Thirty people gathered tonight in Didsbury to watch a documentary called “No Impact Man.” The film showing was followed by a wide-ranging and open discussion about the war (the 1939-45 one), the seductions of advertising, “what is the good life” and carbon literacy.

The film is one of a series being put on by Didsbury Film Society at St James and Emmanuel Parish Centre (behind the library). In exchange for £4.50 you get nibbles and drinks (soft drinks or wine) and the chance to mingle with people who are also interested in the sorts of films – ones about environmental issues, social justice, peace and that sort of thing – that don’t get a long run at the multiplexes. We will publicise the future events in our calendar.

Tonight’s film was about a New York writer who took his family (wife and young daughter) on a year-long odyssey of reducing (to the point of no electricity) his environmental impact. The film was good (perhaps ten minutes too long; review to follow on the MCFly website shortly) – more or less “Supersize Me” about carbon footprints. What it inspired – a conversation with most of the people who saw the fiml sat in a circle listening intently to one another. It’s this sort of thing – civil society – that needs to be nurtured and cultivated. And informed about what is being done by elected and non-elected people to create a low carbon culture. But that’s another blog post…

Marc Hudson
mcmonthly@gmail.com

UPDATE: The next two films are
Weds 7th March ‘The Garden’. See http://documentaries.about.com/od/revie2/fr/theGarden.htm
Weds 2nd May The Economics of Happiness. See www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/