With Edens LostandFound, award-winning filmmakers Harry Wiland and Dale Bell herald an exciting sea change in the relationship between ordinary citizens, environmental groups, and government. From across America they gather evidence of a new spirit of cooperation among neighbors, planners, architects and builders, city officials, and government agencies. Indeed, as urban issues have become undeniably urgent problems that demand answers, people from disparate backgrounds and political leanings are joining forces to recast life in American cities.
As citizens take action where government has failed, they are finding support, encouragement, and help from their neighbors. Conversely, as progressive-minded government agencies and organizations explore nontraditional solutions, an energized community rallies to the cause. Neither exclusively top-down, nor grass roots, we are in the midst of an unprecedented movement that unites efforts from every quarter in a common cause.
Focusing on Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle-four cities that face vastly different challenges-Edens LostandFound highlights the remarkable power of hope, pride, ingenuity, and chutzpah that characterize this era of collaboration.
Bioengineering concepts-now increasingly understood by many to offer the most effective, cost-efficient solutions-are playing a central role. Working with-rather than in opposition to-nature is leading to such innovations as rooftop and urban gardens, restored parks, transformed vacant lots, the re-greening of city streets, and eco-friendly watershed management. Edens LostandFound shows how working to reshape the land also transforms the relationships people have to one another.

Focusing on Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle--all cities facing a range of demographic, economic and environmental challenges--this volume highlights the many small acts of heroism, activism and leadership that bring neighborhoods together to build landscapes of beauty and surprise. Bell and Wiland, both award- winning documentary filmmakers, provide inspiring examples of citizens restoring their communities by creating sustainable urban ecosystems.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Focusing on Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle--all cities facing a range of demographic, economic and environmental challenges--this volume highlights the many small acts of heroism, activism and leadership that bring neighborhoods together to build landscapes of beauty and surprise. Bell and Wiland, both award- winning documentary filmmakers, provide inspiring examples of citizens restoring their communities by creating sustainable urban ecosystems. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Greater Philadelphia HouseandHome
September 2006
Edens LostandFound: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great American Cities is the companion book to the PBS television series that premiered in May, featuring Philadelphia and Chicago. The show's second installment, scheduled to air in October, will cover Los Angeles and Seattle.
The book's Philadelphia section, titled "The Holy Experiment," declares Philadelphia as one of the great American cities that faces a range of demographic, economic and environmental challenges. The book shares the stories of average citizens, progressive government agencies and local organizations that refuse to accept defeat and choose to take action in their communities.
Edens LostandFound reveals how to become part of a collaborative movement of unification and renewal. It emphasizes the importance of relationships within communities in sustaining a city's ecosystem. The book celebrates the success stories of neighborhoods that have reshaped their land, lending further inspiration to communities who have visions of enlivening and transforming their urban landscapes.
For ordinary citizens who look for motivation from everyday heroes, Edens LostandFound tells the tales of four cities whose average Joe's-turned activists have led the new wave of urban revitalization. Learn about innovative greening techniques you can implement in your community that will not only beautify your landscape but also strengthen your neighborhood relations. The book also includes a listing of Philadelphia area resources.

Variety TV
Posted: Tue., Jan. 9, 2007, 4:10pm
Do-gooders unite in the Los Angeles version of PBS' four-part traveling series Edens LostandFound: How Ordinary Citizens Are Restoring Our Great American Cities. Whether it's cleaning up a park in a gang-infested area or planting trees to help the ecological system, regular folk prove they can make a difference. But by the end of the hour, it feels like a bit of overkill.
Narrated by Jimmy Smits, one-hour special examines different scenarios in which locals find that getting off the couch and actively participating in the ecological welfare of L.A. gives them a feeling of accomplishment — as well as making the city a more hospitable and healthy place to live.
First seg focuses on Andy Lipkis, the president of Tree People and a believer in the power of the pine (and the fern and the palm). Planting trees since the mid-1970s, Lipkis and his team have helped reduce smog levels; a clip of him presenting a small tree to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" establishes that he has never been in this for the short run.
Following seg profiles Darrell Clarke, a public transportation advocate who hopes Angelenos will one day commute by paddling down the L.A. River. It doesn't wash. "Jetsons"-like personalized spacecraft probably has a better chance of coming to fruition than L.A. boating.
Enlightening piece on Ed Begley Jr. covers the actor's longstanding commitment to everything green — from his well-known electric car to the solar panels on his modest house. His decades-long resoluteness in a town where marriages often last less than a single TV season should be applauded.

Beautifully illustrated, Edens Lost & Found tells the stories of people who improve the quality of life in their cities by reclaiming abandoned land and transforming it into visions of Eden. Award-winning filmmakers Harry Wiland and Dale Bell go to four American cities?Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle?in search of nature, and find it. Through many small acts of heroism, activism, and leadership, neighborhoods come together and build landscapes of beauty and delight.

Part celebration and part inspiration, "Edens Lost & Found," the companion book to the PBS series, chronicles the forward-looking transformation of America's urban landscapes and communities.

Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1 & Overview
Chapter 2-Chicago: A City in a Garden
Chapter 3 & Philadelphia: A Holy Experiment
Chapter 4 & Los Angeles: The End of the Rainbow
Chapter 5 & Seattle: Tomorrow Is Now
Chapter 6 & Community Action
Resource Directory
Acknowledgments
Funding Organizations
Index