(fast-paced guitar music) - [Narrator] Northern California is home to a diverse array of grassroots organizations and individuals, who are striving to change our world for the better.

On this episode of Bay Area Bountiful, we explore people power.

- [Announcer] Bay Area Bountiful is about agriculture.

It's about feeding us.

It's about land and water.

It's about the health of our planet.

It's about stories that matter.

Bay Area Bountiful.

Cultivate, celebrate, connect.

- [Announcer 2] Bay area bountiful is made possible in part by Rocky the Free Range Chicken and Rosie the Original Organic Chicken, the Sonoma County Agricultural preservation and open space district, Made Local Magazine, and Sonoma County Go Local, and through the generous support of Sonoma Water.

(lighthearted guitar music) - Andrea Sakr was born in Colombia and grew up in East Oakland.

Andrea is a bike rider, a bike mechanic, and an idealist.

It's a very simple act, in some ways, to ride a bike.

And yet, it can be so powerful.

- It's one of those things where people don't think that there's a big impact in it, but there is.

You have this tool that you can get yourself from A to B with no other type of power, but your own.

It's a lifestyle for your wallet, lifestyle for your health, not only your physical but your mental, and it's a lifestyle for the environment.

- [Narrator] Andrea works for East Oakland, non-profit Cycles of Change.

Repairing bikes and teaching bike safety at local schools.

- I see myself in a lot of these students.

Just having that feeling of like seeing someone scared, timid, thinking they can't do something and then they got it.

Their smiles, is just their whole face brightens up.

And it's just, yeah.

So I remembered that feeling through the students I teach now.

- [Narrator] Andrea learned to ride a bike at one of these school programs.

- I just really didn't even like to go to class.

I was a little bit of a troubled youth.

I just was having a hard time in high school.

I went to class every single day that week because it was so fun to do it.

It just felt like I could do something for myself and be independent.

For someone like me that was always taking the bus and waiting on the bus, or other people to give me a ride.

Just knowing that I could get a bike and do that myself, just felt really empowering.

I went back to my high school as an educator in that same PE class.

It was like a full circle for me.

The exposure to a bike leads to the exposure of 10 other things.

(cheerful bright music) - [Narrator] The Cycles of Change bike shop, The Bikery, provides repairs and bikes for those who can't afford one.

Cycles of Change makes bikes accessible to all.

Creating a more equitable society is part of its ethos.

At this non-profit, change starts from within.

- We don't have bosses.

We are a collective.

So the power structure is more of how each one of us can contribute to help each other.

If I'm sick, my job is not like, "Why are you sick?"

They're like, "Okay, take care of yourself."

And it's something so simple that makes someone want to work.

If more jobs provided this environment where you're not dispensable, maybe people would actually have a better quality of life.

The more we start noticing that us as human beings are not disposable, then they start noticing maybe not everything around us needs to be disposable too.

I'm not replaceable.

I am someone worthy.

So the things around me can be worthy too.

- Diego Arana joined Cycles of Change, after making a bike trip from Berkeley, California to Bahia, Brazil.

Diego is a practitioner of the Brazilian martial art, capoeira.

And accompanied his teacher, Mestre Acordeon, on the tour.

(lively music) - I can't speak for everyone that's on a collective background from myself growing up, you don't really have a say in anything.

You don't have a voice, right?

Put on mute.

And it's nice not to be put on mute.

I have to be on a loud speaker (chuckles) and saying what I got to say.

(lighthearted guitar music) - [Narrator] Biking doesn't have to be a luxury.

Biking can be an essential way of getting to work.

Diego commutes to east Oakland from Richmond.

Reliable biking infrastructure is not always available in areas like East Oakland.

- You go to North Oakland, they have like very protected bike lanes, right?

Painted nice and green.

It's beautiful, right?

It's North Oakland.

East Oakland doesn't get that love.

When you're driving a car, you're emitting gas into our atmosphere, which is not a good thing for mother earth, right?

There's roadkill.

In a bike, there's not gonna be a roadkill, right?

There's noise pollution.

Cars, big vehicles, trailers, trucks, they're super loud.

(light airy music) - [Narrator] One big advantage of riding a bike is you don't have to worry about parking.

- The meter maids.

(chuckles) You're one second passed your meter, and somehow these people know a nd you're gonna get a ticket real quick.

(chuckles) It's the only efficient thing.

And then it gets towed, right?

- [Narrator] Biking can inspire a feeling of freedom and wanderlust.

- It's a little extreme to share that with the youth like, "Hey, if you wanna go to Brazil, you can ride your bike."

(chuckles) I did it.

But you can.

(traditional Brazilian music) (fast-paced upbeat music) - [Narrator] Mira Manickam-Shirley is an Ivy League graduate, an artist, an author, an environmental educator, and a surfer.

She traveled up the coast of Brazil for nearly two years, documenting her surfing adventures as part of a multimedia project.

(speaking portuguese) - Yeah, surfing words, I mean.

(speaking portuguese) That means board.

(speaking portuguese) That means trick.

- [Narrator] This Brazilian surf odyssey inspired the next chapter of her life.

After returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, Mira teamed up with her friend, Farhana Huq and became a co-founder of Brown Girl Surf.

- Joy is actually part of our mission.

(laughs) Our mission is to build a more joyful, diverse, and environmentally reverent women surf culture.

(bright upbeat music) Sometimes when people might close their eyes and picture a surfer, the dominant narratives that have been fed to us, we might end up picturing a white male with bleached blonde hair and board shorts, somewhere off the coast of California, Southern California most likely.

But in fact, surfing is an indigenous sport.

It was developed in Hawaii and in the Polynesian islands.

And it was practiced by both men and women.

(fast-paced drum music) - [Narrator] Brown Girl Surf organizes surf classes for young women and adults.

(waves crashing) It also runs environmental education programs.

Jamila Hubbard is a volunteer and advisor.

- Part of the goal of Brown Girl Surf, at least for many of the volunteers is that it's helping to change the default of what people think is a surfer, and who people think belongs in the beach and in the water.

I think, socially, if you can begin to chip away at that, where people just have different expectations or different understandings of what we can all be, I think that's a huge gift to social change.

(waves crashing) - What is that feeling like to be in the water surfing?

Do you remember your first time trying to surf?

- It was hard (laughs) but it was also very freeing.

And I think that that's one of the reasons that I love it so much.

It is such a powerful and profound feeling of joy and power and freedom.

All the other things in your life just might disappear in that moment.

It's just a really magical time.

(suspenseful music) - [Interviewer] But what about sharks?

- It's been a very wonderful experience to learn about the importance of sharks in our ecosystem and how sad it is actually that through fishing nets and different ways of catching fish, that they're actually being killed at really high numbers.

So I have a new appreciation for sharks that I didn't have before I surfed.

- I've always appreciated sharks in one way or another.

(both laugh) - Seriously, right.

(cheerful music) One of the young women who was a part of the program, I think, she was maybe 14 or 15 at that time.

But she had been with us for a few years.

She wants to be an environmental lawyer when she grows up, right?

She's seeing opportunities for herself in the future that she wouldn't have known about, had she not had this connection to the earth and to the ocean.

- We're an organization and we also think of ourselves as a movement, and at the heart of all of that, we're a community that is trying to embody the world we wish to see.

And as we're building community, we're also creating access because the access hasn't been there.

When Brown Girl Surf started programming in 2014 and we wanted to operate at Pacifica State Beach, we were told we couldn't without a permit.

But then when we went to find out how we could apply for a permit, we found out that there actually was no procedure for applying for a permit, that there were only four permits allocated.

They were allocated to four specific schools and that there was no indication that permits would ever become available to anyone else.

- It was very frustrating early on to understand that even though we are trying to create this really positive community that we're not always welcome everywhere.

(waves crashing) (lighthearted guitar music) - In early June, there was actually a paddle-out to honor George Floyd at Pacifica State Beach.

Brown Girl Surf was one of the speakers.

And we said, "Look, y'all are here to show your support but it's important to really know what's going on right here."

And at this beach that we're standing on right now, Brown Girl Surf has not been able to operate since we started.

- There's oftentimes groups of younger men who feel like they own the wave.

And so, you have to be careful about who you're bumping up against or how close you get to people.

And are people welcoming?

- So it's another thing you have to have in your mind when you're navigating everything else that you're navigating.

- Yes, exactly, exactly.

And I think just surf culture in general, at most beaches, there's always like kind of the locals, who surf there all the time and feel a sense of...

This is their beach.

When it's a public beach, so actually it's all of our beach.

And so that's, I think, the challenge that I think a lot of women and people of color in general have had in the sport of surfing.

(waves crashing) - Who historically has had the privilege of being able to live near beaches, just based on our economic system, it's gonna be less likely to be people of color.

And then based on straight up housing discrimination, it's really, really hard for people of color to have grown up at the beach as a local.

- Just because something is or has been, doesn't mean it has to be that way in the future.

(cheerful bright music) - [Narrator] Brown Girl Surf and its grassroots supporters, successfully lobbied the city of Pacifica, which administers surfing school permits.

- And for the first time, since we started programming Brown Girl Surf, is now allowed to be on the beach in Pacifica and not have to hide or not wear our rash guards, but we actually get to be there.

- When finally this happened, it was just very celebratory because it took years to get done.

It was exactly the kind of thing that Brown Girl Surf exists for, right?

To kind of push through those barriers and say that we do belong here.

There's so many different aspects that come into play when trying to get a group of girls of color into a surf lesson.

We just see the beauty and the joy and the fun, but just know that there have been very serious conversations and dedication and work in order to get us there.

(fast-paced guitar music) - [Narrator] San Francisco based filmmaker, Mark Decena, travels the world telling stories about people making change and standing up to powerful interests.

- I don't think any change happens if it doesn't happen from the ground up politicians or people in power are not going to do anything unless the people ask them to do it.

Change doesn't start unless people get together and demand it.

- [Narrator] In his documentary, Not Without Us, Mark followed climate activists during the lead-up to the Paris Climate Agreement.

- There's talk that the Paris agreements were gonna be something that was finally on the global stage.

We're gonna make some concrete proclamations and the climate justice movements, were getting word of what those commitments were going to be and they knew that they were so far off of what we needed to do.

That was the impetus for the film, knowing that the movements were gonna converge on Paris, and try to sway the negotiators to really step up, to not make just promises and empty commitments.

- [Narrator] The agreement fell well short of the activists hopes.

- The final agreement signed, had no mention of fossil fuels.

That was the thing that blew me away.

So how could you have a climate agreement without mentioning fossil fuels?

- [Narrator] Former Bolivian ambassador to the UN, Pablo Solon, was one of the activists featured in Not Without Us.

- You can see that now people know that the agreement is bad, but they are not frustrated.

They are not demoralized.

People have learned the lesson.

We don't have to expect nothing from governments and the UN system.

We have to do it ourselves.

- [Narrator] Mark believes artists, poets, and filmmakers can inspire change.

- I like to think that my films can act like an organizer.

If it changes one person's mind, who then maybe changes someone else's mind, that is in itself, a form of organizing.

(fast-paced drums music) - [Narrator] Mark's films have screened to audiences around the world at film festivals, on television, and online.

His first featured narrative, Dopamine, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003.

Since then, Mark has written and directed numerous documentaries and worked with a variety of organizations, including the Redford Center.

Robert Redford was executive producer and narrator, and James Redford was producer of his film about the Colorado river, Watershed.

- All of my films are really love stories.

Any film, you have to at first fall in love with the characters, you have to relate to the characters and see that they're human.

Beauty and good cinematography and great music are Trojan horses for getting messages across.

- What do you see as the connection between environmental issues and social justice issues and social issues?

- The thing I realized about environmental issues and social justice issues is that they're all interconnected.

You're not gonna stop climate change unless you really look at the systemic issues.

It's not just solving things for the environment.

Of course, we need to save the planet.

But there are people that are gonna suffer much, much more and more acutely, and who have had the least amount to do with pollution or the carbon emissions.

(fast-paced guitar music) It's changing our worldview.

Yes, companies need to make profit, but they also need to take into account people, labor, how their people are treated, and resources.

Are we just extracting everything and leaving nothing?

Or are we regenerating?

- [Narrator] Mark is working on a new film.

The Returning, that explores climate and social justice issues through the lens of farming.

- Black farmers used to own 14% of the farms in the U.S., and today that number is down to 2%.

That 14% of farmers, a lot of their land was...

They're either forced off the land or it was stolen or they couldn't get loans from the USDA.

There was so much structural racism built into the agricultural system that they didn't have a chance.

So the Justice for Black Farmers Act is trying to make land available, make funds available for black farmers.

(gentle brooding music) - [Narrator] Changing our relationship with the land, could yield great benefits for the planet.

- It is an astounding fact that most of the world's food, 70% of the world's food is grown by small farmers.

Industrial agriculture, despite all the promises only provides 30% of the world's food, but uses 70% of resources, energy, and water, and also uses fertilizers and pesticides.

If we could solve the food system, solve the land use, and solve the industrial Ags impact on the world.

Then we might be able to solve the climate crisis.

(lively upbeat music) - [Narrator] Producer Rick Bacigalupi, filmed this story on urban farming in San Jose.

- [Narrator 2] Once a leading agricultural area, now most of the Santa Clara Valley has been paved over, disconnecting many from neighbors, jobs, and food.

(gentle serene music) - Revolution is a change in something.

Veggielution signifies a community farm here, trying to make change.

- [Narrator 2] San Jose's east side has been both underserved and misunderstood.

- [Emily] The East San Jose community has been labeled as a dangerous part of town.

While in reality, it is a vibrant celebration of different cultures and communities that are coming together.

- [Narrator 2] Public affairs director, Emily Schwing.

- Veggielution is located inside of Emma Prush Farm Park.

The park's department is our longest standing partner in the work that we do here.

Veggielution operates the back six acres of this site.

- Well, my name is Luis Hernandez and I work for Veggielution.

I'm the farm manager.

So I make plants grow.

Right now what is growing, we got strawberries, garlic, onions.

We have volunteers that come in to do some work and also to make friends.

(upbeat bright music) - All ages of people from all over Silicon Valley, come out to volunteer.

There's always something to do here on the farm.

- It's never quiet.

It's always busy.

- Urban Ag is an important aspect because it gives more of a sense of ownership to those in the community.

- [Louis] We work with the community.

What do they like to see on their fields and that's why we try to grow up there.

- [Narrator 2] The farm also empowers locals through many grassroots programs.

Sol Aguilar and Mackey Avila are graduates of Veggielution's Eastside Grown entrepreneurship program.

(speaking Spanish) (speaking Spanish) - Eastside Connect is our farm box program that we're running at Veggielution.

Families from East San Jose, will come to the farm to pick up a farm box.

- [Narrator 2] Eastside Connect distributes produce in a number of ways.

Debbie Del Royale, coordinates.

(speaking Spanish) - The First Saturday on the farm is our monthly farm party.

(rap music) - [Narrator 2] Veggielution belongs to the ¡Si Se Puede!

collective of Eastside non-profits, Jazmin Barba Iniguez manages special events.

- Veggielution does so much more than grow plants with the part of the ¡Si Se Puede!

Collective.

On First Saturday, recently, we had some tabling from the Guerreros, and doing some outreach.

They're warriors against COVID.

- [Narrator] Always conscious of environmental impacts and climate resilience, Veggielution has found a new community partner.

- We started a partnership with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to do home deliveries and to help lessen our emissions from delivering boxes by truck.

- When families received their farm boxes, it's not a small thing.

(speaking Spanish) (speaking Spanish) - Families are really excited about these boxes.

(speaking Spanish) We've just been increasing the numbers since we began this program.

(speaking Spanish) When seeing kids opening up our farm boxes, it makes me feel proud of the work we do.

(speaking Spanish) (speaking Spanish) (speaking Spanish) The freeway cuts between East San Jose and other parts of the city itself.

So it's this large reminder of a separation as well between between communities.

(cheerful music) We wanna make sure that we're bringing East San Jose team members in, through food and celebration of food and farming.

- The beauty of Eastside really lights up when we have gatherings.

- And for us to be, that safe gathering place for people to come to.

- [Barbara] A lot of family, the neighborhood itself, it feels like a family.

There's celebrations and a lot of joy.

(cheerful music) (closing music)