REPRESENT! is a monthly spotlight of filmmakers and storytellers from different cultures, countries, identities, and underrepresented groups in order to expose and educate our community to unique voices and visions in cinema. Scarecrow will join forces with a spectrum of community partners to collaboratively curate lists of films as well as provide resources about the experiences they represent.

 

REPRESENT! April 2023: Rising Reels

Rising Reels is a small non-profit organization designed to teach BIPOC and low income children about how to use the art of filmmaking, from beginning to distribution, by telling their story in a creative way and using their voice to impact the world through the power of filmmaking.

Website: https://www.rising-reels.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risingreels_filmcamp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risingreelsfilmcamp

Twitter: https://twitter.com/risingreelscamp

 

REPRESENT! February 2023: World Spay Day

 

REPRESENT! November 2022: Northwest Abortion Access Fund

The Northwest Abortion Access Fund is an abortion fund serving Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. Trained, compassionate volunteer advocates run our toll-free hotline. We help people pay for their abortion care by sending funding directly to the clinic. We also help people get to and from the clinic. And we make sure people traveling for care have a safe place to stay.

Find them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights

We refuse to let the U.S. Supreme Court deny women’s humanity and decimate their rights! Join us in fighting for Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!… Forced motherhood is female enslavement…The violent subjugation of half of society must not be accommodated, excused, downplayed, or surrendered to. IT MUST BE STOPPED!

Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok.

 

REPRESENT! August 2022: NAMI Seattle

NAMI Seattle is the only organization in the Seattle area working specifically to fill the gaps in our local mental health system through peer-led education, referrals, and support.

Their hope is to create a world where all those impacted by mental illness know they are not alone and are empowered to live a fulfilling life.

Website: https://namiseattle.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NAMISeattle/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/namiseattle

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi4soSFOZWXX5pcZsKMPSww

 

REPRESENT! Interview: Puget Soundkeeper’s Gillian Flippo

As part of this month’s REPRESENT! list, and to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, Scarecrow Video interviewed Puget Soundkeeper’s Gillian Flippo.

Gillian has always had a passion for protecting water quality and communicating the importance of the environment. She graduated from Butler University with a Bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology, and Society and now has 3 years of pollution prevention experience. She loves being outside, especially if it’s kayaking on the Sound in search of seals or tide pooling in search of crabs and anemones. She initially moved to the PNW in September 2019 to be an AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator with Puget Soundkeeper and has been here ever since.

1. What is your role within the organization? 

I am the Stewardship Coordinator with Puget Soundkeeper. In this role, I organize and coordinate community-engagement events such as beach cleanups, kayak patrols, and community science programs. I also partner with other nonprofits, businesses, government agencies, and individuals on local projects and events, focusing on pollution prevention and clean water in Puget Sound.

2. On the REPRESENT! list this month, one of the recommendations is “anything David Attenborough.” What is your favorite Attenborough program and why?

My favorite Attenborough program is Blue Planet, especially the episodes on the deep-sea. It is absolutely mind blowing and humbling to learn about life in the deep, especially since there is so much that we don’t know! Currently, my favorite deep-sea animal is a glass octopus. If you haven’t heard of them before, I highly recommend looking them up!

3. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Why is this act so important and how is Puget Soundkeeper celebrating this anniversary? 

The Clean Water Act is important because it introduced Congress’s vision for American waterways free of pollution. In practice, it sets pollution discharge limits at the federal level. In Washington, the Department of Ecology issues clean water permits at the state level, but state permits must be at least as stringent as the federal regulations under the Clean Water Act. Even though it’s 50 years old, we’re still seeing new issues pop up – like 6PPD or PFAS – and new needs for investment in science, modeling, and oversight technologies. Moreover, both the EPA and Ecology are constantly seeking to improve their clean water programs and drive innovation – sometimes driven by litigation by groups like Soundkeeper – in order to ensure that our environmental protections are continuously kept as efficient and effective as possible at protecting our waters. In short, communities and ecosystems surrounding our waterways would be at a greater risk from uncontrolled pollution without protections from the Clean Water Act.

Unfortunately, having the law in place doesn’t on its own protect against water pollution. Under the Clean Water Act, Puget Soundkeeper – or anyone in the public – can step up and enforce many parts of the Act through its “citizen suit” (or what we call a “community enforcement”) provision. This means that we are able to pursue legal action to hold polluters accountable, stopping pollution at its source. Over almost 40 years of this public interest enforcement by Soundkeeper, we’ve brought almost 200 lawsuits to drive the treatment of millions of gallons of polluted stormwater and eliminate illegal and unpermitted discharges of pollutants across the Puget Sound.

We do a lot more than bring lawsuits, though. For one, we’ve introduced the Water Reporter app, which allows anyone, anywhere, to report pollution and help us alert the appropriate agencies. Stay tuned as well for our 2022 Pollution Reporting Handbook – your one-stop guide to finding the best way to step up to solve problems you might spot in your local waterway or community, from oil spills to fish kills!

We launched our Ambassador Program for dedicated volunteers to lead events, receive additional community science and advocacy training, and represent Puget Soundkeeper. We published Nature’s Scorecard 2022: Local Stormwater Pollution Controls. This extensive report, fact sheet, and Storymap (a GIS-meets-slideshow webapp) detail previously hard-to-find information on how Puget Sound municipalities are investing in, and preventing, toxic stormwater.

We reignited our in-person and virtual events so we can connect with our amazing community. So far this year we’ve co-hosted a joint panel with our fellow Puget Sound Waterkeepers, North Sound Baykeeper and Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team, and we’ve held Science on Tap community meetings.

We, of course, are also regularly on the water and the waterfront cleaning up plastic, trash, and debris from our communities. Follow us on Instagram to hear about opportunities to join us. We also still have a few spots available in our August 27th Seattle Summer Cleanup if you’d like to get involved with our work this summer!

4. What challenges has climate change posed for our waterways? What are some of Puget Soundkeeper’s plans for taking on these challenges in the next 50 years?

We do work on issues that are inextricably linked with climate change – indeed, all issues these days have some level of connection to our climate crisis, from transportation infrastructure to food deserts, environmental racism, and even the cost of recycling. Locally, we know that salmon need cooler waters to survive, and Puget Soundkeeper is always working on issues like streamside vegetation and riparian buffers which not only help to cool the water but aid with other things like keeping toxic pollution out of streams. We know climate change poses an existential threat to the stability of Northwest salmon runs due to the rise in temperature. We need to be not only fighting climate change but fighting the decades-long impacts these streams are facing, caused by industrial and agricultural pollution and infrastructure issues like dams, bridges, and aqueducts.

We all have a role to play in protecting salmon, and farmers can make a huge difference by maintaining riparian buffers, or streamside vegetation that cleans and cools water. That’s why Soundkeeper supported the Lorraine Loomis Act during the 2022 legislative session.

Unfortunately, the Lorraine Loomis Act did not pass, but Soundkeeper and our coalition partners remain committed to protecting Northwest salmon from heat pollution exacerbated by climate change and we will continue to seek solutions until they no longer have to navigate a gauntlet of complicated dams, water that is too hot, and is too tainted with toxins to survive before spawning.

We also supported Governor Inslee’s Salmon Recovery Package of 2022, which included ambitious funding proposals to create a pilot program to develop new streamflow restoration projects that would store cold water for salmon during high temperature droughts, develop guidance for reclaiming water use in areas with deficient water flows, and establish an advisory group to modernize state water law to include salmon needs for adequate stream flows and cool water. We support the Governor’s efforts to advance salmon recovery through restoration, addressing the threats of toxic chemicals, removal of barriers, and other improvements designed to reduce or eliminate threats to salmon.

Salmon, and the Southern Resident orcas that depend on them, cannot wait 50 more years for solutions.

Climate change is already affecting flooding patterns in the Northwest, and we see a disproportionate impact on communities that are heavily urbanized, meaning lots of hard, paved surfaces, with little stormwater control. Soundkeeper advocates for a variety of green infrastructure investments, including stormwater controls that help protect our communities and ecosystems. We are also actively involved in pursuing stronger protections under Washington’s stormwater permit as part of our Clean Water Act enforcement.

5. Puget Soundkeeper has been protecting our waterways for over 38 years. What would you say are its most important achievements?

People think back on the world of clean water 40 years ago and think of rivers on fire, industrial sites operating without any pollution limits or oversight, rampant dumping, smoggy skies, and dead fish. We had those problems too in the Puget Sound, and have made great strides in putting controls, checks, double checks, oversight, and science into the mix in a way that drove innovation. Whether these “successes” had their start in an antagonistic lawsuit or a great meeting over coffee, Soundkeeper is just one part of a community of changemakers who have been working for decades to improve the waters of Puget Sound. We’re happy to have collaborated on better permits for industrial and commercial sites, on laws and court decisions locking in progress and driving innovation, on standards and science that are protective of communities, and on educational initiatives that have helped thousands of people learn more about and be more connected to their local waterways.

We’re not done though. As far as we’ve come, there are still people living under the thumb of illegal pollution, toxic contamination, and other forms of environmental racism. We also are still letting toxic stormwater kill fish, still dumping uncontrolled levels of excess nutrients into the Sound, and are seeing a continuous reduction in support and funding for state, local, and federal environmental oversight. We’re working on these things – for another 38 years or more!

6. Finally, what are three things people can do to help keep our waterways clean? 

• Support bills that will help us break free from plastic, such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). EPR is a policy that makes the producer of plastic responsible for the end of life of a product instead of the consumer, will increase recycling rates, and will make access to recycling more equitable across the state.
• Get involved in your community! Whether it be attending a cleanup, planting a rain garden, or participating in a town hall meeting, there’s many ways to help keep our waterways clean on a community level.
• Get out and vote! Whether we’re working on local issues or problems facing communities around the globe, the systems driving our pollution controls (and ultimately, pollution elimination) are all based in law, and laws are built by, and carried out by, elected officials. Being informed about the biggest clean water barriers facing you and your neighbors (or your favorite fish) and telling your elected officials about it can sometimes make the most difference!

Puget Soundkeeper’s mission is to protect and enhance the waters of Puget Sound for the health and restoration of our aquatic ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. Their vision is for a Puget Sound teeming with diverse marine life and providing safe opportunities for swimming, fishing, recreation, and sustainable economic activity. To find out more, go to their website: https://pugetsoundkeeper.org/

July 2022 — Puget Soundkeeper

Protecting and preserving the waters of Puget Sound.

Website: www.pugetsoundkeeper.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pugetsoundkeeper

Twitter: www.twitter.com/PugetSKeeper

Instagram: www.instagram.com/pugetsoundkeeper

 

May/June 2022 – Ukrainian Refugees

Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA):

Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) provides refugees and immigrants in the Puget Sound area with services to help them become independent.

Website: https://www.rewa.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refugeewomensalliance

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rewaAdmin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refugeewomensalliance/

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/refugee-women-s-alliance/

 

World Relief Western Washington

We envision every refugee and immigrant welcomed by community, rooted in community, and empowered for community.

At World Relief, we’ve welcomed, advocated alongside, and supported over 400,000 immigrants in vulnerable situations as they choose how to integrate into communities all across the nation.

Website: https://worldrelief.org/western-wa/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldReliefWesternWA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldreliefwesternwa/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldreliefwwa

 

Ukrainian Community Center of Washington

Over 25 years of quality Immigration, Behavioral Health, and Social services to immigrants in Washington State.

Website: https://uccwa.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uccw.org/

 

April 2022 – Seattle Audubon Society

Seattle Audubon advocates and organizes for cities where people and birds thrive.

Website: https://seattleaudubon.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seattleaudubon/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/seattleaudubon

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seattleaudubon/

 

January 2022 – Solid Ground and University District Food Bank

For this installment of REPRESENT! we’ve got a great set of movie recommendations from Solid Ground. Solid Ground works to end poverty and undo racism and other oppressions that are root causes of poverty. They envision a community beyond poverty and oppression where people have equitable opportunity to thrive. Learn more about Solid Ground HERE.

We also have a list of family-friendly film recommendations from our friends across the street. University District Food Bank’s mission is to build a hunger-free Northeast Seattle by providing their neighbors with reliable access to healthy food and life-changing resources. You can learn more about University District Food Bank HERE.

December 2021 – Solid Ground and University District Food Bank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 2021 – Femme in Horror

 

 

July / August 2021 – Black filmmakers

 

June 2021 – LGBTQ+ Filmmakers

This month for REPRESENT! we scratch the surface of queer cinema by exploring films by LGBTQ+ directors throughout film history. Queer stories have been told on film since 1916 with the partially lost Swedish film “Vingarne” directed by Mauritz Stiller. Even so, looking at this month’s list it’s clear that out LGBTQ+ directors were hardly common until the second half of the 20th century, and even still were predominately cis, white directors within the United States and Europe. Though LGBTQ+ directors and queer stories have become increasingly popular and movements like the New Queer Cinema have had major impacts in the film industry, queer stories and filmmakers continue to be underrepresented—especially BIPOC, trans, lesbian, and asexual directors. Make sure to check out our LGBTQ+ section in the literature room for many, many more titles!

 

May 2021 – Asian Pacific Filmmakers