In this Video Op-Ed, the videomakers debunk a recycling myth that has lulled us into guilt-free consumption for decades.
This short film does a great job breaking down the mysterious world of recycling and the greenwashing surrounding the word “recycling”.
A short view of land restoration in the central Texas hill country. Restoration there turned an overgrazed, dry, and dusty ranch into a forest with lakes, fresh springs, and wildlife.
Pacific salmon swim up rivers from the ocean in order to spawn, returning to the exact same stream they originated from. In the Snake River watershed, salmon used to reach central Idaho and Wyoming. With the removal of 4 dams produce minimal electricity, over 500 miles of salmon river habitat could be restored.
This film documents the life of a Ladakhi shepherdess who lives at 16,000 feet above sea level with 300 sheep and goats from her brother’s lens. Following her for multiple seasons, he guides the viewer through his sister’s daily life and the forces that threaten her livelihood—from the wolves and snow leopards of the mountains, to climate change’s ramifications on the region’s temperatures. Through images of the majestic Himalayan landscape, the familial connection between filmmaker and subject, and the intimate connection between a woman and her animals; this film works to restore awe in the natural world and the unbreakable connection between humans and their land.
The Man who Planted Trees is an award-winning animated short film based on a short story by the same title. In brief, the film tells the story of a shepherd—Elzéard Bouffier’s—attempt to re-forest an entire French valley alone, becoming acquainted with values of love, compassion and peace that the practice brings him through the years. Accompanied by whimsical illustrations and a touching storyline, this film highlights the tranquility and compassion that often get overshadowed in stories of modern-day environmentalism.
Wrenched is a film about Edward Abbey—a controversial, iconoclastic writer who inspired a generation of wilderness lovers and environmental activists—and his “passing of the monkey wrench” to the next generation of activists. His books, Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang, contributed ideas to the founding of Earth First! and major environmental movements that have been branded as “eco-terrorists.” The film highlights the roots of passion and preservation in which radical environmentalism and conservation stem from.
“We lost 94 percent of our vegetable seed varieties in the 20th century,” the film informs the viewer. This visually stunning film chronicles the movement to protect seeds—a practice called “seed saving”—before many disappear forever. Warning of the grave danger seeds are in, this film urges the viewer to recognize our irreparable destruction of ancient seeds, the vulnerability of seeds, and forces them to acknowledge what’s at stake for the future of mankind.
This documentary guides viewers through the history of environmentalism through an empowering lens of collaboration, cooperation, and success in unlikely fights. Taking a look at the environmental movement’s connection to matters of water pollution, toxic waste, climate change, whaling, and damming—just to name a few—A Fierce Green Fire reminds us of the passion that comprises the foundation of the environmental movement.
“When you’re screaming at the top of your lungs and nobody hears you, what are you supposed to do?”. Tired of the wealthy few destroying the environment for profit, members of the Earth Liberation Front in the Pacific Northwest developed a militant wing to try and get their message heard. Inspired by Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, these controversial “eco-terrorists” took on new means of trying to defend the world they loved. The film challenges the viewer’s perception of environmental activism and the fight to preserve our land.
After facing his own death, director Tom Shadyac launched himself into the world on a hunt to find what was wrong with it, but instead emerging with a sheer appreciation of the beauty and values within it: what was right. The documentary is an exploration of the power nestled in human-centered values such as love, compassion, simplicity, and connection.
As we begin to understand the interconnectedness of the modern world, the ecosystem of the Northern Rockies in the United States has been one of our primary sources of learning. The grey wolf was exterminated there in the early 1900’s and the ecosystem began to fall apart ever since. All life suffered: from the largest elk and grizzly bears, to the insects, fish, and grasses, in what is termed a “trophic cascade.” When wolves were reintroduced in 1995, that change reversed in just a matter of years. The film asks: “how do wolves change rivers?” reminding us of the inextricable connection between species in nature.
In the modern world, many people are distant from their food sources. What does this actually mean for our world though? Who pays the price for cheap, standardized food production? What does this do to our culture? Food, Inc. chronicles the history of agricultural practices in the US, highlighting the corruption and “high efficiency” industrialization of food production systems, leaving human health and the state of our land in jeopardy. Ultimately, the film underscores the power of consumers to make changes that turn the tides of food practice in the United States.
Controversy over dams is emotional and heated. Surging rivers are powerful symbols of the wild and central components in their ecosystems. To most environmentalists, dams are the quintessential representation of destroying something wild to promote something artificial, whether it’s irrigating the desert or shipping material goods up rivers. After a century of excessive dam building, the tide is turning and dam removal has begun. DamNation is a visual narrative of the previous, guiding the viewer through the history, social and environmental implications of damming and dam removal.
For many, seeing a truly dark night sky is a humbling experience that is becoming rare in modern America. Filmmaker Ian Cheney asks “what do we lose, when we lose the dark?,” as he explores the relationship between humans, stars, artificial light and darkness throughout the United States. This documentary offers an in-depth look at the ramifications of artificial light and light pollution in our world.
In this ten minute short film, filmmaker and adventure photographer Forest Woodward tells a story of his father’s relationship with the Colorado River, stressing the strong connection between humans and wild spaces. The film, supported by the river advocacy organization American River, reminds the viewer of the importance of protecting our wild spaces. The Important Places is a touching, feel-good film about family and the places we deem sacred, portraying American land conservation through an emotionally evocative lens.
This feature-length film chronicles the relationship between climate change and civil unrest across the globe through a unique lens—the perspective of military and US national security experts. The film poses the argument that climate change has exacerbated the societal tensions that spark global conflicts, such as that in Syria and amongst militant groups such as ISIS. Titles such as “catalysts for conflict” are given to the environmental ramifications of climate change, assisting in the film’s project of entangling environmental threats with the vulnerable nature of global stability. Though perhaps more fear-provoking on its surface than many other environmentally-themed films, The Age of Consequences is a powerful film that demands the rethinking of our role in climate change—from energy use, to resource extraction, to agricultural practices—and creates urgency in taking action to combat impending social unrest.
This short film introduces viewers to the Draper family, a Navajo family descending from participants of the “Long Walk”—a systematic forcing of Navajo people off their land by US military in 1864—as they stay connected to their ancestral lands of Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Two young girls, Tonisha and Tonielle Draper, live typical “American lives” on the surface, but are active in the reclamation of their Navajo heritage, reconnecting with ancestors, and showing deep reverence to the land within the canyon walls. Though an uplifting, hopeful film about connection, Canyon Song urges viewers to acknowledge the ability of natural spaces to serve as powerful reminders of history and culture—and necessitates their preservation through its implication of the preservation of an entire community’s tradition.
Life After Water is a nine minute short film depicting the increased stress being placed on farmers in the American West in the wake of increasingly frequent droughts. The film follows Jesus Ramos—an orange farmer in California’s Central Valley—who explains how water shortages threaten his family’s livelihood, food production, and the future of farming alike. Jesus’s family is not alone in this struggle for livelihood, as it is noted that drought-produced problems continue to plague farmers throughout the region. Jesus’s story suggests that it is not just farmers who are under threat, but the livelihood of the entire food-dependent country. As Jesus contemplates a lifestyle without his fields, Life After Water necessitates viewers to contemplate themes of agriculture, water use and food security—and the role of sustainability in conjunction with each.
How to Let Go is a feature-length film that follows director Josh Fox to multiple countries on six out of the seven continents as he investigates the ramifications of climate change—putting a spotlight on rising oceans and superstorms, amongst other environmental phenomena that are becoming increasingly common in recent history. Fox acknowledges the irreparable effects of climate change, introduces us to passionate activists across the globe, and ultimately asks the viewer: “what are the things that climate change can’t destroy? What are those parts of us that are so deep that no storm can take away?” How to Let Go is characterized by Fox’s human-centered approach to what may often be delivered as a strictly scientific issue, providing the viewer with some semblance of hope and foresight in an progressively unpredictable and challenging era.
This nine minute short film emphasizes the ‘environment versus economy’ debate that underlies many modern conversations about land use and conservation. Focused on the controversial issue that surrounds prospects of expanding industry on Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, The Limestone Conflict portrays the battle that is sparked when threats of mining creep into pristine landscape. Media, police, activists and industry workers are involved in the battle, highlighting the ability of changing land use plans to pull stakeholders from all aspects of a community into their reach, and unveiling deep problems that cost-benefit analyses simply cannot solve.
Follow two filmmakers down India’s most sacred river—the Ganges, termed “Ma Ganga,” or “Mother Ganges” by many Hindus. Seen as a source of life, the river is a sacred body that flows 1,569 miles through the subcontinent. But it’s purity is threatened by increasing industrial emissions, damming, household trash, human remains, and sewage, all of which are exacerbated by unhindered population growth. “But if we worship it, how can we defile it?,” one woman in the film asks, calling attention to the contradiction of the world’s most holy river being threatened by the byproducts of a rapidly industrializing world. Holy (un)Holy River prompts the viewer question to question: how can a so-called ‘source of life’ put the lives of anyone bathing or drinking it at risk? Where can restoring the life of the Ganges begin?
Above All Else is an emotionally riveting film that focuses on environmental activism incited by plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline that runs from Canada to the Gulf Coast through six states. Emotionally riveting, the film propels activism into the hearts and minds of “ordinary” individuals and communities, illustrating the power of solidarity in 21st century activism. Following impassioned individuals and families who are directly threatened by the pipeline, Above All Else roots the abstraction of activism within one family’s backyard, creating a powerful space for the fight for environmental justice and threatened property rights in its wake.
What happens to our waste after we toss it? Plastic China illustrates the harrowing social ramifications of waste that permeate the lives of those in the country that is the world’s largest plastic waste importer. Following the daily life of Yi-Jie—an eleven year old girl whose family lives on a plastic waste site—the viewer gains chilling insight into how destructive making a living on plastic waste recycling can be for participating families. As Yi-Jie’s schooling is thrown to the wayside along with the mental health of entire families, the viewer learns that our trash takes on a life of its own, seeping deep into the lives of families thousands of miles away—posing public health and environmental threats along with it. Plastic China highlights themes of poverty, inequality, economic “growth” and environmental health in the wake of our generation of consumption.
Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman challenges the public’s perception of what conservationists look like in America, inserting images of cowboys, ranchers, and fishermen living along the Mississippi into the conversation. Based on the book by Miriam Horn, the film is described as a moving tale that chronicles “conservation heroes who are feeding the world while stewarding the land and water.” The film embeds conservation within America’s heartland, simultaneously highlighting the largely forgotten heroes of the movement who push for sustainable practices in their everyday tasks.
This film introduces the viewer to Dick Goin, a vibrant aging man with a deep reverence for the Elwha River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula—a body of water that him and his family have personally and professionally relied on since the 1930s. With the river’s salmon population steadily decreasing due to damming, Goin fights to bring back the salmon. Ultimately, The Memory of Fish demonstrates the direct threat being placed on individuals as a result of widespread habitat destruction that stems from modern policy as Goin aims to bring life back to the river that has, in many ways, sustained his own life.
To the Ends of the Earth is a documentary that chronicles the rise of extreme energy extraction practices in North America with special attention to its ramifications on communities at its frontiers—from Inuit villages in Northern Canada to river ecosystems in Utah. Bringing the abstract concept of “energy extraction” into the homes of those who are directly, negatively impacted by it, To the Ends of the Earth is an evocative call to action that necessitates the rethinking of societal practices. With questions of shifting land use being at the forefront of current political conversations, this film pushes viewers to rethink the complexities that exist between economic growth, land use, and environmental justice; leaving one with the overarching question: how much longer can we do this?
This documentary is the quintessential adventure classic. Splitting time between wild places and the developing world of South America, this film delves into the mindset of living for the journey, not the destination. Along the way, the hero explores sustainability in the developing world, collapse of past civilizations, and some of the largest and most innovative conservation efforts on the continent.