Wilkinson Public Library: Green film series

18 Apr Wilkinson Public Library: Green film series

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with Joanna Kanow]

On April 20, 6 p.m., Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library in collaboration with The New Community Coalition and Joanna and Daniel Kanow’s EcoSpaces continues its Green Film Series with "Addicted to Plastic: The Rise and Demise of a Modern Miracle." The program opens with a trailer of “Bag It,” another look at the shrink-wrapped world we live in, a work-in-progress by local Suzan Beraza.

From styrofoam cups and boxes to tote take-out to artificial organs and the credit cards we use to buy them (often referred to simply as "plastic"), the demand for plastic in our culture is so great, my tortoise-framed sunglasses could become an endangered species. For better and for worse, no invention in the past century has had more influence than these synthetics, affecting nearly every ecosystem and invading nearly every nook and corner of human society, including our dinner table, where the toxic chemical compounds on land and in our oceans travel up the food chain and wind up in our food.

In 85 minutes, the documentary details plastic's path over the last 100 years and provides expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity, and biodegradability. Not just another eco-horror film, however, “Addicted” also offers hope in many forms, such as plant-based renewable bioplastics.

In the mid-1990s, Joanna Measer Kanow and husband Daniel were teaching in a one-room, off-the-grid schoolhouse powered by solar and hydropower in the little town of Whale Gulch, California, while living in a solar-powered cabin overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The couple were green crusaders long before “green” became fashionable.

In August 2007, the Kanows opened EcoSpaces, a green building design and supply showroom selling everything from roofing tiles made from recycled rubber to look exactly like slate or shingle to insulation made from recycled denim from blue jeans and so much more. Now EcoSpaces has also morphed into a nexus for change in the region, working with the TNCC to help educate our community about ways to live sustainably by offering workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and films such as “Addicted.”

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to Joanna speak about her business, this film and other EcoSpaces events and projects. (Also check out TNCC’s website for ways to recycle plastic, especially yogurt containers.)