YERT Urgently Needs Transcribers!

June 23, 2009 by Mark.

(Below, we’ve updated our original “call for transcribers” post from a few months back to reflect our current status and some big news - out trailer is done, and because of some key positive responses, we’ve got a good chance to send this film to Sundance. To do this, WE STILL NEED NEW TRANSCRIBERS, now more than ever…and now we can PAY you if you sign up for at least 3 tapes per week. Can you help us get to Sundance? Send me a note– mark@yert.com.) Here’s the updated post:

We’re making great progress on our transcription project – tackling a mountain of 500 hours (19,000 clips) from our year-long road trip – but we still need more help! We currently have 40 people signed up to help, but we’re looking for 60 more people to lend a hand — for a total of 100. That’s right. 100. This is a big job – it takes about 4 hours to transcribe one hour of footage, so we’re looking at about 2000 people hours to get this footage prepped for the editing process!

And to get this thing to Sundance, we need to finish by the second week of July!

With 100 people on board, each can contribute a very reasonable 8-10 hours per week and we’ll cross the finish line on time. By logging all of these clips quickly, we can make the Sundance deadline, and get this film out to the general public soon and in a big way – and we all know that our lovely planet doesn’t have days to spare.

Think about it: When was the last time you could powerfully help the planet by sitting down to watch a video?? Now you can. Seize the moment and watch a clip for the planet. For more information about volunteering, please contact Mark Dixon at 415-672-5537, or mark@yert.com. We’ll chat for about 30 minutes and then get you logging ASAP!

Thanks for all of your support! We’re thrilled with every little bit of it and want to be sure you know that this project would not be possible without your continued support, both verbal and financial.

Peace,
Mark & Ben

Posted in Events, Ben, Mark | 1 Comment »

YERT: The Film - Trailer

June 22, 2009 by Mark.

Get ready for YERT: The Film. This is going to be the full road trip story you’ve all been waiting for jam-packed into a powerful feature-length film, and this new film trailer is the first real glimpse into what it’ll be like. We’re shooting for Sundance, so spread the word to all of your friends and family - we want this trailer to travel around the world.

We need your help!

• We need transcribers. (you earn some cash)
• We need donations. (tax deductible)
• We need your friends. (and their friends)

Also, be sure to check out the synopsis below for a less-quick look at what the film is all about.

Please Transcribe (we just might pay you!)

We’ve got a tight deadline for the first possible entry date into Sundance, and boy do we have our work cut out for us! We’ve been working to transcribe our footage for months, but still have quite a ways to go, and we need an army of helpers– yourself included. And if you can sign up for at least three tapes a week we will pay you $10/tape. If you’ve ever wondered how you can help Mother Nature, now is the time– and she’s paying cash. Send an e-mail to mark@yert.com for more information.

Please Donate (get your name in the credits!)

We’ve put over $160,000 of our own money towards the YERT project and creation of this film. Now we’re asking you, our favorite planetary supporters, to put your money where your angst is and pitch in $20, $50, $100, $1000, or more to help us finish this film while the planet still stands a chance. We think we’ll need between $60,000 and $200,000 to finish as quickly and professionally as possible. You can make a tax-deductible donation to YERT by making out a check to “Pittsburgh Filmmakers” and noting “Conduiting Program: YERT” in the memo line of the check. Then mail the check to “Mark Dixon - YERT, 327 Denniston Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15206″. All donors who request it will get their names added to the credits of our feature film. For donations of $100 or more we’ll send you a free, autographed copy of David Korten’s new book: Agenda for a New Economy, or you can choose an autographed copy of his YERT-inspiring book The Great Turning. Many thanks to David Korten for donating the initial batch of autographed books to make this offer possible!

Tell 5 Friends (in 10 seconds)

If you’ve ever wondered when a tiny action on your part can make a huge difference to YERT, now is that time! Please tell five friends about this new trailer by simply sending them this link: http://www.yert.com/film.php . That’s all. It takes 10 seconds. You’ve done it before, or maybe you haven’t, but we hope you’re inspired to do it for us right now. Extra points if you “favorite” us in YouTube. Even more extra points if you Digg, StumbleUpon, or share us on Facebook (use the links to the right of the video player one this Trailer Page).

Synopsis

YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) is a groundbreaking adventure and a celebration of the American spirit in the face of adversity - a thought-provoking, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious, documentary about the courageous and creative individuals, groups, businesses and leaders of this country who are tackling the greatest environmental threats in history. Called into action by the ever increasing threats of planetary catastrophe (from climate change to toxic pollution, from water scarcity to habitat destruction), the three of us - Mark Dixon, Ben Evans, and Julie Dingman Evans - upended our lives, pooled our collective life-savings, and set off on a first-of-its-kind, 50-state, year-long journey of discovery to personalize sustainability and to answer a critical question: ARE WE DOOMED?

On July 4th, 2007, with camera in hand, tongue in cheek, and packing ourselves, our supplies, and our filmmaking equipment like sardines into a used hybrid car, the YERT team set out from the Rachel Carson Homestead in Pittsburgh, PA to document environmental sustainability in every state in the union in a single year. We wanted to find out: What can Americans do to save the planet? What are they already doing? Why aren’t we all doing more? Is it possible that doing right by the planet is more economical, joyful, and fulfilling than not?

But this film isn’t just about documenting change, it’s about living it. We were on a mission to personalize sustainability, and as the National Academy of Sciences pointed out back in 1990, humanity is currently “conducting an uncontrolled experiment with the planet.” So as we traveled and filmed, we decided to BE the experiment - we would never turn on an incandescent light bulb, we would radically reduce our water usage by any means necessary, and, above all, we would attempt to generate zero waste, keeping all of our garbage (and recyclables) with us for the entire year…in our packed-to-the-gills hybrid. To pull this off, all of our garbage each month would have to fit in…a shoebox. We scoured the country, conducting over 800 interviews, amassing nearly 600 hours of footage, and bathing ourselves in America’s unique approach to environmental sustainability - the good, the bad, and the weird. We found everything from a 92 year-old caveman who’s built an entire cave community in the mountains of Idaho to an electrical engineer working to repower America with solar roadways; from outrageous green personalities like Missouri’s Eco-Elvis and Florida’s Earth Man to incredible new businesses like Tom Szaky’s Terracycle in New Jersey that’s making a mint turning garbage into almost anything; from the utter devastation of Mountain Top Removal coal mining in Appalachia to the revolutionary agricultural genius of Wes Jackson and the Land Institute in the Kansas heartland.

Several months in, an unexpected pregnancy instantly and dramatically changed life for all of us (particularly Ben and Julie, who had been told they could never have children) and pushed the team to the brink. Facing the potential derailment of the entire project, the team had to grapple with new challenges and questions - How long could two dudes and a pregnant woman survive in an enclosed space? Would we all be able to finish the trip? Would the needs of the pregnancy wreck the team’s environmental goals and challenges? Were Ben and Mark up for birthing a baby in the Alaskan wilderness? As both Julie and the garbage expanded, would the car actually explode? And as our personal journeys progressed and we dug deeper into the causes of climate change, it became clear that creating a sustainable world is about much more than simply combating global warming. Everything is tied together, and we began to connect those dots. Efficiency, renewable energy, and technological advances are critically important, but we can’t begin to address climate change unless we also address how we grow our food, how we use our water, how we measure our economy, how we approach human health, how we create/protect community, and, ultimately, how we find fulfillment and understand ourselves. Global warming is but the most dire symptom of some very fundamental issues about how our species functions on the planet. As the godfather of green building, Bob Berkebile, reminded us, we must “move beyond the current environmental movement which is about doing less harm. Our responsibility is not to do less bad, but to do something creative, and regenerative, and restorative, and loving.”

It’s taken more than 150 years to get ourselves into this mess, with America leading the way. The science tells us we have 5-10 years to get ourselves out of it. The question is, will America be leading the way or…are we doomed? You’ll just have to watch the movie to find out.

YERTfully Yours,
Ben, Julie, and Mark - Your YERT Team
team@yert.com

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YERT at 10,000 Villages Green Fair on SATURDAY (tomorrow!)

April 24, 2009 by Mark.

Join YERT from 10:30am to 1:30pm at Ten Thousand Villages in Squirrel Hill for their 2nd Annual Green Fair on Saturday, April 25th. Local environmental nonprofits will be available from 10:30am-5:00pm to discuss their programs, projects and other opportunities. If you have ever been curious about what is going on in your own backyard this is the perfect time to find out! Participants include, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), Your Environmental Road Trip (YERT), Bike Pittsburgh, Friends of the Riverfront, Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, Clean Water Action, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, PennFuture and Black and Gold City Going Green. Ten Thousand Villages is located at 5824 Forbes Avenue. For more information call 412-421-2160 or visit Ten Thousand Villages website for complete event details at www.pittsburgh.tenthousandvillages.com.

Posted in Events, Mark | No Comments »

What kind of lavalier to use?

April 15, 2009 by Mark.

Here’s an e-mail exchange I had with Colin McCullough, who is about to start an environmental road trip of his own– you can check it out at http://www.ourrenewablenation.org
**************
From: Colin McCullough
To: mark@yert.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:00:50 AM
Subject: wireless mics

HI Mark,

I have decided the best way to go is to use a set of wireless lav mics for our interviews, so we don’t have to worry about cords. I scoped around Ebay and found a set for $700 - that’s a lot! Do you have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,
Colin McCullough

**************

Hi there, Colin!

Wireles lav mics were a tremendous help for us along the way, though it is useful to bring a wired backup of some sort– occasionally you’ll get static in a space and need to proceed with the interview without changing to a new, static-free location. At which point we would switch to a strategically positioned boom as close as possible to the speaker.

We used three pairs of Sennheiser EW 100 G2 receiver/transmitters. They worked out fairly well for us. There are more expensive, better ones, but these worked fine most of the year. I also upgraded the mic to a Tram TR-50 BSET+ lavalier microphone. The default ones that came with the Sennheiser transmitter/receivers were decent, but the Tram mics definitely cut down on the ambient noise while improving the quality of the speaker’s audio. That said, the Trams broke twice on the trip, and they’re expensive to replace– $250 each. I doubt the Sennheiser default mics would break as much as the Trams. Here’s the kit that we bought for YERT.

Here’s a good version of a single wireless lav set. You might also want to be sure it has a camera mount if that’s how you plan to go. Otherwise the receiver will be flopping all over the place. Here’s a version with the camera mount.

Overall, when you get into the wireless lavalier zone, you’re gonna pay something in the ballpark of what you quoted below- . Check on BHPhotoVideo.com for the best rates on NEW equipment. I got burned by other web sites a few times because of poor service or delayed delivery for no reason from OTHER sites. BHPhotoVideo was rock solid every time.

Also, make sure that the lav set has the appropriate connector cables to hook up to your camera.

And, finally, make sure that you fully test and get to know your lavaliers when they arrive– the worst time to figure out the features of your devices is after you already arrived at an interview and something has gone wrong. Fiddle with the gain and frequency settings so you know how to fix them up under pressure on game day.

Feel free to call if you have more questions…

Cheerio,
Mark

cell: 415-672-5537
fax: 415-520-5824
mark@yert.com
http://www.yert.com
http://twitter.com/YERTGuy

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YERT Presentations Everywhere!

April 4, 2009 by Mark.

That’s right! We’re off to a month of road-tripping adventures, this time through New England and the Tri-State area. We’ve received requests for presentations in Maine, NY, and Philly, with ongoing presentations in Pittsburgh and Louisville. Check out our calendar below to see if we’re headed your way and on what dates… and tell your friends to stop by the events!

Here’s the calendar…

Cheerio,
Mark

Posted in Travelog, Mark | No Comments »

New Video - Earth Hour: Feel Depower

March 26, 2009 by Ben.

Once a year, and only once a year (sadly), civilization gets together to power down…for a whole hour. Started by the WWF (no, not the wrestlers) in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has since become a global phenomenon. Well, almost global. YERT was in DC for Earth Hour 2008 and was pretty unimpressed. One would think that the capital of the planet’s most power-hungry nation would jump at the chance to save a few kilowatts (and greenbacks), even if it meant turning out the lights at the capitol for a few minutes. One would be mistaken. This year promises to be better as DC (as well as over 100 other US cities) has signed on to Earth Hour in a big way. Of course, the proof is in the skyline.

Hopefully the awareness that Earth Hour brings can usher in a new era of Earth Weeks, and Earth Months, and, eventually, non-stop Earth Years. In some ways it’s a sad indictment of our civilization that the notion of turning off the lights needs its own special “day” or, sadder still, “hour.” We’re not quite sure what the concept of Earth Hour implies about every other hour of the year, but it’s probably not good (certainly Earth Hour should not be followed by Anti-Earth Hour, if at all possible). Nevertheless, the idea of Earth Hour is an inspired, if symbolic, step in the right direction. And this year, you can actually VOTE for the Earth. The opponent in this “election” is…um…Global Warming - and your lightswitch is your vote. I know that that in some ways that ballot choice seems very reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential election, so, by signing up for Earth Hour and turning out our lights, we can all do our part to make sure we don’t make THAT mistake again. The “results” will be presented at Copenhagen in December and Earth needs 1 Billion “votes” to “win.” Incidentally, the respective VP candidates in this election are Dennis Kucinich and Rush Limbaugh’s pilonidal cyst.

Lighting Out,
Ben, Julie, and Mark

team@yert.com

P.S. If you’d like more information about saving energy, Earth Hour, or generally powering down, check out these breadcrumbs…
Calculate your carbon footprint here:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

Here’s how much carbon Chicago kept out of the atmosphere last Earth Hour:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-earthhourmar31,0,6746865.story

For those sitting on the fence, here’s a good article with some reasons to participate:
http://saving-energy.suite101.com/article.cfm/earth_hour_lights_out_for_environments_sake

To learn more about the larger issue of powering down civilization in a post-carbon world, check out:
http://www.richardheinberg.com/endorsements/powerdown

Posted in Video, Ben | No Comments »

YERT needs volunteers for Green Building Conference!

March 24, 2009 by Mark.

Hey YERTians!

On Tuesday, 3/31, YERT will have a table set up at the Green$ense Green Building conference in Pittsburgh, and we need 2-3 volunteers to help keep the table occupied while I run around and film some of the keynote speakers. Interested in green building? Just wanna help? We’d love to hear from you. And…

YERT volunteers get into the conference for free!

You can learn more here: http://www.gbapgh.org/Green$ense2009.asp . Use the day for networking, job hunting, educating your YERTy self, or just hanging out and telling people about YERT. We’re looking for help from 7AM to 6PM, but if you can only do a couple of hours, that’s ok too.

This is part of a new YERT effort to reach out to the business community and let them know that YERT is able and willing to give presentations AT THEIR BUSINESS to move their corporate culture in a greener direction.

Thanks for your help!

Cheerio,
Mark

mark@yert.com
415-672-5537

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All The Presidents’ Heads

February 18, 2009 by Ben.

First of all, a Happy Belated 200th Birthday to President Abraham Lincoln (not to mention Charles Darwin) and joyful Early Birthday Wishes to George Washington. Here, on President’s Day Aft Aft and in the very heart of President’s Birthday Week, we present to you a special Presidential Edition YERT video! During our travels in South Dakota, the roadside attraction capital of America, we stopped by David Adickes’ President’s Park for some quality one-on-one time with our nation’s leaders - in all their 20-foot, sculpted concrete glory. Sure, Mount Rushmore may be bigger and more famous, but where else in the country can you come face to GIGANTIC HEAD with every single US president? Actually, Williamsburg, VA (David has a second park there) but we were in SD, so we decided to bust in to catch some “green” pearls of wisdom from everyone from Lincoln to FDR. We even interviewed President Polk….yes, the President Polk. Best of all, we caught a super-sized face-off - a White House solar panels showdown between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan! Watch the drama unfold below:

Presidentially,

Julie, Mark, and Ben

team@yert.com

P.S. For information about the topics in this video, check out these breadcrumbs:

There’s a great documentary coming out soon called “Road Not Taken” about what happened to the solar panels Jimmy Carter put on the White House (and Reagan took down). To watch a trailer and for more on this story, check out these links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/white-house-solar-panels_n_160575.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/jimmy-carter-solar-panels.php

See which Presidents have been the best for the environment here:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/business/the-5-most-environmentally-friendly-presidents-in-us-history/857

Another list of the Best and Worst Presidents for the environment. Oddly enough, Nixon makes both Best and Worst lists of this one. Evidently, as the old saying goes - “when he was good he was very good, but when he was bad, he was horrid.” However, he wasn’t THE worst - that spot is reserved for “you know who.”

To see what kind of “Green New Deal” our current President is conjuring, go here:
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2236134/obama-green-stimulus-dissected
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2236575/obama-stimulus-bill-green
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/21/barackobama-usa-environment

Check out how Carter tried to fix Bush’s environmental/energy mistakes nearly 3 decades before Bush made them. Carter’s “malaise” speech (in which he actually never uses the word) is not terribly uplifting, but it couldn’t possibly have been more prescient then or more relevant today. Check out the speech (and dozens of other fascinating presidential speeches) HERE.

Posted in Events, Video, Issues, Ben | No Comments »

Pittsburgh “LEDs” Up Our Life!

February 10, 2009 by Ben.

THIS JUST IN:
YERT’s dear friend and Pittsburgh City Councilman, Bill Peduto, yesterday proposed that the City of Pittsburgh become the first city in America to be lit by LED lights. Check out the full article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette HERE and feel free to call or contact Bill and give him some major props. WAY TO GO, BILL!!

Posted in Issues, Ben, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Upcoming YERTy Events!

February 3, 2009 by Mark.

(YERT is now on Twitter! Come tweet to us! http://twitter.com/YERTGuy)

Howdy, YERTians! Lots of news today…

YERT at Focus the Nation, 10:30 AM on 2/6/09, CMU in Pittsburgh, PA,
YERT at PASA Conference, 8:30 PM on 2/6/09, State College, PA
YERT hosts Green Drinks in Pittsburgh, 5-9 PM 2/20/09 (Facebook Event Link)

YERT is sharing stories and videos with live audiences all over Pittsburgh, with interest for more presentations popping up all over the state– and the country! We’re exploring opportunities at schools, colleges, and communities in Maine, New York, and New Jersey, and if you send a note to team@yert.com we’ll consider your state, too.

If you happen to be in Pittsburgh, you don’t have to wait– we’ll be presenting at the “Focus the Nation” event at CMU at 10:30 AM on Friday, 2/6/09. YERT videos will also be playing via a big projector during lunch. Stop by and say hi– and catch some of the other speakers dedicated to getting our national carbon footprint under control.

After lunch at the “Focus the Nation” event I’ll be driving out to State College, PA to give a “farming special” presentation for a conference held by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture. I’ve assembled a few farming-themed videos to share with the audience, including some previously unreleased footage of YERT’s visit with Joel Salatin (also featured in Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”).

I also can’t help but share a few updates from presentations that we just completed…

Ben and I assembled a YERTy presentation all about green business for Dr. Robert Sroufe’s class in the Sustainable MBA program at Duquesne University. We dug up inspiring and thought-provoking highlights from some of our heavy-hitting business-related interviews, including clips from David Korten, Wes Jackson, and Bob Berkebile. We also featured a spectrum of businesses from the light green to the “flip traditional business models upside down” dark green– highlighting TerraCycle, Whole Foods, the Global Citizen Center, gDiapers, and plenty more.

I think it went over pretty well with the students - we were delighted to get quotes like these on our feedback forms:
“One of the best presentations I’ve seen in a long time (& I’ve seen a LOT of presentations).”
“Video was funny but very insightful for the audience. Made me want to do more myself.”
“Everything was interesting.”
“Very entertaining, helpful, and interesting. Thanks for showing it to us!”

Also, the professor that brought us in, Dr. Robert Sroufe, had kind words of his own… “My graduate students were very impressed with the delivery of information… Mark and Ben worked with me before the session to go through a list of companies I thought we should focus on. The video quality and visuals are of the highest quality and look great in a classroom projection system. The video pods… highlight many interesting people and practices that can be brought easily into a classroom and pedagogy.”

Woohoo!

In a few weeks YERT is “hosting” Green Drinks in Pittsburgh, which basically means that we’re definitely going to be there and connecting up with droves of YERTy friends. Eat, drink, and be green. And bowl if you’d like, too. It all takes place at Arsenal Lanes in Pittsburgh from 5-9pm on FRIDAY 2/20/09. Click here for more details! (Or you can RSVP on Facebook)

I also recently gave an “urban-green-styled” YERT presentation for a small but dedicated audience at a New Urbanism meeting, held at the Sierra Club office in Pittsburgh. City Councilman Bill Peduto showed up to give his stamp of approval, and we also were fortunate enough to have pro photographer Larry Rippel taking photos of the event– check out his work in the photo up top, and below!

If you’d like to bring YERT to your school or community for a fun, engaging, educational environmental presentation with plenty of Q&A, please let us know– team@yert.com. We’re exploring ideas for a new presentation for high school and college students that focuses on green jobs. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Worth a shot? Let us know!

Peace,
Mark

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