MOST RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL MOVIES

Deep Down (2010) (Documentary)
A Story from the Heart of Coal Country

DESCRIPTION: In Appalachia, coal is the number one industry, with an enormous influence on local economies and people. At the same time, few Americans know about mountaintop removal mining (MTR), nor have any knowledge that their own demand for power is directly impacting the mountains, water, and sky. By tracing the power lines from our homes back to Appalachia, the source of much of that power, Deep Down puts a human face on the consequences of MTR.

→ Check it out at the film's web site

Avatar (2009)

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

REVIEW: In the future, an earth corporation is mining the rare ores of planet Pandora, against the wishes of the native people (the Na'vi) who live on the lush, mysterious planet. Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is given the assignment of infiltrating the Na'vi using real-life avatar technology. He is to gain the trust of the tribe so he can convince them to move on and not resist the next phase of the mining operation. Just in case they don't, he is also to gather intelligence for the mining operation's security chief, who is already planning an attack. The "mining royally screws up a place" theme is here big-time, but this is an environmental film on a much deeper level. It explores how our connection to our surroundings is much deeper than we perceive, masked by the machinery and machinations of modern living. Combine the subtle but deep messaging with a good plot, great action, and stunning cinematography and special effects, and it's no wonder this film quickly became the highest box-office gross in history.

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CoLLapse (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Americans generally believe that a future of abundant clean energy can replace today's waning dirty oil and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. Michael Ruppert knows better. A former LAPD detective turned independent reporter, he predicted both trouble with oil and the current financial crisis. In Collapse, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation and doesn't hold back on his thoughts about the apocalypse we face—the collapse of industrial civilization.

→ Check out at the film's web site

Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Are we moving closer to a world in which water, a seemingly plentiful natural resource, could actually incite war. As water becomes an increasingly precious commodity, corrupt governments, corporations and even private investors are scrambling to control it , leaving the rest of us fighting for a substance we need to survive.

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The Sea Change (2009) (Documentary)
Imagine A World Without Fish

DESCRIPTION: A Sea Change documents how the pH balance of the oceans has changed dramatically since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: a 30% increase in acidification. Experts predict that over the next century, steady increases in carbon dioxide emissions and the continued rise in the acidity of the oceans will cause most of the world's fisheries to experience a total bottom-up collapse—a state that could last for millions of years. This film broadens the discussion about the dramatic changes we are seeing in the chemistry of the oceans, and conveys the urgent threat those changes pose to our survival, while surveying the steps we can take to reduce the severity of climate change.

→ Check out DVD at Bullfrog Films

The Yes Men Fix the World (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: This is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks. From New Orleans to India to New York City, armed with little more than cheap thrift-store suits, the Yes Men squeeze raucous comedy out of all the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. Who knew fixing the world could be so much fun?

→ Check out DVD on Amazon.com or at Bullfrog Films

The New American Century (2009) (Documentary)

REVIEW: This marvelous documentary starts out as just another 9-11 conspiracy movie but quickly transitions to broader territory, showing that false-flag operations have been used by the US for over a century to instigate military conflicts that further the process of building the empire; garner energy resources....

→ Watch online for free or read full review of The New American Century

Fresh (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Fresh celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the the consequences of industrial agriculture: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable farming and food alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

→ Check out DVD at the film's web site

The Cove (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: In a sleepy lagoon off the coast of Japan, behind a wall of barbed wire and "Keep Out” signs, lies a shocking secret. It is here, under cover of night, that the fishermen of Taiji engage in an unseen hunt for thousands of dolphins. The nature of the work is so horrifying, a few desperate men will stop at nothing to keep it hidden from the world. But when an elite team of activists, filmmakers and free-divers embark on a covert mission to penetrate the cove, they discover that the shocking atrocities they find there are just the tip of the iceberg.

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A Chemical Reaction (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Dr. June Irwin, a dermatologist, noticed a connection between her patients' health conditions and their exposure to chemical pesticides. With relentless persistence she brought her concerns to town meetings to warn her fellow citizens that the chemicals they were putting on their lawns posed severe health and environmental risks. Dr. Irwin's persuasive arguments and data eventually led the town to enact a by-law that banned the use of all chemical pesticides. The pesticide manufacturers and their lawyers, of course, did not site idly by and just let it happen....

→ Learn more at the film's web site

Homo Toxicus (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Tons of chemicals are released into the environment everyday. The average citizen is both unaware of this daily exposure and unaware of the long-term health effects these toxic substances can have on living organisms. Carried out with intelligence and humor, Homo Toxicus explores the myriad links between toxic chemicals and increasingly common health problems such as cancer, allergies, hyperactivity, and infertility.

→ Check out DVD at Bullfrog Films

A Sense of Wonder (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: When pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, the backlash from her critics thrust her into the center of a political maelstrom. Despite her private persona, her convictions about the risks posed by chemical pesticides forced her into the role of controversial public figure. A Sense of Wonder is an intimate and poignant portrait of Rachel Carson's life as she emerges as America's most successful advocate for the natural world.  (55 min)

→ Check out DVD at Bullfrog Films

The End of the Line (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Humans have long regarded the world's oceans as vast and inexhaustible. Now, we have learned otherwise. The End of the Line charts the devastating ecological impact of overfishing by interweaving both local and global stories of sharply declining fish populations, including the imminent extinction of the bluefin tuna, and illuminates how our modern fishing capacities far outstrip the survival abilities of any ocean species. A catastrophic future that awaits us—an ocean without fish by 2048 if we do not adjust our fishing and consumption practices.

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Food, Inc. (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Food, Inc. lifts the shroud from our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer—with the consent of the USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations and captured bureaucrats that routinely put profit ahead of consumer health, farmer livelihoods, worker safety, and pollution standards. Food, Inc. reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, and who we have become as a nation.

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Two Angry Moms (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: In the face of a national child-health crisis, Two Angry Moms asks: What are our children eating in school and how is it impacting their learning, behavior, and health? The film chronicles the efforts of leaders in the fledgling "better school food" movement as they take on the system nationwide.. See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!

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→ Learn more at the film's web site

The Age of Stupid (2009)

Starring: Pete Postlethwaite

A man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055 looks at film footage from 2008 and asks: why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?

→ Check it out at the film's web page

Coal Country (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: In the US, coal is the source for half of America's electricity, and few of us think much about it. But in Appalachia, miners and residents are locked in conflict, with one side saying coal operations are essential to providing good jobs, and the other saying it's destroying the land, water, and air? Facing death threats and violence, Mari-Lynn Evans persevered in making a film that shows both sides of the conflict.

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→ Check out movie or watch trailer at film's web site

Split Estate (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: As the natural-gas drilling boom in the Rocky Mountain West swung into high gear in the 2000s, many homeowners had to face the shocking truth: that they don't own the mineral rights under their land. Energy companies often set up drill rigs and pumping operations just a few hundred feet from homes, and often in dangerous proximity to well-water sources. Distressed homeowners found they had little or no recourse to protect their homes, land, and drinking water from such development.

→ Check out DVD on the film's web site

The Strangest Dream (2009) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Nuclear physicist Joseph Rotblat was branded a traitor and spy after walking away from the Manhattan Project, which went on to build the first atomic bomb. But, with Bertrand Russell, Rotblat later helped create the modern peace movement and eventually won a Nobel Peace Prize. The Strangest Dream tells Rotblat's story, the history of nuclear weapons, and the efforts of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs—which he co-founded—to halt nuclear proliferation.

→ Check out DVD at Bullfrog Films

Blind Spot (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Blind Spot analyzes the inextricable link between the energy we use, the way we run our economy, and the effect it has had on our environment. Taking as a starting point the inevitable energy depletion scenario know as Peak Oil, it demonstrates we are at a crossroad of two paths, both with dire consequences. If we continue to burn fossil fuels our ecology will collapse, but if we don't, our economy will. Either path we choose will have a profound effect on our way of life.

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→ Watch free online at IMDB/Snag Films

Blood and Oil  (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: The film asserts that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East (and more recently in central Asia). It unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years—rendering our contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable.

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Battle in Seattle (2008)

Starring: Martin Henderson, Michelle Rodriguez, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron, Ray Liotta

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→ Learn more at the film's web site

Burning the Future: Coal in America (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: The US energy policy increasingly includes "more coal," proffered as a "home-grown energy solution" without regard to the devastation caused by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains and hundreds of miles of streams, as well as government appeasement of industry, West Virginia activists demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation's help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life.

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→ Learn more at the film's web site

Fuel (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: High oil prices, global warming, and an insatiable demand for energy—these issues will be the catalyst for heated debates and positive change for many years to come. Fuel exposes the shocking connections between the auto industry, the oil industry, and the government, while exploring alternative energies such as solar, wind, electricity and non-food-based biofuels. The film covers the pros and cons of biofuels, how America's addiction to oil is destroying the US economy, and how green energy can save us—but only if we act now.

→ Check out DVD at the film's web site

Addicted to Plastic (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: From foam cups to artificial organs, plastics are perhaps the most ubiquitous and versatile material ever invented. But such progress has had a cost. Addicted To Plastic is a global journey to investigate what we really know about the "material of a thousand uses" and why there's so darn much of it. On the way, we discover a toxic legacy, and the men and women dedicated to cleaning it up.

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The Human Footprint (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: The Human Footprint reveals the extraordinary impact that each of our lives has on the world around us. In a playful and thought-provoking portrait, the film demonstrates what makes up an average human life today and how everything we do has impact on the world around us.

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Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai (2008) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman whose simple act of planting trees—LOTS of trees—grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy.

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→ Watch trailer or get more info at the film's web site

The Garden (2008) (Documentary)

Starring: Danny Glover, Daryl Hannahm, Antonio Villaraigosa

DESCRIPTION: The Garden examines the famous political and social battle over the largest community garden in the US, located in south central Los Angeles—before it was bulldozed by the city for a developer's project. The film shows how the politics of power and greed—backroom deals, land development, green politics, and money—tragically trumped the needs of working class families, who had found a community solution to providing a resilient, affordable way of putting wholesome food on the table.

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Cuba: The Accidental Revolution (2007) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: At one time, Cuba's agriculture was as conventional as the rest of the world's, relying on fossil-fuel inputs, synthetic fertilizers, and chemical pesticides. But with the 1989 collapse of the Soviet Union—and with the US embargo still in place—the imported inputs ceased and Cuba's whole economic system went into crisis. Factories closed, food supplies plummeted. Without fuel, fertilizer, and pesticides, Cubans were forced to turn to organic methods, oxen, and urban gardens, eventually establishing the modern world's first successful sustainable agriculture program. (45 min)

→ Check out DVD at Bullfrog Films

China Blue (2006) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: China Blue is a powerful and poignant journey into the harsh world of sweatshop workers. Shot clandestinely, this is a deep-access account of what both China and the international retailers don't want us to see—how the clothes we buy are actually made. Filmed both in the factory and in the workers' faraway village, this documentary provides a rare, human glimpse of China's rapid integration into the free-market machine.

→ Check out DVD at Bullfrog Films

We Feed the World (2005) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: Close to 1 billion of the nearly 7 billion people on earth are starving worldwide. But the food we are currently producing could feed 12 billion people. This is a film about food and globalization, the flow of goods and cash flow—a film about scarcity amid plenty. Interviewed are not only fishermen, farmers, agronomists, biologists and the UN's Jean Ziegler, but also the director of production at Pioneer, the world's largest seed company, as well as Peter Brabeck, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé International, the largest food company in the world.

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Libby, Montana (2004) (Documentary)

DESCRIPTION: This film covers the epic trial in which it was proved that WR Grace Company knew for years that conditions in its asbestos mining operations in Libby, Montana were a severe health hazard, but they did nothing to correct the problem or warn their employees. Once nailed, the company declared bankruptcy to wall off their profits from the damages claim, leaving a nightmarish legacy of death, disease, and destitution in Libby.

Cave In (2003) (TV Movie)

Starring: Mimi Rogers, Ted Shackelford

DESCRIPTION: A cave in threatens the lives of four miners, including a father and son.

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Edge of Darkness (1985)

DESCRIPTION: Edge of Darkness is a British television drama serial, originally broadcast in six 55-minute episodes. A mixture of crime drama, political thriller, and science fiction, it revolves around the efforts of a policeman to unravel the truth behind the brutal killing of his daughter. The investigations soon lead the cop into a murky world of government and corporate cover-ups and nuclear espionage, pitting him against dark forces that threaten the future of life on Earth.  Read full description at Wikipedia

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Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

Starring: William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling

REVIEW: The premise of Kingdom of the Spiders is that pesticides, in particular DDT, have killed off so much of the local tarantulas' normal food sources that the creepy crawlies have been forced to move up the food chain, taking on cattle, dogs, and even humans. There is a lot of truth to the idea that chemical pesticides disrupt the natural balance of things, but this is not a movie about scientific fact. It's about hairy-scary spiders and a small town's fight to survive—a typical 1970s bugs-attacking-things movie. We have to admit, though—the last scene yields a surprisingly good payoff.

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Grow Your Own Vegetables ( ) (How-To)
Seven Easy Steps to Your Own Backyard Produce Deparment

DESCRIPTION: As the economic storm worsens and food costs continue rise, there's never been a better time to grow some of your own vegetables. This DVD explains the simplest ways to turn lawns into gardens—how to build up and condition soil; how to maximize the output of your garden, even if you have a confined space; how to organically treat pests; how to deal with water issues; how to harvest and store your vegetables, as well as tricks for extending the growing season.

→ Check out DVD at Amazon.com or at the Mean More Store

Our Land, Our Life ( ) (Documentary)

Also released as American Outrage

DESCRIPTION: This movie documents the struggle of two Western Shoshone elders to address the threat mining development poses to the sacred and environmentally sensitive lands of Crescent Valley, Nevada. Since 1972, they have been working to protect their lands from the United States' gradual encroachment and utter usurpation.

→ Read more about it at Santa Cruz IMC