Travis Kidd/2012/11 min/Health & Environment
A Forest in Flux explains the impacts of a recent mountain pine beetle outbreak in the Rocky Mountains. The film takes a narrative approach to explain the ecology of the mountain pine beetle to kids aged 8-12. We follow a young boy on his quest to discover what is killing all the pine trees in his back yard. He uses a smart phone to do take photos of what he sees and does research about the clues he is finding.
Barbara Ettinger/2009/60 min/Wildlife
Imagine a world without fish. It’s a frightening premise, and it’s happening right now. A Sea Change follows the journey of retired history teacher Sven Huseby on his quest to discover what is happening to the world’s oceans. After reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s “The Darkening Sea,” Sven becomes obsessed with the rising acidity of the oceans and what this “sea change” bodes for mankind. His quest takes him to Alaska, California, Washington, and Norway as he uncovers a worldwide crisis that most people are unaware of.
Verónica Moscoso/2011/26 min/Climate Control
A Wild Idea is an award-winning documentary about the Yasuni-ITT Initiative, Ecuador’s unprecedented proposal for fighting global climate change. In exchange for payments from the world community, the country will leave untouched its largest oil reserves. If the proposal is accepted, it willconserve the Amazon’s biodiversity, protect the rights of indigenous people and avoid the emission of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Suzan Beraza/2010/74 min/Waste
Bag It has been garnering awards at film festivals across the nation. What started as a documentary about plastic bags evolved into a wholesale investigation into plastics and their effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our bodies. Join the Bag It movement and decide for yourself how plastic your life will be.
Marc Francis and Nick Francis/2006/78 min/Food & Agriculture
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
Monte Thompson/2010/60 min/Health & Environment
All over the world species are becoming extinct at an astonishing rate, from 1000 to 10,000 times faster than normal. The loss of biodiversity has become so severe that scientists are calling it a mass extinction event. Call of Life: Facing the Mass Extinction is the first feature documentary to investigate the growing threat to Earth’s life support systems from this unprecedented loss of biodiversity.
Jeff Orlowski/2012/76 min/Water
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
Stefan Schaefer/2008/57 min (25 min clip)/Transportation
Through interviews with leading historians, urban planners, and government officials, Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock explores the history and culture of New York City streets from pre-automobile times to the present. This examination allows for an understanding of how the city, though the most well served by mass transit in the United States, has slowly relinquished what was a rich, multi-dimensional conception of the street as public space to a mindset that prioritizes the rapid movement of cars and trucks over all other functions.
