Last month we proudly launched the Do Something Reel™ Film Festival, an online collection of provocative, character-driven films that focus on food, environmental issues and everyday people with a vision of making a world of difference. Simply put, it’s a celebration of people who understand that small steps can create big change.

The festival continues this month with WATERSHED: Exploring a New Water Ethic for the New West.

“Whiskey is for drinkin’. Water is for fightin’,” says Jeff Ehlert, a fly fishing guide in Rocky Mountain National Park, recalling a well-worn saying heard throughout the Colorado River basin. As the most dammed, dibbed and diverted river in the world struggles to support thirty million people across the western United States and Mexico, the peace-keeping agreement known as the Colorado River Pact is reaching its limits.

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Happy Earth Day! Hopefully your day includes doing something outside – riding your bike, cleaning up the neighborhood park or finally starting that compost pile – but we also suggest taking the celebration online. After all, today we’re launching the Do Something Reel™ Film Festival, an online collection of provocative, character-driven films that focus on food, environmental issues and everyday people with a vision of making a world of difference. Simply put, it’s a celebration of people who understand that small steps can create big change. How appropriate for Earth Day, right?

Each month the festival will launch a new film. Do Something Reel marks the first time these documentaries will be available to purchase and stream online, so make sure to watch them while they are available.

The festival opens today with The Apple Pushers. Narrated by Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, the film follows five immigrant streetcart vendors who are offering fruits and vegetables in New York City neighborhoods where fresh produce isn’t widely available. The film chronicles these vendors’ participation in a unique urban experiment called The NYC Green Cart Initiative and sheds new light on the nation’s food crisis and skyrocketing obesity rates. The film will be available on the festival’s web site until April 30.

Intrigued? Watch a preview.

We’re also marking the festival’s kick off today with a live screening of The Apple Pushers, followed by a panel discussion in Austin. Additionally, theaters in Boston, Detroit, Pittsburgh and San Francisco will host simultaneous screenings and will stream the panel discussion. (If you live in one of these cities and are interested in attending, get screening details and purchase tickets online or contact your local store for more information. Seats are subject to availability.) The panel discussion will also be live streamed for free to online viewers.

Beginning in May, a new film will be launched online on the first of each month. Prices vary by film with proceeds helping to fund two $25,000 AFI Silverdocs grants for filmmakers in the green genre. There is one viewing per purchase.

The films slated from May through August are:

Watershed – Directed by Mark Decena, executive produced by Robert Redford and produced by his son, James Redford, the film illustrates the Colorado River’s struggle to support thirty million people across the western U.S. and Mexico as the peace-keeping agreement known as the Colorado River Pact is reaching its limits. (Available May 1)

Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? – A profound, alternative look at the bee crisis from Taggart Siegel, award-winning director of The Real Dirt on Farmer John. (Available June 1)

Ian Cheney Retrospective: The Greening of Southie and Truck Farm – Each of the films Cheney has created or co-created spotlights an important environmental or food issue, from mobile gardens to the subsidized crops fueling our fast-food nation. (Available July 1)

Lunch Line – Co-directed by Ernie Park and Michael Graziano, this film offers a fresh perspective on the politics of food and child-nutrition through an examination of the surprising past, uncertain present and possible future of the National School Lunch Program. (Available August 1)

Visit Do Something Reel’s web site for additional video, behind-the-scenes talks with filmmakers and other materials free of charge.

Since there is no better time than Earth Day to appreciate and connect with the world around you, we hope you’ll include a viewing of The Apple Pushers in however you mark the day.

Do you planning on watching The Apple Pushers for Earth Day or have you already seen it? Tell us what you think.

What I lack in crafty talent, I make up in friends who excel in creative crafting. For them DIY goes far beyond knitting a toaster cover. They are creating everyday items where style meets function and saving their bank account and the environment at the same time. Take something simple thing like an old wine cork. Where I see something that already did its job, my friends see homemade bulletin boards, place card holders, stamps, candleholders and wreaths. (Yes, I’ve seen all of those objects created from corks.)

Inspired? Me too. After all, cork is a renewable, recyclable material, which means it doesn’t belong in our landfills. However if you’re like me, you know that no matter how many wine corks you collect, you’ll likely never make a coaster, trivet or bath mat from them. But there is something very easy you can do – no talent required. Bring your corks to our stores and drop them in the handy Cork ReHarvest boxes.

Whole Foods Market partners with Cork ReHarvest to make it easy to properly dispose of natural cork at most of our stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Since 2008, the nonprofit and Rainforest Alliance-endorsed Cork ReHarvest has led the cork recycling movement in North America, helping to collect and recycle some of the 13 billion natural corks that are produced each year. Cork recycling helps to reduce demand placed on cork plantations while maintaining the delicate ecosystem of the Mediterranean forests, and helps thousands of producers maintain a sustainable income to support their families.

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Around Earth Day you may hear more talk than usual about saving our planet, but making those smart and sometimes challenging choices every day is what’s going to get the job done. Simply put, actions speak louder than words. The good news is that even small steps can make a difference.

Here are 10 ways to show the earth you care during Earth Month and beyond:

1. Switch to organics. Organic agriculture limits input of toxic and persistent chemicals in the air, soil and water. Choosing organic supports farmers and producers who believe in good health, quality foods and earth-friendly sustainable agricultural practices. And that’s good for everyone, from the farm worker to the planet to your family — and for future generations too. Want to know more? Here are the top ten reasons to go organic! Read the rest of this entry »

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that 80 percent of fisheries are fully exploited, overfished, depleted or recovering from depletion. With seafood growing in demand, it’s critical that everyone gets on board to reverse this trend and build a more responsible seafood supply chain.

What is Whole Foods Market doing?

We recently announced that as of Earth Day 2012 — April 22 — we will no longer carry red-rated wild-caught fish in our seafood departments!

Wild-caught seafood from fisheries certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the top choice for sustainability and we offer the widest selection available. Plus, we display the color-coded sustainability ratings of our partners, Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) and Blue Ocean Institute (BOI), on all wild-caught seafood that’s not certified by MSC to help customers make informed choices.

• GREEN / BEST CHOICE: species are abundant and caught in environmentally friendly ways
• YELLOW  / GOOD ALTERNATIVE: species with some concerns about their status or catch methods
• RED / AVOID: species suffers from overfishing or the current fishing methods harm other marine life or habitats

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Let’s say you recycle, compost, bike to work and are mindful of wasting water and electricity. Plus, you always remember your reusable shopping bags. Then you certainly have already made a commitment to caring for the planet. (We need more people like you around!) But what do you do with all of those containers from yogurt, cream cheese, hummus, take-out and other plastic food storage with the #5 on the bottom? Not many recycling programs take that type of plastic, but we do!

What is Whole Foods Market® doing?

We’ve implemented Preserve’s Gimme 5 recycling infrastructure, a partnership with Stonyfield Farm, Tom’s of Maine, Brita and Preserve to promote upcycling of #5 plastics. Read the rest of this entry »

Lights! Camera! Action! This month we’re excited to kick off the online Do Something Reel™ Film Festival, a collection of provocative, character-driven films that focus on food, environmental issues and everyday people with a vision of making a world of difference. For the first time these documentaries will be available to purchase and stream online for a limited time on the festival’s website.

Do Something Reel is a celebration of people who understand that small ideas can create big change. The festival is great opportunity to connect with the food and environmental issues these films address and to recognize the power of your dollar and your choices. Hopefully you’ll be inspired to do something real in your own way.

The festival opens on Earth Day (April 22), with a live screening of The Apple Pushers, followed by a live panel discussion in Austin. Theaters in Boston, Detroit, Pittsburgh and San Francisco will host simultaneous screenings and will stream the panel discussion. (Do you live in one of these cities? Get screening details and purchase tickets online or contact your local store for more information.) The panel discussion will also be streamed to online viewers for free . The Apple Pushers can be viewed online April 22-30.

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Congratulations to our winner Katherine R., from Illinois! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Happy Earth Month from Whole Foods Market! While Earth Day is officially on April 22^nd, we’re celebrating throughout the month of April ‘cause we think our planet is worth celebrating . . . and saving. Thankfully, small eco-friendly steps add up, especially when we’re all in it together.

In celebration of Earth Month one lucky reader will win a year’s supply of Eco-Scale™ rated cleaning supplies from Better Life. Read on to find out how to enter.

What can you do? It doesn’t have to be overwhelming and it doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing, just take a small step every day. From using reusable shopping bags, water bottles and coffee mugs when you’re on-the-go, to recycling, composting and using cleaners with eco-conscious ingredients when you’re at home, your green opportunities are endless. So let’s each make an Earth Day resolution! No, we don’t need to break out the guitars and sing (though I’m always game) but we can start by sharing our green resolutions.

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At Whole Foods Market, we’ve been saying that our mission is to sell only wild-caught fish that has been responsibly caught. For a few years now, we’ve used color-coded sustainability ratings, from green (best choice) to red (avoid), to help you make an informed choice. Now we’re putting our mackerel where our mouth is: To support greater abundance in our oceans, we’re no longer carrying red-rated wild-caught seafood!

That’s right, beginning this Earth Day — April 22 — we will no longer carry red-rated wild-caught fish in our seafood departments. This move, which comes one year ahead of our self-imposed deadline of Earth Day 2013, makes us the first national grocer to stop selling red-rated seafood.

Back in 1999 Whole Foods Market was the first US retailer to offer Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified seafood, and each year we continue to offer our customers more and more MSC-certified seafood options. Wild-caught seafood from fisheries certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council is the top choice for sustainability, and we offer the widest selection available, from Alaska salmon and Pacific halibut to Nova Scotia harpoon-caught swordfish and Pacific cod. We’ve also got plenty of MSC-certified frozen fillets, seafood appetizers and more that are easy on the wallet and simple to prepare.

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Hey! You with the glittery shamrock-bobble headband and the “Kiss Me I’m Irish” button! You’re probably wearing a green shirt, right? And maybe planning a lovely meal of corned beef and cabbage washed down with green beer? Over here at Whole Foods Market today we’ll also be busy getting our green on because, well, we don’t want to get pinched — and because we’re gearing up for Earth Month in April.

Actually, we work hard to get our green on every day of the year; after all, it’s one of our Core Values. Here are just a few ways we care for the environment in many of our stores:

• Recycling drop-off bins for customers: most of our stores have partnerships with Cork Re-Harvest (which upcycles wine corks) and Gimme 5 (which upcycles #5 plastics in the form of yogurt cups and Brita water filters); many stores also accept your plastic bags from other retailers
• Inexpensive reusable carrier bags: our two sizes of Better Bags are made from recycled materials, both sizes cost less than a buck and will likely last for more than 250 individual shopping trips with normal wear; if they do wear out, you can return them to a Whole Foods Market
• Rebates for BYOB: when you bring your own bags, we’ll rebate up to 10 cents each at the register to reward you for your resource-thrifty behavior

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