The Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) is hosting Get Your Green On! a spring film series at the Centre for Social Innovation (215 Spadina Ave.).
The second film in this series, Pink Ribbons Inc., will screen on Friday, April 12th. The film starts at 7:00 p.m. and is followed by a post-screening discussion. This event is open to the public with a pay-what-you-can admission price. Donations are welcome.
Subsequent screenings will follow the same format and start time — Living Downstream on May 11 and Toxic Trespass on June 7.
Pink Ribbons Inc.is a 2011 National Film Board of Canada (NFB) documentary about the pink ribbon campaign. The film shows how some companies use pink ribbon-related marketing to increase sales while contributing only a small fraction of proceeds to breast cancer research. Others use “pink-washing” to improve their public image while manufacturing products that may be carcinogenic. For the millions that are raised for breast cancer research by the campaign the film argues not enough money goes to prevention or exploring possible environmental factors.
Living Downstream is based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber. The film follows Steingraber during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links. In the film, Steingraber receives some worrying results after a routine cancer screening and is thrust into a period of medical uncertainty. The viewer then begins two journeys with her: Steingraber’s private struggles with cancer and her public quest to bring attention to the urgent human rights issue of cancer prevention.
Toxic Trespass is a co-production of If You Love Our Children Productions and the National Film Board of Canada, with the support of the Women’s Healthy Environments Network. It is a compelling film on children’s health and the environment, in which director Barri Cohen launches an investigation into the effects of the chemical soup around us. Starting with her 10-year-old daughter, whose blood carries carcinogens like benzene and the long-banned DDT, Cohen then goes to Windsor and Sarnia — Canadian toxic hot spots — where she meets passionate activists working for meaningful change, along with doctors and scientists who see evidence of links between environmental pollution and health problems.
The Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) began as an organization that used film as a means of raising awareness, particularly around cancer prevention. Over the years WHEN has expanded its scope to address a variety of environmentally linked health issues such as asthma, reproductive health, and chemical and electrical sensitivities.
The WHEN’s mission is to connect women to vital information and tools empowering all to take action for prevention.