International Environmental Film Festival, 28th Annual, Paris


Over the past few years, a number of films on ecology and the climate have been awarded prizes and have succeeded in attracting a significant turnout in cinemas. The 28th International Festival of Environmental Film, held from 24th to 30th November in the La Pagode cinema, presents a unique panorama of this new genre which is inspiring filmmakers from around the world.
Sponsored by Isabelle Giordano, this year will focus in particular on the issues linked to biodiversity and climate change, with the spotlight on Mexican documentaries.
You can attend screenings of documentaries, dramas and short films from around the world, attend previews, cartes blanches and thematic programmes, all for free.
In their own way, each of these films address a variety of subjects such as the protection of nature, the rational management of resources, the greenhouse effect, the quality of agriculture and the environment, the fight against poverty, participative democracy, north-south and east-west relations, the influx of immigrants and integration etc...
Reader Contest! Send in your Translations for The Cartoons and you will be eligible to Win one of The Gifts and Giveaways on Greening Hollywood.  Post your entry as a Comment!

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Elizabethan Era Bank Buys First Carbon Credits From the New World


By Susan Kraemer, RePosted from Clean Technica
The venerable British bank, Barclay’s, founded four centuries ago right at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and NRG Energy Inc, the largest US independent power producer, have just completed a deal for the very first carbon permits to be offered by California’s planned cap and trade program to reduce pollution in its AB32 climate legislation, according to Bloomberg News.
The permits will be delivered in December 2012, according to the head of US emissions trading at Barclays in the UK, which has been involved in (EU) carbon trading for some time. The trading begins in 2012 for utilities and manufacturers, and by 2015, for vehicles.
(Tesla has already benefited from carbon trading, receiving $13 million from Honda in carbon trades, since electric vehicles reduce greenhouse gases. Honda has been one of the last of the major car manufacturers to move to develop electric vehicles, so by 2015, it may still need permits to produce gas cars.)
The first permits are offered at $11.50 a ton, but by 2020, could reach as high as $30 a ton. Market conditions can only determine the price to pollute, so the cost (to polluters) and the benefit (to innovators) can vary. By contrast, pollution limits are fixed. They cannot be exceeded.
The advantage of cap and trade over carbon taxes is certainty. Pollution is capped and reduced.
The cap: a total pollution allowance, is set in advance and reduced each year, in order to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Read MORE on CleanTechnica.com....

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have another four centuries of civilization?
If widely adopted, cap and trade would make this possible, by simply capping and reducing the dangerous greenhouse gases that foreclose our future. Queen Elizabeth’s legislative heritage, and the longevity of Barclay’s Bank shows us that good legislation like AB32 builds real civilizations that last.
Read More...SusanKraemer@Twitter

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Zero EMISSIONS Race

By Matthias Bank

What auto race blasts its way around the world in eighty days without leaving a trace of emissions in its wake? And, almost as astonishingly, inspires crowds to come out and cheer on a rainy weekend in Southern California?

The answer is a group of 21st century hot rods Jules Verne would have loved called the Zero Emissions Race, an international group of solar powered electric vehicles that have been driving about 11,000 miles since leaving the United Nations in Geneva. Their aim: to prove a point that instead of dreaming about 100 percent renewable energy powered vehicles for someday, we should be living that dream today.

The mastermind of the race, Louis Palmer, made a pit stop in Malibu two years ago during his Solar Taxi tour, the first circumnavigation of the globe by a solar powered car. On that trip, celebrities greeted him everywhere he went, including James Cameron, Larry Hagman, and Brian Grazer in Malibu.

Mr. Palmer reflects that he does not feel as exotic this time. With people now lining up to purchase plug-in vehicles from companies like Nissan and Chevrolet, the wow factor is not what it once was.

Far from fretting like a Hollywood starlet past his prime, Mr. Palmer is celebrating the shift as success.  He revels in the fact that people are so quickly becoming the change he hoped to inspire.

And the glittery set has not exactly cast him aside. Those checking out the Zero Race on their adventure through coastal L.A. included German mega star Thomas Gottschalk, composer and former Oingo Bongo band member Richard Gibbs, and “Who Killed the Electric Car?” filmmaker Chris Paine.

Matthias Bank is Media and Marketing Director for Renewables 100 Policy Institute, one of the event sponsors for Zero Emissions Race in Southern California. Renewables 100 Policy Institute will be re-joining Zero Emissions Race at the World Climate Conference in Cancun, where both will be advocating for a 100% renewable energy by mid-century target. 

Photo caption 1."Who Killed The Electric Car?" Filmmaker Chris Paine and Plug-In America's Paul Scott welcome Zero Emissions Race to Southern California at Santa Monica Pier 2. Zero Emissions Race Founder Louis Palmer greets Southern California at Santa Monica Pier.

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Sustainable Housing, 30/10 and Public Transit in LA

By Joel Epstein

The conference, hosted by the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and now in its ninth year, brought together a well-spoken group of leaders from the real estate, transportation, government, finance and planning communities. With a strong lineup of panelists and the show ably MC'ed by City Controller Wendy Greuel, I found myself busily scribbling away as speaker after speaker described successes and the many challenges they face in working to build sustainable housing and mixed use developments in LA County and elsewhere. http://joelepstein.com/

Sustainable Housing, 30/10 and Public Transit in LA

With last week's epiphany on how the unions should be investors in LA's 30/10 Initiative going nowhere, I was free to attend Wednesday's Mayoral Sustainable Housing and Transportation Summit.

30/10 is an innovative idea for accelerating construction of 12 critical voter-approved transportation construction projects in 10 years instead of 30. The conference, hosted by the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and now in its ninth year, brought together a well-spoken group of leaders from the real estate, transportation, government, finance and planning communities. With a strong lineup of panelists and the show ably MC'ed by City Controller Wendy Greuel, I found myself busily scribbling away as speaker after speaker described successes and the many challenges they face in working to build sustainable housing and mixed use developments in LA County and elsewhere.

LA remains one of the least affordable residential markets in the country and the conference effectively underscored the importance of removing obstacles to building in the city so that working people can find affordable, sustainable housing in safe neighborhoods with good schools within easy commuting distance of their jobs. Yes, that's a lot of modifiers.

The three panels that made up the generally well-paced program explored [different] definitions of sustainable communities, resources to support a sustainable community, and best practices for sustainable community development.

 
In the second panel discussion Larry Parks of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco captured the challenge explaining that affordable housing developers and transit-oriented development (TOD) advocates need to do a better job of conveying to the media and policy makers that TOD reduces the amount of household income residents must spend on transportation from 25 percent to 9 percent.

Given my bias toward transit-oriented development and sustainable communities with a strong public transit component, my favorite comments came from Metro's Art Leahy, Senior Deputy Dan Rosenfeld from Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas' office and John Huskey, CEO of Meta Housing.

I am paraphrasing, but here is what I heard them say and/or why their comments rang true.

In his comments Leahy forcefully drove home how Metro's extensive and costly building program supported by revenue from voter-approved Measure R will create a true transit system out of our already extensive collection of bus and rail lines. This will mean a significantly more transit-oriented LA, conducive to greater mobility for those smart enough, or with no choice but, to ride Metro. Unlike some others in this town who advocate for greater mass transit but don't themselves take Metro, Leahy earns our respect in part because he is a customer, as well as Metro's CEO, who uses the system as often as he can.

Rosenfeld focused on the need to rally around greater density at Metro stations and to implement changes that make land acquisition and development around the stations easier. He bemoaned the fact that South LA, from Wilshire Blvd south to Long Beach has seen no transit oriented development around its rail stations even though the area has long had the Metro Blue and Green Lines.

Huskey of Meta Housing captured my imagination with his candid comments about the challenges of developing Adams & Central, a new mixed use development in what was once the heart of LA's African-American community and an R&B and jazz Mecca. Coincidentally, at the recommendation of Councilwoman Jan Perry I had visited the impressive development which includes a Fresh & Easy supermarket just last week. At least during the day, the development and the market are the envy of most mixed use developments and supermarkets in West LA.

Many of the other speakers spoke of LA's critical 30/10 Initiative, including Metro Board member Richard Katz who reminded us that those who are speaking of the death of 30/10 are underestimating the merits of the program and the hard work that has gone into creating an infrastructure financing model for the nation. Katz' wise counsel to the media, including yours truly, is worth heeding, just as many were forecasting Measure R's demise just before it was approved by a two thirds majority of County voters in November 2008.

Given the sustainability theme, the conference featured some nice touches including a cloth conference tote that will make a nice shopping bag now that the County Board of Supervisors has passed a sweeping ban on plastic shopping bags. The wasteful bags have become known as urban tumbleweed that all too rarely gets recycled.

The LABC tote included a soon to be collectible "Watts Is Worth It" reusable coffee mug, grace à the LA Housing Authority's Jordan Downs Redevelopment.

At breakfast and lunch, what looked like biodegradable cutlery and unbleached paper napkins accompanied the food. Nice, though as Metro's Leahy noted, is there really a plentiful water source in Las Vegas, where the bottled water provided to the panelists came from? Am I the only one who remembers when conferences provided a pitcher of ice water and glasses to their presenters?

One more criticism of the otherwise excellent sustainable housing and transportation conference. It appeared as if I was as guilty as most of the other attendees in driving alone to the early morning event at UCLA's Anderson School. Maybe next year LABC can organize a shuttle from the Metro Wilshire 720 Rapid, the Metro 2 and other buses that make stops in Westwood.

All small issues. Kudos to the LABC for organizing this important conference! Oh, one more thing. The Mayor spoke as well.

Joel Epstein is a Los Angeles-based public transportation advocate and also a contributor to the Huffington Post. http://joelepstein.com/

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