Leila Conners's blog

Hello 11th Hour Community.  Our site has been under a sustained attack by spammers for over a year.  We have not found a good a way to deal with the spam so we have had to shut down automatic approval of new users and blog posts. We left the actions open because that was not hit by spam until this month. So we are shutting automatic approval of that as well.  What that means is that you can still blog, and take action, it just will take awhile for it to post live to the site because we have to approve the posts first. 

We are going to redesign the site and seek out new ways to deal with spam in the next few months.  We are doing this as we are in the middle of releasing our next film Urban Roots, and we are in production on 3 more films so we need our community to be vibrant. 

Amongst the spam continue to be heartwarming and wonderful posts from people who have seen the film and who have taken action or who have shared their thoughts and for that we are very thankful and it is because of these people, that we will continue to keep this site up and running. 

Please bear with us as we upgrade the site and I ask all spammers to go elsewhere, you are ruining this site and you are not welcome.  For everyone else who wants to discuss the positive changes that are being made in the world, or concerns about the environment, please continue to check back on our progress. 

Thanks everyone.  Leila Conners, director/producer/writer, The 11th Hour

 

I was contacted today by Wallace J. Nichols, an expert on marine turtles who appeared in The 11th Hour, who said that his father's town (his dad was the Mayor) is the focus of the Tea Party's protest "Trashcare."  Inspired by The 11th Hour, Mayor Nichols started to green his town during his tenure as mayor, see link: http://11thhouraction.com/wallacenichols 
It looks like the town is continuing its green policies but now for some reason the Tea Party sees recycling as an "Assault on Capitalism."   I hope that the town prevails and goes for long-term thinking rather than succumb to really clueless ideas that are coming from the frightened and angry far-right. 

We are finishing our film, Urban Roots, about the urban farming revolution in Detroit, and we are discussing the role that small, individually-owned urban farms have in "saving a city." We've run into some opinions that say that the thought that urban farms could save a city is somewhat naive, that, in fact what is needed are large-scale efforts to turn a city around.  "Scale" is needed, and "big profits."  The problem with this thinking I think is that it is stuck in the same mindset as the thinking that created the problem in the first place.  And the problem of saving a city is found in diagnosing the problem correctly. 

The problem of cities like Detroit is that the effort to preserve and grow big entities like corporations requires actions like what we witnessed - moving manufacturing overseas because labor was cheaper, cutting costs where-ever possible to bolster the bottom line and profits. Cutting costs and making profits, growing companies fast and big are what is heralded to be the goal and these things are rewarded by the stock market and by our culture in general.  Now, we are not against profits, but what is not helpful is to run a company, city or country with the bottom line/profits only in mind.  What is left out is the human element, the vitality of a company and a city and a country is the well-being of the people, the humans that live and work in it.  The mindset of our companies and country has so shifted to devalue the human element and value profit and size that we have run the very thing that makes the whole thing work - people - away. Look at Detroit, half the population has left, neighborhoods are empty, weeds grow in the playgrounds, schools have collapsed.  The mindset has killed off the community, has driven the people away. 

Now, out of this situation the remaining people have a choice and some of them have said they want to empower themselves by growing their own food and in some cases selling it to others. These farms are an acre or under, not thousands of acres.  How they benefit the city is that the empower a community, they give people ownership in their lives and each other, it gives them an income stream that cannot be taken away.  Some say scale is needed, but that brings in the same old mindset, put thousands of acres under cultivation under one group and the individual is yet again at the mercy of decisions beyond their control. And if the scale is too large, then yet again, the only way to sustain the size will be to minimize the human element and increase through non-human efficiencies like chemicals, and low wages.  How can small farms save a city?  They can do it one neighborhood at a time, slowly and hopefully with the help of city regulators who so often seek a quick fix and so often end up right where they started or oftentimes they end of worse off. Small farms bring in a new mindset, one of cooperation, barter, community, well-being, slowness but happiness perhaps.  It remains to be seen, we will be watching and we are open to the discussion!

Welcome to the Urban Roots blog. The film is almost done and we will keep you all posted here. IN the meantime, we've launched the Urban Roots action community where you can post pictures of your urban gardens/farms. Tell us and show us what you are growing!

I want to thank this community for contributing their thoughts and actions to this site that is growing everyday. Thousands and thousands of people are taking action and learning from each other from all corners of the globe. I also want to thank you all for your patience with the design and interface that was created in 2007. I am very pleased to announce that we are close to finishing a major overhaul and upgrade to this site.  We will still have the actions, the blog, but the maps will work better, there will be more resources and the user interface will be better.  We will also be adding our other films to the action that will bring more people together.  For the love of action, person by person, action by action, we are changing the world. 

An action from Lisa Hurley:   

She will grow her own food, in place of her lawn, a great way to start making changes...

http://11thhouraction.com/node/3960

I noticed this action out of Bloomington Indiana, it's simple, and solves a big problem, carbon emissions, that's why it's so powerful...
http://www.11thhouraction.com/node/3882

Banning Plastic Bags in India

http://11thhouraction.com/node/3525

This action was posted this weekend on the 11th Hour Action site from India. "Youth’s are dynamically gathered and empowered by JKT to protest against the USE OF PLASTIC BAGS in and around the city, and next action is to stop water pollution that is happened mindlessly around the state polluted by the industries based cheap on the river banks." Location:
241/231 old chennimalai andavar Road Sasthri Nagar Erode , TAMILNADU, 638002 India

Here is an update from 11th Hour Action in Zagreb:

"Dear our friend Leila,
 
I send you official report what's going on in Croatia after 11th hour screening.It seems
that in Croatia araived the darkest hour and we fight against it to make the finest hour
but it is very hurd.
Riot police arrest 23 in night raid on peaceful protest against the destructio n of Zagreb
pedestrian zone. Thay areested and presitend of Green action Tomislav Tomašević on rude
way with for special police ofissers in midle of night.It is top news in Croatia and
public means that police broken thera rules.
 
I please you and ask of you to support the strongest and biggest association on ex
Yugoslavia teritory
Green action (Zelena akcija cro.leng.)  on the way you can and thing is the best way.I
sugest to contact  president Tomislav. He appreaciate you very much also and what you do.
His contact: Tomislav Tomasevic. +385 98 719 253   e-mail: tomislav@zelena-akcija.hr or
siple you can find him on facebook.
Also you can publich this material on your web."

So I checked out their website, for more information on what they are trying to do, go to: 

http://www.zelena-akcija.hr/content/blogcategory/0/531/lang,en/

 

Urban Roots, a film about the emergence of urban farming out of the vacant lots of Detroit, is now on twitter.  Be the first to know when the film is completed, about screenings and premiers.  Also find out when the urban farming action site goes live.

http://twitter.com/urbanrootsfilm