Stop, Drop and Roll

01 May 2007 | Alameda Community | John Knox White

On Friday evening, the Alameda Marketplace will be holding a screening (Announcement here)  of a new PBS documentary called “Ripe for Change.” (watch a preview here). The documentary focuses on sustainable agricultural practices and the “intersection f food and politics in California over the last 3 years.”

The screening includes “light dinner” from local producers, and attendees will have a chance to meet the director/producer, Emiko Omori and others involved in the project.

The entrance fee, $15, is tax deductible and proceeds will benefit the Bay Area Video Coalition, a local non-profit that helps to train filmmakers around the bay.

As the discussion about development starts to wind up in Alameda, I’m constantly amazed how the “conversation” completely ignores regional and global aspects of our development choices. It is easier to limit oneself with simplified concepts (Like Less density = Less Traffic), but the issue is much more nuanced. It is true that fewer single family homes (SFHs) create less traffic than more single family homes. As do 3000 densely built homes compared to 1700 SFH—at least on local streets. But consider this: 1700 densely designed homes create less traffic than 1700 single family homes. And limiting houses in Alameda means more houses are built in Dublin, Tracy, Stockton, where travel options are extremely limited, necessitating driving, thereby clogging the interstates, which creates….you got it: more traffic that directly effects Alamedans.

This film looks like another piece to this complicated puzzle, the filmseries website says:

“Many Californians are struggling to fend off overdevelopment and the loss of farming lands and traditions while embracing innovative visions of agricultural sustainability. At the same time, California is where fast food was born and a center of the biotechnology industry and large corporate agribusiness. The debates raging in California over issues of food, agriculture, and sustainability have profound implications for all of America, especially in a world where scarcity is the norm and many natural resources are diminishing.”

By necessitating more building in the central valley, we are losing agricultural land (some of the most fertile in the world). This forces our food to be produced further and further away, which leads to less and less sustainability.

Check out the film, while I’m sure it’s not being offered as a part of the Measure A in Alameda discussion. The content fits nicely in that context.