We are young sustainable storytellers who are cool with Mother Earth.  We are a grassroots collective of youth, used to be youth, activists, filmmakers, hip hoppahs, historians, graphic artists, grease car drivers, journalists, life-long learners, media makers, off-grid survivors, photographers, poets, punx rockahs, students, videographers, visual artists, and writers… among other things! 

We study documentary and narrative filmmaking; make our own media from posters to movies; do outreach at community events; advocate for equitable living and learning environments; travel to meet-up with our peers and share our work; get our “hands dirty” learning about renewable energy; and, analyze important social, political, economic and environmental issues which affect our lives.

To sum it up… we give you the scoop when the youth bring the truth by defining sustainability in terms that make sense to us, our peers, and our communities.  We are Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective, and in April 2009 we embarked on a 16-month project to travel locally, regionally, and nationally to create our fourth, full-length feature film, Green Guerrillas Blockumentary v.3 HD… which will showcase stories of sustainability from under-represented communities in the current environmental movement.

We recognize that sustainability is a buzzword nowadays as awareness of the environmental challenges facing our world grows.  Since 2006, we have empowered marginalized youth and adults to identify the issues which adversely impact their lives and actively challenge institutional imbalances which threaten their futures and the futures of the Seventh Generation. 

What do we mean? 

First… Seventh Generation is a widely recognized and respected term borrowed from The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations), which reminds us to live in a way that considers the impact of our actions at least seven generations in to the future so as to preserve planetary wellness for those who inherit Mother Earth.

Second… we recognize the role mainstream media plays in supporting stereotypes which promote sweat shops over sustainable style, genetically modified crops over locally-grown organic foods, and pollution and prisons over sustainability and social change.  By connecting the dots between the same ideological approaches which criminalize immigrant communities and pollute the air, water, and soil we all collectively need for survival, we actively assert a rarely heard or respected voice into the global conversation with confidence in our ability to define ourselves and our futures!

Ya dig?

So… we are just getting started on a new project, and we are excited to wrap up the first of many steps.  We are in the final days of post-production on our latest film… we still have yet to title it!  Green Guerrillas Blockumentary v.2.5 is all about alternative and sustainable transportation.  The leading role is played by none other than our 1990 Econoline Bus… for which we learned how to make biodiesel and helped a local “organic mechanic” to convert to run on waste vegetable oil last summer.  

We are planning to add this film to our “connecting the dots” toolbox… as we continue to raise awareness throughout marginalized communities of renewable energy technologies, green building options, the impact of our carbon footprints, and the existence of eco-friendly businesses… as we actively challenge and eliminate the low expectations imposed upon us by pollution and prisons.

We kicked off our new project by honoring all life with the Piscataway Indian Nation at Moyaone Burial Grounds on the Potomac River (Accokeek, Maryland).  Chief Billy Red Wing Tayac led the Piscataway’s annual Awakening of Mother Earth Celebration. 

Chief Tayac’s grandson, Naiche, best describes the ceremony:

It’s early springtime outside.  Around this time of year, people all over the world are celebrating Earth Day.  My people have celebrated the Earth for thousands of years.  

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This is when we honor the awakening of Mother Earth after a long winter.  It is our time to give thanks for new life and for young people—like us!  My family and other people from my [nation] are going down to Moyaone (pronounced moy-OWN) burial grounds for a ceremony.  Many generations of my ancestors are buried there.  Archeologists say that my ancestors have lived at Moyaone for about 11,000 years, but the Piscataway believe that we have been here forever.  Moyaone is very special to us.

-  From Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area, by Dr. Gabrielle Tayac

We are looking forward to another fun year of sustainable storytelling as modern-day media makers who are changing the world! 

You can help us by spreading the word, suggesting projects from under-represented communities to showcase, supporting our efforts to transform our biodiesel/veggie oil bus into a renewable energy demonstration vehicle, and inviting us to screen our films!

Check back for updates… more powerful stories to come!