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Episode 345 · April 21, 2018

345: Antoinette Wilson on Inspiring Stories

Inspiration through film.

In this episode

Tasmania-born and New Zealand-bred, Antoinette Wilson began her professional career in book publishing and dreamt of managing the editorial offices of Random House New York by the age of 40. Instead, just before her 40th birthday she took on the management of the harvest and labour at a CSA in rural New Zealand. She had begun studying towards a Permaculture Design Certificate and was committed to living a low-impact lifestyle.

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During a 2015 documentary project exploring simple living, she realized the extraordinary capacity of film to educate, and teamed up with Jordan Osmond in Happen Films. The pair write, direct and produce short films and more recently their new feature film, Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future. The self-taught filmmakers live in a 20sq/meter (folks that is 215 square feet) unplumbed but luxurious room on the end of a shed in a friend’s 3-acre food-forest and have a passion for sharing stories that educate and inspire about how we can all live beautifully on earth.

She’s had a “greenie” intuition as a youth but spent part of her adulthood pursuing a publishing career and a side venture as a tango dancer, but Antoinette Wilson found herself living in a permaculture-based community for a year and it changed her life.  She partnered up with another community member to write and make documentaries about the lifestyle they were experiencing, and even made some short films about others who were doing their best to have better impacts on their space.  These documentaries and short films are inspiring others to take steps toward change too.

    • Growing up as a “greenie”
    • Having an innate sense there was something wrong in the world
    • Getting to go to Brazil as a youth and going to the Youth Summit
    • Being impacted by what she saw, and didn’t see, when in Brazil
    • Getting focused on her publishing career
    • Moving to Buenos Aires to be a tango dancer
    • Becoming unwell after being there and researching food effects on health
    • Learning more about the food she ate and where it comes from
    • Recognizing how hard it can be for some people to make the changes that are necessary
    • How taking over the management of a CSA laid the groundwork for her to live
      in community”
    • Becoming part of a small community of nine people in an experiment for one year
    • The documentary film that they made of the experience
    • Documenting the permaculture experience through short films
    • The feature length documentary called “Living the Change”
    • A little about “Living Simply in 20 square meters”
    • Identifying the problems we are facing as humans living on the earth today
    • An interview that moves Antoinette to tears every time she sees it

As well as

Her failure – moving into the community and realizing how unprepared and overwhelmed she really was

Her success – Being part of working with Jordan, writing this story, and making this film

Her drive – A desire to feel that things are right: in her body and in the world

Her advice – Follow your heart – follow what seems right

Films/documentaries by Happen Films

Living the Change: Inspiring stories for a sustainable future 

A Simpler Way: Crisis as an opportunity

Antoinette’s Book recommendations

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The Diet Dictocrats. by Sally Fallon

How to reach Antoinette

Website:  www.livingthechangefilm.com

 UrbanFarm.org/livingthechange

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Episode 345 · The Urban Farm Podcast

345: Antoinette Wilson on Inspiring Stories

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