http://www.care2.com/greenliving/five-documentaries-everyone-should-see.html
Five Documentaries Everyone Should See
I’ve always loved documentaries, not just for their subject matter, but for their ability to completely open your eyes to something you may have never known before, generally in under 90 minutes. Any time I lecture, inevitably someone asks me if there are any films on environmental subjects that I would recommend. So for today’s piece, I thought I’d post up a few trailers from my some of my favorites, in no particular order. Mind you, these are not all uplifting, but nonetheless, films that I think everyone should see for themselves. If nothing else, they will make you think.
The Real Dirt On Farmer John
A fantastic story about an idiosyncratic child of the sixties who inherits his fathers farm, almost destroys it, and then reinvents himself as an organic farmer–with flare!
King Corn
Two college students with no farming knowledge rent an acre of land, grow corn, and try to follow its trail. You’ll be shocked at what they learn and how corn has come to rule our food chain.
Who Killed The Electric Car?
Filmaker and EV enthusiast Chris Paine investigates why GM destroyed all of the electric cars they made. This is the film which is credited with bringing the electric car back to life.
Tapped
While not yet out, this doc on the bottled water industry is something I’m really excited for. Some friends have seen it and say it’s amazing.
Flow
Another great film about the problems that we as a people are going to face as drinkable water becomes scarcer and scarcer.
Fuel
Josh Tickel, one of the original biodiesel pioneers, brings a great personal journey about our addiction to fossil fuels, and how we can break it.
The Cove
OK, it’s not specifically an environmental film, but this is one of the most amazing documentaries I have ever seen! What Japanese fisherman are doing to Dolphins so that we can watch these smiling beasts jump through hoops at Waterworld is simply deplorable. An amazingly crafter film with a message we don’t want to see but that we must.
Garbage Warrior (some offensive language)
Architect Michael Reynold’s crusade to build sustainable houses using local materials, mainly garbage is either insane or brilliant. Check out this documentary on him and decide for yourself. Wouldn’t you like to live in an Earthship?
Dirt: The Movie
Think dirt is just dirt? Think again. This movie will change the way you think about that stuff you leave by the mat at the door.
30 Days
OK, it’s not a film but a TV show, but having said that it’s one of the better ones around. Brought to you by the Morgan Spurlock, the man behind Supersize Me, each episode is highly entertaining yet designed to make you think. EPs are available for free at Hulu, but this one, where Spurlock goes underground in a coalmine for 30 days is one of the more prophetic.
OK, so there are more than five. What can I say. And if you haven’t seen Food Inc, run out and see it now!
Dave
Dave Chameides is a filmmaker and environmental educator. His website and newsletter are designed to inspire thought and dialogue on environmental solutions and revolve around the idea that no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. “Give people the facts, and they’ll choose to do the right thing.”
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add your comment »I saw everything but Tapped (which I now want to see really bad!), the Farmer John one, Fuel, The Cove, and Garbage Warrior. "The Cove" and "Dirt! The Movie" have been in my Netflix cue like forEveR... I just added Tapped.
Some of the documentaries I've seen that I thought were really good include:
PBS's "Frontline: Poisoned Waters" = AWESOME (about the affects of factory farming and the ever newer chemicals we manufacture and release into the environment, and how this affects both the environment and us; this was the best documentary I viewed about water in my opinion, MAYBE second to Flow; it should be equal, though)
"The End of Suburbia," & its sequel: "Escape from Suburbia" = Interesting (about peak oil; really opens ones eyes to how dependent we are on oil and the sequel provides possible solutions, which put emphasis on LOCAL)
"The Future of Food" = AWESOME (about the genetic modification of our food; I'm pretty sure it's supported by Morgan Spurlock--the guy who made "Super-size Me")
"Planet Earth - The Future" = AWESOME
("Planet Earth - The Future" is the BBC documentary series about the environment and conservation, produced as a companion to the multi-award winning nature documentary Planet Earth. This was WAY better than "Planet Earth" in that it showed interviews with experts on biodiversity crises and issues and also showed some clips from Planet Earth.)
Has anyone heard of "The Last Beekeeper"?
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Hi Dave Chameides...
Wow Dave you post here such a mindblowing blog for documentaries, i am so impressed.. All are the videos is fantastic and also given here a nice information for the top documentaries so thanks for sharing this entertaining and interesting blog with us....
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Hi Dave Chameides...
Wow Dave you post here such a mindblowing blog for documentaries, i am so impressed.. All are the videos is fantastic and also given here a nice information for the top documentaries so thanks for sharing this entertaining and interesting blog with us....
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I love "who killed the electic car" I am not usually into celebs but I got to meet Ed Begley jr last yr and got all tongue tied and said "I am a big fan, my fav movie is "who killed the electric car"" He was very nice but I still laugh at my reaction. I like "shut up and sing" too.
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I LOVE Kucinich, but I notice a serious difference between many bottled waters, tap waters, and a good spring one. And am NOT one to argue against the harms of plastics or abuses of water, but do you ever notice how this argument against bottled water NEVER mentions what's way worse? In the TAPPED trailer, when they showed all the empty bottles thrown away, how come not one of those was a soda bottle? I'd think they'd have had to of picked through the trash to acquire this. I've at least, yet to see strictly water bottles for our plastic pollution. It's also been brought to my attention that the funding behind this movement is from companies like Britta, who've only to gain by this. When these arguments come up, they're only half represented, and therefore only show one part of the concern. I know the owner of a spring water company, Eldorado, who's extremely conscientious of environmental and civil concerns. He gets punished, while I see tons of people leave the grocery store with so many different types of plastic pollution that ends up in our oceans and everything these two documentaries present (at least in their trailers) as polluted ONLY by water bottles. I'm NOT defending bottles at all, but there's WAY worse than water. And filters take out many valuable minerals that aren't replaced, in some cases it's better to drink the crap in tap.
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I too would like to recommend "The Corporation". If corporations were people what kind of people would they be? This is 1 possible answer worth seeing.
I have also seen "The Future of Food" and would be another 1 I would recommend. Its encouraging to see that others have recommended these 2 first :).
With the ongoing health care debate in the US I would like to see "Sicko" as I have not seen it yet. In Australia we could probably be considered to have "socialized" medicine. There is the option of getting private health insurance or being a public patient and the public option was adequate to get me through cancer treatment at no significant cost to me (and live). The current government included in there 2007 election campaign that if the states did not improve the performance of hospitals that they would stop the buck passing between the state and federal governments, since both branches are currently involved, and put on the table the option of a complete federal takeover. Kinda funny given the anti-reform retoric and fear-mongering over "socialism" in the US, lol.
This is an interview of Wendell Potter I saw recently that I was impressed by as a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate in the US, it even metions "Sicko" and some of the industry strategies to counter it.
http://www.care2.com/news/member/338686546/1215998
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See them all, and more, here:
http://freedocumentaries.org/index.php
but dee is right, The Corporation is very important to watch
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All the aforementioned documentaries are incredibly important but one essential yet not mentioned documentary is "THE CORPORATION" -- a look at the insidious power corporations have on our lives and on our planet. I can't begin to do it justice with just a few words. Every other documentary listed will have some root or connection to "The Corporation". I saw it in the theater twice during its too short 5-day run in an independent L.A. theater. I bought the DVD and have watched it at least 3 more times (with friends) since then. Everyone should watch this documentary at least once. Information is power.
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It's great to see 'the Cove' getting the attention it deserves...another must see for people who care about social justice, the environment, and animals, is 'EARTHLINGS'. This film may change your life.
Also, 'The Witness', and 'Peaceable Kingdom' from Tribe of Heart productions...powerful and thought provoking. CHANGE IS POSSIBLE.
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Add the documentary "FRESH" to the list, by Ana Sofia Jones. It is a great new documentary about the writers, farmers, and activists that are working to reinvent our food system. THere are showings all over the US, check out the website for more info: http://www.freshthemovie.com/
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