Dear Friends and Family,
I am writing to tell you about an exciting upcoming experience in my life. As you may know, I just finished my second year at Yale, and during my time there, my mind has been rapidly expanding to understand all kinds of new ideas regarding humanity, art, and science. But this fall I’m taking a semester off. I’m taking a step back, away from university life, in order to examine myself and the society in which I’ve been living my whole life. A close friend of mine, Clementine Trameri, who just graduated from Tucker High School in Georgia (and hasn’t yet chosen a college), will accompany me on this journey through Europe as we begin filming a new documentary. The documentary is going to address a few big questions that have seemed to haunt many of us these days: How can we save the environment? What’s in our food? How can our lives be healthier, more fulfilling, less stressful, and perhaps more beautiful? (And is it possible to still make a living at the same time?) Over the past year, within my bubble of university life, I became frustrated with how disconnected I was as a consumer. Not only was my dorm extremely far from any kind of natural (undeveloped) land, but I also had absolutely no idea where the food I was eating came from. And worst of all, no one else could give me the answer either. As Clementine and I became increasingly aware of the problems behind our society’s food industries, we wanted to do all we could on a personal level. In order to avoid supporting mass-production of animal products at the cost of animal welfare, we both adopted a vegan diet (which excludes everything that comes from an animal). But it didn’t feel like we were really doing all we could; we wanted to reach other people. We thought maybe if they knew what we knew, they’d care too. We spread films and literature about animal cruelty, the plight of the environment, and easy alternative solutions to people we knew, and we experienced small-scale success. At the 2nd Annual Environmental Film Festival at Yale, which I took part in organizing and we both helped to publicize, we were able to see dozens of new documentaries about the all-too-common clashes of proactive human greed with the passive (and often adaptive) nature of plants and animals. We were struck. We both grew up as artists: Clementine, a painter and writer, and I, a musician, actor, and filmmaker. We realized that perhaps the most efficient way for us to investigate the world and share what we find with others was to use artistic means. Inspired by the powerful films we had seen, and troubled by the commercial world around us, we decided that we must go back to the roots of food and life - and film it. In August, we plan to travel to Europe to live and work on small organic and subsistence farms - places where people and nature work together in harmony to live and prosper. We have also arranged to visit and learn from other kinds of natural communities (naturist groups, animal sanctuaries, bartering communities, etc.). We are searching for the ideal way of living, investigating the notion that humans, animals, and the earth can exist in a symbiotic, mutual relationship. When we return to America in January, we’ll continue to film. We will document our transition back into our everyday lives as city-dwelling college students. We plan on finding a way to apply what we learn on these “idealistic” farms to a world which right now seems so antithetical. We will do investigative work in the communities in which we live - including tracing Yale’s dining hall food back to the farms it comes from and sharing the information with the other students who eat it. Through careful planning and the work-exchange system of the farms that will accommodate us, we estimate that our budget for living will be relatively modest. However, because we plan to follow leads in the interest of our film, we are unsure of what unknown expenses lie ahead of us. We have both been working multiple jobs over the past six months in order to raise money for the film, but unfortunately it is more than we can afford to fund entirely ourselves. We feel that the generosity of others could really assist us in making this vision a reality. We would greatly appreciate if you considered our passion, our ability, and our cause. If you believe in what we’re doing, we would welcome any help you could offer us. We could really use anything: "miles," "points," or other credits - anything that could help us travel! We are making this film in order to discover how we all, as a society, could help fix our current problems; how we all, as humans, could shift our paradigms slightly to not only make life better for our fellow earthlings, but also to make life more fulfilling for ourselves. Please contact us if you'd like to help us out . We thank you so much for your consideration, and we’re eager to hear from you. All the best, Richard and Clementine Last night, Clementine and I were moved beyond words by a film called EARTHLINGS. It is imperative that every human being watch this film. It will be hard to get through. But force yourself to do it. It's important.
From the internet: EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR, WALK THE LINE) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.With an in-depth study into pet stores, puppy mills and animals shelters, as well as factory farms, the leather and fur trades, sports and entertainment industries, and finally the medical and scientific profession, EARTHLINGS uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative and thought-provoking, EARTHLINGS is by far the most comprehensive documentary ever produced on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests. Turn out the lights, and fullscreen it from here. we've been working on planning the trip - and we just booked our first farm in Spain. We're going to stay and work on a donkey sanctuary near Nejla in the south of Spain. It's going to be beautiful.
So I just got back from a fantastic road trip with a few friends. we drove up to Virginia to first stay at Clementine's grandparents' place in the west side of VA - and then to head to Norfolk to the PETA headquarters. there was a conference/convention there for student animal rights activists.
The PETA headquarters was quite a place to be. it's basically a four-story office building - filled with computer workstations, conference rooms and such. But the walls were the coolest. there were tons of framed posters of "Victories" PETA has won... basically marking times in their history when they have pressured a company to end animal cruelty (i.e. animal testing, poor slaughter methods, using fur for fashion, etc.) and the company has listened. that's what the campaigns are for, actually. the KFC and McDonald's cruelty campaigns exist because those companies won't listen to PETA's easy suggestions for more painless chicken slaughter techniques. Not only was the place inspiring, but the people were, too. there were a bunch of students who have been making quite a difference on their college campus, raising awareness, staging protests, and putting pressure on people in administrative position to stop support for animal cruelty. they held panel discussions, and the peta2 people gave lectures and workshops on how to effectively advocate animal rights, vegetarianism, etc. i want to implement everything i just learned, but I i'll have to wait until January to get back to campus and start making a difference at Yale. in the mean time, they gave us tons of free literature to share with people - DVDs, stickers, pamphlets, all chock-full of info about the terrible things that are happening to animals, and what we can all do about it. i feel very empowered. the animal rights movement is gaining ground, and it's definitely the next big thing that's going to sweep the world. it's really cool to be on board. wanna join? |
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