#ciff2013

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USA: World without farmers - One Hungry Planet

Imagine a world without farmers ... Still think food comes from the grocery store? Watch our new video with lots of interesting facts about agriculture - and...

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I AM COMING OUT!

OMG GMO

This was a very interesting movie. Going into the movie i thought it was going to be a one sided movie with a strong agenda against GMOs. But did cover each view point very well. Though I do have to say it was not enough to change my view point on GMOs. It did make me think and was nice to see but, I am COMING OUT WITH the fact that I am not against GMO. Many people may be upset with me but I am also not entirely for GMOs. I believe this is something our country had developed a need for.  And we do need more studies into what effects they have on us and our environment.  I think the fact that there are plants that can with stand certain things is really helpful for crop loss and I don't see that fact making GMOs is a more specified version of cross breeding, Where we have a little emote control and can breed stuff that wouldn't normally pollinate each other, which is kind of like how they created things like the Pluot (an apricot and plum that where the results of come cross pollination but mainly budding*.) Also many trees are made but attaching bits and pieces of other trees to a main tree. No one is against that, is it?I feel that GMOs are just a more scientific version of these types of processes. I did not write that to upset some people but rather to share why I feel the GMOs are not necessarily a bad thing.

I would not mind GMO labeling But just because something has a GMO on it  doesn't mean I wont buy it. It is just giving me the knowledge...

Back to the film, I really enjoyed the way it was done and how the story progressed. It was a good story line that left you with an extremely open ending. I would recommended it as an interesting watch but I felt that it was not going to make as big as impact as what you might think. But that might just be me being stubborn. 

 If one day comes and I need to change my views it will happen, but it was they day I watched this movie.

*Budding- Asexual reproduction that is the result of a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud on another one

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Most boring party ever!

I went to the closing night party for CIFF Sunday night. For the film makers and industry representatives this would be a wonderful night to network and reflect on the weekend with drinks and some fancy snacks. For a college student like myself it was uber boring.

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0.30

Pandora's Promise was a very interesting Documentary. It looked into Nuclear energy and the involvement it could have in helping Climate Change. One thing we rarely hear about at Unity College is about any other energy production besides energy sources like solar and we where the first US college to divest from fossil fuels. We mainly hear onside views that our college has. This made the film extremely interesting to see a positive view on an energy source that I have only heard negative things about. I found it to be a very interesting and informative documentary about Nuclear energy and the impact it has had and could have on climate change and the environment. It really got me thinking about where our energy comes from and what really is in my opinion is the best way to get energy. I still do not really have answer as to wether i think Nuclear energy is bad or good, and which energy source I personally think is the best. One thing I do know is that someone mentioned a bit about how solar can not really heat a house, which from personal experience i think is wrong. I remember my first experience with solar energy was in a house in Vermont in the middle of winter. The whole house was run on solar energy, and let me tell you in the middle of winter I have never been in a house that was warmer.

One thing i connected with the film was the use of Coal for energy. After watching Harlan County USA in the morning and then hearing about the negative effects off coal in Pandora's Promise  I really feel the we need to cut our dependency on coal as an energy source. Not only because of the environmental impacts but the impacts to the coal workers. Coal Miners seem to have a dangerous and unhealthy job. But eliminating coal would have a horrible impact on jobs for coal workers, but if coal companies took all that man power and energy to get coal workers trained to produce another form of energy that could help the issue.

How we get our energy is not going to change over night and it is something that when we start to adjust will cause a lot of political, social and economical issues but will hopefully in the long run have a positive impact not only on our environment but in our social, political and economical areas. I walked away from this movie knowing that the issue of how we get our energy is something that is going to take a long time to find and switch over to the best practices and knowing that in my life time there may not be any change, but hoping that once i figure out my path I can help in moving along the issue.  Hopefully in my lifetime we start to make even more positive changes if we can not resolve the issues. 

The photo below shows background radiations in different parts of the world that was shown in movie. Click photo to see enlarged image.