Think Sustainable Film Series 

The purpose of this series is to create greater awareness about the importance of creating a sustainable future through the medium of documentary films. Films and discussions take place in the auditorium at Herrick District Library, 300 S. River Ave., Holland, MI.

The film series is free and open to the public.  All films start at 6:30 and are followed with discussion intended to give viewers ideas for how to act on the information.

About the films:

Two Towns of Jasper (90 minutes)
TWO TOWNS OF JASPER is a feature-length documentary about the racially motivated murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas in 1998. Conceived as a collaborative effort between a black and a white filmmaker, the film records the divergent experiences of black and white Jasper residents during the three trials of the local men charged with chaining Mr. Byrd to the back of a truck and dragging him to his death. From just weeks after the murder through three tension-filled trials, an all white crew documented the white community exclusively, and an all black crew filmed the black community. The resulting film is a unique multi-perspective portrait of an American town at ground zero of the nation’s debate on race relations.

The Right to Count (104 minutes)
This movie looks at what happens when the voting process in taken over by private companies that control the vote count, and the citizens are not allowed to verify if their vote was cast as they intended

Affluenza (56 minutes)
Produced for PBS by the network's Seattle affiliate KCTS, the semi-satirical documentary Affluenza dissects America's "rampant materialism" and "epidemic of overconsumption." After exploring the causes of affluenza, the film provides a diagnosis of the symptoms and suggests possible treatments -- or "escapes" -- for the afflicted viewer. National Public Radio personality Scott Simon serves as host, while guest stars include Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, who suggest how to get off the "work and spend treadmill" by citing their best-selling book Your Money or Your Life; Kalle Lasn, published of Adbuster magazine and creator of anti-manipulative "subvertisements"; Jennifer Gallus and Olivia Martin, teenaged authors of the award-winning play Barbie Get Real, which skewers the conspicuous-consumption cult of the Barbie Doll; and Gleen Stanton, social research analyst for public policy on behalf of James Dobson's Focus on the Family group, who discusses religious conservatism's response to materialism in everyday life.

Escape from Affluenza (56 minutes)
Escape from Affluenza is a one-hour PBS special providing practical solutions to the problem of “affluenza” — an epidemic of stress, waste, overconsumption and environmental decay. Escape from Affluenza shows how some Americans are calling a halt to keeping up with the Joneses and abandoning the consumer chase. The program is a sequel to the popular special, Affluenza which premiered on PBS in September, 1997.

Think Sustainable is hosted by 3 E's Initiative, Herrick District Library, and Local Future.