Blog posting written by Andrew Ronald, Film, Photography & Visual Arts '15, FLEFF Intern, Mahopac, NY

FLEFF: A Different Environment

It's a promising tagline. Promoting sustainability, encouraging environmentally friendly habits, and even being able to capitalize on eco-friendly...well...anything. But it's not just about carpooling and recycling, and FLEFF's interdisciplinary nature speaks in a stronger and more influential way.

FLEFF is about bringing people together for an enlightened and highly cultured discussion. It's a microtopia of intellectual unification. It requires musicians, filmmakers, artists, and guests who reside along a wide spectrum of ages to hold sophisticated conversations. It's an encouraging outlook on engaged curiosity and unique lenses to view the world through. After all, culture is saccharine.

By proposing these requirements at the actual festival, FLEFF projects its own sense of captivating higher-level thinking. Curiosity drives scholars and an inquisitive audience towards ascertaining information, thereby making them capable of achieving remarkable results, whether they are as complicated as groundbreaking medical formulas, or as simple as finding a shortcut on your way to work. Either way, the environment is defined by this influential role FLEFF plays.

How would you define "a different environment?" 

Meagan McGinnes

Class of 2014, Journalism

Minors in politics and environmental studies

Norwood, MA

Fun Facts About Me:

1.     I am a Boston girl.

2.     I have a twin sister, who also goes to Ithaca College.

3.     I am addicted to caffeine.

4.     My favorite color is yellow.

5.     I have Bieber fever, and I am not afraid to show it!

Don’t laugh. I am 100 percent serious when I say that Leonardo DiCaprio helped me discover my passion for environmental activism. My ridiculous love for DiCaprio began with the release of the movie Titanic. While casually stalking him/scrolling through his website, I stumbled upon his eco-link. I was enlightened. I was shocked. I was hooked.

Since then, I have become dedicated to environmental advocacy and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles through my love of journalism (check out my blog from the Ithacan!). I am President of Ithaca College’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. I am also Co-Editor for the upfront section of Buzzsaw Magazine. I love to talk and meet new people, but even more so I love to write. Sometimes, I have a hard time articulating exactly what I am feeling, but through my writing I am able to take the time to say exactly what I want to say, how I want to say it. And trust me, I have a lot to say. Words are beautiful. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and now it is time for me to look for beauty elsewhere.

I am so pleased to be working with FLEFF so I can explore a medium of journalism outside of my comfort zone, while still advocating for something I love: the planet. I am captivated by this art form that uses visuals to stir action, and I can’t wait to learn more. But even more so, I am thrilled to be a part of the community created around this festival. Which is what the theme of microtopias is all about: building an ideal community on a local level to explore the world without constraints. We create boundaries and limits for ourselves all of the time.  My resolution at the beginning of this New Year was to live my life by the words of Neale Donald Walsch who said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” I believe this statement is true for the environmental movement as well. By breaking through these zones we create for ourselves, only then can we challenge existing systems, mindsets, boundaries and limits.

So here is what I want to know from you: other than participating in FLEFF 2012, what will you be doing to advocate for the environment in your own daily life? What will you do to break out of your comfort zone? How will you work to make your own utopia a reality rather than an ideal?