Media Release - July 2, 2010

Dryden Rotary to welcome zero waste spokespersons Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin to the City and host screening of their movie “The Clean Bin Project.”

For a year, they bought nothing and threw away zilch.  Now BC Filmmakers are cycling Canada & “Talking Trash” and inspiring Zero Waste with their Documentary Film.

What started as a personal challenge – a household competition to see who could produce the least amount of garbage – has now become a comedic feature documentary that will be coming to Dryden for a single showing on Wednesday, July 21 at 7:00 p.m. at The Centre, 100 Casimir Ave.

Filmmakers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer are on the road on bicycles showing their film The Clean Bin Project in communities across Canada with the goal of getting others to give “zero waste” a go.

The Clean Bin Project is a feature documentary film about a regular couple and their quest to answer the question “is it possible to live completely waste free?” Partners Jen and Grant go head to head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least landfill garbage in an entire year.  Their light-hearted competition to reduce, reuse and recycle their way to the smallest garbage bin is set against a darker examination of the large-scale environmental impacts of our, “throw-way society.”

“We had watched a lot of environmental films that were really informative, but we always felt overwhelmed and deflated at the end of them,” explains Grant, who directed and edited the film, “we wanted to make a movie that showed how choosing to do just one thing, like reducing your trash, can be not only manageable, but really empowering and fun.”

The pair has already been garnering accolades for their film, winning a 2010 MOBI award from the Recycling council of BC.  “We just started as a personal challenge, but it turns out that people are really intrigued by how we managed to produce so little garbage,” says Jen, “So we made a film about it.”

The Rotary Club of Dryden in support of environmental awareness is pleased to host the screening of this film.

Admission will be by donation at the door with proceeds towards the filmmakers cycling tour of Canada.

The video that I entered in the Marion Drysdale Contest for the theme, “Suppress Excess; Living Within Our Means,” won provincially in the video-animation category.  I was presented a framed certificate at the award ceremony by the Minister for Education.  This is a prestigious Student Achievement Award held by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and it was an absolute honour to be chosen as a winner.

My video demonstrates the importance of the Marion Drysdale Contest theme; becoming a conscious consumer, because one person can make a difference.

I’ve been completing scholarship applications lately and I love this question.  I decided to share my answer with the group as a thank you to all teachers.

What aspect of your life science education has been most rewarding?

Throughout my science education I have been taught to understand natural systems.  This has been extremely rewarding since it has sparked my appreciation for the complexity of nature.  This appreciation is what drives my desire to practice and encourage sustainable lifestyle; I would like to ensure that the complexity of nature is available for future generations to appreciate as well.

I want to thank them because I am sure that they have taught a student something that has brought enlightenment to the student’s life.

“It is necessary that all the people of this region are given a forum to celebrate our strength and character and to feel safe and comfortable enough to take the long, hard and honest look at the challenges we face in an era of great uncertainty.” – Alex Boulet, SCN Chairperson

Dr. Mirella Stroink (Lakehead University) was the initial speaker at the conference.  Her ideas were from a psychological perspective.  She identified one of our main barriers to sustainability as mental assumption.  It leads us to assume that the marketplace is a more important ecossytem in which to seek survival than the biophysical environment; an assumption that affects our environmental behaviour.  She proposed that communities will be more secure environmentally and economically if they become more adaptive and resilient.  With the community of Dryden in mind, it is not resilient to be extremely dependent on one sector.

How do we achieve resilience?

• Diversity: (people, business, energy, sources of food, land use planning, communities, connections…etc.)  Each community must examine it’s own resources to achieve resilience.
• Modularity: Become interconnected both locally and broadly.  Modular systems can self-organize in the event of shock (since they already have patterns of interactions within their communities).

Localization is our first priority.  We must build the capability to produce locally what we CAN produce locally.

Building Resilience:

• land use planning
• business development (www.livingeconomies.org)
• energy and food production
• change behaviour
• education (change content and approach since it is currently designed to prepare people for the “marketplace ecosystem”)
• teach hard skills (farming…)
• unplug (replace the TV with stimulating community events to develop a community identity)

.

During the conference, solutions were discussed during the youth forum and were shared during the conference visionary session.

The current status of my campaign:

• Sioux Lookout is moving ahead with a plan to ban single-use plastic shopping bags.  On Oct. 21 the municipal council agreed to draft a bylaw that would prevent retail outlets from using plastic bags for customer purchases.
• Here in Dryden, local support has been encouraging.  Many people are more aware of the issue and now use reusable shopping bags.
• My “Earth Day 2010 Challenge” is on Thursday April 22nd, I will keep you posted.
• Following my 2010 Earth Day Challenge in April, I will approach council and ask them to reconsider a bylaw to drastically reduce plastic bag waste.  I will share with them the “Earth Day 2010 Challenge” feedback.

I would like to share with you some great news!  I submitted a video entry to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation Student Achievement Awards.  The award contest that I entered was established by the provincial assembly in 1984 in honour of Marion Drysdale for her dedicated work, and so is known as the “Marion Drysdale Award.”  Each year a new theme is determined.  This year the theme is “Suppress Excess: Living Within Our Means.”  The video that I created and titled “Making a Difference by Way of Waste Reduction” won regionally, as well as provincially (the video is available to watch on the “contact” page.)

My video features the “problem” (waste in landfills) but it is mostly about how I have personally acted to make a difference; since one person can truly make a difference.  The video is positive and inspirational, showing how our actions to reduce waste add up.

On Tuesday February 16, 2010 I met with Mayor Anne Krassilowsky at City Hall to show her my video; demonstrating my initiative regarding work with environmental causes.  I began with a short introduction to my campaign.  Next I showed my video.  Then I asked her a couple of questions… obviously asking her to reconsider my plastic bag ban request.  From her response, I can tell that my campaign is still necessary.

“On January 1, 2008 I made a New Year’s resolution to raise awareness and discourage the use of single use plastic shopping bags.  Being anonymously nominated to carry the Olympic Torch means that I have raised community awareness and I have also become an inspirational role model. I am honoured to be recognized for my youth activism.”

Following this experience, I realized my responsibility as a community role model and accepted invitations to deliver inspirational presentations.  My message to schools of children was to, “Have big dreams.  Set big goals.  Speak for what you believe in.”  I spoke about my experience as a torchbearer and the most important events that lead to that opportunity. One person can truly make a difference.