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About the Film
Against a mounting environmental crisis, a plummeting economy, and a national energy crisis, a movement is gaining momentum to create clean energy solutions that could also create millions of jobs. This movement aims to achieve a Great Energy Transition from dependence on fossil fuels to renewable clean energy. President Obama has promised $150 billion over ten years to create 5 million new jobs in clean energy.
But still, only a fraction of 1% of the electricity in the U.S. comes from renewable sources. The truth is, when it comes to really building the clean energy future and pushing the technologies of the 21st Century, the U.S. is  David to China's Goliath. While the U.S. bumbles around with training programs like the one in Richmond, China is making the massive investments, a record $54.4 billion in wind and solar in 2010. Building a clean energy economy will involve a huge economic reordering—tax incentives, new subsidies for renewables, and millions of job losses and gains. But who wins and who loses? What does building a ‘green economy’ actually look like on the ground?
Film Synopsis
In a city where oil spills, air quality red-alerts, and poverty are commonplace, Solarize This asks the hard questions of how a green economy may actually be built, through the stories of three working-class trainees at a solar power jobs  training program in Richmond, California. Over the course of a solar training program and subsequent search for employment, Solarize This explores the hope and heartbreak of working-class people pursuing jobs in the clean energy economy.
The film explores how struggles over U.S. energy policy have impacted the growth of the industry and the ability of Solar Richmond trainees to get a clean energy job. Solarize This tells the story of environmental transformation from the rarely considered perspective of workers who may build a solution with their own hands, and their successes, failures, and challenges speak to one of the biggest questions of our time: will America actually, in a nuts-and-bolts way, be able to build a clean energy economy?
How You Can Help
 The film is in a critical stage of development. We are currently seeking to raise $50,000 by April 15, 2012 to complete a full-length rough cut of the film. The rough cut will be leveraged to secure completion funding. Solarize This has strong potential to ignite the national dialogue about how to build a clean energy economy in the U.S., in a nuts-and-bolts kind of way, which has never been done before. We’ve received strong interest from Independent Lens and HBO Documentaries.
You’re contribution will help catapult the project towards completion. By making a tax-deductible donation to Solarize This, you can help support a clean energy future that creates millions of jobs.
Click on the button below to make a tax-deductible donation of $1000 or more.
To make a donation by check or for donations under $1000, make checks payable to 7th Empire Media and mail to: Shalini Kantayya, 7th Empire Media, 221 East 18th Street, #3C, Brooklyn, NY 11226. Checks are appreciated because they eliminate fees.
For more information about the film, please contact: shalini@7thempiremedia.com
About the Filmmaker
Shalini Kantayya, filmmaker, educator and
eco-activist, believes in making films that spark positive social
change. She has been making films for over a decade, producing and
directing in over 10 countries.
Shalini finished in the top 10 out of 12,000 filmmakers on Fox's ON THE
LOT, the Steven Spielberg reality show dedicated to the search for Hollywood’s
next great director. A Fulbright Scholar, her sci-fi film, A DROP of LIFE,
won Best Short at the Palm Beach International and Crystal Dior Nomination
at Tokyo Short Shorts, and has been used as a tool for water rights
advocacy in 40 villages across Africa.
Her documentary, MANTHAN, won Best Documentary at the Asian
American Film Festival. She has received recognition from the IFP, the
Jerome Hill Centennial, NY State Council on the Arts, NY Women in Film
& Television, Media Action Network for Asian Americans, among
others. She is currently a TED Fellow.
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