{"id":45994,"date":"2025-11-20T13:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45994\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T13:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T13:34:08","slug":"build-a-better-planet-nonprofit-brings-climate-storytelling-to-staten-island-with-film-festival-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45994\/","title":{"rendered":"Build A Better Planet nonprofit brings climate storytelling to Staten Island with film festival plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Build A Better Planet<\/a> has been around for more than a decade, but the nonprofit media organization is stepping into a new chapter rooted in Staten Island, where founder Soledad Haren<\/a> hopes to grow a climate-focused storytelling hub.<\/p>\n

The sustainability-focused group, which officially incorporated in 2012, lost its Manhattan space during the pandemic and, now, uses the Build A Dream Incubator<\/a> in St. George. The move has pulled more of its work to the borough, from the shows it produces to its plans for launching a climate-focused film festival next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve published a magazine, we have podcasts,\u201d Soledad told the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cMost of our podcasts are around sustainability, so kind of following a talk show format where we interview people doing great things. We\u2019ve had artists, filmmakers, authors, scientists, all kinds of folks, and we also have several shows that feature indie musicians who are into green.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BuildBuild A Better Planet recently held a preview screening at Beso in St. George, featuring the award-winning animated documentary “Mariposas Negras.”Courtesy of Milena Orlando<\/p>\n

Last month, the group held a preview screening for the Better Planet Film Festival, a new event it plans to launch during Climate Week NYC<\/a> in September 2026. The preview, hosted at Beso in St. George, featured \u201cMariposas Negras<\/a>\u201d (\u201cBlack Butterflies\u201d), an award-winning animated documentary from director David Baute about three women displaced by climate-related disasters across different parts of the world.<\/p>\n

Soledad said the screening was intentionally intimate \u2014 a test run of what it hopes becomes a regular Staten Island event centered entirely on climate storytelling. And, of course, the screenings will be free to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m committed to keeping things free to the public,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not looking to be a Jeff Bezos billionaire. I\u2019m looking to provide people with quality, informative and educational programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BuildBuild A Better Planet recently held a preview screening at Beso in St. George, featuring the award-winning animated documentary “Mariposas Negras.”Courtesy of Milena Orlando<\/p>\n

The event\u2019s sponsor, Kreindler & Kreindler<\/a> \u2014 a firm long involved in 9\/11 victim litigation and related advocacy \u2014 has a particularly personal connection to Soledad. Before founding Build A Better Planet, she worked near Ground Zero on 9\/11 and lived through the aftermath of the attacks. The exposure to toxic dust, she said, took a toll on her health and ultimately pushed her toward a different path.<\/p>\n

In the years that followed, Soledad left the legal field and shifted into the restaurant world, working as a chef in Manhattan and Brooklyn before running her own catering business. She launched Build A Better Planet in 2012 as a way to share what she had learned about health, sustainability and environmental issues.<\/p>\n

Soledad hopes the film festival can also help shift the way visitors engage with the borough, pointing to thousands of tourists who ride the ferry only to turn right back around.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the results of that,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir tourist dollars are not making their way into Staten Island. I really would love to see a revitalized downtown area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BuildSoledad Haren, founder of Build A Better Planet, at the film fest preview in October.Courtesy of Milena Orlando<\/p>\n

Soledad sees the festival as a potential spark \u2014 something that brings people off the boat and into St. George\u2019s restaurants, shops and cultural spaces. She hopes next year\u2019s festival will grow into a full-day or even two-day event, drawing in Climate Week partners, local businesses and residents. <\/p>\n

\u201cMariposas Negras\u201d (\u201cBlack Butterflies\u201d), which she described as both beautiful and urgent, embodies the type of work she hopes to champion: storytelling grounded in real people, real interviews and real environmental consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what really moves me,\u201d she said. \u201cTalking to real people and telling their real stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

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