Losing the West(2013)

Surviving Progress(en)

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

King Coal(en)

The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.

The Giants(en)

A portrait of environmental folk hero & gay icon Bob Brown, who took green politics to the center of power. His story is interwoven with the life cycle of the ancient trees he's fighting for.

Critical Mass(en)

Things aren't looking good for the world's population; as we multiply at an alarming rate there is not enough food, space... or sense. This intelligent film interweaves a fascinating 1960s rat experiment by Dr. John B. Calhoun with a slick snapshot of today's urban jungle.

Alone Out Here(en)

In a moment of catastrophic climate change, Jon Wright, a gay farmer, is faced with a dilemma. His 22-year commitment to transform the genetics of his herd are pitted against the attitudes of the beef industry, who hold the future of his families 4th generation farm in their hands.Through his incredible journey of loss and survival, we learn what it takes to be true to yourself, at any cost.

The Charcoal People(pt)

This deeply human documentary examines the subject of environmental destruction, highlighting the impoverished migrant workers who are chopping down the Amazon rainforest to create charcoal for pig iron production used primarily in the automobile industry. The film examines the children and elders and their daily lives and work as they burn timber in igloo-looking huts, their bodies charred gray for $2 a day, struggling to survive.

From Source to Sea(en)

More Than Honey(de)

With dazzling nature photography, Academy Award®–nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) takes a global examination of endangered honeybees — spanning California, Switzerland, China and Australia — more ambitious than any previous work on the topic.

Chasing Ice(en)

When National Geographic photographer James Balog asked, “How can one take a picture of climate change?” his attention was immediately drawn to ice. Soon he was asked to do a cover story on glaciers that became the most popular and well-read piece in the magazine during the last five years. But for Balog, that story marked the beginning of a much larger and longer-term project that would reach epic proportions.

A Fierce Green Fire(en)

It is the largest movement the world has ever seen, it may also be the most important - in terms of what's at stake. Yet it's not east being green. Environmentalists have been reviled as much as revered, for being killjoys and Cassandras. Every battle begins as a lost cause and even the victories have to be fought for again and again. Still, environmentalism is one of the great social innovations of the twentieth century, and one of the keys to the twenty-first. It has arisen at a key juncture in history, when humans have come to rival nature as a power determining the fate of the earth.

Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World(en)

The vessel is Infinity, a 120-foot hand-built sailboat, crewed by a band of miscreants. The journey, an 8,000 mile Pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica. Unlike all the other boats heading to the Southern Ocean, Infinity is no ice-reinforced super-yacht crewed by professional sailors; rather, Infinity lives in the moment and sails on a whim. What can be found in abundance on board is blood, sweat, enthusiasm, risk tolerance, disdain for authority, and an ample supply of alcohol – all in all a mad voyage of reckless adventure just for the sheer joy of it. Along the way the crew will battle a hurricane of ice in the Ross Sea, assist the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd in their fight with illegal whalers, and tear every sail they have. At the heart of their journey is a quest for awe and a sense of wonder with the raw power of the natural world.

The Great Fog of 1952(en)

In the 1950s, a devastating fog descended on London and enveloped the capital for several days, leaving Londoners lost in their own streets in one of the UK's biggest peacetime catastrophes.

The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes(en)

A lesson in geography, which concludes that although the Great Lakes have had their ups and downs, nothing has been harder to take than what humans have done to them lately. In the film, a lone canoeist lives through the changes of geological history, through Ice Age and flood, only to find himself in the end trapped in a sea of scum.

Amazonia Inc(en)

This documentary explores an unknown civilization of the Brazilian Amazon, who risk their lives to protect their forest. In order to save the exploitation of the environment by big corporations, they have to create legal institutions.

Rachel Carson, la mère de l'écologie(fr)

In 1962, Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring opened America's eyes to the dangers of pesticides and man's place in nature. This episode of the "Before/After" series dives into the genesis of a poetic and powerful text, which inspired modern environmentalist thought.

The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall(en)

Born in London in 1934, Jane Goodall spent decades in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, studying the social and family structures of chimpanzees and helping to bring their ecological vulnerability into the public consciousness. She also founded and remains integral to the Jane Goodall Institute, which encourages environmental activism and stewardship among young people. In this program, the famous scientist reflects on her many years spent observing and learning about our primate cousins.

Tomorrow's Power(en)

Tomorrow’s Power is a feature length documentary that showcases three communities around the world and their responses to economic and environmental emergencies they are facing. In the war-torn, oil-rich Arauca province in Colombia, communities have been building a peace process from the bottom up. In Germany activists are pushing the country to fully divest from fossil-fuel extraction and complete its transition to renewable energy. In Gaza health practitioners are harnessing solar power to battle daily life-threatening energy blackouts in hospitals.

Entangled(en)

Efforts to protect North Atlantic right whales from extinction, the impacts of those efforts on the lobster industry, and how the National Marine Fisheries Service has struggled to balance the vying interests. There are now believed to be fewer than 400 right whales, making them among the planet’s most endangered species. Between millions of lobster lines and warming waters due to climate change, their population has been plummeting, and their survival is threatened. The federal government is proposing regulations which could reduce lobster lines by half in much of the Gulf of Maine and harm the livelihoods of many lobstermen and has sparked a political backlash. The future of the iconic species hangs in the balance.

The Magnitude of All Things(en)

Filmmaker Jennifer Abbott explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of the climate crisis and the relationship between grief and hope in times of personal and planetary change.

Empty Oceans, Empty Nets(en)

Examines the global fisheries crisis and the forces pushing many marine fish stocks toward commercial extinction. Documents some promising and innovative efforts to restore fisheries and protect essential fish habitat. Examines new market initiatives giving consumers a powerful vote in deciding how our oceans are fished. Commentary is provided by fishermen and by many of the world's most respected marine and fisheries scientists.