Four years ago, the United States government held the first congressional hearing on Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), an as yet unknown affliction responsible for the devastating and sudden losses of native honeybees, which mysteriously disappear and never return to their hives. While the news has been relatively silent on CCD the past couple of years, there’s been a resurgence of other media around this phenomenon, including “Vanishing of the Bees,” a documentary film directed by George Langworthy and Maryam Heinen and narrated by actress Ellen Page (“Inception” and “Juno”).

“Vanishing of the Bees” brings awareness to the ongoing struggle faced by the bees and their keepers, delving deeply into Colony Collapse Disorder, its potential causes and what the bees’ disappearance might be telling us.  The film opens with storybook charm on our beloved protagonist, the bee, as it flies from flower to flower in search of pollen and nectar. The cuteness-factor quickly turns heart-wrenching and real as the film spells out the situation in no uncertain terms. If the bees disappear, much of our food supply goes with them, as does the $15 billion dollar a year industry built up around these industrious pollinators.

But that industry may just be part of the problem. David Hackenberg, a commercial beekeeper, was the first to report large honeybee losses in 2006. The following year, reports flew in from around the country (and world) of beekeepers losing anywhere between 30-90 percent of their hives–billions of bees gone, often in a matter of weeks. While the cause of CCD has yet to be identified, beekeepers and researchers appearing in the documentary have honed in on some likely culprits.  From scrutinizing the agricultural practice of planting monocultures and its ties to harmful commercial beekeeping practices, to uncovering the widespread application of systemic pesticides, made from the same chemicals used for warfare in World War I, “Vanishing of the Bees” paints a grim but clear picture.

“Bees are an indicator of environmental quality. When the bees are dying, something’s wrong, and that’s going to affect all of us,” says David Mendes, a commercial beekeeper and good friend of Hackenberg’s. The film’s take on governmental “protection” is, at best, cynical. While European governments have applied the precautionary principle and banned certain systemic pesticides, like Bayer’s Gaucho, due to their potential threat, the United States utilizes risk assessment, deeming a certain amount of risk to the public and environment acceptable. But as the film makes clear, the very agency that’s charged with protecting us from a harmful pesticide often relies on the data provided by the companies who would most profit from its use.

“Vanishing of the Bees” takes an intense look at a seemingly dire situation, yet the film is punctuated with timely humor to lighten the mood. And despite the many hurdles faced by beekeepers, there may be a glimmer of hope for bees in the telling of their story. Humans have worshiped bees throughout the centuries and looked to them for signals of things to come. If the bees are trying to tell us something, “Vanishing of the Bees” has captured their message, deftly portraying a saga that plays upon human emotion and stirring a deep-seated connection to bees that stands 10,000 years strong.

For upcoming screenings of “Vanishing of the Bees,” visit: http://www.vanishingbees.com/events/.

The directors are currently working on a 30-minute educational version of the film for high school classrooms, and are working with education experts to develop a curriculum to engage youth.  To donate to the cause, visit: http://www.vanishingbees.com/donate/.

To stay informed of current events affecting our bees–like the EPA’s decision on June 24, 2011, to approve the emergency usage of a systemic pesticide known to be harmful to bees and a potential culprit in CCD, as a way to battle stink bugs on the east coast–visit the “Vanishing of the Bees” Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/vanishingbees.

As the average age of farmers in the U.S. continues to raise, young farmers are beginning to sprout up across the nation. The recent documentary GROW!, directed by Christine Anthony and Owen Masterson, showcases the resurgence of young organic farmers in the state of Georgia. The film highlights 20 individuals across 12 farms who have found their way back to the land, whether working on a family-owned farm, buying their own, or, in most cases, using another farmer’s land to grow food for their community.

GROW! is a story that does not seek to convince the moviegoer of any particular viewpoint, but instead offers the opportunity to understand a new generation of farmer and why they seek to live a lifestyle removed from the hustle and bustle of the corporate world. “It’s a beautiful story and we wanted these young farmers to tell it in their own words; no narrator, no scientific experts, no hand wringing gloom and doom, just an honest, on the ground account of a movement taking place at this very moment in time,” said directors Anthony and Masterson.

While we might be tempted to write their farming endeavors off as young, idealistic attempts at a simple life that simply no longer exists, what we get is a picture of hardworking, passionate and, yes, idealistic 20 and 30-somethings who feel called to a “real” job with tangible results. Not least of their reasons for becoming farmers is a desire to fight injustice and create a healthier, more sustainable world by growing “clean, fair food.” Being self-employed has its perks too.

Far from the back-to-the-land movement of the 60s and 70s where, as Anthony and Masterson suggested, individuals were mainly concerned with dropping out of society and being self-sufficient, the young farmers of today are “fully engaged and participating in all aspects of society.”

“After the excesses of the 80′s and 90′s there is a sea change of values. A lot of young people no longer are drawn to earning a bunch of money working hard for somebody else in an unrewarding career.”

Add to this the fact that many young people are graduating college to find there are no jobs in their chosen career field, whether it be in accounting, chemistry or medicine, like some of the farmers in the film. But there are deeper reasons for becoming a farmer. “A lot of people of this generation want to work towards changing this world for the better, be it the environment or simply improving things in their local communities.”

As Rebecca Williams of Manyfold farm put it, “I got into farming because I like the idea of feeding people, and I like the idea of feeding people stuff that’s good for them, that makes them feel good, that makes their days better, that’s pleasurable and nourishing.”

The directors hope the film will inspire more would-be farmers and retired land owners to find each other and continue a legacy of small, organic farming, while working to change laws in support of small, sustainable farmers. They also hope it will encourage viewers to think about where their food comes. But viewers should also be prepared to leave with a desire to do more. As one moviegoer stated, “[it] makes me want to quit my job and become a farmer.”

To schedule a local screening of GROW! for your community or classroom, contact the filmmakers through the film’s Web site.

The Land Institute sits atop a sloping hill on the south end of Salina, Kansas, its 600 acres showcasing a living laboratory of grasses and grains being bred to “solve the problem of agriculture.” Founder Wes Jackson lays out the urgent necessity of this task in his latest book, Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture, published in October 2010.

Jackson delves into the problem of agriculture by looking to our dependency on fossil fuels, the resulting, rapid degradation of the land, and the reductive, Enlightenment-era thinking that continues to drive us further into deficit spending of the earth’s resources.  He does not mince words in his account of our current predicament, but takes us on a tour of the rabbit hole that has led us to the brink of ecological disaster.  Points are laid clear through personal and evolutionary histories that highlight a need for ecosystems thinking (Part I), accounts of our losses through industrialization and climate change (Part II), and immediate possibilities for the future (Parts III, IV and V).

Throughout his life, Jackson has been informed by the prairies of Kansas and South Dakota and his encounters with such prominent figures in the conservation movement as Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, and Stan Rowe.  These men were both his mentors and friends and he regularly draws upon their wisdom in his writing.  Through his promotion of ecosystems thinking, Jackson disputes mainstream cultural and economic assumptions that value monetary capital over ecological capital.

He pushes the reader to undertake a major ideological reorientation that acknowledges the life-giving properties of the non-living biology (i.e., the soil and atmosphere) that is our lifeline.  In taking up this challenge, we are offered the possibility of a new agriculture that can at once conserve the land and sustain the human population.  This is the work of The Land Institute, which Jackson details through an FAQ and a 50-year farm bill he and others recently presented to Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

Jackson engages the reader with personal anecdotes and individual histories, while also requiring a willingness to mull over the information as a cow chews on its cud.  Put another way, Jackson’s style will suit those who have the patience to follow a line of thought and aren’t afraid to delve deep.  For these individuals, it will be a pleasurable and refreshing experience.  However, there are occasions when the point may elude the reader, but this should not detract from the overall breadth of the work.

This book is best suited to the conservationist or to the devoted reader of authors like Wendell Berry.  Yet it is also accessible to the educated reader possessing a passionate interest in conservation and sustainable agriculture.

Whether or not you agree with Jackson’s assertions on our current environmental reality and future prospects, Consulting the Genius of the Place is a thought provoking read that challenges mainstream perspectives and raises issues we cannot afford to ignore.  With 40 percent of our agricultural land seriously degraded and with the loss of an additional 25 million acres each year (pg. 130), Jackson offers a timely solution that promises the potential for a “sustainable and resilient” future.

You’ll never look at food the same way again. That is the unspoken promise of the book Food Justice, by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi, respectively the director and farm to school director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI), at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Published in October 2010, Food Justice takes the reader through a narrative analysis that relates the struggles and triumphs of food system change in the United States and abroad. Food Justice is about how, what, and where food is grown and processed, and who gets it.  It’s about the pieces of our history that have come to shape the lives of the world’s hungry, its minority and migrant populations, and our food cultures, and what individuals and organizations are doing to change it.

But even as victories are won in the tomato fields of Florida, ending conditions of modern-day slavery for migrant farm workers, and in the schools of New Orleans, as students fight for healthy, locally-sourced meals, can we answer the question Michael Pollan couldn’t when President Obama asked him, “Is this a movement?” (pg 79).

This simple question, posed throughout the book, is the point from which the authors weave the web of food justice issues, revealing an answer that is at once complex yet accessible.  The authors set out to uncover the common language and unifying themes that define and encapsulate the move to transform the food system.  They argue the need to work united at all levels–from seed to plate–in order to effect change.

With this broad, yet crucial foundation, the authors launch into part one–an intuitively laid out, historical analysis of food injustice.  From the flight to suburbia to the building of corporate food empires, what becomes clear is how these modern-day monuments of American (and increasingly global) culture have impacted the ability of people to justly grow, produce and access fresh, affordable food.  Globalization, the movement of corporations abroad and “local” and “organic” marketing ploys further complicate and confuse the consumer, but are here laid bare.

In part two of Food Justice, the authors plant the seeds of inspiration.  We are told the inspiring story of the Nuestras Raíces organization, for example, whose growing crew is pictured on the front cover.  Faced with poverty and food insecurity when jobs in the once prosperous town of Holyoke, Massachusetts, moved overseas, this largely Puerto Rican community tapped into its farming roots and created a community garden. More than a decade later, the organization has increased its impact through the use of a 30-acre farm, farmer training, youth empowerment programs and small-business incubation.

Like Nuestras Raíces, similar groups have formed to tackle not only food insecurity, but farm worker rights, environmental degradation, economic viability and social policy.  In showing what has come before, the reader is given a road map to what can be accomplished and how we might, by way of an all-encompassing food justice movement, get there.

This book has something for everyone–the farmer, the college student, the foodie, and those just beginning the journey to understand where their food comes from and why it matters.  My only caution to readers is that the mass of information provided through the multitude of stories may become overwhelming. That said, this book’s grand sweep of food justice from the early 1900’s to today is like no other on the shelves, offering food for thought and plenty of opportunity for further research.

A tell all narrative that clearly elucidates the issues and what we can do to reshape the food system, Food Justice is a must read for everyone who eats.  So, is this a movement?  Read Food Justice and find out.