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Affluenza
AFFLUENZA is a
groundbreaking film that diagnoses a serious social disease - caused
by consumerism, commercialism and rampant materialism - that is
having a devastating impact on our families, communities, and the
environment. We have more stuff, but less time, and our quality of
life seems to be deteriorating. By using personal stories, expert
commentary, hilarious old film clips, and "uncommercial" breaks to
illuminate the nature and extent of the disease, AFFLUENZA has
appealed to widely diverse audiences: from freshmen orientation
programs to consumer credit counseling, and from religious
congregations to marketing classes.
With the help of historians and archival film, AFFLUENZA reveals
the forces that have dramatically transformed us from a nation that
prized thriftiness - with strong beliefs in "plain living and high
thinking" - into the ultimate consumer society.
The program ends with a prescription to cure the disease. A
growing number of people are opting out of the consumer chase, and
choosing "voluntary simplicity" instead. They are working and
shopping less, spending more time with friends and family,
volunteering in the communities, and enjoying their lives more. |
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Awakening Universe,
The
A film by Neal Rogin
Based on the book, The Universe Story by cultural historian Thomas
Berry and Cosmologist Brian Swimme, this beautiful and inspiring
film takes you on the ultimate journey, from the very birth of the
Universe, through the arising of Galaxies, the formation of the
Earth, the emergence of life, and finally to the development of
human consciousness.
In
a mere fifteen minutes, using awe inspiring images and a sweeping
original musical score, this amazing film shows how science, spirit
and ancient indigenous wisdom are now all converging to reveal that
we stand in the very heart of that which created us. An entirely new
context for human life is arising in our lifetime, with the
potential to transform forever our sense of separation, isolation,
and alienation into one of connection, commonality and communion.
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BHUTAN
Taking The Middle Path To Happiness
Imagine a country where happiness is the guiding principle of
government. Imagine a people who see all life as sacred and the
source of their happiness, a place with an abundance of clean and
renewable energy, a nation committed to preserving its culture and
whose progress is measured by obtaining Gross National Happiness for
its people. Where is this Shangri-La? Bhutan. But can a place like
Bhutan really exist? Can such ideals be realized? Can this small,
geographically isolated country tucked away in the Himalayans truly
protect its environment and culture as they open their doors to the
West? The answer is rooted in the Bhutanese view of the world,
anchored in Buddhism, with the simple message that happiness can
only be found by taking the middle path the path that balances the
needs of man with the powerful spirits of nature.
--Bonus Feature - A short film in which His Holiness the Dalai Lama
expresses his views on happiness. The interview took place in
Dharamsala, India, where he resides in exile. The backdrop for the
film is scenery from the documentary film Sacred Tibet The Path To
Mount Kailash. |
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Biomimicry
Directed by Paul Lang
Produced by Paul Lang & David Springbett
for CBC's "The Nature of Things"
Executive Producer: Michael Allder
Presented by David Suzuki
With Janine Benyus
The programs put us in touch with men and women who believe our
teachers are all around us. These biomimics are learning from our
fellow earthlings - the ecological survivors who have prospered for
millions of years. They've survived and met their needs while
creating conditions conducive to life for all others around them.
After decades of research into the lives of insects, bivalves,
plants and mammals, biomimics are uncovering major insights into how
life occurs. Their explorations of nature aren't so much "about"
nature in order to circumvent or control her. Instead, biomimics are
guided by humility as they begin to learn "from" nature so we can
learn to fit in alongside the rest of nature, at last and for good.
After 3.8 billion years, `life' knows what works and what lasts on
earth. Mimicking these designs and strategies - their recipes -
could change the way we grow food, harness solar energy, run
businesses, even the way we make materials.
The two programs introduce us to several scientists, businesspeople,
and authors in this field. Featured in the first program are: Wes
Jackson of The Land Institute in Texas; Ray Anderson, CEO of
Interface, Inc.; Paul Hawken, author "Natural Capitalism"; and of
course Janine Benyus, who co-hosts the program. In the second
program we meet Herbert Waite, a biologist at USC - Santa Barbara;
Robin Garrell, an organic chemist at UCLA; and Jeff Brinker of
Sandia National Labs.
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Canticle to the Cosmos
With Brian Swimme
Canticle to the Cosmos tells the scientific story of
the Universe with a feeling for its sacred nature. Brain Swimme, BS,
PhD., featured in the BBS series Soul of the Universe along with
Stephen Hawkins, hosts this classic series on the New Story of the
Universe. Designed to be used as part of an academic curriculum, in
small group study, or for individual enrichment.
12 -60 Minute Programs Include:
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The Story of Our Time
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The Primeval Fireball
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Feast of Consciousness
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Fundamental Order of the Universe
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Destruction and Loss
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A Magical Planet
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Sex, Death & Dreams
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The Nature of the Human
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Fire in the Mind
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The Timing of Creativity
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The Human Story
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A New
Prosperity
Brian Swimme is a mathematical
cosmologist of the graduate faculty of the California Institute of
Integral Studies in San Francisco.
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Carbon Nation
Directed by Peter Byck
Starring Bill Kurtis, Richard Branson
An optimistic, solutions-based, non-preachy, big
tent film that shows tackling climate change boosts the economy,
increases national security and promotes health & a clean
environment. |
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Citizen
Architect
Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio
In
1993 the late architect and MacArthur Genius Samuel Mockbee started
the Rural Studio, a design/build education program, in which
students create striking architecture for impoverished communities
in rural Alabama. Guided by frank, passionate interviews with
Mockbee, Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the
Rural Studio shows how a group of students use their creativity,
ingenuity and compassion to craft a home for their charismatic
client, Jimmie Lee Matthews, known to locals as Music Man because of
his zeal for old R&B and Soul records. The film reveals that the
Rural Studio is about more than architecture and building. Mockbee's
program provides students with an experience that forever inspires
them to consider how they can use their skills to better their
communities. Interviews with Mockbee s peers and scenes with those
he s influenced infuse the film with a larger discussion of
architecture s role in issues of poverty, class, race, education,
social change and citizenship. |
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Corporation,
The
WINNER OF 26
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS! 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004
Sundance Film Festival.
Provoking, witty,
stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores
the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our
time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming
audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling
analysis. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical
conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's
couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes
interviews with
40 corporate
insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi
Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore
- plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change. |
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Cosmic Voyage
Written and Directed by Bayley Silleck
Produced by Jeffrey Marvin and Bayley Silleck
Narrated by Morgan Freeman
The
Academy Award nominee Cosmic Voyage combines live action with
state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery to pinpoint where humans
fit in our ever-expanding universe. Highlighting this journey is a
"cosmic zoom" based on the powers of 10, extending from the surface
of Earth to the largest observable structures of the universe, and
then back to the subnuclear realm--a guided tour across 42 orders
of magnitude!
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Cosmogenesis and Journey of a Silica Atom
Cosmogenesis
Using space images from Nasa, Elisabet
Sahtouris weaves a moving and poetic story of the 15 billion years
of cosmic evolution
Journey of a Silica Atom
In this intriguing take one experiences the incredible
interconnectedness of all our planet's geology and biology in a
single living system.
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Crude: The Real Price of Oil
The story of
lawsuit by tens of thousands of Ecuadorans against Chevron over
contamination of the Ecuadorean Amazon.
One of the
largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside
look at the infamous $27 billion "Amazon Chernobyl" case, CRUDE is a
real-life high stakes legal drama set against a backdrop of the
environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human
rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and
rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex
situation from multiple viewpoints, the film examines a complicated
situation from several angles while bringing a story of
environmental peril and human suffering into focus.
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A Crude
Awakening: The Oil Crash
A
90 minute documentary on the planet's dwindling oil resources
OilCrash, produced and directed by award-winning European
journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, tells the
story of how our civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a
collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly
entertaining, the film visits with the world’s top experts and comes
to a startling, but logical conclusion – our industrial society,
built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely
re-imagined and overhauled.
The film includes in-depth, thought-provoking interviews with Colin
Campbell, Matt Simmons, Roscoe Bartlett, David Goodstein, Matt
Savinar, Terry Lynn Karl, Fadhil Chalabi, Robert Ebel and many
others. Shot on location at oil fields in Azerbaijan, Venezuela,
the Middle East and Texas, with original music by Daniel Schnyder
and Philip Glass, the film provides not only questions, but possible
solutions to the most perplexing and important economic,
environmental and public policy issue of our time
http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/index2.html |
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Dirt!: The
Movie
DIRT! The Movie--directed and produced by Bill Benenson
and Gene Rosow--takes you inside the wonders of the
soil. It tells the story of Earth's most valuable and
underappreciated source of fertility--from its
miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.
The opening scenes of the film dive into the wonderment
of the soil. Made from the same elements as the stars,
plants and animals, and us, "dirt is very much alive."
Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for
both profit and natural resources, our human connection
to and respect for soil has been disrupted. "Drought,
climate change, even war are all directly related to the
way we are treating dirt."
DIRT! the Movie--narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis--brings to
life the environmental, economic, social and political
impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of
experts from all over the world who study and are able
to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and
mutually beneficial relationship with soil.
DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real
change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie
teaches us: "When humans arrived 2 million years ago,
everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on,
the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked."
But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches,
DIRT the Movie is a call to action.
"The only remedy for disconnecting people from the
natural world is connecting them to it again."
What we've destroyed, we can heal.
http://www.dirtthemovie.org
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Earth on
Edge
Filmed in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, this
Bill Moyers program assesses the state of the environment. Combining
interviews with leading scientists and reports from Mongolia,
British Columbia, Brazil, South Africa, and the state of Kansas,
Moyers and his team of award-wining producers explore the impact
that human activities have had on the planet while posing an urgent
question: What is happening to Earth's capacity to support nature
and civilization? Computer graphics enhance this gripping
documentary.
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FLOW
How
did a handful of corporations steal our water?
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what
experts label the most important political and environmental issue
of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.
Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the
world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on
politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a
domineering world water cartel.
Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the
rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the
film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits
behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY
OWN WATER?"
Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at
the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the
water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast
becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.
On
December 10th, 2008 FLOW was invited to screen at the United Nations
as part of the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.
http://www.flowthefilm.com
http://www.flowthefilm.com/trailer
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Food for
Thought
Do you know that many of the
foods on our supermarket
shelves - including most of
the corn and soy and canola
products - are genetically
engineered? Did you know
that scientists are crossing
species that would never
breed in nature, such as
tomatoes and fish, or toads
and potatoes? How do you
feel about eating
genetically altered food
that actually is a
pesticide?
None of these genetically
engineered foods are tested
or labeled by the
government, yet many of us
are unknowingly eating them
every day. European
countries are resisting what
many people are branding as
"Frankenfoods." Here in the
U.S. the situation will only
get worse until the American
public demands the right to
know which foods have been
genetically altered.
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Food, Inc.
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts
the veil on our nation's food industry,
exposing the highly mechanized underbelly
that has been hidden from the American
consumer with the consent of our
government's regulatory agencies, USDA and
FDA. Our nation's food supply is now
controlled by a handful of corporations that
often put profit ahead of consumer health,
the livelihood of the American farmer, the
safety of workers and our own environment.
We have bigger-breasted chickens, the
perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant
soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go
bad, but we also have new strains of E.
coli—the harmful bacteria that causes
illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans
annually. We are riddled with widespread
obesity, particularly among children, and an
epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as
Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael
Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense
of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with
forward thinking social entrepreneurs like
Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface
Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals
surprising—and often shocking truths—about
what we eat, how it's produced, who we have
become as a nation and where we are going
from here.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-film.php
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Forks Over Knives
starring T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell B. Esselstyn
FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that
most, if not all, of the so-called "diseases of
affluence" that afflict us can be controlled, or
even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of
animal-based and processed foods. The major
storyline in the film traces the personal journeys
of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated
researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell
Esselstyn.
Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell
University, was concerned in the late 1960's with
producing "high quality" animal protein to bring to
the poor and malnourished areas of the third world.
While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing
discovery: the country's wealthier children, who
were consuming relatively high amounts of
animal-based foods, were much more likely to get
liver cancer. Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head
of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the
world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of
the diseases he routinely treated were virtually
unknown in parts of the world where animal-based
foods were rarely consumed.
These discoveries inspired Campbell and Esselstyn,
who didn't know each other yet, to conduct several
groundbreaking studies. One of them took place in
China and is still among the most comprehensive
health-related investigations ever undertaken. Their
research led them to a startling conclusion:
degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2
diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could
almost always be prevented - and in many cases
reversed - by adopting a whole foods, plant-based
diet. Despite the profound implications of their
findings, their work has remained relatively unknown
to the public. The filmmakers travel with Drs.
Campbell and Esselstyn on their separate but similar
paths, from their childhood farms where they both
produced "nature's perfect food"; to China and
Cleveland, where they explored ideas that challenged
the established thinking and shook their own core
beliefs.
The idea of food as medicine is put to the test.
Throughout the film, cameras follow "reality
patients" who have chronic conditions from heart
disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients
how to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the
primary approach to treat their ailments - while the
challenges and triumphs of their journeys are
revealed.
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Future of Food,
The
There
is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner
tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very
nature of the food we eat.
THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the
disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically
engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves
for the past decade.
From
the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca,
Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and
livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology.
The health implications, government policies and push towards
globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed
by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food
supply.
Shot
on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD
examines the complex web of market and political forces that are
changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to
control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives
to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and
sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/index.htm
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Garden,
The
A film by Scott
Hamilton Kennedy
The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South
Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States.
Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in
1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one
of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own
food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.
But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.
The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil
of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly
immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for
their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight
back, and demand answers:
Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than
fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door
session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public?
And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is
wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.”
If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?
The Garden has the pulse of verité with the narrative pull of
fiction, telling the story of the country’s largest urban farm,
backroom deals, land developers, green politics, money, poverty,
power, and racial discord. The film explores and exposes the fault
lines in American society and raises crucial and challenging
questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and
most vulnerable among us.
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Gasland
Written by Sundance Film Festival
It
is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to
find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their
property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed
the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." Halliburton developed a way to
get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called "fracking"-and
suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy
superpower. |
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Gimme Green
Gimme
Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the
residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our
wallets and our outlook on life. From the limitless subdivisions of
Florida to sod farms in the arid southwest, Gimme Green peers behind
the curtain of the $40-billion industry that fuels our nation's
largest irrigated crop-the lawn. |
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GMO Trilogy
TWhiy Genetically
modified organisms threaten your health, the environment and future
generations
3 Dis Set
Unnatural
Selection
Hidden Dangers
in Kids' Meals
You're Eathing
WHAT?
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/TheGMOTrilogy/index.cfm
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Great Squeeze, The
Surviving
the Human Project
directed by Christophe Fauchere
The
Great Squeeze explores our current ecological and economic crisis
stemming from our dependence on cheap and abundant energy. Although
our actions have lifted our civilization to new heights, it has come
at a tremendous price |
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Green
The
New Red, White and Blue
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman travels the globe to
unravel the tangled web of where we get our energy and what we can
do to change its effects on the planet. He visits the front lines of
a revolution that is just now taking shape, and shows what is at
stake for all of us.
Friedman starts with businesses whose products we use every day. At
Google, he discovers one of the unexpected byproducts of internet
searches: heat. This heat takes a lot of energy to cool. Google is
finding new ways to solve this problem. At Wal-Mart, a new prototype
green superstore is being planned. The new stores would save
Wal-Mart billions of dollars, all while helping the Earth. From Main
Street America to the highest offices in the country, we find out
what can and is being done. Political leaders are getting smart to
going green, too. In Montana, the governor is on a quest to clean up
coal; the governor of California is helping pass some of the
country's greenest laws.
Global warming may be an inconvenient truth, but there are
solutions, and they are taking hold at a grassroots level. America
is embracing the new green revolution sprouting from its red, white
and blue roots. Reducing energy consumption and global warming
begins at home. Just ask the greens. |
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Great Story, The
49
minutes
Produced by Nancy Stetson and Penny
Morrell
Edited by Emma Morris and Jane Zipp
Original Music by Gary Schreiner
The Great Story is a 50 minute documentary film for
educational venues and public broadcast portraying the
life and work of Thomas Berry. The film displays the
beauty of the natural world as Berry tells the story of
the universe emergence and highlights the critical
environmental crisis we are currently facing.
At the heart of the film is Berry's experience of the
universe as a cosmic liturgy. He reminds us that "we are
not a collection of objects but a communion of
subjects." His values were rooted in this sacred
cosmology which includes the entire natural world. The
mountains, rivers, birds, fish, all living organisms are
not there for our use but for a union which is needed
for us to become who we are. As Berry said, "I am not
myself without everything else."
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Global
Banquet, The
Politics of Food
Part 1 Who's Invited?: Giant corporations allowed to control
the world's food system through free trade policies. Timely and
provocative, this video examines how the corporate globalization of
food threatens the livelihoods of small farmers in the U.S. and
developing countries, and how free trade is the route to mounting
hunger worldwide, despite an overabundance of food.
Part 2 What's on the Menu?: Mass produced, low-cost food
imports to developing countries; cash crop exports that deplete
natural resources and render developing countries unable to feed
themselves; and some genetically modified crops. Farmers, laborers,
environmentalists, animal rights activists, church groups and
students work to rewrite unjust free trade policies. (2001)
Cine Golden Eagle Award Winner. Creative Excellence: U.S.
International Film & Video Festival
Study Guides
http://www.olddogdocumentaries.com/dg_gb.pdf
http://www.maryknollmall.org/studyguides/129_38.pdf
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Half the Sky:
Turning
Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's
groundbreaking book, HALF THE SKY: TURNING
OPPRESSION INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN WORLDWIDE
takes on the central moral challenge of the 21st
century: the oppression of women and girls
worldwide.
Take an unforgettable journey with six
actress/advocates and New York Times journalist
Kristof to meet some of the most courageous
individuals of our time, who are doing extraordinary
work to empower women and girls everywhere. These
are stories of heartbreaking challenge, dramatic
transformation and enduring hope. You will be
shocked, outraged, brought to tears. Most important,
you will be inspired by the resilience of the human
spirit and the capabilities of women and girls to
realize their staggering potential.
HALF THE SKY is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us
not only to bear witness to the plight of the
world's women, but to help to transform their
oppression into opportunity. Our future is in the
hands of women, everywhere.
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Hidden Heart of the Cosmos,
The
by Brian Swimme
80 minutes
What does it
mean to be human, to be alive on planet Earth in the midst of the
vast universe as it is now understood? Cosmologist Brian Swimme
takes us on an exhilarating journey in search of the new story
that is developing in answer to this question. From the Milky Way to
the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Drawing on 20th century discoveries
in quantum physics and cosmology, he presents a stunning
perspective.
Highly
Recommended - 3½ Stars - Video Librarian
Inspiring to teachers, college classes and the philosophically
inclined. - Booklist
Bronze Apple Winner - National Educational Media Award
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Inconvenient Truth,
An
Humanity is sitting on
a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists
are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that
could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction
involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer
heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced. If that sounds
like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From
director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit,
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a
passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to
halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the
myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice
President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election,
re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out
effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this
eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "traveling global
warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most
misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is
seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and
downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth
about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary
citizens before it's too late. |
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Journey of the
Universe
Today we know what no previous generation knew: the history of the
universe and of the unfolding of life on Earth. Through the
astonishing combined achievements of natural scientists worldwide,
we now have a detailed account of how galaxies and stars, planets
and living organisms, human beings and human consciousness came to
be. And yet . . . we thirst for answers to questions that have
haunted humanity from the very beginning. What is our place in the
14-billion-year history of the universe? What roles do we play in
Earth's history? How do we connect with the intricate web of life on
Earth?
In
Journey of the Universe Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker
tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new
perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with
enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West,
China, India, and indigenous peoples. They
explore cosmic evolution as a profoundly wondrous process based on
creativity, connection, and interdependence, and they envision an
unprecedented opportunity for the world's people to address the
daunting ecological and social challenges of our times.
Journey of the Universe transforms how we understand our origins and
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Kilowatt Ours:
A Plan to Re-Energize America
Award-winning film Kilowatt Ours: A Plan to Re-Energize America, is
a timely, solutions-oriented look at one of America s most pressing
environmental challenges: energy. Filmmaker Jeff Barrie offers hope
as he turns the camera on himself and asks, How can I make a
difference? In his journey Barrie explores the source of our
electricity and the problems caused by energy production including
mountain top removal, childhood asthma and global warming. Along the
way he encounters individuals, businesses, organizations, and
communities who are leading the way, using energy conservation,
efficiency and renewable, green power all while saving money and the
environment. This often amusing and always inspiring story shows you
can easily make a difference and here's how! |
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King
Corn
You
Are What You Eat
90 minutes
KING CORN is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of
our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden,
heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to
bottom corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, college
buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of
Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America.
With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and
government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends
manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the
hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America s
modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.
A graceful and frequently humorous film that captures the
idiosyncrasies of its characters and never hectors (Salon), KING
CORN shows how and why whenever you eat a hamburger or drink a soda,
you are really consuming corn.
http://www.kingcorn.net/
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/kingcorn/
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Next Industrial Revolution, The
Directed by Chris
Bedford & Shelley Morhaim
Produced by Shelley Morhaim for Earthome Productions
Narrated by Susan Sarandon
While some environmental
observers predict doomsday scenarios in which a rapidly increasing
human population is forced to compete for ever scarcer natural
resources, Bill McDonough sees a more exciting and hopeful future.
In his vision humanity takes nature itself as our guide
reinventing technical enterprises to be as safe and ever-renewing as
natural processes.
Can't happen? It's already happening...at Nike, at Ford Motor
Company, at Oberlin College, at Herman Miller Furniture, and at
DesignTex...and it's part of what architect McDonough and his
partner, chemist Michael Braungart, call 'The Next Industrial
Revolution.'
Shot in Europe and the United States, the film explores how
businesses are transforming themselves to work with nature and
enhance profitability.
Read More:
http://www.thenextindustrialrevolution.org/context.html
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No Impact Man
Follow the Manhattan-based Beavan family as they abandon their high
consumption 5th Avenue lifestyle and try to live a year while making
no net environmental impact.
Author Colin Beavan, in research for his next book, began the No
Impact Project in November 2006. A newly self-proclaimed
environmentalist who could no longer avoid pointing the finger at
himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency and vows to
make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No
more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more
non-local food, no more material consumption…no problem. That is,
until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife, Michelle, and
their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray. What began
as one man’s environmental experiment quickly becomes an experiment
in how much one woman is willing to sacrifice for her husband’s
dreams. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s film provides both a
front-row seat into the experiment that became a national
fascination and media sensation, and a behind-the-scenes look at the
marital challenges that result from Colin and Michelle’s radical
lifestyle change. Click
here for more information about the movie.
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OCA National Director Speaks Out on 'Farms Not Arms'
Ronnie Cummins is the Director of the Organic Consumers Association.
Here he speaks at a Farms not Arms press conference in New York
about the need to understand how the war is impacting the
environment, social justice, organics and the sustainability
movements. In this excerpt, Cummins focuses on the necessity for
these various movements to join together into a united coalition.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_9317.cfm
<http://alerts.organicconsumers.org/trk/click?ref=zqtbkk3um_1-f7x31f9x3343236&>
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Owners of the Water
Conflict and
Collaboration Over Rivers
34 Minutes
A
collaboration between indigenous filmmakers (a central Brazilian
Xavante and a Wayuu from Venezuela) and an anthropologist explores a
campaign headed by the Xavante to protect the Rio das Mortes River
Basin from the uncontrolled soy cultivation that brings
deforestation and pollution to the watershed. The Xavantes’ May 25,
2006 blockade of a national highway in Mato Grosso raises awareness
of their concerns and builds support for their efforts.
http://www.der.org/films/owners-of-the-water.html
http://www.der.org/films/owners-of-the-water-preview.html |
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Planet Earth
Discovery Channel
More than five years in the making, Planet Earth redefines blue-chip
natural history filmmaking and continues the Discovery Channel's
mission to provide the highest-quality programming in the world. The
series will amaze viewers with never-before-seen animal behaviors,
startling views of locations captured by cameras for the first time,
and unprecedented high-definition production techniques.
Award-winning actress and conservationist Sigourney Weaver narrates.
Deserts
Ice Worlds
Shallow Seas
Pole To Ple
Mountains
Deep Ocean
Great Plains
Jungles
Fresh Water
Forests
Caves |
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The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak
Oil
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy
went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more
than half – and food by 80 percent – people were
desperate. This film tells of the hardships and
struggles as well as the community and creativity of the
Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share
how they transitioned from a highly mechanized,
industrial agricultural system to one using organic
methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an
unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic
crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film
opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the
time in our history when world oil production will reach
its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba,
the only country that has faced such a crisis – the
massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of
options and hope.
http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php
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Powers of the Universe
with Brian Swimme
An exploration of the powers coursing through the Universe and each
of us.
11 programs, 9 hours
In The Powers of the Universe, cosmologist Dr. Brian Swimme takes
you on a journey into the powers that have been active since the
beginning of time and are available to you.
How are the powers of the Universe alive within you?
How can you align yourself with these powers?
Experience the joy of recognizing that you are the Universe
Develop a deeper intimacy with Earth,
an
erotic relationship with Life.
"The cosmological powers of the Universe are coursing
through us moment by moment. To become aware of
these powers is to touch the source of Life"
- - Brian Swimme
http://www.brianswimme.org/store/product.asp?pID=17&cID=1
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Processed People
Two
hundred million Americans are overweight and 100 million
are obese. More than 75 million Americans have high
blood pressure. 24 million people are diabetic. Heart
disease remains the No. 1 cause of death for men and
women, followed by stroke and obesity-related cancers.
Obesity is about to overtake tobacco as the No. 1 cause
of preventable deaths in the United States.
60%
of bankruptcies are caused by what has become known as
“medical debt.”
Fast
food, fast medicine, fast news and fast lives have
turned many Americans into a sick, uninformed, indebted,
“processed” people.
http://www.processedpeople.com
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Sacred Balance
-
TV Series
In the
past half-century science and technology have worked wonders –
healing disease, extending human lifespans, cloning life-forms,
communicating instantaneously with the other side of the globe. But
along with all this progress there have been terrible costs:
environmental, social, and spiritual.
In
Journey Into New Worlds, the opening episode of The Sacred Balance,
David Suzuki travels to Arizona, England, Massachusetts and to the
Pacific Northwest rainforest in search of a new vision of the Earth
and our place on it - a worldview we once had but seem to have
forgotten.
In The Matrix of Life, Episode II of The Sacred Balance, David
Suzuki travels around the world, exploring our intimate relationship
with water and air. In part three fire and creation is the theme of
exploration and part four is titled "Coming Home."
This
four-part series explores science and spirit and rediscovers the
human place in nature. Thoughtful,
revelatory, eye-opening, brain-opening -David's experiences leave
the viewer with a sense of wonder for life in all its diversity and
magnificence.
http://sacredbalance.com/web/series.html
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Story
of Stuff, The
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in
our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this
is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced,
fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption
patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge
number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to
create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something,
it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all
the stuff in your life forever.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
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Super Size Me (2003)
From
The New Yorker
Fascinating and nauseating. As a life-style stunt, the documentary
filmmaker Morgan Spurlock eats only at McDonald's for thirty days.
It's not a happy set of meals: he puts on twenty pounds, develops
heart palpitations, and is rendered impotent (much to the smirking
dismay of his vegan girlfriend). While even "heavy users" of
McDonald's don't eat fast food as often as Spurlock does during the
experiment, he becomes an overweight case in point that Big Macs and
their brethren have contributed to the supersizing and the
deteriorating health of Americans. Even more worrying are Spurlock's
forays into school cafeterias, which have become nutritional
wastelands. He tells this toxic story with visual flair and the
statistical punch of an inspired muckraker. And, if you want to eat
something after the movie, be sure to look away during the shots of
stomach-reducing surgery. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker
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Taking Root
The
Vision Of Wangari Maathai
Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simpple act of planting trees grew
into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect
human rights and defend democracy.
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Tapped
An
award-winning documentary on DVD from the producers of "Who Killed
the Electric Car?", Tapped explores the dark side of the bottled
water industry. Human beings need clean drinking water to live. It
is legal in some states for gigantic bottled water companies to suck
public tap water sources dry (even when shortages force residents to
ration water) then repackage and resell it at a gigantic markup -
with infinitely less regulatory oversight than there is for tap
water (and bottled water sold in the same state as it is pumped is
virtually unregulated) - but is it ethical? Is the plastic used to
create the water bottles truly safe for humans to put in their
mouths? Perhaps worst of all is America's catastrophic overall
failure to recycle plastic water bottles, resulting in an avalanche
of non-biodegradable waste being pitched into landfills, or even
straight into the ocean, where plastic bottles form a large part of
a floating ocean garbage mound hundreds of square miles large. The
bottle deposit laws of some states have been a proven, highly
effective method to promote recycling - but because it incurs a
minor expense the enormously profitable bottled water industry (an
expense otherwise borne by everyone who has to cope with improperly
disposed plastic bottle), corporations fight such legislative
measures tooth and nail. Corporate control over public water supply,
and corporate refusal to help shoulder the burden of recycling the
mounds of plastic trash that are the byproducts of its profit, can
only be combated by political activism - ordinary citizens getting
involved and laying claim to their water rights, as well as their
rights to a clean environment. A must-see, highly recommended
documentary guaranteed to make viewers think twice before paying
through the nose for what is essentially bottled (and smartly
advertised) tap water. 75 and 54 minute versions of Tapped are
available on the same DVD.
http://www.tappedthemovie.com/
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Thomas
Berry - The Great Story
As
a pioneer in the field of spirituality and ecology, Thomas Berry
created a quiet revolution. He was a monk, a cultural historian, an
author, a teacher, and a mystic.
He
saw his life work as waking us up to that sacred story. He called us
"mad" for the way we are despoiling our home, our planet, its
beauty, and its living systems. He was
a force that reminded us that we are living through the greatest
extinction spasm of the past 65 million years. We are the ones
responsible. Berry urged us to change our ways.
At
the heart of the film is Berry's experience of the universe as a
cosmic liturgy. He reminds us that "we are not a collection of
objects but a communion of subjects." His values were rooted in this
sacred cosmology which includes the entire natural world.
The mountains, rivers, birds, fish, all living organisms are not
there for our use but for a union which is needed for us to become
who we are. As Berry said, "I am not myself without everything
else."
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/tbhv.html
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Touching Peace
Thich Nhat Hanh is a well known Buddhist monk, scholar and poet. He
served as Chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation to the
Paris Peace Talks and was nominated by Martin Luther King Jr. for
the Nobel Peace Prize. Author of many books, including Being
Peace, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and Peace is every step,
he now lives in a small meditation community in France, where he
writes, teaches, gardens, and helps refugees worldwide.
Here he speaks before and audience of 3,500 about arriving in each
moment, getting in touch with our roots, community building, and
learning true love.
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Tropical Green 2006
In February of 2006, EEI and MDC hosted a two-day conference
exploring sustainability in the South Florida region.
If you are on an MDC campus, follow the link above to links to
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Unfolding Story, The
We
live in a time when there is a great need for a story that has the
power to connect all peoples. all cultures, all races and religions,
a story that will communicate about the living universe which is the
context for all life.
From ancient times there have been storytellers passing on wisdom to
those whose footsteps would follow in the path of life. In this
program scientists, authors, religious leaders, native people, and
other visionaries relate the story that is now unfolding of an
interconnected, interdependent living universe.
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Waste Land
directed by Lucy Walker
co-directed by João
Jardi and Karen Harley
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist
Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his
native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho,
located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an
eclectic band of "catadores" -- or self-designated pickers of
recyclable materials. Muniz's initial objective was to "paint" the
catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these
inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of
themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of
the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Walker (Devil
s Playground, Blindsight, Countdown to Zero) has great access to the
entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the
transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.
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We Are Water
directed by
Jill Heinerth
We Are Water is a passionate documentary exploring our spiritual and
physical connection with water, the source of life. Breathtaking
underwater footage from award winning filmmaker Jill Heinerth. This
film labor of love and the continuation of many years of water
advocacy. Region free will play in any modern DVD player or computer
DVD drive
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Who Killed the
Electric Car
With
gasoline prices approaching $4/gallon, fossil fuel shortages, unrest
in oil producing regions around the globe and mainstream consumer
adoption and adoption of the hybrid electric car (more than 140,000
Prius' sold this year), this story couldn't be more relevant or
important. The foremost goal in making this movie is to educate and
enlighten audiences with the story of this car, its place in history
and in the larger story of our car culture and how it enables our
continuing addiction to foreign oil. This is an important film with
an important message that not only calls to task the officials who
squelched the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but all of the other
accomplices, government, the car companies, Big Oil, even
Eco-darling Hydrogen as well as consumers, who turned their backs on
the car and embrace embracing instead the SUV. Our documentary
investigates the death and resurrection of the electric car, as well
as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our
country's future; issues which affect everyone from progressive
liberals to the neo-conservative right.
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
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