At the documentary's Portland premiere screening at The Hollywood Theater, the line stretched for blocks with folks eager to celebrate Portland's legendary "Passion For Sustainability."
"Global warming is 'unequivocal' and will bring 'irreversible changes' without immediate action, the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said last week in its much-anticipated final report. Even if carbon emissions could be stopped cold, the IPCC said, greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere would warm the planet by more than 3.5 degrees, imperiling millions of people and putting 30 percent of all plant and animal species at risk of extinction. If emissions continued to rise after 2015, much of the developing world would be ravaged by hunger and disease, and up to 70 percent of all species would go extinct. 'What we will do in the next two, three years will determine our future,' said IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri." - THE WEEK, November 30, 2007
It is now generally accepted fact that planet Earth faces catastrophic consequences if emissions of greenhouse gasses are not reduced within the next several years. This frightening scenario has been the prime motivator behind the making of "A Passion For Sustainability." In the program, Dennis Wilde, Principal of Gerding-Edlen Development, the builder of the largest urban development in the United States, tells us... "we've got to do something fast, and I'm not talking twenty or thirty years. I'm talking ten years, max!" And so, for us, the producers of "A Passion For Sustainability," the mission of our hour long documentary has been to communicate the ways in which a number of innovative individuals, businesses and utilities in Portland, Oregon are presently following a set of scientific principles called The Natural Step; principles which offer an elegant approach to addressing the unsustainable practices which have led us to the global climate crisis we face today.
THE STORY IS HOW 14 OREGON BUSINESS LEADERS ARE APPLYING NATURAL STEP PRINCIPLES.
Traditionally, it has been the Government's role to insure public health and safety. And what does climate change threaten if not the health and safety of not only Americans, but of everyone on the Planet? These were the important questions that provided the impetus for making "A Passion For Sustainability." Eric Stacey, writer-producer-director of "A Passion For Sustainability," and Jane Turville, the program's co-producer, met in late summer of 2006, introduced by Regina Hauser, Director of the Oregon Natural Step Network. Stacey, a documentary filmmaker (the PBS series, "America's Scenic Rail Journeys," and the CINE Golden Eagle Award winning documentary, "The Waldorf Promise,") and Turville, Director of Development for the NorthWest Earth Institute (and two independent short films to her credit) began collaborating - originally to make a short, celebration video for The Oregon Natural Step's 10th Anniversary. But as Stacey became more familiar with the Natural Step principles guiding the companies they were to profile, it became apparent that there was a larger, more important story which could only begin to be told in an hour documentary. Thus, the filmmakers set out to make two programs: a short, 10 minute video for ORTNS and a longer, hour documentary for PBS member stations.
The first segment Stacey and Turville set out to film was the Sokol-Blosser Winery in the early Fall of 2006. Susan Sokol-Blosser is not only the viticulturist at Solkol-Blosser, she also assists in many of the training workshops provided by The Natural Step. At the winery, Susan provided a brief but all encompassing picture of how following Natural Step principles helps her address global warming by guiding her decision making in every aspect of the Sokol-Blosser operation. From the number of trips crews take through the vineyards and the types of machinery used, to incorporating BioDynamic composting techniques and to the recycling of plastics and stakes, every step was evidence of a profound respect for natural systems.
A week later, Stacey and Turville visited Dennis Wilde, a Principal with Gerding-Edlen Development. The Gerding-Edlen South Waterfront Blocks project is currently the largest urban development project in the United States, with housing for over 3,000 residents, a new Oregon Health Sciences University Center and infrastructure representing thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars of tax revenue for the City of Portland. Mr. Wilde spoke passionately about the immediate need to address global warming and of how every building Gerding-Edlen builds must create more energy than it uses in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The South Waterfront Blocks urban plan encourages "green thinking" in every aspect, from simple choices like providing new residents with natural cleaning products to multi-million dollar concepts such as extending streetcar service from the development into downtown Portland.
The passion for sustainability of Susan Sokol-Blosser and of Dennis Wilde convinced Stacey that the hour documentary promised to be a program which could inspire many others across the country, and perhaps around the world, to look into the guiding principles of The Natural Step. In the Spring of 2007, when Jane Turville and her architect husband, David, returned from vacation in Italy, Stacey and Turville set out again to shoot the remaining twelve segments which had been identified earlier by Stacey, Turville and Regina Hauser. Having made a number of programs over a period of ten years, Stacey owned all the equipment the production would require, including an edit suite. From the beginning, Stacey decided to devote as much of his time and resources as the project would require. Turville was freed from her regular responsibilities at NW Earth Institute one day each week to assist. Thus, the filmmaking team of Stacey and Turville visited a new business every Friday from April thru August shooting the stories that would become "A Passion For Sustainability." During the rest of the week, Stacey spent full time editing and preparing for the following week's shoot.
With each of the interviews that followed, Stacey was impressed again and again with the passion for sustainability of the Natural Step members they filmed. It was as if Portland, Oregon was populated entirely by people who lived, breathed and ate sustainability. Sustainability was discussed everywhere. All the local newspapers featured articles on various aspects of sustainability. There were phone directories for sustainable businesses. A self-guided sustainability landmark walking tour was offered on the Portland city web site, and city government guides development through its Office of Sustainable Development (the Director, Susan Anderson is a Natural Step board member). And then, of course, there were the bicycles. People ride bikes all over the city, rain or shine. They ride them from home to the light rail (MAX) and then to work.
The reasons Portland, Oregon is so focused on sustainability are no doubt as diverse as its population. And it is obvious from the current Presidential debates that climate change is on the minds of people across the country. But from the Bali climate summit to the US Senate, it is clear that public desire for action on climate change is way out in front of the government's ability to respond. Could the Portland experience of nurturing sustainable business translate to the rest of the country? Certainly the businesses represented in "A Passion For Sustainability" are as varied as those of any other city in the country, and the principles of The Natural Step are of a universal nature that can be applied to any business or community activity anywhere in the world. There is no question that the most prolific carbon polluters, the auto makers and electric utilities, could reduce their carbon footprint. The real question is how the change will come about? If auto makers and electric utilities followed the principles of The Natural Step, solutions might be found. In 1990, for example, the Eugene Oregon Water and Electric Board, the largest public utility in Oregon, was cited for non-compliant air emissions from its steam generation plant. The organization created an environmental manager position and shifted from compliance to prevention, self-regulation and avoidance of regulatory costs. Ten years later, the utilities' conservation and efficiency improvements provided the equivalent of about 10 percent of Eugene's power needs. Given this kind of success, why shouldn't other utilities benefit from this Natural Step member's experience. Though not profiled in "A Passion For Sustainability," another example is Toyota, which has begun incorporating Natural Step principles in both its US plants and its plants in Japan.
From the example of the businesses of "A Passion For Sustainability" the filmmakers encourage viewers all across the US to further explore the options provided by The Natural Step Network to any and all on the path to sustainability, to learn what others have already achieved via the case studies presented on the Oregon Natural Step Network's web site, and become a part of the solution to climate change and global warming.
At the Oleson Woods low-income housing development, producer/director Eric Stacey watches as his wife, Hiroko, prepares a video appearance release for one of the Oleson Woods residents. The Oleson Woods project, designed by Carleton-Hart Architecture, was the last story to be shot for "A Passion for Sustainability," almost a year to the day from shooting the first segment. The design of the Oleson-Woods project not only includes energy efficient appliances and locally-sourced, sustainable materials, but also incorporates features which give residents an important feeling of belonging to a community of neighbors as well as providing after school programs for residents' children.
Another important contributor to the project is jazz pianist and composer, TOM GRANT, master instrumentalist, talented singer and natural entertainer
volunteered to lend his talents to the production with an original score. Tom nimbly walks the line between jazz tradition and modern pop. This
soft-spoken Oregon native's inspired songwriting produces propulsive R&B
grooves, Infectious melodic hooks, and stylish ballads with equal ease. He
plays jazz piano with the harmonic sophistication and deep sense of swing
that comes from more than three decades on the bandstand. Tom's recordings have consistently landed at the top of the Smooth Jazz
charts, a genre of music Tom helped pioneer in the mid-80s. Tom is without question one of the Pacific Northwest's most renowned musical artists. You are invited to become more familiar with Tom's work by visiting his web site.