Pasadena weekdays: "Urban Fruit"

Conscientious Projector to screen documentary about urban farming.

Cinematographer Roman Zenz' documentary "Urban Fruit" follows four urban gardeners in Los Angeles who gave up promising careers and fought their families and the local bureaucracy to set up farms in city backyards or on street parkways. The film is an official selection for the American Documentary Film Festival 2015.

After the screening, Rishi Kumar and Manju Kumar, who feature in the film, will lead a panel discussion.

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What: "Urban Fruit," a documentary (68 minutes,) followed by a panel discussion
When: Thursday, August 14, 7 p.m.
Where: Armory Center for the Arts

Admission is free, and the facility is wheelchair accessible

Pasadena weekdays: Grid Off! and "Arise"

Sustainability events on Tuesday and Thursday

Presentation on reducing home energy bills. On Tuesday evening, energy expert Elena Christopoulos will speak about innovative and inexpensive ways to reduce home energy bills. Topics at the event — the title is Grid Off! — include solar, solar thermal, wind and lighting. The Pasadena chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA and All Saints Church will host the event. 

Film documentary about women as protectors of the natural environment.  In its debut run at the Old Pasadena Film Festival, Conscientious Projector will screen "Arise"on Thursday evening at the Armory. The documentary, which was made by two women, Lori Joyce and Candice Orland, tells the stories of 13 women from Ecuador and the South Bronx to Kenya and Israel who are leading the movement to protect and restore the natural environment.

Beneficial bugs in the garden. On Thursday afternoon, horticulturist Lili Singer of the Theodore Payne Foundation discusses some of the good bugs to look for in your garden with tips on how to attract and support them. (At the Huntington Library; plant sale to follow the talk.)

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

Tonight: Conscientious Projector screens "The Wisdom to Survive"

Scientists agree that climate change has already arrived. In their documentary The Wisdom to Survive: Climate Change, Capitalism & Community filmmakers John Ankele and Anne Macksoud explore what the pursuit of unlimited growth is doing to our planet, to society and to the lives of individuals.

For the film, the producer-director team talked to thought leaders and activists including Bill McKibben (350.org), Gus Speth (co-founder of the Natural Resource Defense Council), the author Richard Heinberg (The End of Growth) and the Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy.

The documentary asks: "What is keeping us from action?"

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When: today, 7 p.m.

Where: Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N Raymond Ave

What: Screening of the documentary "The Wisdom to Survive", followed by a community discussion. Free admission. The facility is wheelchair accessible.

"Soil" film to kick off Earth and Arts Festival

Ever dug your mind into soil? Into what it is made of and what it represents? Into how it relates to us, to water, plants, animals and the atmosphere? Filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia has done just that. Shot on four continents and featuring interviews with scientists, farmers and chefs, her documentary, Symphony of the Soil, explores what we like to refer to as dirt in all its facets.

"The film," so the SOS webpage, "examines our relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil’s key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time."

Thanks to the Conscientious Projector film series the Pasadena Earth and Arts Festival next weekend kicks off with a showing of the documentary at the Armory Center for the Arts. Koons will be present for Q&As.

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When: Friday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N Raymond Ave

What: Symphony of the Soil, a documentary, plus Q&A with the filmmaker