Each quarter the marketing department for each Whole Foods store invites two non-profits to be recipients of their donation program called Dimes for Donations. When customers bring in their own bags, the 10-cent cost of a bag can either be reimbursed to the customer or donated to one of the non-profits. Green Planet Films is currently a program recipient at the Blithedale store in Mill Valley until September 29.
Based in Mill Valley, Green Planet Films, is a non-profit distributor of nature and environmental films from around the globe, and was founded in 2003 by Suzanne Harle. Green Planet Stream, the companion site to Green Planet Films, was launched in 2011 to increase viewership to an international community.
Now this Mill Valley distributor is ‘’acting locally’’ by offering free access to streaming videos on Green Planet Stream to Marin library patrons through MARINet, the County’s electronic database, accessible online (with a library card barcode and pin) or inside any of Marin’s libraries.
One of Green Planet Films most sought after films is called Klunkerz, which is about the counter-culture movement of road and mountain biking in the Mt. Tamalpais and Marin County area. Klunkerz is available for online viewing thru the MARINet interface or on Green Planet Stream.
The money raised by Whole Foods Dimes for Donations program will go into the further development of film nights, and online streaming. Additionally, future expansion of their streaming video service for libraries will grow from Marin and San Francisco to other counties in California, the west coast, and then east across the country.
The Marin film distribution organization specializes in promotion and distribution of environmental DVDs to schools and libraries across the country. Some films are hilarious, like the three New Yorkers attempting a vegan diet in Vegucated. Others are frightening, like the effects of nuclear fallout exposed in Nuclear Savage. Each film, however, offers insight into the transformations happening across the world in our natural environment, and the steps that we can take to adjust and to help live conscientiously and sustainably with these changes.
