New Video from Climate Listening Project Southeast Tour

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New Video from Climate Listening Project Southeast Tour

  • Dayna Reggero

    Dayna Reggero travels to work locally around the globe. Her latest effort is the Climate Listening Project film series.
It has been one year since I began filming and sharing climate stories for the Climate Listening Project. We just released a new video connecting food, farming and climate change after a Southeast Cultivating Resilience tour. I was excited to be on the road with filmmakers who want to do good in the world. The farmers stories were unique and inspiring and the south was blooming and blossoming in early summer. We collaborated with local agriculture expert Laura Lengnick, author of Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate (New Society Publishers). After the tour, Laura shared her thoughts on collaborating with Andrea Desky and me: "Ran into a poet friend today and told him about how working with you two has blown open my mind to the creativity and power in telling brief stories - memes - fleeting images.... He said, "Oh. You're doing poetry!" His observation brought what we are doing into sharp focus for me. He talked about how poets know they cannot possibly tell the whole story, so they look for those meaningful moments - tiny details - powerful sensory images - that engage rich responses in the reader/listener that go far beyond the words. I love thinking about these videos this way!" We traveled from Asheville to Cedar Grove, North Carolina to Bluffton, Georgia to Peltzer, South Carolina to interview three award-winning farmers featured in Laura's new book. Farmers experience climate every day of every year; and they rely on climate to provide us with the food we eat that nourishes our health and families. The goal was to try to connect stories around the typical American meal: fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat. In North Carolina, we spent the day at Maple Spring Gardens with fruit and vegetable farmer Ken Dawson. The rich landscape is overflowing with flowers, vegetables and fruit. At the end of the day, I couldn't resist jumping in the spring-fed pond. Next, we went to Georgia, where we enjoyed two days with Will Harris of White Oak Pastures. We saw acres and acres of forests and farm lands with so many diverse roaming birds and animal species, and lots of local people working.  Finally, we visited South Carolina Farmer of the Year, Tom Trantham of Happy Cow Creamery. With a drone, we were able to see the dairy cows happily foraging and relaxing in healthy fields and natural forests.  It was an honor to hear their stories. These innovative farmers have been farming for decades and work hard every day to cultivate resilience on their farms in their communities.  This new video premiered this month at the University of Montana and online via Huffington Post. There will be a local screening of Climate Listening Project videos at the Asheville Bioneers Conference at Lenoir-Rhyne University on November 13th. Share your climate story and see what other people are saying on Facebook @ Climate Listening Project. I am excited to be sharing stories from our resilient community of good people, groups and businesses here on Asheville Grit. Have a story to share? Connect with me here.