The threat to seed diversity

For the next event in its winter movie series, Color Brighton Green will host two screenings of "SEED: The Untold Story," a documentary focusing on the history of seeds and the threat from their control by big business.

Humans once benefitted from an extensive variety of seeds. But thanks to the increasing dominance of big industry, much of that diversity has disappeared. "A cadre of 10 agrichemical companies (including Syngenta, Bayer, and Monsanto) now controls more than two-thirds of the global seed market," the film's promotional material says.

That has forced farmers to pay expensive licensing fees to plant seeds and restricted their ability to save the seeds their plants produce. And it puts entire types of plants at risk of disease.

"SEED" tells the story of the farmers, indigenous seed keepers, activists, scientists, and lawyers who have been fighting the seed companies. It features Indian scholar and environmental activist Vandana Shiva; primatologist Jane Goodall; Andrew Kimbrell, founder of the Center for Food Safety; Winona LaDuke, executive director of the environmental advocacy group Honor the Earth; and Raj Patel, author of "Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System."

The film will be shown at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, at Brighton Memorial Library, 2300 Elmwood Avenue, and at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, March 10, at Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Road.

Jarmila Haseler, agricultural educator at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, will lead a discussion after the film on March 6, and Walt Nelson, a horticulturalist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, will lead one on March 10.

Using wind to deal with climate change

Downtown Presbyterian Church's next forum on solutions to climate change will focus on land-based wind electricity generation. Neely Kelley, state senior organizer for Mothers Out Front, will discuss wind energy as a possible path to meeting New York's 2030 and 2050 climate goals.

The event will be at 9:50 a.m. on Sunday, March 10. It's open to the public.