will also feature programs like the one that explores Cuba's vibrant coral reefs and considers the impact that lifting the U.S. embargo will have on the country’s pristine environment with renowned marine biologist Dr. David E. Guggenheim. There will also be panel discussions such as “Filmmakers as Catalysts for Change,” presented with The Climate Reality Project; “Film as a Tool for Peace and Climate Change;” and “OK, I’ve Watched the Film, Now What?” to further explore the topic of impact.
Films are screened at more than 55 venues throughout the Washington metropolitan area, including museums, embassies, libraries, universities and local theaters. More than 80 percent of programs are free.
Opening night will feature the Washington, DC premiere of Bikes Vs. Cars, Project Ice and Charlie's Country. Earlier that day there will be a screening of Pandas: The 3D Journey Home at the National Geographic Society and a screening of a few short films geared towards kids at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. Check out below the trailers for the opening night films with descriptions provided by the film fest.
Bikes Vs. Cars: Traffic gridlock around the world is frustrating people, wasting their time, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. Director Fredrik Gertten (Bananas! and Big Boys Gone Bananas! about Latin American farm workers) investigates the daily global spectacle of traffic and looks for solutions. Following bicycle activists’ crusades to foster meaningful change, the film documents the struggle for bicyclists in a society dominated by cars. From bike activists in Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, fighting for safe bike lanes, to the city of Copenhagen, where forty percent commute daily by bike, Bikes Vs. Cars considers the revolutionary changes that could take place if more cities made room for bicyclists.
Project Ice: Formed by ice, filled by ice, often covered by ice, the Great Lakes encapsulate human exploration, migration, development and where we’re headed. Project: Ice views North America’s fresh water inland ocean through the prism of ice, from the crossroads of history, science and climate change. North America’s five Great Lakes contain a staggering twenty percent of all the fresh water on the planet. Lake Superior by itself holds ten percent of Earth’s fresh water. Our 4K digital cinema cameras explore this shared Canadian-American resource that holds a timely and telling story of geology, human movement, population growth, industrialization, cultural development, recreation and the profound impact people have had on the very environment they cherish and depend upon. Ice sits at the heart of it all. Directed by William Kleinert. Produced by William Kleinert, Leslie Johnson and Kevin Kusina.
Charlie's Country: Living in a remote Aboriginal community in the northern part of Australia, Charlie is a warrior past his prime. As the government increases its stranglehold over the community’s traditional way of life, Charlie becomes lost between two cultures. His new modern life offers him a way to survive but, ultimately, it is one he has no power over. Finally fed up when his gun, his newly crafted spear and his best friend’s jeep are confiscated, Charlie heads into the wild on his own, to live the old way. However, Charlie hasn’t reckoned on where he might end up, nor on how much life has changed since the old days. Directed by Rolf de Heer. Produced by Nils Erik Nielsen, Peter Djigirr and Rolf de Heer. Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
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"Now that we are spending more time at home, we are noticing the large number of delivery vans and lorries driving through cities," said Netherlands environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven, announcing plans to ban all but zero-emission deliveries in 14 cities.
"The agreements we are setting down will ensure that it will be a matter of course that within a few years, supermarket shelves will be stocked, waste will be collected, and packages will arrive on time, yet without any exhaust fumes and CO2 emissions," she added.
She expects 30 cities to announce zero emission urban logistics by this summer. City councils must give four years' notice before imposing bans as part of government plans for emission-free road traffic by 2050. The city bans aim to save 1 megaton of CO2 each year by 2030.
Help to Change
To encourage transport organizations to go carbon-free, the government is offering grants of more than US$5,900 to help businesses buy or lease electric vehicles. There will be additional measures to help small businesses make the change.
The Netherlands claims it is the first country in the world to give its cities the freedom to implement zero-emission zones. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already have "milieuzones" where some types of vehicles are banned.
Tilburg, one of the first wave of cities imposing the Dutch ban, will not allow fossil-fuelled vehicles on streets within its outer ring road and plans to roll out a network of city-wide electric vehicle charging stations before the ban comes into effect in 2025.
"Such initiatives are imperative to improve air quality. The transport of the future must be emission-free, sustainable, and clean," said Tilburg city alderman Oscar Dusschooten.
Europe Takes Action
Research by Renault shows that many other European cities are heading in the same direction as the Netherlands, starting with Low Emission Zones of which Germany's "Umweltzone" were pioneers. More than 100 communes in Italy have introduced "Zonas a traffico limitato."
Madrid's "zona de baja emisión" bans diesel vehicles built before 2006 and petrol vehicles from before 2000 from central areas of the city. Barcelona has similar restrictions and the law will require all towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants to follow suit.
Perhaps the most stringent restrictions apply in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges trucks and large vehicles up to US$137 a day to enter the central area if they do not comply with Euro 6 emissions standards. From October, the ULEZ is being expanded.
Cities are responsible for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global final energy use, according to the green thinktank REN21 - and much of these come from transport. Globally, transport accounts for 24% of world CO2 emissions.
The Rise of Online Shopping
Part of the reason for traffic in urban areas is the increase in delivery vehicles, as online shopping continues to grow. Retailer ecommerce sales are expected to pass $5billion in 2022, according to eMarketer.
The World Economic Forum's report The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem, published in January 2020, estimates that e-commerce will increase the number of delivery vehicles on the roads of the world's 100 largest cities by 36% by 2030.
If all those vehicles burn fossil fuels, the report says emissions will increase by 32%. But switching to all-electric delivery vehicles would cut emissions by 30% from current levels as well as reducing costs by 25%, the report says.
Other solutions explored in the report include introducing goods trams to handle deliveries alongside their passenger-carrying counterparts and increased use of parcel lockers to reduce the number of doorstep deliveries.
Reposted with permission from the World Economic Forum.