Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.
In search of a better way to live and make a living, and a better understanding of how the world really works.

	November 22, 2007

A Gift of Knowledge, Art and Appreciation © 2007 Melisa Christensen My friend Melisa, an extraordinary artist and blogger based in NYC, has decided to forgo the usual Christmas gifts in favour of gifting knowledge. She is sending people copies of her favourite documentary films. I think this is a brilliant idea, and an important statement. It conveys to the people you are sending gifts to that you care about the world we all live in, that you want them to know what you know, that you appreciate their intelligence and sensitivity to things that matter. It is a gift of art, and an appreciation of art. It is environmentally responsible. It is socially responsible and consistent with the Gift Economy -- if you can afford to buy copies, the proceeds will go to great documentary filmmakers to help finance additional work, and if you can't, well, your handmade copies may spur your recipients to support the artist by buying her/his other work. And it deprives the corporatists of the revenue they might otherwise get from sweatshop labour, fouling the environment, depleting resources and screwing the workers of affluent nations, if you'd bought some Chinese crap instead. In the spirit of this, I asked Melisa to help me compile a list of great documentaries to consider. Her list is more political than mine, while mine skews more to nature documentaries with a message. Here's our combined list: The Corporation Maxed Out Koyaanisqatsi (Earth Out of Balance) Jesus Camp MicroCosmos Who Killed the Electric Car? The Take: Occupy, Resist, Produce Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man The Power of Nightmares A Crude Awakening. Winged Migration March of the Penguins Why We Fight An Inconvenient Truth Sicko That's 15 to start. What's missing? If we get enough suggestions we'll create a permanent list and put it on the sidebar. (And for those who love documentaries, here's a blog with links to dozens of free online documentaries) Category: The Arts 8:32:37 PM  trackback []  comment []

© Copyright 2007 Dave Pollard. Last update: 01/12/2007; 3:06:21 PM.