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This documentary examines the global search to develop a renewable energy source from an unlikely source: algae.
ALGAE: FUEL OF THE FUTURE is a half-hour documentary that reveals the global search underway to develop a renewable energy source from algae. The film explores the groundbreaking research being done by the National Research Council in Halifax, Nova Scotia and explains why algae fuel isn't that far-fetched. It could be a commercially viable option since the crude oil we currently use was created by algae a few million years ago.
DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2012 / (Grades 7-12, Adult Education, Post Secondary) / Approx. 24 minutes
The definitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars.
THE CITY DARK chronicles the disappearance of darkness. The film follows filmmaker (and amateur astronomer) Ian Cheney (KING CORN, BIG RIVER,TRUCK FARM), who moves to New York City from Maine and discovers an urban sky almost completely devoid of stars. He poses a deceptively simple question, "What do we lose, when we lose the night?".
Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawai'i, tracking disoriented hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing birds on Chicago streets injured by collisions with buildings, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights--including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. In six chapters weaving together cutting-edge science with personal, meditative sequences reflecting on the human relationship to the sky, THE CITY DARK shines new light on the meaning of the dark.
The film features stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, philosophers, historians, and lighting designers including Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronaut Don Pettit, neurologist Dr. George Brainard, Harvard Medical School scientist Dr. Steven Lockley, cosmologist Chris Impey, and lighting designer HerveDescottes.
Reviews
"The most comprehensive and intelligent documentary on light pollution." - Bob Parks, Executive Director, International Dark-Sky Association
"A City Dark really makes you think about what kind of alternatives are both sustainable and feasible." - Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
"Entertaining and thought-provoking...Mr. Cheney's film is a personal lament for the star-filled night sky he experienced growing up in Maine, but it is neither sorrowful nor a rant; he somehow manages to give this engaging work a sense of humor. He also manages to make it smart...This film makes you want to go find a starry sky to camp under quickly, before it's all gone." - Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
Awards
Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature, Environmental Film Festival at Yale
Jury Prize for Best Score/Music, SXSW Film Festival
This program focuses on the protection of Puget Sound - a national ecological treasure - through the efforts of Washington's Office of Shellfish and Water Protection (Health Science Cluster); a TV station that raises environmental awareness by reporting on the Sound (Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications Cluster); a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the Sound's ecosystem (Education and Training Cluster); and a local shellfish farm that sustainably harvests oysters (Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Cluster).
Powering houses and heating water in more energy efficient, sustainable ways is an important component of many remodeling projects. Whether it's through the use of passive or active solar technologies, wind, or other renewable power sources, today's remodelers need to understand the basics of green power so they can guide their clients toward smarter choices and then integrate these technologies into a home in the most intelligent way. Green Power, Clean Choices provides a fundamental understanding of how these technologies work and takes viewers to residential installation sites to see these systems in real -world applications.
Over the course of this program, viewers will learn how a green approach to landscaping can reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool a house. The role of landscaping as a system, the connection between the outdoor habitat and the home as a living space, the proper management of rainwater and runoff, the value of native plants, and the benefits of green roofs are also explored. Visits to residential project sites with the landscape architects and designers who created them are included as well, offering insights into the principles and design philosophies that have shaped their work.
The fundamental difference between a green approach to building and remodeling and a conventional approach is the thinking that guides the project. This program explores the thought process at the core of green architectural design and construction as it takes viewers behind the scenes of an architectural firm specializing in sustainable design, a remodeler who has built a green construction business, a supplier of eco -friendly building materials, and a homeowner who has remodeled his house from the ground up using green materials, technologies, and practices.
Blending seriousness and whimsy, filmmaker Ian Cheney explores the promise and perils of urban farming.
TRUCK FARM tells the story of a new generation of American farmers. Using green roof technology and heirloom seeds, filmmaker Ian Cheney plants a vegetable garden on the only land he's got: his Granddad's old pickup. Once the mobile garden begins to sprout, viewers are trucked across New York to see the city's funkiest urban farms, and to find out if America's largest city can learn to feed itself.
Blending serious exposition with serious silliness, TRUCK FARM entreats viewers to ponder the future of urban farming, and to consider whether sustainability needs a dose of whimsy to be truly sustainable. Featuring nutritionist Marion Nestle, chef Dan Barber, explorer Henry Hudson and a very lonely seagull.
Reviews
"Alternately giddy and pragmatic, Truck Farm makes the best sales pitch for grow-your-own I've ever seen. A must-see for anyone interested in agricultural empowerment and diversity." - Dr. Warren Belasco, Professor, American Studies, University of Maryland, Author, Food: The Key Concepts, Editor, Food, Culture and Society
"Truck Farm illustrates a rebirth of interest among young people in agriculture. With passion and ingenuity, you can find a way to farm anywhere." - Dr. Joseph Heckman, Professor, Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers University
"This film is so mind altering, you will never look at an empty space the same way again, no matter how small!" Laurie David, Author, The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time, Producer, An Inconvenient Truth
Awards
Audience Award & Jury Award, Green Film Festival, Seoul
Most Uplifting Film Award, Cinema Verde Environmental Film Festival
Jury Honorable Mention, Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival
Following up on their Peabody Award-winning documentary KING CORN, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis have returned to Iowa with a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn has had on the people and places downstream.
In a journey that spans from the heartland to the Gulf of Mexico, Ian and Curt trade their combine for a canoe, and set out to see the big world their little acre of corn has touched. On their trip, flashbacks to the pesticides they sprayed, the fertilizers they injected, and the soil they plowed now lead to new questions, explored by new experts in new places. Half of Iowa's topsoil, they learn, has been washed out to sea. Fertilizer runoff has spawned a hypoxic 'dead zone' in the Gulf. And back at their acre, the herbicides they used are blamed for a cancer cluster that reaches all too close to home.
A lively investigation and a worthy follow-up, BIG RIVER grows to ask is industrial agriculture worth its hidden costs?
Reviews
"A sharp and clever reminder that nothing ever really goes away." - Bill McKibben, Author, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
"Cheney and Ellis narrate, but there are moments when they just silently paddle a canoe or listen to experts. The men's silence is powerful¡K[Big River] successfully re-creates the earlier film's [King Corn] tone, which is calm, curious and, above all, quietly despairing." - Isthmus
Frogs. Toads. Salamanders. Around the world, they're dying off at alarming rates under the triple threat of habitat loss, pollution and a deadly fungus called chytrid. Canadian researchers are racing to save numerous species and the secrets they hold. The Toronto Zoo is working to preserve a precious population of Panamanian golden frogs, survivors of a recent catastrophic fungus outbreak. In Langley, BC, rescue efforts are underway for the most endangered amphibian in Canada, the Oregon spotted frog. But these are not the only amphibians teetering on the edge of extinction. Scientists say we're witnessing what could be the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs. Our only hope is a handful of initiatives trying to preserve the delicate balance of nature in captivity.
DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2008 / (Grades 7-12, Adult Education, Post Secondary) / Approx. 12 minutes
Traditionally we have relied heavily upon non-renewable energy resources, however we have now reached a tipping point globally where the environment cannot sustain such impact, nor do we have the resources to continue this. This program clearly shows the environmental impacts of both renewable and non-renewable energy sources. It guides us through numerous renewable energy sources, how the energy is collected and the pros and cons of renewable energy. The program also explores what is happening around the globe with the introduction of wind farms, wave parks and solar farms. This is an up-to-date look at a vital issue.
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Plastic bags. Canadians alone use about six billion of the handy throwaway items every year. They take hundreds of years to biodegrade and have sparked heated debates in cities from San Francisco to Mumbai. This documentary gets a handle on the bag battle. From the big oil employees who brought the bag to America, to the Nobel laureate fighting for a bag ban, to the retired German schoolteacher who holds the world's record for the most plastic bags, the film takes stock of this icon of convenience culture.
Award
Gemini Award (2008): Best Science, Technology, Nature, Environment or Adventure Documentary Program
DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2007 / (Grades 10-12, Adult Education, Post Secondary) / 44 minutes
The story of Boston's first LEED-certified residential green building, and the people who made it possible.
Directed by Ian Cheney
In the traditionally Irish-American working-class neighborhood of South Boston, MA, a new kind of building has taken shape. From wheatboard cabinetry to recycled steel, bamboo flooring to dual-flush toilets, the Macallen building is something different: a leader in the emerging field of environmentally friendly design.
But Boston's steel-toed union workers aren't sure they like it. And when things on the building start to go wrong, the young developer has to keep the project from unraveling.
Building Boston's first LEED Gold-certified building turns out to be harder than anyone thought. Yet among the I-beams and brickwork emerges a small cadre of unlikely environmentalists who come to connect their work with the future of their children
Reviews
"I cannot recommend this film enough to anyone who is or wants to be a part of green building." - Joel Bittle, GreenBuildingElements.com
"This inspiring film...argues for widespread adoption of green building practices, while still presenting the contradictions and quandaries...and revels in the greening of southern Boston's construction workers, born skeptics who rise to the occasion." - True/False Film Fest Program
"A balanced but incisive look at a complex issue that affects us all." - Bostonist
"An engaging documentary that offers an exciting glimpse into the future of Earth-friendly construction...Literally a globetrotting affair that forcuses on the materials and personnel involved in the design and construction of the Macallen building...Recommended." - Video Librarian
"Recommended for those interested in the environmental aspects of city planning." - Library Journal
The white blanket encircling the North Pole is receding. As the ice melts, Arctic Rush focuses on the last greatest land grab in human history with grave consequences for the world's economy, the environment and for the millions who live in the region. Against a stunning Arctic backdrop, local Inuit leaders and reindeer herders, polar scientists, environmental leaders and big thinkers present their concerns for the land and its people. With the probable evolution of a new ocean among other things to consider, the arctic is a land of high stakes and fascinating possibilities.
DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2006 / (Grades 7-12, Adult Education, Post Secondary) / 46 minutes
Many climate experts say a serious drought is on its way - unlike anything Canadians have ever seen. What's more, this one will last not just a few seasons, but years and years. For the Canadian prairies, and its farmers, a drought of this magnitude will be devastating. In interviews with a glaciologist, water ecologist, leading prairie climate expert and a beef farmer besieged by water trouble, The National's Margo McDiarmid examines the very clear warning signs of drought already appearing in southern Alberta. Find out what efforts are being made to conserve water, the history of drought on the prairies, and how global warming will impact the approaching "big thirst."
DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2006 / (Grades 7-12, Adult Education, Post Secondary) / 22 minutes
Stephen Schneider, an expert on global warming, explains how citizens can determine what's truth and what's propaganda in the scientific wars regarding the environmental status of planet Earth.
Visit a wide range of farmers and entomology farm advisors who are implementing tactics that enhance a farm's biological diversity; enrich it's soil fertility, drainage and tilth; achieve biological weed and insect pest management and reduce the need for agricultural chemicals. See how cover crops are used to manage weeds and improve the soil's structure and fertility. Find out how to utilize and time certain cover crops to help attract the specific predators which help control pest insects. See how to implement insectary crops, trap crops, mowing and tillage of cover crops, inter cropping and habitat strips. You'll then see how to utilize weeds, roadside and insectary plantings, windrows and hedgerows to bring even more biological diversity to the farm.
Review
"The Farmscaping video is really an outstanding achievement in this area of habitat enhancement, and the photography is as poignant as the text is gripping." - Robert Bugg Entomologist
This program defines sustainability and then explores how sustainable systems, or loops, work in the natural world. Examine the elements of sustainable environments including: diversity, interdependence, the ability to adapt or evolve & how resources are utillized. This is followed byexamples of how this understanding can lead to solutions in the design & implementation of the built environment. With interesting interviews and a wide vareity of locations, you'll see how sustainability can be applied to agriculture, transportations systems, buildings & landscapes, life-styles and work. This is ideal to introduce students to the understanding and importance of working towards sustainability with an interdisciplinary approach.
See how sustainable agriculture is efficient in the use of natural resources, ecologically sound and economical. Learn how to: improve soil fertility and nutrient cycling, maintain biological diversity, implement effective cover crops and trap crops, integrate farm animals, add compost to the soil, mulch, reduce soil erosion and enhance soil structure by utilizing various conservation tillage techniques, manage pests, develop useful crop rotations, and much more. Visit numerous locations and hear from five farmers who have successfully made the transition.
Explore biological and economic impacts as well as the emotional factors that influence people's perspectives and beliefs. Visit various sites to gather a firsthand understanding of land use issues.
This program looks at atmospheric and biodiversity change and the global warming phenomenon. We investigate the effects of pollution on various ecosystems and why the Arctic has been affected by pollution from Southeast Asia, helping us understand how our local activities may be affecting people on the other side of the world for years to come.