How to Die in Oregon

This documentary depicts a vivid example of America's current culture war. It shows a rural community, Philomath, Oregon, that is making a large transition from once being a dominant force through an "old time" profession, the timber industry, to one that is dominated by professionals and techies, the "information age". This is shown by the drastic decline of lumber mills in the area. In 1980, there were twelve mills around Philomath, but twenty-five years later there were only two. The largest employers are no longer the lumber mills but Oregon State University in Corvallis, which is about six miles from Philomath, and a Hewlett-Packard center involved in engineering ink-jet components.

A poetic meditation on nature, mortality, and the passage of time in her exploration of our symbiotic nexus with trees. Weaving together several stories of arboreal adoration, unfolds as a deeply human tale of our connection to the natural world and to one another.