Sustaining This Place was Rik Scarce's first feature-length documentary film. The fifty-minute film is free to view in its entirety through the link below.

 

Premiering in 2015, Sustaining This Place has been screened at local and regional events and conferences in New York and Pennsylvania. The film examines the remarkable efforts being undertaken in the Hudson River region of New York to create a lasting human and ecological community. It is free to view at the link below.

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The Hudson River region may be unique in the world in the concentration of sustainability-focused public and private efforts. Sustaining This Place tells the story of those individuals and groups who are setting an example for other regions to follow.

 

Here we find environmental justice advocates fighting for cleaner air, more parks, and hope for their communities. Scientists are studying climate change and invasive species. Distillers brew award-winning spirits made with corn and other ingredients grown practically next door. 

 

Others promote farmers markets with innovative twists in the largest city in the U.S.–and in that same city advocates fight for pedestrian and bicyclists' rights. At the far end of the region from New York City, in the Adirondack Mountains, efforts are underway to limit development and promote biological diversity.

 

From end-to-end, something remarkable is happening in the Hudson River region. Enjoy the beautiful scenery and the inspirational stories in Sustaining This Place.

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A companion book, Creating Sustainable Communities: Lessons from the Hudson River Region is available from the State University of New York Press.