Arts & Community Education
WHEN is built on a strong foundation of community-led, multi-disciplinary, and arts-driven knowledge sharing. From our first documentary projects in the early 1990s, to our Wannabe Toxic Free Campaign and integrative partner events, WHEN teaches individuals and communities how to reduce their risk of illness and injury that can occur from the products we use, the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe in accessible, inspiring ways.
WANNABE TOXIC FREE
WTF? This affects my health. I #WannaBeToxicFree! WHEN’s #WannaBeToxicFree campaign was initiated in 2016 and has taken many forms, featuring different environmental change makers who highlight the links between our health and the environment. At all our WTF events, we get down to the naked truth and dirty secrets about the toxic chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and what sexy alternatives are available including actions we can take to reduce exposure and push for legislative change, corporeal citizenship, and decolonial perspectives on toxic mitigation.
In 2024, the Trinity College Integrated Sustainability Initiative became a partner in launching Wannabe Toxic Free 2024: Awareness, Agency, and Collective Action. This event and fair featured sustainable businesses and grassroots organizations, educational booths, two panel discussions, environmental art, guided mindfulness practices, a silent auction, and live music. The intentions behind this event were to:
I) INSPIRE AN EMBODIED AWARENESS OF OUR HEALTH AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR ENVIRONMENT THROUGH ART AND SCIENCE,
II) REVEAL THE SOCIAL INJUSTICES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, AND
III) PROMOTE SYSTEMIC CHANGES NECESSARY FOR A BETTER FUTURE.
“The fair provided a transformative experience where we began to reimagine our connection to the environment, ourselves and each other – not as separate experiences, but as fundamentally connected pursuits of community and holistic health that are informed by intersectional feminist thinking.”
Panelists discussed embodied and scientific awareness of toxic harm, their social inequalities, and necessary political change. The first panel is a powerful group of academics and activists. Watch the first Panel on Systemic Injustice of Toxics below!
The evening panel included Dr. Sat Dharam Kaur from the Compassionate Inquiry program with Gabor Mate, Dr. Elli Weisbaum of the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Program at New College, and Environmental Justice Storyteller Anna-Liza Badaloo. Watch the second panel on Exposure Prevention in Practice below.
Events like this are made possible by contributions and support from our community. We extent our heartfelt gratitude for all who stand with us in fighting for a healthier planet.
“The positive energy and genuine curiosity of the audience was palpable, and the booths really brought everything together to complement the panels…The musical performances were amazing! I applaud you for overtly including arts-based approaches” - Anna-Liza Badaloo
“It was a joy and inspiration to be there, and fulfilling to share knowledge. Congratulations on creating such a worthy, interesting, important and informative event…I came away from that event feeling amazed, hopeful, and positive. ” - Sat Dharam Kaur
“I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. The full range of Science, Art and Human Interconnectedness was enriching.” - Event Attendee
“It was a pleasure to represent WHEN on the Systemic Injustices of Toxics Panel and engage in important discussions with such knowledgeable individuals around environmental justice, intersectional feminism and the link between environmental and human health. The WTF event provided a valuable forum for multiple organizations to connect, and the interdisciplinary nature of the event created space for diverse perspectives to be uplifted. Congratulations to WHEN for putting together such a fantastic and well-planned event!” - Kanisha Acharya-Patel
FILMS AND SCREENINGS
Our films, made with the input of experts from a number of disciplines, are widely used as community resources in labour and health professional outreach, awareness and educational programs and for national television broadcasts.WHEN hosts participatory workshops using film screenings as a springboard for lively discussion on how to take action for prevention in your own community. If you know of a group or organization that would like a WHEN workshop, contact us.
TOXIC TRESPASS
A FILM ABOUT CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
BUY THE DVD AND RESOURCE GUIDE
CANADIAN SCREENWRITING AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY, WRITERS GUILD OF CANADA, 2008
HONOURABLE MENTION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CATEGORY, COLUMBUS FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL, 2008
BEST HEALTH AND SAFETY DOCUMENTARY, CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2009
NOMINATED FOR GOLDEN SHEAF AWARD, BEST DOCUMENTARY, YORKTON FILM FESTIVAL, 2009
In Toxic Trespass, intrepid filmmaker Barri Cohen launches an investigation into the effects of the chemical soup around us. She starts with her 10-year-old daughter, whose blood carries carcinogens like benzene and the long-banned DDT. Then Cohen heads out to Windsor and Sarnia, Canadian toxic hotspots with startling clusters of deadly diseases. The filmmaker journeys into toxic nightmares all too common in industrialized countries. She meets passionate activists working for positive change, along with doctors and scientists who see evidence of links between environmental pollution and health problems. And she learns how quickly barriers can go up sometimes, when authorities are questioned about the connection between toxins and serious health problems. This film is essential viewing for anyone concerned about the effects of pollutants on our – and our children’s – very DNA.
To view a clip of this film on YouTube, click here.
Toxic Trespass is accompanied by the comprehensive 66-page resource guide "Taking Action on Children’s Health and the Environment". This booklet provides guidance for educators, health professionals, parents, activists and concerned citizens who want to promote action for prevention.
BUY YOUR COPY TODAY
For more information on the film and resource guide, visit www.toxictrespass.com
EXPOSURE: ENVIRONMENTAL LINKS TO BREAST CANCER
WINNER, BEST HEALTH DOCUMENTARY - NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL, 2001
BROADCAST ON CBC NEWSWORLD, TVO, WOMEN'S TELEVISION NETWORK AND SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST OUTLETS.
Director: Francine Zuckerman, Producers: Martha Butterfield & Francine Zuckerman Associate Producer, Principal Research Consultant: Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg
This video was conceived in response to the growing public debate about the implications of our contaminated world on the health of women. Today one in three people will get cancer. One in four will die from it. In the 1950s, women in industrialised countries were at a one in twenty risk of developing breast cancer over their lifetime. Today that risk has skyrocketed to one in eight. Cancer can have many causes. Seventy to eighty percent of women with breast cancer have none of the "official" risk factors: family history (5-10%), hormonal and reproductive factors and a high fat diet. However, breast cancer rates are increasing all over the world and may be but the tip of the iceberg of other environmentally linked diseases. Timely, responsive and urgently needed, Exposure: Environmental Links To Breast Cancer can play a major role in raising awareness around the little understood, long-term connections between environment, health and disease prevention. It introduces issues and raises questions, awareness and opportunities. It offers strategies for dealing with current unacceptable environmental health conditions and for generating the social and political changes needed for a cleaner, safer world.
Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources (v.28, no.1, Fall 2006, pp.19-23) has reviewed Exposure and its accompanying resource guide, Taking Action for a Healthy Future. To read the review click here.
Languages: DVD available in English, French and Spanish. Note: VHS versions in English, French and Spanish are available for FREE (shipping not included). Contact us!
To order this film on line, click here.
To fax or mail your order click here and print the order form. (To print the Exposure order form, you will need Adobe Reader). Prices include the DVD and a 60-page Resource Guide (2009 edition) full of practical information related to the film. (Thanks to the Saunders-Matthey Foundation for the funding to update this resource guide).
Facilitator's Guide
Since 1997, WHEN has been training participants to become "environmental health multipliers". They learn to facilitate discussions, speak at conferences and organize screenings to educate their own communities. Do it yourself! Use WHEN's Facilitator's Guide with a copy of one of our films, Exposure or Toxic Trespass, and get a discussion going in your community! Contact us to become a Facilitator!