One day only at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway on Saturday September 8, 10 a.m.

and on Friday September 14, 7 p.m. at Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway (SW corner of Treat Ave.) in their fellowship room. Sponsored by National Resource Committee of the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, and the Catalina United Methodist Church. Movie will be followed by discussion + refreshments will be served.

Both showings of “Bag It” are free to the public.

From the Loft website:

Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes, disposable bags that they throw away without much thought. But where is “away?” Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to the environment, marine life and human health?

Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Jeb’s journey in this documentary film starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags really necessary? What are plastic bags made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded? What he learns quickly grows far beyond plastic bags.

Bag It makes it clear that it is time for a paradigm shift. Join Jeb as he meets with people who fought the American Chemistry Council lobby that spent more than a million dollars fighting the Seattle bag fee; as he interviews a man sailing the Pacific in a boat made of plastic to raise awareness about our ocean’s health; as he gets tested to determine the levels of chemicals in his own body; and as he welcomes his baby into the world, a world he hopes we can leave with a little less plastic and in a little better shape for the next generation.

I wrote an article about this movie earlier this year, and got to see it at the UA Gallagher Theater (click here for my post). It will really make you think about the single-use plastic bag and bottles we use every day.

If you (like me) missed the Loft Theater’s screening of “Bag It” back in February sponsored by the Sierra Club & Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection (click here), you have another chance to see it for free again this Friday at:

Catalina United Methodist Church, fellowship hall
7 p.m.
2700 E. Speedway (NW corner of Treat Ave.)

Join us for a FREE screening of the award winning documentary “Bag It”. If you care about the condition of our beautiful earth, if you are concerned about the health of our children, if you care about the survival of our wildlife now ingesting our throw-away plastic, you want to see this film!

http://catalinamethodist.org/event/bag-it-movie-screening/

The Students for Sustainability sponsored an earlier showing of this movie on Tuesday April 24 at UA Gallagher Theater, which I did see, along with only about 20 students. But the movie is very thought-provoking, and mostly addresses the wastefulness of single-use plastic bags, bottles, dishes, containers, etc.

The documentary movie maker Jeb Berrier also addresses the content of plastic, the danger of plastic to our environment (especially the oceans), and even to our own adult health and the health of our children. One of the students was there dressed up in the costume of 500 plastic bags which is supposedly the amount of bags a person uses in one year.

For Tucson updates go to facebook.com/bagittucson.

Please see this movie and start thinking about the over abundance of plastic in our lives. More grocery stores could start encouraging shoppers to bring their own cloth bags. And please recycle whatever plastic you can. The City of Tucson just announced a new system which will take all rigid plastics in our blue barrels (but sadly not those grocery plastic bags):

http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/es/customer-services-residential-recycling

Is your life too full of plastic?

Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes, disposable bags that they throw away without much thought. But where is “away?” Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to the environment, marine life and human health?

Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Jeb’s journey in this documentary film starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags really necessary? What are plastic bags made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded? What he learns quickly grows far beyond plastic bags.

Bag It makes it clear that it is time for a paradigm shift. Join Jeb as he meets with people who fought the American Chemistry Council lobby that spent more than a million dollars fighting the Seattle bag fee; as he interviews a man sailing the Pacific in a boat made of plastic to raise awareness about our ocean’s health; as he gets tested to determine the levels of chemicals in his own body; and as he welcomes his baby into the world, a world he hopes we can leave with a little less plastic and in a little better shape for the next generation.

“Think about it—why would you make something that you’re going to use for a few minutes out of a material that’s basically going to last forever, and you’re just going to throw it away? What’s up with that?” — Jeb Berrier

Back on the Big Island of Hawaii, one of the larger supermarkets ((KTA) discourages plastic bag use, and credits each customer 5 cents for providing their own shopping bag to carry their groceries home. And in Europe people do tend to bring their own bags to shop with, and seem to rely less on plastic bags.

Per Gabe Wigtil, program & outreach associate for the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection:

“On February 28th the Tucson Mayor and Council will be holding a study session discussion on how to reduce single-use bag consumption in the city. This film event will feature a Call-to-Action for participants to encourage our community leaders to legislate the consumption of fewer disposable bags. That the City of Tucson is discussing the possibility of such a forward-thinking measure presents a great opportunity for this community to combat a major environmental problem.”

Watch the move trailer from the Loft website (click here), which reminded me of how much plastic is in our lives.

So think about this movie when you’re in the grocery line, and the clerk asks you “Paper or plastic?” and you say “Neither, I brought my own bag.”

And then you say “Bag it!”

Tickets are $8 in advance and can be purchased at Summit Hut, Antigone Books, and the Tucson Audubon Nature Shop, or $10 at the door and online at www.sonorandesert.org.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival brings together a selection of films from the annual festival held each January in Nevada City, CA. The films speak to the environmental concerns and celebrations of our planet. “Films featured at Wild & Scenic give people a sense of place,” says Tour Manager Susie Sutphin. “In our busy lives, it’s easy to get disconnected from our role in the global ecosystem. When we realize that the change we need in this world begins with us we can start making a difference.”

Featured films of the evening include Bag It, Walking the Line, and Wild vs. Wall. Bag It seeks to unravel the complexities of our modern plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effects on our waterways, oceans, and our bodies. Walking the Line follows thru-hiker Adam Bradley as he walks 500 miles of a proposed transmission line – a line through some of the West’s most remote landscapes – to find out how our country’s transition to renewable energy will affect the land, wildlife and people. Wild vs. Wall examines the environmental impact of the current border policy. Created by the Borderlands Campaign of the Sierra Club – Grand Canyon Chapter, this film addresses the ecological effects of enforcement and infrastructure in the four states that share boundaries with Mexico.

The festival is a natural extension of the work of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection. The Coalition, comprised of 39 conservation and community groups, works to create a community where ecosystem health is important, nature and healthy wild animal populations have value, and where visitors, children and future generations can all drink clean water, breathe clean air, and find wild places to roam.

This year’s festival is being held in conjunction with Tucson Audubon Society’s first annual Bird & Wildlife Festival. Visitors from all over the world will be converging on Tucson for a week of birding and wildlife-related activities and the Coalition is excited to share the film festival as one of the featured evening programs.

The film festival offers an opportunity to entertain and engage the community while supporting the on-going work of the Coalition. Special thanks go out to local event sponsors Summit Hut and Betts Printing, the event’s major national sponsor Patagonia, as well as other local and national sponsors.

Sounds like it’s going to be a “wild” evening.