EcoChat: Alicia Ontiveros
Alicia Ontiveros is originally from Albuquerque; she now lives in Chicago and publishes Chicago's green news blog, EcoChicago
EcoChat is live online Monday evenings and you can sign up and participate in the forum directly from Ecoversity's page here
Gail Ryba: Achieving the Vision
Gail Ryba of the Coalition for Clean and Affordable Energy speaking at Ecoversity on "Achieving the Vision of Al Gore". (watch videos)
The Wild Horses of Newbury
Greens were filming the tragic destruction of two great old oaks of Newbury, when an amazing thing happened... watch the video
Sacred Power Kelly Kowalski's reportage for KNME/PBS on Sacred Power, the first - and so far only- Native American run renewable energy company. (watch Sacred Power)
Stephen Levine's new reading at Ecoversity, "Animal Stories", on Buddha's enlightenment, the earth witness and his own experience in a cabin in the woods.
Watch the video here.
Earth Communications Office
Watch the powerful video shorts produced by ECO to inspire people around the world to take care of our home planet- OneEarth/ECO
Antonio Lopez spoke at Ecoversity Tuesday Aug. 5 about his book "Mediacology", and on bridging media literacy with ecoliteracy. Antonio is the founder of World Bridger Media.
Watch the video here.
Making Adobe
See how adobe is made in this film of the July 19 class at Ecoversity. (video)
The Story of Stuff Don't miss this amusing survey of the consumerist reality and it's toxic consquences. (99% of our production is trashed within 6 months!) (Story of Stuff)
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Ecoversity TV: Summer 2010
Here we have video and film selections from around the web, and from our own production. If you'd like to alert us to something interesting out there, or to submit material for publication use this email.
In the wake of the recall of a half a billion eggs due to salmonella contamination, Democracy Now did a triple header on food supply issues. First, a report on the salmonella egg recall, which traces back to two industrialized egg-production facilities; then an interview with David Kirby, author of "Animal Factory", on the dark side of industrialized meat production; finally Amy interviews Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, on global food supply issues, including increasing corporate buy-ups of agricultural land in developing countries.
(watch videos)
"The time has come to move beyond eco-elitism to eco-populism."
The Commonwealth Club awarded Van Jones a 21st Century Visionary Award for guiding the nation to ecological equality. Jones called for a 'serious' climate and energy bill to stop companies from dumping 'planet-cooking pollution' into the atmosphere. 'If you take away that right to pollute for free,' says Jones, 'you send a signal to the only force in the world that can solve this problem - the entrepreneur.'
(watch video)
Heather Rogers, author of "Green Gone Wrong", and Gwynne Dyer, author of "Climate Wars" joined Laura Flanders to discuss the geopolitical ramifications of global warming: (watch video)
Rachel Armstrong on using "living architecture" to remediate environmental damage. She proposes saving Venice by encrusting the wood pilings that support the city with programmable proto-cells which would build a carbonate reef around the wood- "rather than the city of Venice wearing stilettos, as it currently does, it would be wearing platform shoes. . . "(watch video)
Leonardo DiCaprio's "11th Hour" (Now Released on DVD)
From Thom Hartmann's review of the film:
"This film moves seamlessly from the global environmental crisis, to species loss, to crises in energy, trash, and toxins. The breadth is breathtaking. . .
"Leonardo DiCaprio is a master filmmaker, brilliant narrator, and brings to life information that- without the startling imagery, his compelling voice, and a relentless pacing worthy of Scorsese- would otherwise simply be overwhelming."
Official Warner website for 11th Hour Di Caprio's 11th Hour Action Youtube channel
The Green Patriarch:
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
The name "Green Patriarch' is hardly sufficient to describe this amazing man, who, while still in the grip of the tidal forces of human history unleashed by the collapse of the Roman Empire, is one of the few who really grasps the significance of the current moment for the future of humanity and Creation. His quiet and persevering influence has been great, up there with Al Gore, maybe more so. This is a powerful film on a true spiritual leader working behind the scenes to change the way humanity relates to Earth and Nature. (watch The Green Patriarch) May 7. Bartholomew has written a commentary on the Gulf oil disaster at the HuffingtonPost.
Wade Davis at TED: The worldwide web of belief and ritual Anthropologist Wade Davis talks in particular about his visits with the elder brothers of the Andes, including his most recent from which he has just returned.
(watch video) Wade Davis contributed to the 11th Hour Time Capsule project- you can see his time capsule here
Elisabet Sahtouris, evolutionary biologist and bio-futurist, speaking about our moment in planetary evolution. This three-part talk can be seen in it's entirety here. In part 3, Dr. Sahtouris relates her seminal metaphor of the caterpillar and butterfly in assessing our moment in the context of planetary evolution. (A further 6-part interview with Conscious.tv follows, with more interviews linked.)
(Elisabet Sahtouris video talk)
Fading Shangri-La
From China Green, the Center for U.S.-China Relations, and the Asia Society, "Fading Shangr-La" is a beautiful short film on the changing world of the high Himalayas. From the intro: "Mt Khawa Karpo, known by Chinese as Meili Snow Mountain, is among the most sacred mountains in the Tibetan world. It is here in the steep valleys that novelist James Hilton set his Lost Horizon, describing the utopian wonderland of Shangri-La where time stands still. Tibetans have long worshiped this holy mountain, regarded as one of the highest spiritual gods in this mountainous region of China.
"Yet as the earth warms, glacier retreat and ice loss here over the last decade have reached alarming levels and the melting is only accelerating. As a result, locals worry that the soul of this holy land -their Shangri-La - is slipping away. With it, a supernatural source of blessing for their people and communities is feared to be disappearing."
(watch "Fading Shangri-La")
"Avatar asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth. And if you have to go four and a half light years to another, made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of the world that we have right here, well, you know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there, that's the magic." - James Cameron, upon receiving the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and Best Drama for his latest film, "Avatar". (report)
Update, 2/20/10: Cameron spoke to Charlie Rose about the environmental message of "Avatar": "We're going to go through a lot of pain and heartache if we don't acknowledge our stewardship responsibilities to Nature." And in case you wondered, yes, the studio did ask Cameron to "cut down on this hippy tree-hugging stuff" because 'environmental messages don't sell'. (watch interview excerpt here)
James Cameron Joins Amazon Dam Resistance As reported in the Times, Cameron told indigenous activists, "The snake kills by squeezing very slowly; this is how the civilized world slowly, slowly pushes into the forest and takes away the world that used to be." -Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of Avatar, NYTimes, 4/11
Update 4/21: Brazil awarded a domestic consortium, formed at the last minute amid controversy, the rights to build the Belo Monte Dam, which will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam. Native Amazonians have called for resistance to halt construction. (story)
Ecoversity TV
We've selected some online videos on various topics of interest; the playlists below will play each short segment for you in sequence. We add new videos to the playlists regularly.
National Geographic: Environment
Hundreds of excellent short video pieces related to the environment and sustainable living; well produced, with energetic soundtracks and star hosts like Edward Norton. (view)
GoGreenTube
GoGreenTube.com is an environmentally oriented YouTube clone, with the social networking and upload simplicity of YouTube, along with many additional features. Click on an item in the "channels" listings, and you will find a wealth of videos on the topic. Use it to discover new content and also make your own content available to a wider audience, thus driving traffic to your organization's website... (visit GoGreenTube.com)
BlipTV BlipTV is another video service, with many gems. Here is Howard Rheingold talking on "Vernacular Video in Culture and Education". He surveys Youtube, Seesmic, Mogulus, and other aspects of the emerging new video culture. (watch Rheingold on BlipTV)
18 years on, it's worth watching again Severn Suzuki's address to the 1992 UN Earth Summit.
The Botany of Desire
Whether or not you've read Michael Pollan's fascinating book "The Botany of Desire", you'll enjoy the excellent PBS Special based on it, and especially the show's smart and attractive website, with 'web extras'- like the interview segments with Pollan linked above, and a further graphically rich dedicated website to explore deeper the themes and frames of the book. (watch show segments and extras online)(Botany of Desire- website)
Liquid Galaxy
Google Earth shows it's stuff at COP15 with "Liquid Galaxy" - a wrap-around quad-screen planetary explorer; looks like the future of Earth Studies. Fly down and examine some melting glaciers . . . Cruise the planet
CoolIris
is really cool- an image and video based search browser in theater form. download here
Gaia Hypothesis Surprisingly good summary of the Gaia Hypothesis
watch here
Podcast: Fragility, Gaia, and the Evolution of Humanity
"Xavier Le Pichon is one of the world's leading geophysicists, and his pioneering research on plate tectonics revolutionized our understanding of how the earth works. He has also spent decades living in community with people and families facing disability and has emerged with a rare perspective on the meaning of humanity - a perspective equally informed by his scientific and personal encounters with fragility as a fundament of vital, evolving systems..."
(podcast)
Profile: William Kamkwamba When he was 14 years old, William Kamkwamba of Malawi built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book, to have light at night for reading. Recently he spoke at the TED Conference. (watch here)
2010 Year of Biodiversity
UN General Secretary Ban-Ki Moon announces The Year of Biodiversity 2010.
watch video
The Impossible Hamster The absurdity of unending growth
HOME- The Movie
Yann Arthus-Bertrand, celebrated French journalist, photographer and environmentalist, has created an extraordinarily beautiful film of our home planet, and the impacts our species has made upon it's life systems. The photography is gorgeous, with excellent narration and a beautiful music score. The film, produced by Luc Bresson, premieres on the internet June 5. Watch in high quality full screen mode at YouTube.
To see more on the production of "Home", along with multilingual versions:
Home Project
Isabella Rosselini's Green Porn 3
Sundance hosts the latest season of Isabella Rosselini's surprising and amusing series on creature sex. "Green Porn 3" can be viewed online HERE
Stop Plastic Pollution
The mission of Plastic Pollution Coalition is to create a global community and ignite a social movement to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts worldwide. (video)
A Buffalo Calf, Hungry Lions and Crocodile: The Herd Comes to the Rescue
With 43 million views, this extraordinary clip is one of the all-time greats on Youtube- watch it, if you haven't already, and you will see why-
(watch video)
This clip is included in our Ecoversity TV Creature Feature" playlist, along with many other fascinating animal videos.
"Think Like Noah"
Thomas Friedman speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival on 'global weirding', the Green Revolution, and his new book "Hot Flat and Crowded" (watch videos)