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Documenting Sustainable & Biophilic Design
November 11, 2009
We believe that buildings should be designed for energy conservation, using passive solar techniques and extra insulation. We also feel that incorporating natural features (a green roof, natural light, varying angles, etc.) into building design promotes a healthy, productive space that people will want to maintain for the long term. We are pleased to be part of documenting these features in the development of Kroon Hall, the new home for the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. This building will soon receive a LEED Platinum designation, the highest rating certified by the US Green Building Council.
Since the inception of Kroon Hall, Tamarack has been involved in the creative development and production of a suite of educational outreach materials. We documented construction progress, including the Groundbreaking Ceremony and key construction milestones, for display on the building website (environment.yale.edu/kroon). To share the story and design features with visitors, faculty, staff, and students, we produced a brochure and created multimedia content for the building's two electronic Green Touchscreen kiosks in partnership with Quality Attributes Software. We are also completing a video of Kroon to be shared on the website and in other venues.
Kroon is already getting noticed in green architecture circles, including both Metropolis Magazine and Green Source. Our interpretive materials have helped Kroon reach the LEED Platinum designation. We are proud to promote this development.
In related news, we are in the middle of a video project on Biophilic Design, accompanying Yale F&ES Professor Stephen Kellert's book on the subject. Learn more from his podcast here. |
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Building For Sustainability
October 29, 2009
We are proud to support sustainable building design for affordable housing and community spaces with the new Building For Sustainability website tool for the Chicago Community Loan Fund. This dynamic site provides resources to builders on financial incentives, certification trainings, green building materials, best practices, case studies, and upcoming events.
The Chicago Community Loan Fund provides low-cost, flexible financing and technical assistance to community development organizations for affordable housing, economic development and social service initiatives in low and moderate-income neighborhoods. If you want to put your savings to work for your own community, look up your local community loan fund for investment opportunities.
We are continuing to work with CCLF on their main site, to be launched in December.
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Wetlands & Wonder Wins Award
October 1, 2009
A Tamarack production on the importance of connecting children with nearby nature was awarded first place in the short video category, judged in the 2009 National Association for Interpretation Media Competition. "Wetlands and Wonder" is a short documentary that explores the importance of protecting and restoring urban wetlands not only because of their ecological value but also because of the role they play in childhood development and exposing children to the natural world. The video was also recognized at the 2009 International Wildlife Film Festival with a Merit Award for Message.
Tamarack partnered with ECOS Communications of Boulder, CO to create the video for the Wetlands Program of the Region 8 office of the Environmental Protection Agency. "Wetlands and Wonder" features interviews with Rich Louv (author of Last Child in the Woods and founder of the Children and Nature Network), Bob Pyle (writer and lepidopterist -- see Orion magazine) and Joan Almon (director of the Alliance for Childhood).
To see the film, visit the EPA's website. |
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"This Land" -- an environmental justice folk recording project
September 15, 2009
We just launched a website to support a new CD by Philadelphia-based folk musician / grassroots activist Joshua Marcus. Each song is based on the real experiences of individuals who have fought against environmental injustice in their communities. The project was funded by our friends at the Wild Gift program.
The following is a letter Joshua sent coinciding with the CD's release:
Dear Friends,
Over the past year-and-a-half I’ve been working on This Land: an environmental justice folk recording project, with community groups and individuals in the eastern United States. I am pleased and proud to announce that the project CD and website are now complete and available at www.thislandourland.org. On the site, you can listen to all of the songs and interviews, as well as read the lyrics and background information.
Following the tradition of social justice folk music, such as songs from the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, I partnered with seven different community action groups and individuals to create songs about their current successes over and struggles with environmental justice issues. The songs focus on issues like mountaintop removal, toxic soil and water contamination, and environmental racism. Through these seven songs and accompanying interviews we hope to share the powerful experiences and perspectives of those involved.
Over the next six months, I’ll be traveling and performing the material from the CD, and offering some reflections on the project and environmental justice issues. If you are interested in having me come to give a performance or seminar near you (music venue, college, church, library, etc.) please let me know. Check out the shows page for a list of upcoming performances.
Please do take a minute to check out the website and consider purchasing a CD or donating to the project. All the money collected from CD sales and donations goes directly to the groups involved to fund their efforts. Please consider buying one to give as a gift this coming holiday season.
Thanks for your continued support,
Joshua Marcus |
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Additions to Team Tamarack
April 28, 2009
Our crew has experienced quite a bit of growth this year... we're up to nine. Look out, softball leagues.
A special welcome to Daniel Shearer, who will soon join us as a full-time Project Manager. We have known Daniel for several years as the Communications Director at the DREAM Program. Daniel is also well known around Burlington for his tireless community work -- as a campaigner, a commissioner for the city's electric department, a captain of a local rescue squad, a little league coach, and one half of the world-famous YIP YIP MONSTERS (see photo on right).
We have also hired two awesome interns who are working on our Vermont Climate Witness Project. Video Intern Jonah Grumbine is studying Political Change Through Filmmaking at Burlington College. Writing Intern Julia Klas recently graduated from the University of Vermont.
You can read more about them and the rest of Team Tamarack on our staff page. |
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Tamarack partners with VHCC on Conservation Can't Wait campaign
January 27, 2009
Tamarack recently completed a video on the importance of land conservation in Vermont as part of an Internet-based campaign entitled "Conservation Can't Wait: Vermonters speak out for continued public investment in critical conservation efforts."
This initiative is being led by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition in response Governor Douglas’s drastic affordable housing and conservation budget cuts. The video includes interviews with business leaders, farmers, and other stakeholders, including:
Mary Powell, President and CEO of Green Mountain Power
Madeleine Kunin, Former Governor of Vermont
Pat Robins, Founder and Chairman of Symquest
The video and more information about the campaign is available at: www.vlt.org |
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Moving the Office
May 22, 2008
We moved out of our cozy digs on the Burlington waterfront last week. Bill is spending the next month filming & traveling in Europe and Pete will be based in Idaho for the second half of the summer. So, we'll be transient for a while. If you communicate with us via email you won't notice the difference, but if you want to snail mail us please do so at 99 Rabbit Road, Shelburne, Vermont 05482. Once things settle down we'll be opening our new office in Montpelier. |
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Ted Joins the T-Rack Team
March 6, 2008
We'd like to welcome our new web developer, Ted Adriance. A seasoned PHP programmer, Ted increases our capacity to develop highly interactive, easily updated websites. He joins graphic designer Colleen McCabe and audio producer Jaime Garamella as the newest members of Team T-Track. Visit the Who We Are page to learn more about them. |
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Tamarack launches searchable Northern Forest research website
November 3, 2007
Today we launched a new website for the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC), a competitive grant program that supports cross-disciplinary, collaborative research in the Northern Forest -- a 26 million acre working landscape that stretches from eastern Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont, and into northern New York.
NSRC's Kate Baldwin, Shari Halik, and Brendan Weiner were ideal clients -- both critical and receptive to new ideas (and fun). The result is a site that we're quite happy with. It allows NSRC staff to add new research projects through a painless, browser-based form. The content is automatically stored in a MySQL database, integrated throughout the site, and searchable. You can check out the good work that NSRC-funded scientists are doing on behalf of our favorite forest at nsrcforest.org |
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Tamarack & DREAM receive EPA grant for youth media project
September 1, 2007
Over the course of the 2007-2008 school year, Tamarack will be working with a group of young people from Elm Street Apartments, an affordable housing community in Winooski, Vermont, to produce a video about their environment. This project builds on youth media work Tamarack has done with the New Haven Eco-Video project and EnvironMentors Investigators in Washington, DC.
DREAM Environmental Productions is a partnership with the DREAM Program, a mentoring program that connects kids from kids from affordable housing neighborhoods with college students in one-on-one mentoring relationships. This youth media project is funded by a 2007 Environmental Education grant from the New England office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Here is the summary from our proposal:
"DREAM Environmental Productions will empower high school kids living in affordable housing communities in Vermont with the opportunity to create videos about their local environment. They will share their videos with a larger audience through public screenings at their neighborhood family center, at a film festival, and on a website that they design and create.
The target audience, urban high school students, has been underserved by existing environmental education efforts. By producing their own videos, they will begin to recognize and take ownership of the environment that exists not off in the mountains, but in their backyards. They will learn to become stewards of the streams, forests, and green spaces that affect the quality of life in their communities. And they will develop valuable communication skills -- through video production, website design, and public relations -- that will serve them in their careers. These skills will be taught by Bill Finnegan and Pete Land of Tamarack Media, who have led similar programs for kids in Washington, DC and New Haven, CT.
The DREAM Program provides a readily accessible network of kids, parents, and college-aged mentors in eight affordable
housing communities across Vermont. DREAM Environmental Productions will begin with a six-month pilot project serving kids in Elm Street Apartments, managed by the City of Winooski’s Housing Authority. The pilot will include longitudinal assessments of the kids’ knowledge of and attitudes toward their local environment. Building on the success of the pilot, DREAM Environmental Productions will eventually serve kids in all eight communities, creating a model for other
communities in other states. Over time, the goal of DREAM Environmental Productions is to not only engage kids in stewardship, but to demonstrate actual improvement of environmental resources in the targeted communities." |
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Tamarack video wins 3rd place in 'Convenient Truths' contest
April 19, 2007
Treehugger and Seventh Generation have just announced the results of the Convenient Truths contest, and Tamarack's 'Change a Light Bulb' is the third prize winner.
A few months back, we took a week off work to produce six short videos in collaboration with our good friends at Ironwood Productions, Untucked Films, and the DREAM Program, as well as our two favorite women -- Florence Miller and Laura Goldblatt. After a few weeks of voting by visitors to truths.treehugger.com both 'Change a Light Bulb' and 'DREAM Big' moved to the semifinal round, where a team of celebrity judges made the final decision. Thanks to everyone who viewed our videos and voted for them.
It looks like Treehugger and Seventh Generation will continue to host all of the videos on the contest website, so it's not too late to watch them all. Our other entries are:
#49. Eat Local
#52. Chicken Little
#53. Road Rage
#62. Friends Don't Let Friends...
Convenient Truths sought "inspired, pragmatic videos to help us get out of this mess" (i.e. the climate change crisis), and we are honored to have made it so far in the contest. We also plan to build on this entry into the world of internet video, so keep checking back for more videos and please send us any ideas you have for short films you'd like to see. |
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Radio Documentary on a Community of Recyclers in Cairo Airs on the BBC
September 15, 2006
This year the joint BBC and RGS prize for the most adventurous and unusual dream travel idea - a Journey of a Lifetime - went to Jessica Boyd and Tamarack producer Bill Finnegan.
In July 2006, Jessica and Bill made a journey to the largest slum in one of the largest cities in the world, Manshiet Nasr of Cairo, and into the rich culture of the Zabbaleen, a sophisticated community of 25,000 recyclers. The Zabbaleen - which means 'rubbish people' in Arabic - are an ethnically distinct community who inhabit the Manshiet Nasr slum. The Zabbaleen are the world's greatest recyclers, and they owe their living to the city's mountains of waste.
The Zabbaleen migrated from rural Egypt in the 1950s during a time of drought. Initially, these displaced farmers survived by collecting organic waste from households around the city to feed their pigs. But they soon found value in other forms of rubbish.
Over the years, they have evolved into a sophisticated recycling outfit - and they now recycle 80% to 90% of the rubbish they collect. Jessica and Bill's radio journey traced their route along the Nile from their traditional homeland, exploring a rich oral history rife with challenges.
They followed the Zabbaleen's daily routine of rubbish collection and sorting, and the final transformation of these raw materials into products useable by industry. Finally, Jessica and Bill looked at the future of the Zabbaleen. The community is currently under threat from plans to outsource the city's garbage collection to European firms, so the time was ripe for an exploration into its distinctive flavour and dynamic.
Listen to the program on-line at the Journey of a Lifetime Website. |
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Building Community with Greenspace on PBS
May 28, 2006
In the summer of 2003, Tamarack producer Bill Finnegan documented the community restoration work undertaken by groups of neighbors throughout New Haven, Connecticut as part of the Urban Resource Initiative's Community Greenspace program. The resulting 25-minute video is now reaching a national audience through the public television series Natural Heroes, which showcases independently produced films from all over the world with one common theme: real people making a difference for the environment and enhancing the world around us. For a preview or to watch the entire program on-line, go to the Natural Heroes website.
To learn more about the Urban Resources Initiative and watch a short Public Service Announcement produced by Tamarack, go to www.urbanresourcesinitiative.org. |
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EnvironMentors Investigators in DC Environmental Film Festival
March 23, 2006
Tamarack Media is proud to present for a second year a youth video project produced in collaboration with the EnvironMentors program of the National Environmental Education Training Foundation.
EnvironMentors Investigators is a unique and compelling youth perspective on environmental issues of concern in Washington, D.C. Join D.C. high school filmmakers as they explore Washington's urban environment, from their Eastern Senior High School classroom to the banks of the Anacostia River. Students document serious environmental issues within their community, sharing the environmental science projects they produced about them and the relationships they developed with adult mentors through EnvironMentors, a program of the National Environmental Education & Training Foundation. Students underwent intensive training in storytelling, investigative journalism and film production.
Directed and filmed by students at Eastern Senior High School, Washington, D.C. Produced by Bill Finnegan Tamarack Media. Coordinated by EnvironMentors, a program of National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF). |
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