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On Our Own Land (29 min)

In the Appalachian coalfields, broadform deeds were used, beginning around 1900, to sever the ownership of mineral rights from the ownership of the surface land. Although surface mining was virtually unheard of at the time most of these deeds were signed, Kentucky courts ruled years later that the owners of such deeds could strip mine the land without the consent of the surface owners. On Our Own Land chronicles the citizens’ fight to have the broadform deed declared unconstitutional in Kentucky.

The story unfolds through the voices of local people as the viewer meets a family determined not to move their father’s grave for strip miners, sees the rubble of a strip job “reclaimed” to the letter of the law, and watches as citizens protest strip mine abuses and push the state legislature for reform.

Ready for Harvest (28min)

Ready for Harvest explores the complex questions of how we use and protect our native forests. Footage includes interviews with Walton Smith, who has practiced sound forest management techniques for more than 60 years; Betty Ballew, whose community was dislocated because other people wanted to use the land for their own purposes; and Chuck Crow, a Cherokee who ahs seen the short-term gains and long-term losses to communities when the forests that surround them are stripped of trees. Mary Kelly, an ecologist, explains the importance of biological diversity to a healthy ecosystem.

Sponsored by Arts and Sciences Sustainability Theme, The Alden Library, and Environmental Studies.

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57 MIN

Cafeteria Man takes a candid look at Tony Geraci’s sweeping, tenacious efforts to kick start school lunch reform in Baltimore’s schools, a large urban district that serves 83,000 students. As the newly hired Food and Nutrition Director of the city’s public school district, Geraci hatches an ambitious, multi-faceted plan to feed students healthy, locally-sourced meals, teach them nutritional awareness, and offer them training and vocational opportunities in the world of food. His bold vision includes a 33-acre teaching farm, school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, and meatless Monday’s.

Cafeteria Man follows Geraci for two years as he partners with a dedicated group of parents and students to overhaul a long-established, dysfunctional lunch program and battle the entrenched bureaucracy behind it. The film profiles Baltimore’s experience as it becomes recognized as part a burgeoning national movement, and includes appearances by food author Michael Pollan, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass.

Sponsored by Arts and Sciences Sustainability Theme, The Alden Library, and Environmental Studies.

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65 MIN

In recent years climate science has come under increasing attack, so concerned geologist Simon Lamb grabbed his camera and set out to explore the inside story of climate research. For over three years he followed scientists from a wide range of disciplines at work in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean, New Zealand, Europe and the United States.

They talk about their work, their hopes and fears with a rare candor and directness, resulting in an intimate portrait of the global community of researchers racing to understand our planet’s changing climate and provide a compelling case for rising CO2 as the main cause.

Thin Ice is a joint initiative between the University of Oxford, Victoria University of Wellington and DOX Productions, London. Both Universities have active programs with world-wide networks of collaborators in climate change and related research.

Sponsored by Arts and Sciences Sustainability Theme, The Alden Library, and Environmental Studies.

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74 MIN

Watermark is a feature documentary film that brings together diverse stories from around the globe about our relationship with water: how we are drawn to it, what we learn from it, how we use it and the consequences of that use. We see massive floating abalone farms off China’s Fujian coast and the construction site of the biggest arch dam in the world – the Xiluodu, six times the size of the Hoover. We visit the barren desert delta where the mighty Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean, and the water-intensive leather tanneries of Dhaka. We witness how humans are drawn to water, from the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach to the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, where thirty million people gather for a sacred bath in the Ganges at the same time. We speak with scientists who drill ice cores two kilometers deep into the Greenland Ice Sheet, and roam the sublime pristine watersheds of Northern British Columbia. Shot in stunning 5K ultra high-definition video and full of soaring aerial perspectives, this film shows water as a terraforming element and the scale of its reach, as well as the magnitude of our need and use. This is balanced by forays into the particular: a haunting memory of a stolen river, a mysterious figure roaming ancient rice terraces, the crucial data hidden in a million.

“It’s the majesty and beauty of water at its most pure that stays with us longest.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“These exceptionally gifted filmmakers are simply best at the long view of the human species and its impact.” – Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Sponsored by Arts and Sciences Sustainability Theme, The Alden Library, and Environmental Studies.

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92 MIN

Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat is Full) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of Microcosmos) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis.

“Imhoof’s film is remarkable in its close-up photography. The bees loom large, like creatures from some mutant planet; dangle together in a delicate chain; and fill the air, floating like unusually vivid dust specks.” -Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

“Without any preachiness, this magically beautiful film urges us to take better care of the bees, and honor the irreplaceable things that they do for us.” – Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post

Sponsored by Arts and Sciences Sustainability Theme, The Alden Library, and Environmental Studies.

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91 MIN

Examines the challenges that climate change poses and discusses meaningful action that can be taken by individuals and communities. THE WISDOM TO SURVIVE accepts the consensus of scientists that climate change has already arrived, and asks, what is keeping us from action?

The film features thought leaders and activists in the realms of science, economics and spirituality discussing how we can evolve and take action in the face of climate disruption. They urge us to open ourselves to the beauty that surrounds us and get to work on ensuring it thrives.

Amongst those featured are Bill McKibben, Joanna Macy, Roger Payne, Richard Heinberg, Gus Speth, Stephanie Kaza, Nikki Cooley and Ben Falk.

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56 MIN

The trials of bringing solar power to rural sites are frankly addressed with ultimate success. This film chronicles a road map to sustainability that could be duplicated around the world, offering hope for the planet. Explores the efforts of a west African community member and entrepreneur to build a solar panel production business in the small village of Banko and its application to the larger region.

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83 MIN

1992 was the first Rio Earth Summit where world leaders signed up to a blueprint for a greener, fairer world. For twenty years the producers of LIFE followed the lives of 11 children born in different countries in 1992. Their stories constitute a unique diary of what it’s been like to grow up in a fast-changing, 21^st century world, and how globalization and the Earth Summit have impacted their lives.

For 20 years, we’ve been following the lives of 11 children born in different countries round the world in 1992 – the year of the first Rio Earth Summit, where world leaders signed up to a blueprint for a greener, fairer world – a world that would safeguard resources for future generations Twenty years on, In tve’s flagship, long-term project ‘Zero, Ten, Twenty’ catches up with our children on the threshold of adulthood –  in Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Latvia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, England and USA. Their stories constitute a unique diary of what it’s been like to grow up in a fast-changing, 21st century world –how globalization and the Earth Summit have impacted on their lives, and what now are their hopes, fears and ambitions for the future, on the eve of the new Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.

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100 MIN

“The Price of Sand” is a documentary about the frac sand mining boom in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Due to a rapid increase in demand, pure silica sand has become a valuable commodity, and mines are opening here at a rapid rate.

The silica used in hydraulic fracturing (aka : “fracking”), has other uses– glass manufacturing and toothpaste, for instance — and a few established mines have been in operation here for decades. But now, new companies have arrived, and land with accessible silica deposits is selling for high prices.

In addition to a bonanza for a few lucky landowners, the new mines promise jobs and economic stimulus for the small towns and rural areas nearby.

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60 MIN

As industrial agriculture spreads around the world, many small-scale farmers are losing their land. Nowhere is the situation more desperate than in India, where every 30 minutes one farmer, deep in debt and unable to provide for its family, commits suicide. Explores the impact of genetically modified seeds, globalization,  and the loss of heritage seed varieties to Indian farmers.

Bitter Seeds is the final film in Micha X. Peled’s Globalization Trilogy, following Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town and China Blue. The films won 18 international awards, aired on over 30 television channels and screened in more than 100 film festivals. They also connected viewers to NGO action campaigns and encouraged Western consumers to understand their impact on the rest of the world.

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88 MIN