"WITHIN REACH"

This article appears courtesy of Pascack Press and was originally published on Aug. 31, 2009)

Photo caption: Caption: Mandy Creighton and Ryan Mlynarczyk, center, makers of the film “Within Reach” pose with their bicycles and Hillsdale host Rachel Wieland, left, and friend Meredith Kates, both of the Pascack Sustainability Group, on Aug. 24. For more information on the film, log on to withinreachmovie.com.)

 They’re anything but within reach of the life they left behind when they decided to pick up their bicycles, some solar powered electronics and set forth on a journey seeking the answers about sustainable living some 5,000 miles ago. Ryan Mlynarczyk, a former law student in 2005 in Santa Rosa, CA, and Mandy Creighton, a marketing and development professional through 2007, recall a time when they felt a void, swamped in the minutia of their everyday lives, until soon they began to formulate their plan, one that involved trading in their house and cars for a tent and bicycles. 

The film makers, after breakfast at their friend Rachel Wieland’s house in Hillsdale on the morning of Aug. 24, possess great resolve and enthusiasm, more than the average person, a source of intrigue considering the pair has spent the last 10 months biking down the Pacific Coast, across southern states and up the East Coast into Hillsdale. Within the next day they plan to set out once more, this time on a trip to Hartford, CT before heading to Burlington, VT and beginning their trip back west. 

“At least one day a week, we take a rest. But as far as getting a few days, that may come once-a-month,” said Ryan, clearly refreshed after taking a break from the voyage that started in October of 2008. 

The pair spent the weekend at Weiland’s home, discussing sustainability, bonding with local students over home cooked meals and catching up on work. Their trip is more than just a personal voyage for self-fulfillment. Advocates of sustainable living, Ryan and Mandy set out not just to find all the ways that people are living more sustainably across the United States, but to film it, too. 

“Our project is called, ‘Within Reach’ because it’s only once you reach within that sustainability becomes attainable,” says Ryan, looking the part of a traveling artist with an overgrown hair and beard. “And it’s only when you reach within and really kind of figure out what your question is and what your purpose is, that the universe will then conspire to help you become a better person, evolve and live a more sustainable life and if we all start doing that, collectively, all those efforts will make the world a better place.” 

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, broadly, but poignantly, notes that sustainability is essentially defined as the capacity to endure. Advocates of sustainable living take multi-faceted approaches, not easily defined by one set of conventional standards. 

“The movement, at its core, is about sharing,” says Mandy. “What and how? Those answers are revealed over time.” 

But the ‘what’ and ‘how’ is exactly what’s examined in their film. Their documentary “Within Reach” is a story about their 12,000-mile bicycle journey in which they visit sustainable communities and document what their experience. However they’re hoping that human element - their journey - is what will make the film transcend to the mainstream. 

“We really hope that our personal story can be the glue that holds the movie together,” says Mandy. “It’s actually relatable because we’re two people who are really putting ourselves out there.” 

“Hopefully it’ll be a love a story,” she adds, joking in Ryan’s direction. The pair, who spend almost all their time together on the voyage, plan on wedding at the conclusion of the trip. Already, they’ve seen much, but are only slightly more than halfway home.

“Really we’ve been visiting projects; everything from green sustainable design development projects to really rural communes and everything in between. Eco-villages and co-housing and coops; just anybody who’s really committed to living a more sustainable life and who’s realizing, ‘wow, I can do it a lot better and more easily and more cost effectively,’” Mandy says. 

They hope their movie will get people asking the questions, but acknowledge the answers are still open ended and rely on the individual. 

“The form: green technology or the structure of sustainable community or eco-building may seem like ‘the answer,’ but in 10 years will it be the answer?” asks Ryan. “Maybe, maybe not. And so the only way that you can really get a timeless solution is by reaching within and finding out how to be a better person. Then the form will come.” 

One answer could be to start small and start locally. 

“You have to start with where you’re at,” says Wieland, their host and a board member of the Pascack Sustainability Group. “For our community, that might be like sending your kids to earth scouts, it might be working on the community garden down by Kings, it might be coming out to the Pascack Sustainability Group which is talking to other people in the community and seeing what they’re doing.” 

As for an impression of Hillsdale during their short visit, Ryan and Mandy left with renewed optimism. “There is a strong sense of community here,” said Mandy. “The fact that Rachel is in her childhood home and committed to staying where she’s at and making a difference is inspiring. As we travel, we’re finding that community needs to come first, before sustainability can become a reality.” 

Whether their stay in the Pascack Valley will make the documentary, will be decided in the editing process, but they’ll have some difficult choices in weaving together over a years worth of footage. If interested, they documents their movements, thoughts and experiences online at the Web site Withinreachmovie.com.