The 1969 Union Oil blowout mobilized the Santa Barbara community to fight for the environment, inspiring the creation of many nonprofit organizations, Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency and the first interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program. The legacy of the oil spill continues to inform this community, which keeps coming together, providing local solutions to global environmental problems, exemplified when over 3,000 volunteers joined the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade to dig mud from homes after the deadly 2018 debris flow. 
“We all feel like we’re part of an ecosystem, that there’s an ecology of our relationships, so that what affects one person, affects us all in some way. So when there’s a crisis, when someone is in need, we should all pitch in and help that person. If someone out there is hurting, what affects them directly, affects all of us indirectly. We’re tied in an inescapable web of mutuality and interdependence." — David Pellow, Chair, UCSB Environmental Studies Program
Director Isaac Hernández (Madrid, Spain) offers a poetic and hopeful look at what’s possible at a global level through local action, featuring many solutions generated in Santa Barbara, from the birth of curbside recycling to the first microgrid in the continental United States at Direct Relief’s headquarters.
Credits
Executive Producers
Lynda Weinman (Diving Deep, 2019; The Tale, 2018; Unrest, 2017)
Leslie Sweem Bhutani (Lutah, 2014)
Linda & Frederick Gluck
Funding was provided in part by Bobbie and Gerry Rubin
Producer
Nancy Black
Directed, Filmed and Edited by
Isaac Hernández de Lipa
Writers
Isaac Hernández de Lipa, Heather Wennergren Lee, Jon Zuber, Nancy Black
Narration
Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future, 1985...)
Music
Sheena Birratella, Emilio Campanello
2019 Santiago Independent Best Feature Documentary
2019 Finalist, Best Special Focus Documentary, LA Femme International Film Festival
2019 Finalist, Ted Turner Award for Film that Best Encourages Environmental Stewardship
2019 Official Selection, Santa Barbara International Film Festival
2019 Official Selection, Bozeman International Film Festival
2020 Official Selection, The Earth Day Film Festival
2020 Official Selection, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
2020 Official Selection, Nature Track Film Festival