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Sarah Harmer – Production Notes Story Growing up, Sarah Harmer’s backyard was the Niagara escarpment. And this natural wonder, stationed right at her doorstep, imbued the young child with a love for the environment that only grew stronger in her adult years. In fact, the passion would later inspire the singer to take on the role as one the escarpment’s most active devotee. She has dedicated a number of years to taking varied impassioned steps toward saving what remains of the escarpment. Her childhood love affair with the region has continued to guide her in both her music and her life. Turning Point In 2004, Nelson Aggregate, applied to open an 82-hectare (200-acre) gravel quarry on the north bluffs of Mount Nemo directly behind Sarah’s family farm. It was around then, approximately four years ago now, that Harmer became involved with Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL), the organization spearheading the protest to stop Nelson. “I wanted to help make a difference,” she says. “Along with other citizens, planners and politicians, we can make wise land-use decisions. I wanted to do the right thing.” Storytelling Aside from co-founding PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), the land-use conflict has inspired Harmer to pen songs and is the subject of her Juno Award-winning song Escarpment Blues. In fact her deep appreciation of the countryside is one of the strongest themes in her music. Escarpment Blues If they blow a hole in the backbone The one that runs cross the muscles of the land We might get a load of stone for the road But I don’t know how much longer we can stand “I know it’s been a privilege to have grown up near the woods and ponds, looking at salamanders, being surrounded by all this beauty,” says Harmer. “Perhaps that’s reflected in my music — a strong sense of place.” She feels equally privileged to participate in what she has called “a time-honoured tradition of getting the message out there.” A camera crew followed Harmer and her band mates as they toured the Niagara Escarpment in 2005. This was released on a DVD called The Escarpment Blues. "There are a lot of technical things, a lot of studies that people are doing, but I think that music sometimes can sum it up and give it an emotional punch," Harmer says of her music's impact on CINEFOCUS CANADA 680 Queens Quay West, Suite 702, Toronto, Ontario M5V 2Y9 Tel: 416 504-9940 Fax: 416 504-7917 e-mail: [email protected] www.cinefocus.com the cause. She's learned that it's not the big leaps forward that matter, but the little steps she takes every day to aid the movement. "Bruce Cockburn said to me, "My advice is, enjoy it while you're doing it now, because you never know what the outcome's going to be. Just do it for the doing it.' I think that's really good advice." Harmer is an outspoken, powerful voice about environmental issues, such as the land-use dispute with aboriginals over uranium exploration in Sharbot Lake and the 86-turbine wind project on Wolfe Island. She co-hosted a show about Wolfe Island on Queen's University Radio CFRC last June. In 2007, Sarah participated in a compilation CD benefiting awareness for Lake Ontario. She worked with a number of other of well-known, socially conscious Canadian artists—including Gordon Downie of The Tragically Hip, Cockburn and Pete Seeger on this project. The CD, titled At the Barricades, was created for the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. And for the past few years Harmer has been organizing a benefit concert on behalf of PERL called I Love the Escarpment Too! with a slew of other musicians, such as Bruce Cockburn and Feist, with the aim of funding the campaign to preserve the escarpment. Footage: 1. PERL concert shot on September 20, 2008 2. Interview shot on that day 3. Clips from DVD, The Escarpment Blues Sarah Harmer Quotes from film: “There’s so many places to help the environment wherever you are and whatever your neighbourhood or community is, I think it’s all there to find and it can be right in your neighbourhood, in your own backyard as it was in mine.” “The living world is endlessly interesting if you have access to it and make time for it. CINEFOCUS CANADA 680 Queens Quay West, Suite 702, Toronto, Ontario M5V 2Y9 Tel: 416 504-9940 Fax: 416 504-7917 e-mail: [email protected] www.cinefocus.com.

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