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About the film
Filmed in 1977,
2 months before his death, On the Edge of the Forest captures the
essence of Schumacher's life's work: to re-kindle a non-violent and
permanent way of living where progress means improving the quality
of peoples lives and living in harmony with the environment.
"As long as [man] behaves as true
to nature as the other natural forces ... this wonderful thing [the
natural world] will continue; but if he becomes too violent, too
cocksure and too selfish, then he will destroy the very basis of his own
existence."
Concentrating on the 1970s' 'clear-felling' of virgin, native forests in
Western Australia, Schumacher unmasks the true impacts of our ways of
living that are as important for us to understand now as then. In fact
with climate change and the environmental degradation of our natural
world that we witness today, his message is more important than ever
before.
But
this film, like Schumacher himself, gives us some cause to hope. Since
it was made, much of the Western Australia's remaining native forest is
protected and ten million new trees have been planted by volunteers.
If
we truly take on board Schumacher's alternative vision of the future
and, make real change in our own lives, we can look forward to the
future with all of his optimism.
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