Most radical of all: keeping up the fight

As a fitting follow-up to Earth Day, on Monday, April 24, at the San Francisco Opera House, the Goldman Environmental Prizes were handed out. The awards go to heroes whose efforts to protect the Earth make a difference. Despite the corporate greed and government corruption that necessitate their struggles — as demonstrated in the Mill Valley Film Group’s minidocumentaries about each awardee — it is reassuring that it’s possible to make a difference. And when Michael

Franti has got the whole audience singing and dancing to “Say Hey (I Love You),” it’s euphoric.

The winners’ words always sound radical. “Money still speaks louder than the need to protect our environment. This must change,” said Australian

Wendy Bowman, who fought mining companies (four of the six prizes had to do with fighting mining companies). Prafulla Samantara of India, fighting mining, too, described a model of capitalism “which is the cause of global warming and climate change.”

These activists have not taken to the streets wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Nor has John Goldman, who, on behalf of the Goldman family, warmly welcomed the crowd to the ceremonies and then strongly criticized the current administration: “We have been beset” with a president who doesn’t believe in climate change, he said, and is “ready to scrap any and all regulations,” as well as Cabinet members who “put profits over people every day.”

The mini-doc videos focused on the winners’ environmental work and were not intended in any way to be a resume or list of professional and educational achievements. They are heroes, but they are human, with everyday lives.

At a reception afterward, I spoke with the Samantara family: his wife, Usha, a retired professor of research biology; his daughter, Sushree, who has a doctorate in environmental science; Sushree’s husband and their child. Samantara’s antimining campaigns have required him to spend lengthy periods sharing information with those who would be affected — mainly indigenous populations in remote areas. “Since childhood,” said Sushree, “I have been seeing him as an activist. He did not spend time with family. I and my husband have been been telling him to stay home with Mom. But we are feeling proud.”

KQED’s production of “American Masters: Jacques Pépin — The Art of Craft” had its world premiere at the Castro on Tuesday, April 25. (Its TV debut will air on KQED at 9 p.m. May 26). The event was a lovefest for the 81-year-old chef, who was surrounded by fellow icons of the food community (Roland Passot, Narsai David among them); young chefs he has inspired; a film crew headed by director Peter Stein, who had produced many of the chef’s KQED programs; and more than 1,000 just-plain-folks who over the years have feasted on his more than 20 books and 14 TV series.

The biggest challenge of making the movie, said Stein at a reception before the screening, is “dealing with a very rich life.” Pépin began working in the kitchen at 5 years old, went pro at 13, cooked for a firemen’s ball banquet in France at the age of 16, and came to America at 23. The movie “is as much a biography as a celebration of food,” he added. “His mastery doesn’t come out of nowhere.” The filmmaker’s intent was “to shine a light on someone who came from another country and changed the culture.”

The Pépin depicted in the film was in sync with the Pépin who took the stage afterward for a Q&A: likeable, not too impressed with himself, practical, funny. As a young man, he cooked for Charles de Gaulle .He turned down multiple invitations to become White House chef during the Kennedy administration. His series of shows with Julia Child depicts a friendship marked — as real friendships are — by bantering and rolling of eyes.

You come away with the feeling that he’s savvy about the camera and his image, but sincere. The event marked the first time he’d seen the whole film. “I wish my mother, my brother, my dad could be here,” he said. And the chef choked up.

P.S. Pépin was wearing a mushroom bow tie made for him by his friend Narsai David, who is a tiemaking hobbyist. This is a practical bit of chef’s gear: It doesn’t fall in the soup, said David.

“This office is less dysfunctional than my family.” Woman working at UC Berkeley, overheard by Mike Palmer

Meanwhile, International Dance Day is Saturday, April 29. To the 1 in 10 Americans who dance in front of their mirrors, think of Michael Franti (see above) and take it to the streets.