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Sustainability: Online Videos & DVDs

This guide will help you locate sustainability resources such as websites, articles and books.

The Story of ....

Perhaps some of the most famous online videos raising awareness for the environment...

The Story of Stuff

 

DVD Recommendations

American College Unions International's (ACUI) list of top films for sustainability. The 50 movies included are not all about ecology, nor all social justice issues; they are not all documentaries, nor all mainstream; they are not all old, nor all recently in theaters. There is a variety to attract different audiences as you plan programs for a diverse campus community. The first 15 movies come highly recommended from undergraduate students at Auburn University, who volunteered to screen films for this project.

Lake Erie INVASION!

WVIZ/PBS ideastream and Great Lakes Science Center present Attack of the Alien Invaders. This half-hour special takes viewers on a quest for information about the potential invasion of "aliens" - voracious Asian carp - that may make their way into Lake Erie and upset the balance of nature.

Big Picture TV

Big Picture TV is the largest online video information resource designed to help you understand the business impact of key environmental and social issues. With a searchable catalogue of more than 400 videos and scores of new video added each month, Big Picture TV experts address the world's most urgent and complex questions.
By providing videos from the world's leading thinkers and briefing documents on core subjects, Big Picture aims to help you put social, economic, business and environmental issues into context for the world we live and work in today.
Use the video and search pages for a quick overview of key themes, speakers, research and current thinking on a wide range of issues linked to the environment. Big Picture TV covers resource management, manufacturing, energy resources, water use, product design, waste, philanthropy, overseas development, and much more.
 
Another great database for sustainability related DVDs can be found at Bullfrog Films.  Subject areas include: Environment, Globalization, Sustainability, Climate Change, Social Justice, Developing World, Indigenous Peoples, Earth Science, Life Science.  They also have created the following list of recommendations especially for higher education:

Online Video Links

Many more short videos are available on YouTube or at various environmental sites.  If you would like one on a specific topic, or would like to add one to our growing list, please let us know.

 

Sustainability Explained

Concise and to the point: the four "care instructions" for the planet, and us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiTN0chj0

 

Who do you think produced this short?  What is on the other side of the issue?  What statements do you agree with?  Which do you think are not represented accurately?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ubxq33Q5to&NR=1

Rethink Sustainability

Message:  Human impact on Earth.  Inspiring change.  Embrace sustainability.  Individual actions can change the world!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9I3Q6-ZSTI

Sustainability at the Vancouver Winter Olympics (4 minutes)

Discover symbiotic relationships planned during construction for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

http://blogs.natlogic.com/friend/2010/04/sustainability_explained_in_2.html

Global Warming

“What is Global Warming?”  1.5 minutes  - Short videotape  http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/202-what-is-global-warming-video.htm

Introduction Article to Global Warming:  http://science.howstuffworks.com/global-warming.htm 

Sum Total: Being Green Isn’t New

Behind every statistic, there's a good story: facts and figures can add up to something greater than themselves.  Focus on green is not a new concept, national carbon footprints, water use, waste, recycling, etc…  Think and discuss the facts that are presented!  What do they mean to us here in Canton, Ohio?  By Newsweek.  (The video may show up on the second page of the article.)

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/george-will-earth-doesn-t-care-what-is-done-to-it.html?gt1=43002

Consumption – Chris Jordan

Photographic Artist Chris Jordan turns the statistics of consumerism into palpable images in his new photo series.  (10 minute video)

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09212007/watch3.html

 

Food – The Meatrix Video Series (each segment about 3 minutes long)

A spoof on the Matrix that highlights issues of “growing” meat at http://www.themeatrix.com/?video=2948648 .  Join Leo, the young pig who wonders if he is "the one", Chickity, the feathered family farm defender, and Moopheus, the trench-coat-clad cow with a passion for green pastures as they expose the problems with factory farming while making the world safe for sustainable family farms.

 

Driving Tips

The site presents dozens of ways to become an EcoDriver, which, it claims, means following a set of best practices for driving that will reduce fuel use as well as CO2 emis­sions. By clicking on “Be an EcoDriver,” the visitor can watch a short video, then review the steps in two written documents, or skip the video and go straight to the text.  The site serves as an excellent reminder that little changes can add up to big benefits for the environ­ment. For competitive types, once the visitor has read all the information, the EcoDriver Quiz can test one’s retention rate. Go ahead and see if you can make it to the “Quiz Leaderboard.” You’ll be sur­prised. For pure fun and a little learning, take the “Virtual Road Test.”  http://ecodrivingusa.com/

One Simple Idea 2 Minute Videos from CNN

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/category/one-simple-thing/

Earth Days from PBS

Earth Days

It is now all the rage, but can you remember when everyone in America was not "Going Green?" Earth Days looks back to the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement through the extraordinary stories of the era's pioneers. 

Contents (most chapters are 5 to 9 minutes long – total length is almost 2 hours):

·         Earth Days Introduction

·         The Decline of Conservation & Superabundance

·         Consequences of Development

·         Rachel Carson & Silent Spring

·         Poisoning the Planet, Effects of Consumerism

·         The Population Bomb

·         Stewards of the Planet

·         Changing Views of Earth from Space

·         The Birth of a Movement

·         The First Earth Day

·         The Limits of Growth

·         Threats to American Ways

·         Sustainable Living

·         The Next Steps

·         Summaries

·         Roundtable Discussion – Where are we now?

·         Credits