Emmett Brennan

+ Follow
since Feb 13, 2014
Merit badge: bb list bbv list
Biography
Emmett is a native of New England raised in Portland, Maine. He attended Parsons The New School for Design, and Bard College in NY. As a filmmaker Emmett focuses on human-Earth ecology; he focuses on cultures of awakening that have evolved or been birthed in response to cultures of destruction, and he looks to capture and share solutions to some of the challenges we face as a planet and species. He has worked with The Institute for Humane Education, The Institute for Regenerative Learning, the new economist Charles Eisenstein, and several prominent Permaculturists including Geoff Lawton and Mark Shepard. His work has been awarded, supported, and featured by the Pollination Project. He currently resides at an Eco-community in Shutesbury, MA.
For More
Apples and Likes
Apples
Total received
In last 30 days
0
Forums and Threads

Recent posts by Emmett Brennan

Wow. Thank you, Barbara... I appreciate the support and kind words. Hope we do you and the water proud.
From the producer of Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective a film oriented towards solutions using the lens of Permaculture, comes a new film on water titled Reflection: a water story.
The filmmakers have just launched an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign to raise money for production. Check it out here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/reflection-a-water-story



The campaign ends July 13th, so now is the time to support and help bring this project to life!

Why Water?

Life follows water. Where there is water there is life, and where there is life there is water. The two are inseparable.

This simple realization is imperative to the survival of our species.

As a human species, we have systematically destroyed an innumerable number of natural ecosystems around the world. These are ecosystems that regulate the transfer of oxygen and carbon, maintain the temperature of the planet, and create the conditions for life as we know it. These are like the organs of the body: when treated properly, they support the life of the whole. When treated improperly, other organs begin to compensate and pick up the slack until they exceed their capacity, after which the health of the whole becomes increasingly compromised.

The structures that we are replacing these ecosystems with (think jungles, savannahs, etc) are often cities, suburbs, or agricultural lands. Currently, our design of cities, suburbs, and agricultural lands is profoundly linear, extractive, and disconnected from the natural cycles of an ecosystem. Water runs right off the top of these landscapes carrying all of the pollutants that it picks up in the process to the sea. There is no root structure to attract and retain water in these landscapes, and there are hardly any life forms to build and benefit the soil health. These lands are slowly dying, with less and less to contribute to the regulation of the systems mandatory for the good health of the Earth.

And here we are… with more water crises on our hands than ever: resource wars, famine, eroding farmland, food scarcity, contaminated waterways, limited access to clean drinking water, drought, extreme weather patterns, expanding deserts, species depletion/extinction, drying watersheds, the displacement of native peoples… and so on it goes. When will we wake up to our inseparability from the life and health of water? A new documentary film addresses just that.



What to Expect from the Film

Reflection: a water story is a feature length documentary orienting audiences towards the more expansive perspective of interbeing. Using the water crisis in California as a metaphor for similar concerns around the world, Reflection will weave a tapestry of stories featuring the most influential people and projects currently giving hope to California’s water struggles – examining the sort of shifts in perspective that are necessary for meaningful change to occur and revealing universal solutions to the issues at hand. It explores our interconnection with water in order to provide a map for the creation of a more harmonious world.

Reflection will take viewers on an intimate journey, chronicling the experience of filmmakers Emmett Brennan and Cailey Clark as they one: embark on a 200-mile group pilgrimage – following one of LA’s major water sources from its origin in the the Sierras to its piped destination in the city – and two: meet with water visionaries from around the state to discover what must be done if we are to build an enduring and healthy society. These visionary visits will be lucid and personal, floating in and out of the pilgrimage as necessary to reveal/anchor the solutions.

The impetus is to provide humanity with a glimpse into what’s possible if we better understand our relationship to water, and the vision is to orient people towards the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible.
Thanks to everyone from Permies for the great support on this campaign. We have 5 hours left to meet our stretch goal of 45k. We're close! Any additional contributing and sharing that you can do before the campaign comes to a close will be much appreciated. Cheers to the journey!

Check out this interview with Reality Sandwich: http://realitysandwich.com/219544/permaculture-film-project-first-of-its-kind/

And Elephant Journal: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/05/inhabit-a-permaculture-perspective-emmett-brennan/

Tree Hugger: http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/crowdfunded-documentary-aims-make-permaculture-more-accessible.html

Here's a link to our Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1122699426/inhabit-a-permaculture-perspective

Many thanks!

Emmett and the INHABIT team
Thanks to all for the uplifting support! It's been a wonderful ride so far. Check out our recent presence in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-devaney/permaculture-changing-the_b_5265211.html

and in Permaculture Magazine! http://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/inhabit-permaculture-explained

We need another big boost to reach our new goal of 45k, so anything you folks can do to get the word out is much appreciated. 45k will allow us to grow our team and raise the production value, as well as to reach a wider audience.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1122699426/inhabit-a-permaculture-perspective

Cheers,
Emmett
Thanks for the words and support, Jason! Deeply appreciated.

E
Greetings Permies,

After a year of filming Permaculture sites from Maine to Wisconsin we are now ready to launch our post-production KickStarter campaign to help this film reach its completion! Please check out the 4-minute trailer that we've put together, and help us share this project with your friends, family, and followers. It has been a journey putting it all together, and we're very happy to be sharing it. Thank you for the support!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1122699426/inhabit-a-permaculture-perspective





Emmett
This looks like a stellar course - thank you for posting. I will be passing it on.

If you're aware of any, what are some of the most inspiring examples of macro ecological water systems currently operating in the Northeast? Perhaps you know of some urban projects? Bless

E
10 years ago
Hello Permies! It is a pleasure to be connecting.

My name is Emmett Brennan, one of the film makers working on a feature length permaculture documentary entitled 'Inhabit; A Permaculture Perspective.' My project partner, Costa Boutsikaris, and I traveled around the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the US documenting some of the most influential sites and people that we could find. Some of the folks are: Mark Shepard, Geoff Lawton, Charles Eisenstien, Andrew Faust, Ben Falk, Eric Toensmeier, Lisa Fernandes, Susana Kaye Lein, Dave Jacke, Gwen Hallsmith, Michael Phillips, and a host of other inspirational voices. The resulting footage from this journey is deeply powerful, and we can't wait to begin sharing it. Below is a link to a 7-minute highlight video that we put together. It is a rough edit and is not meant to be a trailer. Rather, it is a brief glimpse into our journey which gives an idea of the overall cinematic and content quality.

https://vimeo.com/84804739
password: inhabit

------------------------------------------------------------------------

More on the film:

In this time of social and ecological disconnection, 'Inhabit' focalizes the need to meet human needs of food, shelter, community, and commerce while also regenerating ecosystem health. It is a solutionary tale that calls on the redesign of agriculture to create a more harmonious culture.

It reveals concepts and practices that are at the forefront of social, political, economic, and environmental awareness, and it documents on-ground solutions to some of our most pressing issues. These include: the waste and depletion of natural resources; the fragility of big agriculture and its continued degradation of land; the raising toxicity of soil, water and air; the necessity for technological transition in a time of peak oil - looking at methods of food production that require little to no input of a finite resource and that are instead self-regenerative; the need for local/regional food systems; the list goes on to include topics of medicine, governance, economy and culture. Each person and place documented offers unique commentary on the Western notion of human-ecological separateness, and each discusses the effects of such a belief on the pillars of our culture. 'Inhabit' calls for something new while also providing real-life responses. It is a film about solutions, shown through the lens of permaculture, seated in a biological and ecological conversation of the human-Earth relationship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Where we are now:

We will be launching a Kickstarter campaign in April to support the processes of editing, scoring, coloring, marketing/promoting, submitting to festivals, and distributing. We are ecstatic about the phase we are in, and we are happy to be sharing this part of the process with you. Any feedback is warmly welcomed, and if you are interested in supporting at some capacity - be it financial or through networking abilities, etc - please reach out! The intention behind sharing this now is so that we may share in the excitement of this film, and so that we may begin building greater awareness and support of/for it as we move closer to its completion!

You can see a small teaser trailer from the beginning of the journey at our website: www.inhabitfilm.com. We also have a facebook page: www.facebook.com/inhabitfilm. Both of these sites will be altered and added to soon.

Many thanks and big blessings,

Emmett