It’s cold outside where I live and there’s not much motivating me to get out and do. So I’ve been indoors, keeping a lower profile all while reading and doing home improvement projects (so cliche, I know). One thing that has come across my radar lately are the release of several new eco-movies that I really wanted to see.
So grab a cozy blanket, your favorite beverage and notepad (because you know you are going to hear some things you just have to share) and settle in for a viewing of the following movies:
IN ORGANIC WE TRUST is an eye-opening food documentary that follows Director/Producer Kip Pastor on a personal journey to answer commonly asked questions about organic food:What exactly is organic? Is it really better, or just a marketing scam?
The film digs deep with farmers, organic certifiers, scientists and organic critics to explore the content beneath the label and the truth behind the marketing. It takes a balanced approach to clear up misconceptions about organic food while highlighting practical solutions that are transforming the way we grow and eat.
IN ORGANIC WE TRUST is available for purchase on iTunes $14.99.
– A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
An unforgettable and shocking wake-up call, A CRUDE AWAKENING offers the rock-solid argument that the era of cheap oil is in the past. Relentless and clear-eyed, this intensely researched film drills deep into the uncomfortable realities of a world that is both addicted to fossil fuels and blissfully unaware of the looming “peak oil” crisis.
Drawing on an international cast of maverick energy experts and thinkers, directors Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack debunk the conventional wisdom that oil production will continue to climb. Instead, they stare bleakly at a planet facing economic meltdown and conflict over its most valuable resource. Featuring a haunting score by Phillip Glass and a fascinating array of rare archival footage, the film explores oil’s rocky relationship with human progress in locales ranging from ancient Baku, Azerbaijan to dusty oilpatch town McCamey, Texas.
Amidst a dark and disturbing vision of our future, A CRUDE AWAKENING hints at a humbler way of life built around sustainability and alternative energy, providing a visually stunning, boldly prophetic testament which provokes not just thought but action.
A CRUDE AWAKENING is available for purchase on iTunes $9.99.
From the lightbulb of the 1920s to the latest iPad today, THE LIGHTBULB CONSPIRACY explains what happened when Big Business realizes that if our things don’t break, they won’t make more money. Many products were then designed to fail after a period of time — planned obsolescence. When it’s no longer cost effective to repair our machines, we replace them. In case they still work for too long a period, continual improvements in functionality or design entice consumers to upgrade long before necessary. The result? More consumer debt, more garbage produced, and more natural resources squandered. Can our economy sustain itself any other way?
THE LIGHTBULB CONSPIRACY DVD is available for purchase here.
TAPPED documents how the bottled water industry is wreaking havoc on the environment and examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution and our reliance on oil. Bottled water doesn’t just come from your grocery store. It comes from small towns across America where citizens argue their way of life and ecosystem have been disrupted as a result of corporations coming in and claiming ownership of the public’s water supply.
With only 20% of bottled water containers recycled in the U.S., every day Americans dump 30 million single-serve plastic water bottles into landfills. Because of America’s poor recycling rate, much of our plastic ends up in the Pacific Ocean, specifically in an area known as Plastic Stew – an area twice the size of Texas where the ratio of plastic to plankton is 46:1. “Tapped” highlights how everyday heroes have taken on the fight for our most precious resource – water.
TAPPED is available for download from iTunes for $9.99.
“Documentary is a Powerful Look at the Impacts of Plastics on Society”
Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes, disposable bags that they throw away without much thought. But where is “away?” Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to the environment, marine life and human health?
BAG IT follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is not a radical environmentalist, but an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Jeb’s journey in this documentary film starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags really necessary? What are plastic bags made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded? What he learns quickly grows far beyond plastic bags.
BAG It is available for purchase from YouTube for $9.99.
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model and has confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources and a rise in morbid obesity rates. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.
FRESH DVD is available for purchase online for $19.99.
Experts expose the SERIOUS THREATS and how corporations like Monsanto hide the evidence. NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN EVIDENCE points to genetically engineered foods as a major contributor to rising disease rates in the US population, especially among children. Gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, inflammatory diseases, and infertility are just some of the problems implicated in humans, pets, livestock, and lab animals that eat genetically modified soybeans and corn.
Monsanto’s strong arm tactics, the FDA’s fraudulent policies, and how the USDA ignores a growing health emergency are also laid bare. This sometimes shocking film may change your diet, protect you and your family and hopefully accelerate the consumer tipping point against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) already underway. Don’t miss this film!
GENETIC ROULETTE DVD is available for purchase from Amazon for $19.95.
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.
FLOW is available for rental ($3.99) or purchase ($20.00) on this website.
I hope you have a chance to view some of these moving and informational movies. Do you have any other eco movies you would recommend watching?
If you’re interested in additional “eco viewing” check out my blog on Green TV.
Green Parenting is published every Friday. For questions or comments, please email Elise Jones.
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