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Sustainability

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, THE: COHOUSING'S PROMISE

Directed by John de Graaf

Cohousing offers both privacy and community-the best of both worlds!

Originally a Danish creation, cohousing struggled to gain popularity in its country of origin for years. That is, until a film was made that explained its merits and how people found it enhanced their lives. Now a new film by award-winning filmmaker John de Graaf promises to have the same effect on U.S. audiences.

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS explores the concept of cohousing as expressed through first-hand observations of residents of four cohousing communities-including the first one in the United States-and observations by architect Charles Durrett, who brought the concept to the US from Denmark.

DVD / 2019 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 27 minutes

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ONCE WAS WATER

Directed by Christopher Beaver

Las Vegas provides an example to the world of how any city can and must create its own sustainable water solutions.

Las Vegas is perhaps the most famous resort city in the world. It is also the thirstiest city in the driest state in the US, so it has had to be proactive in developing solutions that conserve and redistribute water, their most precious resource. Currently the city is faced with only 2.6 inches of rain per annum, a seventeen-year drought, a constantly expanding population and competition for shared resources. As a result, the city has been forced to create its own sustainable water solutions and in the process has turned itself into an example for other desert regions.

Everything to do with their water supply and disposal is watched, measured and checked. Water is recycled and returned to the source. Every drop is monitored acoustically to detect possible leaks within 6500 miles of pipes. 40% of the water is recycled for indoor use and returned to Lake Mead, 40% of what goes out comes back, but the remaining 60% is for outdoor use and either evaporates or goes back into the ground.

The film follows the story of Patricia Mulroy, the controversial founder of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Her strength and leadership "helped launch a quiet revolution that will shape Colorado River politics far into the future, and perhaps provide a path to safety in the face of intensifying water scarcity."

The story of Las Vegas's approach to water sustainability is full of surprises, and we hear it from many different perspectives. After all, the strip is just a small part of the valley, but it is the engine that provides the cash to enable the experimentation that has created these models for survival.

DVD / 2019 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 55 minutes

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SEQUEL, THE: WHAT WILL FOLLOW OUR TROUBLED CIVILIZATION?

Directed by Peter Armstrong

Looks at the influential work of David Fleming, who dared to re-imagine a thriving civilization after the collapse of our current mainstream economies and inspired the Transition Towns movement.

Opening with a powerful 'deep time' perspective, from the beginning of the Earth to our present moment, this film recognizes the fundamental unsustainability of today's society and dares to ask the big question: What will follow?

Around the world, fresh shoots are already emerging as people develop the skills, will and resources necessary to recapture the initiative and re-imagine civilization, often in the ruins of collapsed mainstream economies.

We encounter extraordinary projects and people from four continents, from renegade economist Kate Raworth, conservative philosopher Roger Scruton and Gaian ecologist Stephan Harding to localization revolutionary Helena Norberg-Hodge, inspirational practivist Rob Hopkins, eco-pioneer Jonathon Porritt and philanthropist/composer Peter Buffett. They are cultivating a resilience not reliant on the impossible promise of eternal economic growth; developing diverse, convivial, satisfying contexts for lives well lived.

All were inspired by the posthumously published lifework of the late David Fleming, "Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It", a work of rare depth that is rekindling optimism in the creativity and intelligence of humans to nurse our communities and ecology back to health.

DVD / 2018 / (Grades 7-9, College, Adults) / 61 minutes

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EVOLUTION OF ORGANIC: THE STORY OF THE ORGANIC MOVEMENT

Directed by Mark Kitchell

The story of organic agriculture, told by those in California who built the movement.

EVOLUTION OF ORGANIC, which brings us the story of organic agriculture, told by those who built the movement. A motley crew of back-to-the-landers, spiritual seekers and farmers' sons and daughters rejected modern chemical farming and set out to invent organic alternatives. The movement grew from a small band of rebels to a cultural transformation in the way we grow and eat food. By now organic has mainstreamed, become both an industry oriented toward bringing organic to all people, and a movement that has realized a vision of sustainable agriculture.

This is not just a history, but looks forward to exciting and important futures: the next generation who are broadening organic; what lies "beyond organic"; and carbon farming and sequestration as a solution to climate change -- maybe the best news on the planet.
The film is divided into
four "acts".

Act I: Origins - Looks at the beginning of the organic movement in California when the 60s counter-culture moved back to the land.

Act 2: Building Organic - Follows the development of increasingly effective organic farming techniques concentrating on the soil and the microbial life within it.

Act 3: Mainstreaming Organic - Organic booms, growing 20% annually for two decades.

Act 4: Organic Futures - The next generation of organic farmers as well as carbon farming and sequestering carbon dioxide hold out great hope for combating climate change.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 86 minutes

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FROM SEED TO SEED

Directed by Katharina Stieffenhofer

Through a group of Canadian organic farmers-both large-scale and small-scale-we experience a full growing season with all of its rewards as well as the challenges of a changing climate.

When Terry and Monique left the opera to pursue their true passion-ecological, small-scale farming-their story of community and resilience took center stage. FROM SEED TO SEED follows their young family and a diverse group of farmers in Southern Manitoba, for a season of challenges and rewards.

Scientists are working with these farmers using a blend of ancient traditions and cutting edge science to develop improved methods for growing food ecologically and in a changing climate.

This hopeful story provides a Canadian perspective on a global social movement that regenerates the land, farming, and communities toward a healthier future for us all.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 87 minutes

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KEEPERS OF THE FUTURE: LA COORDINADORA OF EL SALVADOR

Directed by Avi Lewis

Following El Salvador's civil war, a farmers' cooperative puts down roots, builds resilience and provides a model of how to mitigate climate change and resist unsustainable, extractive development.

In a fertile floodplain in El Salvador, where the great river meets the sea, a peasant movement puts down roots - growing resilience in the scorched earth of exile and civil war. But soon these farmers and fishing folk discover new challenges, and this time they are global: climate crisis, exacerbated by an economy of ruinous extraction. The solutions they come up with will be a revelation for audiences in the prosperous north. On the surface, the life of these campesinos may resemble the past: but in their model may lie the key to the future.

Canadian journalist, media personality and documentarian Avi Lewis, along with his wife, author Naomi Klein, has advocated for radically new social and political structures as the only viable and effective response to climate change. In KEEPERS OF THE FUTURE he profiles the Baja Lempa coordinadora, a farmers' cooperative that demonstrates how "deep local democracy" can help even a poor population build environmental, economic and political resilience.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 24 minutes

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OYSTER

Directed by Kim Beamish

Observes the daily life of a family running an oyster farm in a lake on the SE coast of Australia, as they deal with climate change, pollution, and the fickleness of consumers.

OYSTER captures the daily routines, chaos and drama in the lives of Dom and Pip Boyton, a lively and hard-working second generation oyster farming family on Merimbula Lake on the southeast coast of New South Wales, Australia.

The film watches as Dom and Pip juggle the demands of parenting two precocious young boys with the long hours, logistical decision-making and labor required to keep their crop of Sydney rock oysters healthy and thriving. The Boytons and the other members of their oyster farmer collective face a host of challenges, from climate change and the threat of environmental disaster to the fickleness of the buyers and luxury markets that the collective depends on.

Oysters have been called "the canaries of the estuaries" due to their importance as bioindicators, and as we watch Dom and Pip combat threats to their vulnerable operation-such as the proliferation of the invasive Pacific oyster and bacterial contamination triggered by severe "east coast low" storms and an influx of vacationers-OYSTER presents a unique and intimate look at a business whose fortunes are entwined with the health and stewardship of the environment.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adults) / 80 minutes

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REDEFINING PROSPERITY: THE GOLD RUSHES OF NEVADA CITY

Directed by John de Graaf

The story of how a mining town recovered from its legacy of pollution and prospered by building community around the battle to save their beautiful river.

Born in the California Gold Rush, Nevada City was once the scene of some of the most destructive environmental practices on earth. By the 1960s, the town was a backwater, its extractive industries dying. Then it was discovered by the "back to the land movement." It was a second gold rush but with a different idea of gold based on nature, community and a sense of place.

The fight to save the Yuba River from proposed power dams brought conflicting factions of the community together while different ideas about the meaning of wealth have led to changes in local food production, education, arts, music and a commitment to building community. Once a place whose essence was individualism, competition and extractive industries, Nevada City is now moving toward a future of solidarity, stewardship, and livelihoods based on renewable resources, husbandry and sustainability.

Featuring two dozen of Nevada City's most active citizens and their stories, REDEFINING PROSPERITY is the remarkable story of a beautiful California town and the outward-looking, creative people who call it home and forged its new identity.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 57 minutes

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BLUESPACE

Directed by Ian Cheney

Contrasts sci-fi ideas about terraforming Mars with the state of NYC's waterways, and questions the viability of colonizing Mars before making our own planet sustainable.

Could humans live on Mars? Would we want to? Emmy-nominated filmmaker, Ian Cheney, provides insight into our currently unsustainable relationship with our home planet by examining the sci-fi speculation of "terraforming," or making another planet Earth-like, by altering its atmosphere. He calls on a multifaceted brain trust to process this big idea including a desert camp of Mars hopefuls, a bevy of sci-fi writers, Hurricane Sandy survivors, the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, and a who's who of astrobiologists and earth scientists. BLUESPACE makes a strong case for taking better care of our water-rich planet so that future generations won't have to resort to interplanetary colonization.

At times whimsical and funny, serious and poignant and always stimulating, this is a unique exploration of current thinking about the origins and evolution of life and its relationship to water.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 73 minutes

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CULTIVATING KIDS

Directed by Melissa Young, Mark Dworkin

On South Whidbey Island, WA, a school farm shows that a garden can be a valuable addition to the curriculum while encouraging a healthy diet.

On South Whidbey Island in the state of Washington, a school farm involves children from kindergarten through high school in every phase of raising organic vegetables as part of their school experience. Supported by local non-profits, community volunteers, and the school district, it shows that a garden can be a valuable addition to a school curriculum, while encouraging children to eat healthy food. The school farm sells local, organic produce to the school cafeterias and also supplies the local food bank and community nutrition programs with fresh organic produce throughout the growing season.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 4-12, College, Adults) / 23 minutes

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DENIAL

Directed by Derek Hallquist

A unique film about the filmmaker's father, a utility executive and smart grid pioneer in a nation in denial about climate change, who battles his own denial about his true identity.

Every day our changing climate pushes us closer to an environmental catastrophe, but for most the problem is easy to ignore. As people we often find it difficult to face change. We'd rather be in denial.

David Hallquist, CEO of a Vermont utility, has made it his mission to take on one of the US's largest contributors to this global crisis, our outdated and vulnerable electric grid. Under David's leadership his utility was one of the first to implement a smart grid. In order to make the widespread use of renewable energy sources practical, David argues, we first have to build a smart grid which uses digital communications technology to detect and react to local changes in usage, thereby decreasing outages and increasing efficiency.

But when his filmmaker son, Derek, tries to tell his father's story, the film is soon derailed by a staggering family secret, one that forces Derek and David to turn their attention toward a much more personal struggle, one that can no longer be denied. With stunning access to intimate family moments and behind-the-scenes energy deals, and with unique humor in the face of overwhelming events, DENIAL manages to present insights into two important topics - one global and one personal - through a funny, informational, and enormously compelling personal narrative, and at the same time to throw light on the messy business of change.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 92 minutes

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HOW TO LET GO OF THE WORLD AND LOVE ALL THE THINGS CLIMATE CAN'T CHANGE

Directed by Josh Fox

Oscar-nominated director Josh Fox contemplates our climate-change future by exploring the human qualities that global warming can't destroy.

In his new film, Oscar-nominated director Josh Fox (GASLAND) continues in his deeply personal style, investigating climate change - the greatest threat our world has ever known. Traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, the film acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst consequences and asks, what is it that climate change can't destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?

Featuring, among others, Lester Brown, Elle Chou, Van Jones, Elizabeth Kolbert, Michael Mann, Bill McKibben, Tim DeChristopher, Petra Tschakert.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 127 minutes

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ANTHROPOCENE

Directed by Steve Bradshaw

Examines whether human impact has tipped the planet into a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, with all of its political, social and behavioral implications.

A Working Group of international scientists is deciding whether to declare a new geological epoch - the Anthropocene - a planet shaped more by mankind than nature. Its members tell the story of the Anthropocene and argue whether it's a tragedy, a comedy, or something more surreal. With archival footage, award-winning stills and interviews, ANTHROPOCENE proposes a common secular narrative for mankind but leaves viewers to decide how we should write the ending. The film has the blessing of Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, who coined the term, and is the first feature film about the Anthropocene. It is now our turn to decide--in this decade--how the Anthropocene will end. Interviewees include Will Steffen, Erle Ellis, Jan Zalasiewicz, Andrew Revkin, John McNeil, Monica Berger Gonzalez, Eric Odada, Davor Vidas.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 97 minutes

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DEATH BY DESIGN

Directed by Sue Williams

Debunks the notion that electronics is a 'clean' industry by revealing the human and environmental cost of electronic gadgets that are designed to die.

Consumers love - and live on - their smartphones, tablets and laptops. A cascade of new devices pours endlessly into the market, promising even better communication, non-stop entertainment and instant information. The numbers are staggering. By 2020, four billion people will have a personal computer. Five billion will own a mobile phone.

But this revolution has a dark side that the electronics industry doesn't want you to see.

In an investigation that spans the globe, award-winning filmmaker Sue Williams investigates the underbelly of the international electronics industry and reveals how even the tiniest devices have deadly environmental and health costs.

DEATH BY DESIGN tells the stories of young Chinese workers laboring in unsafe conditions, American families living with the tragic consequences of the industry's toxic practices, activists leading the charge to hold brands accountable, and passionate entrepreneurs who are developing more sustainable products and practices to safeguard our planet and our future.

From the intensely secretive electronics factories in China, to the high tech innovation labs of Silicon Valley, DEATH BY DESIGN tells a story of environmental degradation, of health tragedies, and the fast-approaching tipping point between consumerism and sustainability.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 7-9, College, Adults) / 73 minutes

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PLANETARY

Directed by Guy Reid

A provocative and breathtaking wakeup call - a cross continental cinematic journey that explores our cosmic origins and our future as a species.

We are in the midst of a global crisis of perspective. We have forgotten the undeniable truth that every living thing is connected.

PLANETARY is a provocative and breathtaking wakeup call -- a cross continental, cinematic journey. The film takes us from one of the truly extraordinary events of our civilization, space travel, and looks at how this gave us a totally different perspective on the Earth. It is a humbling reminder of the near-incalculable breadth of our impact on the earth, intellectually challenges us to reconsider our relationship with our home and the urgency to shift our perspective -- to remember that we are planetary.

Featuring interviews with thirty renowned experts including astronauts Ron Garan and Mae Jemison, celebrated environmentalist Bill McKibben, National Book Award winner Barry Lopez, National Geographic Explorer Elizabeth Lindsey and Head of the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu school, the 17th Karmapa, Janine Benyus, Wade Davis, Joanna Macy, PLANETARY takes viewers on a cinematic journey to experience our world like never before.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 84 minutes

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QUEST FOR MEANING, A

Directed by Nathanael Coste, Marc de la Menardiere

Two childhood friends take an impromptu road trip attempting to uncover the causes of our current global crisis and discover a way to bring about change.

A QUEST FOR MEANING tells the story of Marc and Nathanael, two childhood friends who take an impromptu road trip attempting to uncover the causes of our current global crisis and to discover a way to bring about change. The two friends invite us to share their quest as they meet with activists, biologists, philosophers, and custodians of ancient traditions. Equipped with nothing more than a tiny camera and a microphone they document some of the solutions that are laying the foundations for a sustainable world. This life-changing journey restores confidence in our ability to bring about change both within ourselves and in society.

Among the people they talk to are Vandana Shiva, Trinh Xuan Thuan, Satish Kumar, Pierre Rabhi, Hervé Kempf, Bruce Lipton and Cassandra Vieten.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adults) / 87 minutes

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TRUE COST, THE

Directed by Andrew Morgan

Groundbreaking investigation of fast fashion reveals that while the price of clothing has been decreasing for decades the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically.

This is a story about clothing. It's about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. THE TRUE COST is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?

Filmed in countries all over the world, from the brightest runways to the darkest slums, and featuring interviews with the world's leading influencers including Stella McCartney, Livia Firth, Vandana Shiva and Richard Wolff, THE TRUE COST is an unprecedented project that invites us on an eye opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 92 minutes

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RACING TO ZERO: IN PURSUIT OF ZERO WASTE

Directed by Christopher Beaver

Follows San Francisco's innovative efforts towards achieving zero waste, thereby dramatically reducing the city's carbon footprint.

Only one third of the waste in the United States is recycled or composted. Why? Industry, through its practice of planned obsolescence, plays a major role; our lives are almost totally dependent on unrecyclable petroleum products. In order to reach zero waste, we need to change our relationship to garbage and view the things we discard as resources, rather than waste.

RACING TO ZERO examines our society's garbage practices in terms of consumption, preparation, use and production, and discovers some amazing solutions in San Francisco, which is successfully taking the necessary steps to reach zero waste. Cities all over the United States have instituted zero-waste policies of their own, and it is through these mandates that we are challenged to think differently about not only how we handle our garbage, but what it can become.

DVD / 2014 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 56 minutes

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AFTER WINTER, SPRING

Directed by Judith Lit

An intimate portrait of an ancestral way of life under threat in a world increasingly dominated by large-scale industrial agriculture.

In an era of rapid growth of mega-farms, the encroachment of suburbia and new European Union rules and reductions of agricultural subsidies, the farmers in the Perigord region of southwest France are forced to confront challenges that threaten the very existence of their small farms.

Their story is recorded by one of their neighbors, an American filmmaker who grew up on her family's farm in Pennsylvania. Inter-weaving her story and theirs, the documentary explores the nature of the farming life and the rapid changes of the last two decades that have impacted the lives of families whose survival is tied to the land.

The Perigordine farmers show us that as agriculture moves out of the hands of families who have farmed for generations and into a model of "agriculture as business," something fundamental shifts. This farming community caught between tradition and an uncertain future struggles to hold on not only to their farms but to a set of values that comes of their intimate relationship with the natural world. AFTER WINTER, SPRING reveals the human story of family farming at a turning point in history.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 74 minutes

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BRINGING IT HOME: INDUSTRIAL HEMP, HEALTHY HOUSES, AND A GREENER FUTURE FOR AMERICA

Directed by Linda Booker, Blaire Johnson

Extols the many benefits of industrial hemp for the environment and human health, while revealing the obstacles to what could be a thriving industry for U.S. farmers.

Industrial Hemp is making headlines in American media with the recent Farm Bill amendment allowing hemp research crops in ten states. But why does Federal policy still classify and confuse this non-psychoactive plant with marijuana as a drug? BRINGING IT HOME tells the story of hemp's past, present and future through interviews with global hemp business leaders and entrepreneurs, archive images, animation and footage filmed in Europe and the United States.

The film features the designer of "America's First Hemp House" and his quest to find the healthiest building material available to construct a safe environment for his daughter with chemical sensitivities. He discovers non-toxic, carbon neutral hempcrete that is recyclable, pest-fire-mold-resistant and cuts energy bills in half. But the major drawback for U.S. builders is that the fiber for hempcrete must be imported. Current U.S. Federal policy does not distinguish hemp from its psychoactive plant cousin marijuana, despite a long history of hemp farming in America up until the 1940s.

BRINGING IT HOME follows the hemp trail to the U.K. where business owners, researchers, farmers and Kevin McCloud, TV host of Grand Designs, discuss industrial hemp use in their country. Also featured are interviews with CEOs of million dollar U.S. companies that are importing hemp for healthy, sustainable products, and those working for policy change at the state and federal levels. A lobbyist for the CA Narcotics Officers Association gives voice to the opposition.

BRINGING IT HOME makes the case for all the benefits of a misunderstood plant that will leave viewers wondering: why aren't we growing it here?

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 52 minutes

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NEW GREEN GIANTS, THE

Directed by Ted Remerowski

Examines the complex and controversial world of today's exploding organic food industry.

The last ten years have seen a phenomenal explosion in the organic food movement as it has moved from niche market to mainstream. Today, it is the fastest growing segment of the food industry attracting all of the major food corporations. THE NEW GREEN GIANTS looks at a number of these new and old organic corporations and shows how they are managing, or in some cases, failing to live up to the idealistic dreams first espoused by the back-to-the land folk of the late sixties and early seventies.

The documentary also looks at some of the bigger questions surrounding organic food. Is it really healthier? Is it truly organic? Is it possible to grow from a mom-and-pop operation to become a huge supplier of major grocery chains? Is it actually sustainable? Is it realistic to think the world can be fed organically?

The program further examines everything from stealth ownership of organic product lines by large corporations to how organic strawberries have become the focus of a major health debate and how is it that today the world's largest processor of organic food is located in a remote province of China. THE NEW GREEN GIANTS reveals the complex and controversial world of today's organic food industry.

Among those featured are: Gary Hirshberg/Stonyfield Farms, Steve Demos/Silk, Michael Potter/Eden Foods, Maggie Brown/Swanton Berry Farm, George Siemon/Organic Valley, Arran Stephens/Nature's Path, Myra Goodman/Earthbound, and Dick Peixoto/Lakeside Organic.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 47 minutes

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