Entertainment Spring

In short...

The SUSTAINABLE PLANET film festival is in its third year already. Michael SWISKAY has his way with words and here’s a combination of both realities.

Thankfully, it is becoming a major element of the contemporary and informed discourse that mankind has developed such that human activity is the principal contributor to global climate change. The result, that ‘Mother Nature” can no longer perpetuate the sublime order that has nurtured all, but it has become strained, perhaps forced into environmental convulsion e.g. Hurricane Katrina, Tsunamis, raging wildfires, etc. The conventional wisdom rightfully indicates the foreboding horror of the slippery environmental slope we all are on. Convention makes observation of the cruel impact said changes will have with heightened magnitude afflicting future generations. We require solutions!

The Sustainable Film Festival approaches this vast global exigency not as just another voice professing a clamor of doom. It is a font of ideas of what must be done to perpetuate our planet as a vital and nurturing home for future generations and ourselves.

Pamela Peeters, a native of Belgium, has devoted her professional and personal life to engage in communication making incisive reference to topics noted above. This manifests through her media activity; The MNN TV Series Our Planet, marketing partner UNESCO Decade for Sustainable Development, reaching a zenith with her creation of The Sustainable Planet Film Festival. First seen at Lincoln Center and later on in Belgium and Jordan, it continued it’s important audience dialog at the Chelsea Art Museum in 2007. As an enhancement, the films were supplemented by panels of the environmentally informed.

For 2008, there are not one but two appointments: the GoGreen Expo on April 26th and 27th at the New York Hilton and later on this summer in Chelsea.

For more information you can e mail and here’s is a selection of past screenings:

Strange Days on Planet Earth, USA, Sea Studios Foundation

The greatest global change humans have ever witnessed. Where are we headed? What can we do to alter this course of events? National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth explores these questions.

AVANTI, Belgium
The Belgian government funds an initiative to bring awareness of sustainable development to the country’s young citizenry.

New Seasons Market, USA, Arnold Creek Productions; architecture to Zucchini

Socially responsible businesses and the passionate leaders who drive them. An ECO pioneer puts the principles of sustainability to work

Wagf for water, Jordan, HUCN

A Muslim religious ideal, almost a common law trust as an important asset…here, water.

The Pixel Foundry-producer, Brazil, in association with John Harrington

We may call them swine, but pigs can contribute to our sustainable planet too!

Pratham, India

Many children in India are underprivileged, these 190 million are in need of schooling. Pratham can provide a better future.

Water Drop of Life, USA, United Nations

Every community everywhere has to have water!

The Voting Project Belgium, Producer: Dirk Callebaut

Democracy has and unique and powerful influence, engaging young adults in Keerbergen,

Urban Solution, Brazil, Producer: Maria Vaz

Curtiba: for decades the model of city planning, a Brazilian metropolis of almost 2 million, Curitiba; cozy, welcoming and livable. Testament of an innovative approach to public transport, recycling, affordable housing, parks and simple human processes that engender sustainability.

Jordan: An Eco Adventure, Jordan, Producer: Peter Greenberg

A journey through Jordan develops the idea that tourists be attracted; voyages and

adventures that participate in the given destination’s ecosystem.

How to...

Launch your own CSR projects.

Companies do it since decades and so could you. In the corporate level it is called CSR, which stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. It is a concept whereby organizations voluntarily take steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large. While there are parties that critique CSR as window dressing, we at Sustainable Styles favor it very much.

But you don’t have to belong to a company to do good to Mother Earth or your neighborhood. It is therefore that we would like to propose the URBAN ECOLOGY book to you, as a backbone to your social / environmental responsibility project.

URBAN ECOLOGY

Urban Ecology is a compilation of short stories on life in the cosmopolitan city of New York. The book proposes 30 short stories, written by the environmental economist Pamela Peeters. The readers are invited to create their own URBAN ECOLOGY through various original assignments.

Here’s what to do:

•GO online and become a member
•Get the URBAN ECOLOGY book
•Read the book and select your project
•Send your picture and your project proposal
•Organize your first event and keep us informed

Become an ECO Leader and perhaps, you’ll be featured in our Summer Issue!

Where to...

Go for spiritual entertainment

There is a downtown location where the Alwan for the Arts organization holds events from time to time. When I made my maiden voyage, Ahmet Erdogdular presented a traditional singing style infused with voice techniques particular to the Ottoman musical tradition. The concert I attended illustrated various genres of classical Ottoman music and introduced its famous composers by presenting a variety of forms as a reflection of the multicultural environment in which this music was created. ( sarki, beste, agir semai, turku and ilahi, as well as vocal improvisational forms, gazel and kaside). Being a RUMI fan, I particularly enjoyed the Sufi repertoire, which were performed in Sufi remembrance rituals and I already registered myself for the Alwan for the arts newsletter as to be updated on future concerts.

Arabic nights in New York, bring them on!!!

Interview...

Meet Christian Plouvier, A Belgian flute player who travels the world with his diplomat wife. He always leaves a mark wherever he goes, and includes the respect for the culture he enters in his performances…..

PP: We met in a very unusual way. Do you believe in serendipity?

CP: Of course, 100% ...! My life has been and is full of events and encounters that are not foreseen, I definitely believe in fate…! But I think we must also seek opportunities and go for it. Nothing happens out of itself.

PP: Tell us about your musical career? When and where did it start and how did it evolve.

CP: We were living in Brussels at that time, although my hometown is Antwerp originally. I started playing music at the age of 10 when I was a boy-scout (we used to sing around the fire camp with guitar accompaniment). Initially, I learned to play on my own with a play-along method and managed pretty well, but I wanted to improve and asked my father to go to the music school. Unfortunately, when I applied at the beginning of the school year there was no place left for the guitar course because it was very popular at that time, so the Head of the Music School told met I could either start the violin, trumpet, piano, cello or the flute. My father said to me: “Why don’t you play the flute, it is a nice instrument and it sounds like a bird!” So I went to my first lesson and it really was “Love at first sight”! I absolutely loved the sound of the flute, and I quickly improved very much because I practiced and played as much as I could. When I became 16, my father died unexpectedly. I told my mother I wanted to become a professional flutist, she agreed, so I combined High school and Music Conservatory in Antwerp and graduated at 19, much earlier than average. I started a teaching career as well as playing in several orchestra’s in Belgium. I was a member of a chamber music ensemble

PP: You worked in Belgium, Africa, Japan, China and now Turkey. What is universal about people.

CP: People are pretty much the same, except for cultural differences which are very interesting to discover. But the key word is love: everybody wants and needs to give and receive love, without love one cannot live not be happy.

PP: Does it happen that you compose yourself?

CP: No, but I did some arrangements for a mixed choir whilst living in Africa. I am more of a performer, I like to convey feelings and to touch the hearts of the audience, to communicate through the music. I think there is already beautiful music to be played and you need to focus a lot to become a good composer. I leave it to the real composers.

PP: You are married to a career women, who is a Belgian diplomat. How does that impact your life.

CP: We are moving every 3 to 4 years to another country, a thrilling experience each time, but quite hard for the children because they loose all of their friends and have to adapt to a completely different environment and culture, very disturbing for them. On the other hand, it is very enriching and makes them grow socially much quicker than other kids. For me it is incredibly interesting and challenging but I enjoy every minute of my expat life!

PP: Did you have a mentor, or a particular source of inspiration?

CP: The world famous French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, whom I had the privilege to study with, is definitely my mentor and model. His charisma and personality, his virtuosity and total mastery of the flute was and still is my inspiration.

PP: You are known to perform in children’s hospital in Japan as to lift up their spirits. If you could chose a particular person to perform for, who would be on your wish list?

CP:I have a great admiration for Nelson Mandela, I would be very honored to perform for him. But every person who is in need, such as orphans, disabled or ill people deserve to hear good music as it heals the soul and brings peace to them.

PP: what is your wish for the future of our planet

CP: I am very aware of our planet and our future. I personally try to respect the nature, not to use the car if I can avoid it, save water. If every citizen does this individually on a daily basis, it makes a big difference worldwide. Recently I played a charity concert and the donations were used to plant seven (7 ) new trees somewhere here in Turkey. A very interesting initiative I think.

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