February 26, 2012 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

YERT’s West Coast Tour is in full swing, with screenings scheduled or complete in over 21 cities. This week we have an update about some awesome upcoming screenings, and a quick review of the ones we’ve completed.

• Upcoming Screenings in Vancouver (BC), Bellingham, Bainbridge, and Seattle
• Glowing YERT Review in Huffington Post
• Standing Ovation at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
• Great Screenings in Madison, Minneapolis, and Fargo
• The New, More Challenging Garbage Challenge

Upcoming Screenings in Vancouver (BC), Bellingham, Bainbridge, and Seattle

We’ve now traveled over 2,500 miles and screened at six locations for 700+ people, with over 15 screenings remaining before we call this “West Coast Tour” complete. Basically, we’re just getting started, and having a blast the whole way. We’ve even sold enough DVD’s along the away to pay for our travel expenses to-date. Woohoo! Don’t forget to take a look at our growing tour schedule here, and feel free to grab blurbs and pics from our online press kit to share with friends and family.

SCREENING in Vancouver, BC, CANADA on Sunday, 2/26, at 3pm
Village Vancouver, the local Transition initiative, is hosting the event. Their schedule is so full of sustainability events up there that we could barely squeeze in! But squeeze in we have, and we look forward to meeting those individuals who make up the green powerhouse that is Vancouver. Mark Dixon (YERT Producer) will be there for discussion during and after the film, and will be staying a couple extra days to soak up all the green activity they have around town. Contact him if you’d like to hang out! mark@yert.com. [Facebook event link here] (Langara College room A130, West 49th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada)

SCREENING in Bellingham, WA on Wednesday, 2/29, 7pm
The very first “on the street” interview filmed for YERT was with Atul Deshmane, CEO of Whole Energy, who has been supporting the project with thoughts, words, deeds, and donations ever since. We’re honored that he’s hosting this YERT screening in his home town. [Facebook event link here] (Limelight Theater, 1416 Cornwall Avenue, Bellingham, WA)

SCREENING on Bainbridge Island on Thursday, 3/1, 7pm
We’ve been building up to this screening event for years! Bainbridge Island is the home of so many YERT friends we can barely count. David and Fran Korten, Kat Gjovik, Sustainable Bainbridge, the entire staff at Yes! Magazine, and friends from previous jobs around the world– have somehow converged on Bainbridge Island, and YERT can’t wait to join them for a big screening event with pre and post receptions. [Facebook event link here] (Historic Lynwood Theater, 4569 Lynwood Center Road Northeast, Bainbridge Isle, WA 98110-2238)

SCREENING in Seattle on Friday, 3/2, 7pm
With the help of some of our Bainbridge friends, we’ve squeezed onto the weekly screening calendar of the Meaningful Movies Project in Seattle. We’re thrilled to be included in their program! This event is co-sponsored by the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, a groundbreaking sustainable MBA program in Seattle. [Facebook event link here] (Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ, 5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle)

Additional Screenings:
(click here for detailed calendar and new screenings updated daily)
2/29 - Pittsburgh, PA
2/29 - Bellingham, WA (TOUR)
3/1 - Bainbridge Island, WA (TOUR)
3/2 - Gainesville, FL (Cinema Verde Environmental Film & Arts Festival)
3/2 - Seattle, WA (TOUR)
3/3 - Portland, OR (TOUR)
3/3 - Louisville, KY (Film excerpts + Director Q&A)
3/9 - San Luis Obispo, CA (SLOIFF Film Fest on TOUR)
3/10 - San Luis Obispo, CA (SLOIFF Film Fest on TOUR)
3/13 - Charlotte, NC (Charlotte Film Festival - Ben will be there on Southeast TOUR)
3/15 - Berkeley, CA (TOUR)
3/18 - Presidio Sustainable MBA Program, SF, CA (Private Screening on TOUR)
3/19 - Sebastopol, CA (TOUR)
3/20 - Davis, CA (TOUR)
3/21 - Athens, GA (EcoFocus Film Festival - Ben will be there on Southeast TOUR)
3/21 - Santa Cruz, CA (TOUR)
3/25 - Denver, CO (TOUR)
3/27 - Concord, NH
3/30 - Concord, NH
3/30 - YERT’s UK Premiere at Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

Glowing YERT Review in Huffington Post
With a title like this, what’s there not to love? “Beyond Hope: Groundbreaking Environmental Road Trip Film Takes Climate Change Solutions Back Home.” Jeff Biggers has gone above and beyond the call of duty to write a thoughtful, eloquent, and ultimately glowing review of the YERT film. It’s almost as nice to read it as it is to see the faces of audience members after they see the film. Here’s a little snippet from the review:

“…the YERT film crew has managed to pull off the impossible in the world of cinema: A deeply absorbing and often hilarious road trip that confronts the badlands of our nation’s spiraling descent into dirty energy darkness, only to emerge along the solar roadways and wind-swept plains into the myriad possibilities for new power and sustainable living.”

Can you help us share the article with friends via Facebook and e-mail? Here’s the link to share: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/your-environmental-road-trip_b_1280954.html

Standing Ovation at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
We had no idea how much of a YERTy town we would find here in Missoula! From our gracious host, Vicki Watson, to our festival sponsor, The Biomimicry Institute, to the fun, friendly and helpful staff of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, this entire week has been a blast. It’s difficult to decide what has been more fun to encounter - the long and enthusiastic standing ovation by some 200 audience members at our Big Sky screeining? The fist bump from one of 300 high schoolers who saw our new hour-ish long educational cut? Or the cooing of 50 middle schoolers as I showed them our little fuzzy adopted mascot, Harry the Hairy Eared Dwarf Lemur (originally from the Xeko game), during a very active Q&A session at their school? I suppose we’ll never know. Thank goodness we don’t have to decide.

Great Screenings in Madison, Minneapolis, and Fargo
The West Coast Tour of YERT started out with three fun screenings as we drove west. Ryan, the Director from the awesome Within Reach Movie assembled a double feature for the thoughtful community at Arboretum Co-Housing in Madison, Wisconsin. Ryan and Tina literally rolled out the “green carpet” for our screening at Moss Envy in Minneapolis. And last but far from least, Nicole and David Crutchfield gathered their community together for a screening of YERT at the Historic Fargo Theater. All three screenings ended with lengthy discussions about the film and local sustainable community events and issues. Based on the audience response at these first few screenings, America appears to be ready for such discussion. Perhaps even yearns for it. Pictures below…

(Photo 1 is Arboretum Cohousing, 2 is Moss Envy, and 3 is Fargo!)

The New, More Challenging Garbage Challenge
In the original YERT adventure, we kept our garbage in the car for the whole year, trying to restrict garbage to just one shoebox per month. We estimate that’s about 1/100th of the average American’s garbage. (Know better? Let us know!) For the current West Coast Tour, we’re taking the garbage challenge to a whole new level - all garbage for the entire 50-day tour goes into one small ziplock bag. That bag goes into Mark’s cargo pants pocket. We took a picture of the garbage after 13 days on the road. Take a look at the picture and let us know what you see– the person who guesses the most items correctly during the next week gets a free YERT ChicoBag! (Send guesses to team@yert.com)

(Click to zoom in on the 13 days of garbage shown above.)

Phew! That’s the latest news. Want more? Are you sure? Get the most and fastest updates about the YERT screening and tour schedule on our Facebook page. Next week we’ll also have an update about a new educational (i.e. SHORT) cut of the YERT film that Ben has been feverishly working on– while he also prepares for upcoming Southeast and Northeast YERT screening tours. Good stuff!

Hope to see you soon, somewhere in the country!

Cheers,
Ben, Mark, and Julie
team@yert.com

Posted in village vancouver, portland permaculture, bainbridge, bellingham, vancouver, seattle, yes! magazine | No Comments »

February 12, 2012 by Mark.

A big thanks to Arboretum Co-housing in Madison, WI. We had a great “double feature” screening of YERT and Within Reach — a five hour extravaganza of sustainable adventures. It was most fun to hang with Within Reach filmmaker Ryan Mlynarczyk, and also to see that we visit so many similar places but picked mostly different ones to feature in our film. Near-perfect dovetailing! The photo shows everybody who was still there after all 5 hours. We also sold several DVD’s and received a few generous donations, which will help propel us along the road without starving!

We’re currently on the road driving to Minneapolis, MN, for our 4pm screening of YERT at Moss Envy, owned by our friends Tina and Ryan (who we met and filmed on the original YERT road trip). Then we’ll be staying overnight with Tony and Brenda Kvale. Thanks to all of them for helping to get the word out - we can’t wait to see them again in person! (Screening is at 4pm today at Moss Envy, 3056 Excelsior Blvd, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416)

The road trip is going pretty well so far– and we are doing a new version of the “One Shoebox Garbage Challenge.” We’re now trying to keep the garbage down to ONE CARGO PANTS POCKET. So one pocket of garbage for nearly 2 months of road tripping. I have been trying to coach my road-trip co-traveler, Brendon, on the rules of the road for keeping garbage down to a minimum. He’s done a great job working with them, but his coffee habit ultimately led him to create the very first piece of garbage on the road trip: a raw sugar packet. You can see him owning up to it in the photo below, as he places the paper garbage into the little baggie we’re using to store (we hope) all garbage for the road trip.

More open road ahead. Trying to make the most of the carbon we’re spewing into the atmosphere along the way by having as many screenings as possible all along the way. Check out our spreadsheet here to find upcoming screenings. Tomorrow we’ll be screening in Fargo, ND!

Signing out,
Mark

Posted in twin cities, garbage challenge, arboretum co-housing, st. paul, kvale, fargo, moss envy, minneapolis | No Comments »

February 11, 2012 by Mark.

Madison Wisconsin, 4:30pm-9pm

FREE ADMISSSION!

People are encouraged to bring food for themselves, or something to share if they really feel like it.

YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip) (trailer at http://www.yert.com/) are filmmaker friends of ours whom Ryan met early in the Within Reach journey. They are on a national screening tour with their now completed movie and they want to do a double feature of our two movies as they are very compatible messages.

Here’s a synopsis of YERT: 50 States. 1 Year. Zero Garbage? Called to action by a planet in peril, three friends hit the road - traveling America with hope, humor…and all of their garbage - to explore the good, the bad, and the weird across every state in search of the extraordinary innovators and courageous citizens who are tackling humanity’s greatest environmental crises. As the YERT team layers outlandish eco-challenges onto their year-long quest, an unexpected turn of events throws the project for a loop in this award-winning docu-comedy. Featuring Bill McKibben, Wes Jackson, Will Allen, Janine Benyus, Joel Salatin, David Orr, and music by Ben Sollee, Daniel Martin Moore, Mark Geary and more.

About the documentary film “Within Reach”: This inspiring film by Mandy Creighton and Ryan Mlynarczyk suggests that “community is the secret ingredient in sustainability.” Creighton and Mlynarczyk returned to the United States from Central America after serving with sustainable development organizations bound to hold on to the lessons of simplicity and community they had learned but struggled to do so as they built careers.

After digging deep, they sold their possessions and biked 6500 miles around the US, looking for a sustainable community. This film is about what they found along the way. (and Bill McKibben is in this film too!) Check out the trailer at http://www.withinreachmovie.com/

Arboretum Cohousing is proud to sponsor the viewing of these exciting films.

The showing will be Sat. Feb. 11, 2012 in the community room at Arboretum Cohousing, 1137 Erin St. Madison, WI

YERT will be selling DVD’s (a great way to support them!)
Within Reach is still in post-production and the movie is not the final version yet so no DVD’s will be for sale. (IT WILL BE A NEWER VERSION OF WITHIN REACH NOT YET SCREENED)

After each film, there will be brief Q&A’s with the filmmakers.

Let’s share what we are doing in our lives, or wish to do in our lives, to build community, and live more sustainably.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

February 11, 2012 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

Our West Coast Tour is taking shape, with screenings scheduled in over 15 cities, and we’d love for you to meet us in person along the way! Read on for more details…

At Long Last: YERT’s West Coast Tour Details!

We’re super excited about our upcoming tour - 7,000 miles and screenings all around the country, particularly in Washington State, Oregon, and California. Please take a look at our full and evolving tour schedule here, and tell your friends about these imminent screenings! We don’t have a big PR team - just us, our hosts, and a couple volunteers - so your e-mail blasts to friends and family REALLY matter. Feel free to grab blurbs and pics from our online presskit.

SCREENING in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, 2/11, 4:30pm
This is a special double feature with our friends at the amazing Within Reach documentary. A double dose of road-tripping fun. Mark Dixon (YERT Producer) and Ryan Mlynarczyk (Within Reach Director) will be there for discussion during and after the film. (Arboretum Cohousing, 1137 Erin St., Madison, WI 53715)

SCREENING in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday, 2/12, 4:00pm
We’ve got friends from the original YERT road trip in Minneapolis, and they’re hosting a YERT screening at their awesome eco-products store, Moss Envy. A giant thanks to Ryan and Tina for rolling out the “Green Carpet” for our second screening on tour. (Moss Envy, 3056 Excelsior Blvd, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416)

SCREENING in Fargo, North Dakota on Monday, 2/13, 6:30pm
A big thanks to Nicole and David Crutchfield for putting together this wonderful screening. Also friends from the first YERT tour, they were an island of fun hospitality during our first visit, and they’re pulling out all the stops for us in their home of Fargo.
(The Historic Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway, Fargo, ND 58102 February 13, 2012)

Additional Screenings:
(click here for detailed calendar and new screenings updated daily)
2/11 - Bedford, NY
2/13 - Honolulu, HI
2/16 - Emmitsburg, MD
2/19 - Elkader, IA
2/20 - Missoula, MT (Big Sky Film Fest on TOUR)
2/21 - Lake Forest College, IL
2/29 - Bellingham, WA (TOUR)
3/1 - Bainbridge Island, WA (TOUR)
3/2 - Seattle, WA (TOUR)
3/3 - Portland, OR (TOUR)
3/3 - Louisville, KY (Film excerpts + Director Q&A)
3/9 - San Luis Obispo, CA (SLOIFF Film Fest on TOUR)
3/10 - San Luis Obispo, CA (SLOIFF Film Fest on TOUR)
3/13 - Charlotte, NC (Charlotte Film Festival)
3/15 - Berkeley, CA (TOUR)
3/18 - Presidio Sustainable MBA Program, SF, CA (Private Screening on TOUR)
3/21 - Athens, GA (EcoFocus Film Festival)
3/25 - Denver, CO (TOUR)
3/30 - YERT’s UK Premiere at Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

That’s all of the updates for now. We have a pile of new festival announcements to share with you, but we’ll save that for another day. Please be sure to tell us how your eco-efforts are going on YERT’s Facebook page. Enjoy the brisk season…

Cheers,
Mark, Ben, and Julie
team@yert.com

Posted in madison, wisconsin, fargo, north dakota, minneapolis, minnesota, yert, tour, west coast, screening | No Comments »