Upcoming eco-festival Mega Earth Day will see local NGO EcoKnights screening an environmental-concerned documentary at the event: ‘Garbage! The Revolution Starts At Home’.
The American movie, directed by Andrew Nisker, depicts an urban American family asked to keep every scrap of their garbage for three months.
They were later brought to see where the garbage goes and how it affects the whole world.
The feature documentary will be screened at 10pm Saturday in the two-day event in Kota Damansara Community Forest Park.
“I think movies are a powerful medium to influence,” says EcoKnight Fadly Bakhtiar.
The NGO has been organising the Eco Film Festival annually, which sees a series of environment-themed films being screened.
The event organiser, Friends Of Kota Damansara (FOKD)’s vice president Jeffrey Phang shared the same opinion.
“In term of educating the public, we have to make it exciting, so (the public) can enjoy. Especially the critical mass, we have been thinking ways to convince them,” said Phang.
As an NGO who pushing for eco-friendly awareness, Fadly did not mind screening the movie for free at the event.
Fadly said the environmental issue is indeed a pressing crisis all over the world. Nevertheless, it is a collective effort which requires everybody to carry out their part.
“They should start from a small thing or small ways, for example switching off their lights during Earth Hour every year. It’s when they get used to it, they can gradually do it more frequently. It has to come step by step,”
Phang nodded, saying that society needs a transformation of people’s values ahead of environmental bankruptcy.
“People are taking more than caring, which drive the society to very unsuitable growth.”
He said many people, while indulging themselves, do not realise their actions bring long-term consequences to the environment.
“We need to create a society which is value-driven. The environment can only change if the people’s values change.
Action speaks louder than words. Thus in the coming Mega Earth Day, the organiser will made durability and recyclability a priority.
“We will use good plastic cups and disposable palm leaf plates for Sunday’s community breakfast. We will also recycle everything at the end of the event.”
The Mega Earth Day is organized by Friends of Kota Damansara (FoKD) together with Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) to celebrate the Earth day 2010 and the regazettement of KDCF as forest reserve by the Selangor state government.
Some scheduled programs for the two-day events include night hiking, the Voice From The Forest concert featuring Zainal Abidin, community breakfast, Green Palm Challenges, movie screening and other exciting activities.
For more information, visit www.forestforall.com.