Posts from June2015

City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Video Shoot with Pollution Prevention Resource Center

Currently in production of multimedia training materials aimed at sharing and promoting Best Management Practices in the Automotive Repair Industry. The project is being lead by The Pollution Prevention Resource Center with whom I’ve worked with on a number of previous projects. Our first shoot was at a model green shop in West Seattle, and last week we filmed at the City of Seattle vehicle fleet maintenance facility. On tour, we were lead by the head of the facility, and accompanied by an inspector from the Department of Ecology and a chemical engineer with Puget Sound Energy. The sprawling complex was full of auto repair bays with vehicles ranging from brand new Harley motorcycles for the police department but not yet in rotation to a SWAT vehicle, parking chariots, trucks with cranes and on and on. They had an on site painting facility and we learned about their chemical and materials waste systems. Was pretty impressive to see this hub of action that maintains the vehicles of all city departments.

City of Seattle Vehicle Fleet Maintenance Facility Tour

A Surge in Kayaktivism in Seattle as Small Boats Protest Shell Oil’s Polar Pioneer Departing for Alaska

In late May and early June of this year, the Shell oil rig Polar Pioneer was docked in Seattle’s harbor for maintenance. Coming from around the world, the rig was bound for Alaska to begin offshore drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea between the US and Russia. This decision to allow for drilling there by the Obama Administration represents a new and dangerous direction for official policy that bost prolongs a dependence on fossil fuel as well as takes great environmental risks with the threat of an oil spill in such a significant and remote ecosystem.

Over the course of the month, there were numerous events on land and sea that included a surge of kayaktivism, small boat protests around the rig to draw attention to the federal policy and the oil giants irresponsible and dangerous plans. The rig was a giant monstrosity of a machine, towering over the city skyline larger than any other machinery anywhere in the port and visible from every direction.

On the morning of the the rigs departure from Seattle, a call went out to people to come join the waterborne protest and stand in the path of the giant rig. I awoke at sunrise and went to get my drone camera up in the sky over the rig before it’s departure. I then boarded a Greenpeace boat full of Raging Grannies and joined the small crowd in the waters in front of the departing rig as it made it’s way out of Elliott Bay.

This is a short piece I produced for Yes Magazine, with whom I’ve collaborated on a number of projects over the years.

Shell No! Kayaktivism To Stop Arctic Offshore Drilling from Pangeality Productions on Vimeo.

Sound Discipline – Children and Schools Learning the Positive Discipline Approach

Recently, I’ve been working on a new project with Sound Discipline, showcasing their work with one local school, Lakeridge Elementary in Renton. It’s amazing how powerful their approach to problem solving and communication skills can be in helping create a healthy learning community. Teachers integrate a ‘class meeting’ model that is an opportunity for students to express their feelings, share compliments and problem solve together. I’m particularly impressed with their using the hand model for understanding one’s brain, and how young children are using it when their ‘lids are flipped’, their decision making skills are scrambled, and they’re needing to take a break. It’s now a common language throughout the school and everyone knows the hand symbols and what they represent.

Doing great work, some bites from Sound Discipline’s website:
We see a day when:

• People feel cared for, respected and empowered in their schools, families and communities.
• Families feel that it is normal to ask for help and have a broad network of local resources (or family educators) that cross race, class and culture where they can turn for support and parenting tools •Classrooms are places where young people are learning the skills needed in a global society
• Schools are places where mistakes are opportunities for learning and the race bias around discipline is undone
• Communities support schools and families in using solution focused methods that enhance equity and honor each person’s dignity.

We Believe:

• All people, young and adult—regardless of race, class and culture—are worthy of dignity and respect
• Misbehaving children are discouraged children
• Current punitive practices and systems work to the detriment of all young people and perpetuate a legacy of oppression and inequity
• Mutually respectful relationships and solution focused problem solving empower children, families, schools, and communities to thrive and foster academic excellence, citizenship, equity, and democracy