Endangered Species
Environmental Activism
Forests
Genetic Modification of Crops and Foods
Global Warming / Climatological Issues
Green Business, Green Building, Alternative Agriculture
Nuclear and Electrical Energy Controversies and Disasters
Oil/Petrochemicals/Alternative Energy Sources
Population Issues
Toxic Substances / Industrial Pollution / Environmental Racism
Urban Environment
Waste and Recycling
Water Supply / Oceans, Rivers, Lakes / Water Management
General and Miscellaneous Environmental Issues

Documentaries about Food
Earth Science
Environmental Design(architecture, city and regional planning)

Water Resources Archives general video collection
National Parks Service river inventory videos

Global Warming / Climatological Issues

Acid Rain, Requiem or Recovery
Explains the concept of "acid" rain and the effects upon our environment. 1982. 27 min. Video/C 521 NRLF #: B 4 175 325

Acid Rain: New Bad News (Nova series).
Traveling through West Germany, the mid-Atlantic and New England, this program looks at the controversy surrounding acid rain. 1984. 58 min. Video/C 863

Acid Rain, Requiem or Recovery.
Explains the concept of "acid" rain and the effects upon our environment. 1982. 3/4" UMATIC. 27 min. Video/C 621

Acid Rain: The Choice is Ours.
Explains acid rain, how it is produced, its geological interactions, and its meteorological distribution. Examines its effects on wildlife, the ecosystem, and the human body. Suggests ways in which to reduce the amount of acid rain and control its dispersal. c1988. 20 min. Video/C 2413

After the Storm
All across America people live, work, and play in watersheds, without knowing it. As this video shows, protecting the nation's water resources will take the awareness and effort of individual citizens. Case studies (New York City, the Santa Monica Bay in California, and the Louisiana Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico) focus on the interconnections between water supply, water quality and the economic vitality and quality of life in our communities. A co-production of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Weather Channel. c2003. 22 min. Video/C MM1158

Alterations in the Atmosphere (Fragile Planet).
The troposphere is showing the effects of man-made pollution in alterations in climatic patterns. The giant Rhone glacier has shrunk dramatically in the last century; data received from every part of the globe documents the rise in temperature. The program examines the role of rising levels of CO2 and methane, as well as of nitrous oxide and CFCs, in raising temperature. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 18 min. Video/C 2408

Assault on the Ozone Layer (Fragile Planet).
This program shows how the ozone layer is depleted and how its depletion is stunting, mutating, and destroying life. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1990. 18 min. Video/C 2407

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

Civilization and Climate (Climate & Man<; 3).
Changing climate probably played the decisive role in drawing hominids out of the trees, up on their hind legs, and off in search of food whose supply had been dispersed by the replacement of rain forests by grasslands. Migrations were motivated by the search for food; during ice ages, when sea levels dropped, new areas became accessible and populations spread. Links between climatic changes and emerging civilizations have also been postulated; the collapse of civilizations confronted with climatic challenges to which they could not or would not adapt is clearly documented. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 26 min. Video/C 2403

Climate Out of Control?
Discusses the implications of of global warming. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1989. 24 min. Video/C 2417

Danger Ahead (Climate & Man; 6).
This program suggests some less drastic solutions to the global warming : reducing CO2 emissions; using the sun and the wind as energy sources; using nuclear power; reducing energy usage; curbing or stopping the use of CFCs; preserving the rain forest. It may also be taken as a given that, while individuals may be able to adapt to climatic change, societies cannot. c1990. 26 min. Video/C 2406

Dimming the Sun
While global warming has been heating up the world, recently scientists were stunned to discover that the sun has actually been growing dimmer, with less and less sunlight reaching earth's surface. In this episode of Nova climatologists unravel this baffling climate detective story. Originally broadcast as a segment of the PBS television program Nova, April 18, 2006. Original program: Global dimming, BBC, c2004. Dimming the sun has additional material. 56 min. DVD 7292

The Endangered Earth: The Politics of Acid Rain.
Examines effects of acid rain upon the environment, art, and sculpture, particularly in Gettysburg, Pa. Discusses the Clean Air Act and subsequent legislation in Pennsylvania. c1986. 53 min. Video/C 2412

Everything's Cool
A film about the most dangerous chasm ever to emerge between scientific understanding and political action - Global Warming. The good news: America finally gets global warming; the chasm is closing and the debate is over. The bad news: the United States, the country that will determine the fate of the globe, must transform its fossil fuel based economy fast (like in a minute). Features scientists, journalists and activists including Step It Up's Bill McKibben, Pulitzer Prize winner Ross Gelbspan, the Weather Channel's Dr. Heidi Cullen and White House whistle-blower Rick Piltz. Directed by Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand. 2007. 89 min. DVD 9239

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Global Climate Change.
Al Gore speaks with Orville Schell, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism, following a presentation on the possible consequences of global climate change. Recorded by Educational Technology Services, University of California, Berkeley on October 26, 2004. 47 min. Video/C MM491

View it with RealPlayer

Global Warming: The Signs and the Science.
This documentary profiles people who are living with the grave consequences of a changing climate, as well as the individuals, communities and scientists inventing new approaches to safeguard our children's future. Filmed across the U.S., Asia and South America, this program brings the reality of climate change to life and offers viewers a variety of ways to make a difference in their own communities. Dist.: PBS. 2005. 60 min. DVD 4988

Global Warming (Climate & Man; 5).
Shows the effect of rising temperatures on earth, with its foreseeably disastrous consequences. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 26 min. Video/C 2405

Global Warming: Hype or Hazard?
Skeptical ecologist Bjorn Lomborg questions the frenzied focus on global warming, arguing that time and money would be better spent tackling more concrete and rapidly spreading environmental issues. Over a dozen scientists and researchers are featured in this provocative program that uses hard evidence to counter the sensationalism in the media's coverage of global warming. Dist.: Films Media Group. 2004. 40 min. DVD 5331

The Great Global Warming Swindle
Challenges the current premise of global warming, suggesting that the chief cause of climate change is not human activity, but changes in radiation from the sun. Scientists in the film set forth scientific and historical proofs to support their arguments and claim that global warming advocates have created a mass hysteria that has no basis in reality. They also examine the censorship and intimidation experienced by dissenting scientists perpetrated by political and environmental activists who have an economic stake in the debate. The film also looks at the economic costs of a movement to discourage development in third world countries by those who claim industrializaton is a primary cause of global warming. Special features (79 min.) : Climate history; sea levels, CO2; Industrial society; IPCC; Political science; Al Gore and malaria ; Solar; What is to be done?; Our climate future; solar variations and clouds; some real science. Written & directed by Martin Durkin. 2007. 79 min. DVD 8773

The Great Warming.
Three part documentary on global warming. 46 min. each installment. Dist.: FilmWest Associates. 2003.

The Human Fingerprint. Explores the underlying science of climate change. From North and South America to Asia and Europe, the evidence is examined to assess what today's rising temperatures mean for the future of mankind. Video/C MM167

Age of Uncertainty. Reveals the often surprising consequences of climate change through the stories of real people already living through them. Because it's more than just the heat.... Video/C MM168

Our Children's Planet. Sweeps around the world to introduce the people and communities who are combating the effects of global warming with commitment, enthusiasm amd exciting new technologies. Video/C MM169

The Greenhouse Effect (Climate & Man; 1).
Analyzes the sun's gradual brightening and the relationship between sunlight and CO2, explains why the atmosphere of Mars has too much and Venus too little CO2 to sustain life, theorizes about the disappearance of dinosaurs and dinosaur-friendly life and explains the relationship between climate change and continental drift. 1990. 26 min. Video/C 2401

Green House Effect.
Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide which traps the sun's heat and raises the world's temperature. The impact on sea level, crop growth, and rainfall could be disastrous for us and all living things. This disturbing program addresses questions vital to our survival. What are the on-going effects of our insatiable appetite for generated power? How can we prevent environmental catastrophe? 1989. 50 min. Video/C 1474

The Heat is On.
Discusses how global warming may affect our delicate ecosystem and how future generations will have to cope with a changed planet. c1989. 27 min. Video/C 2416

The Heat is On, Better Be Prepared
Examines strategies, many of them in operation, designed to protect land and populations made vulnerable by rapidly rising worldwide temperatures. From life-saving weather forecast methods in Mozambique to fishery replenishment systems in Vietnam, a range of innovations are studied. Also includes details of the struggles against drought and violent climate in the U.S., Australia, and the Netherlands. Dist.: Films Media Group. 2003. 51 min. DVD 5622

The Hole in the Sky (Nova series).
Examines the controversy over chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which might be responsible for depleting the ozone layer thus causing the hole in the sky over Antarctica. c1987. 58 min. Video/C 1358

Hot Planet, Cold Comfort
Examines the latest warnings from scientists that large-scale changes in the earth's climatic systems are taking place, with potentially serious consequences. Shows what is already happening to the Alaskan glaciers. Dist.: PBS. 2005. 30 min. DVD 4989

An Inconvenient Truth
Former Vice President Al Gore explains the facts of global warming, presents arguments that the dangers of global warning have reached the level of crisis, and addresses the efforts of certain interests to discredit the anti-global warming cause. Between lecture segments, Gore discusses his personal commitment to the environment, sharing anecdotes from his experiences. Special features: Commentary with director Davis Guggenheim ; Commentary with producers Laurie David, Lawrence Bender, Scott Z. Burns and Leslie Chilcott ; An update with former Vice-President Al Gore. Directed by Davis Guggenheim. Released theatrically in 2006; program content, c2005. 96 min. DVD 6601

Aufderheide Pat "An 'inconvenient truth'." Cineaste 32 (1): 50-52 WIN 2006 UC users only
Epstein, Paul R. "An Inconvenient Truth.(Movie review)." British Medical Journal 332.7554 (June 10, 2006): 1397(1).UC users only
Gefter, Amanda. "No climate crisis? Watch this movie." New Scientist 191.2559 (July 8, 2006): 51(1). UC users only
Larsen, Josh. "Al Gore Saves the universe.(Albert Gore Jr.)('An Inconvenient Truth')." The American Enterprise 17.6 (July-August 2006): 46(1). UC users only
Meyer, John M. "Another inconvenient truth.(by Al Gore)(Critical essay)." Dissent 53.4 (Fall 2006): 95(2).
Minkel, J.K., and Gary Stix. "Al Gore.(Albert Gore)(documentary film 'An Inconvenient Truth')." Scientific American 295.6 (Dec 2006): 51(1). UC users only
Sweet, William. "Climate emergency.(An Inconvenient Truth" IEEE Spectrum 43.8 (August 2006): 49(2).
Taubin, Amy. "An Inconvenient Truth.(Movie review)." Sight and Sound 16.9 (Sept 2006): 56(1). UC users only

Modifying the Weather: The Case of the Man-made Desert (Climate & Man; 4)
.Shows the effect of migration in the Sahel in changing regional climate; the tomorrow-be-damned policy of water usage in Arizona; and the drastic miscarriage of good intentions in Central Asia, where the efforts to irrigate the desert turned into the worst climatic disaster in the history of the Soviet Union. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 26 min. Video/C 2404

Only One Atmosphere (Race to Save the Planet; 2).
Violent storms, heat supply are crises forecast for the coming century, if we don't slow global warming now. The problems caused by CFC's and the depletion of the ozone layer are reviewed. c1987. 60 min. Video/C 1789

Mapping the Weather (Blue Revolution; 8).
Discusses ways to measure weather and efforts made to forecast it, along with examining economic and human effects. c1990. 26 min. Video/C 2421

The Return of the Child: The Effects of El Nino (Blue Revolution; 7)
Charts the birth and development of the weather system El Nino. Shows the ferocity of El Nino, relates it to the ocean waters and traces the roots of man's study of waves, ocean currents, and the interaction of sea and sky. c1990. 27 min. Video/C 2420

Stopping the Coming Ice Age.
Discusses the likelihood of another great ice age, with emphasis on the economic and environmental factors which contribute to a changing climate. c1988. 47 min. Video/C 1547

Genetic Modification of Crops and Food

Documentaries about Food

Against the Grain
Discusses genetically engineered food crops concerning the ecological, human health, and ethical reasons why the public should pause, if not seriously question the transformation of the food supply. Includes a look at bioengineered crops and interviews with farmers, both for and against the rapid conversion to bioengineered food crops. Based on Against the grain : biotechnology and the corporate takeover of your food / by Marc Lappe & Britt Bailey (Bioscience S494.5.B563.L3 1998; Bus & Econ S494.5.B563.L3 1998) 1999? 14 min. Video/C 7902

Description from Video Project catalog

Bullshit
Documentary following environmental activist and nuclear physicist Vandana Shiva for a period of two years, from a whirlwind tour of her organic farm at the foot of the Himalayas to the summit of the World Trade Organization in Mexico to a protest outside the European Patents Office in Munich. Here, in these institutions of power, Shiva does battle with the proponents of globalization, multi-national corporations like Monsanto, an American bio-tech company manufacturing genetically modified foods (whom Shiva holds responsible for a rash of farmers' suicides) and Coca-Cola, accused of depleting and contaminating groundwater in India....The film elucidates some of the most pressing social and technological questions of the 21st century - Can genetically modified foods alleviate world hunger? is it legal for corporations to patent natural crops? Can indigenous knowledge inform modern genetic engineering? A film by PeA Holmquist and Suzanne Khardalian. Dist. Cinema Guild. c2005. 73 min. DVD 5410

Deconstructing Supper
Documentary film that looks at the way modern food is produced through genetic modification and through organic farming in Canada, Europe, India and the United States. Gourmet chef, John Bishop, leads the investigation looking at Monsanto, the leader in genetic engineering, genetically modified food products, and organic farming through interviews with scientists, activists, journalists and farmers. A film by Marianne Kaplan. 2002. 48 min. Video/C 9522

Bullfrog Films catalog description

Fed Up!: Genetic Engineering, Industrial Agriculture, and Sustainable Alternatives
Using archival footage interspersed with interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials and activists, this video presents an overview of the American food production system and explores the unintentional effects of pesticides, the resistance of biotechnology companies to food labeling and the links between government officials and major biotechnology and chemical companies. It addresses many questions regarding genetic engineering, the Green Revolution, genetic pollution and modern pesticides. 2002. 58 min. DVD 3226

Field of Genes
There are many genetically altered foods on the market now, including soybean, canola, and corn. This program investigates the biotechnology industry's claims that the creation of genetically altered foods will be beneficial to the world's food suppy and considers the potential dangers and ethics of "improving on nature" with seed crops and livestock. 1997. 45 min. Video/C 8854

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Food Factory
Experts on food and the environment gathered at the University of California, Berkeley, to address whether organic, community-scale agriculture and food production can replace conventional, large-scale agribusiness, and the likely costs of such a dramatic shift. Speakers include food heavyweights Alice Waters, Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Mark Hertsgaard, Corby Kummer, and moderator Orville Schell.

View it with RealPlayer

Food for Thought.
This film features science writer, Roger Bingham, talking about the environmental consequences of a meat-centered diet. He explains the inefficiency of using meat as fuel for the human body, especially in the light of the environmental impact of raising all that meat - from loss of topsoil and groundwater depletion and pollution, to methane's contribution to global warming, and the growing gap between the rich and poor nations. c1990. 29 min. Video/C 4205

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Harvest of Fear
A in-depth exploration of the intensifying debate over genetically-modified (gm) food crops. Through interviews with scientists, farmers, biotech and food industry representatives, government regulators, and critics of biotechnology, this two-hour report presents both sides of the debate, exploring the risks and benefits, the hopes and fears, of this new technology. Contents: Are GMO's safe to eat? -- Are we tampering with nature? -- Do GMO's damage the environment? -- Do we need GMO's to feed the world? -- What does the future hold? c2001. 120 min. Video/C 8222

Risky Business: Biotechnology and Agriculture
Thousands of plants and animals are being genetically engineered yet so far there has been relatively little public debate about the impact of biotechnology. This documentary, filmed in laboratores and fields, presents scientists, industry proponents, environmental and consumer activists from the U.S., Europe and developing countries who discuss the risks and benefits of biotechnology and its growing international impacts. 1996. 25 min. Video/C 8852

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Toxic Substances and the Environment/Industrial Pollution/Toxic Racism

Arlit, The Second Paris (Arlit, deuxi`eme Paris)
A case study in migration and environmental racism set in an uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger. Here European corporations extracted nuclear power and profits, leaving behind illness due to radiation, contamination and unemployment. Arlit flourished during the oil crunch of the early 70s when its uranium mines employed 25, 000 workers from around the world in high paying jobs. It has now become a ghost town, a place of transit. A film by Idrissou Mora Kpai. 2005. 78 min. DVD 5274

Description from California Newsreel catalog

Blue Vinyl
An investigation of vinyl siding and its effects on people and the environment. Looks at the impact of vinyl manufacturing and disposal on the atmosphere, the food chain and humans. In Lake Charles, Louisiana, giant petrochemical plants cough out vinyl by-products while residents suffer multiple health problems due to groundwater contamination. In Venice, Italy vinyl company executives stand accused of manslaughter for knowingly exposing their workforce to deadly chemical levels. A film by Judith Hilfand & Daniel B. Gold. c2002. 97 min. Video/C 9437

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

"Toxic comedy: alternatives talks to director Judith Helfand about environmental justice in her award-winning film Blue Vinyl." (Interview) Alternatives Journal Wntr 2003 v29 i1 p35(2) (UCB users only)
"Blue Vinyl: a toxic comedy." (movie review)Greenpeace (Washington, D.C.) Spring 2002 v7 i1 p7(1)
Nelson, Rob."Blue Vinyl." (review)Mother Jones March-April 2002 v27 i2 p86(1)

Borderline Cases: Environmental Matters at the United States-Mexico Border
A documentary describing the consequences of 25 years of environmental neglect by factories along the U.S./Mexico border focusing on the cities of Brownsville, Matamoros, Tijuana, San Diego, Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. It chronicles the 5 year bi-national effort to craft remedies to the border's deteriorating environmental conditions by a diverse mix of people of both countries from grass-roots activists to government, academic and industrial leaders. c1997. 65 min. Video/C 4748

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Choropampa: The Price of Gold (El precio del oro)
On June 2, 2000, 151 kilograms of liquid mercury spilled from a truck hauling the mercury away from the Yanacocha goldmine in the Peruvian Andes. The spill covered a 25-mile long area, contaminating the small mountain villages Choropampa, San Juan, and Magdalena. The owners of the mine, a Peruvian company, the World Bank, and the Newmont Mining Corp. of Colorado, claim that the problem was quickly resolved, but hundreds of people still suffer the ill effects. This film details the legal battles of the people of Choropampa to get proper medical care and compensation for the damage done to the town and its economy and "exposes the global gold trade's nasty underbelly." c2002. 78 min. DVD 5227

Description from First Run/Icarus catalog

Crops Protected, Water Threatened.
Addresses a problem on Long Island, N.Y., where an agricultural pesticide entered the aquifer system. Explains the geology of groundwater and covers the history of pesticide development and how to judge how persistent a pesticide really is. Highlights thecooperative approach by industry, government, farmers, and consumers to solving groundwater contamination problems. 1987. 21 min. 3/4" UMATIC Video/C 491

The Digital Dump: Exporting Re-use and Abuse to Africa
Exposes the ugly underbelly of what is thought to be an escalating global trade in toxic, obsolete, discarded computers and other e-scrap collected in North America and Europe and sent to developing countries by waste brokers and so-called recyclers. In Lagos, while there is a legitimate robust market and ability to repair and refurbish old electronic equipment including computers, monitors, TVs and cell phones, the local experts complain that of the estimated 500 40-foot containers shipped to Lagos each month, as much as 75% of the imports are "junk" and are not economically repairable or marketable. Consequently, this e-waste, which is legally a hazardous waste is being discarded and routinely burned in what the environmentalists call yet "another" cyber-age nightmare now landing on the shores of developing countries. 2004. 23 min. DVD 8252

Exporting Harm: The High-tech Trashing of Asia
Unbeknownst to many, "recycling" electronic waste often means that the material is shipped to Asia, where it causes major environmental, health, and occupational hazards. This film reveals "the dirty secrets" of the high-tech revolution and provides a ringing call to action for corporate responsibility and global environmental justice. Video by Jim Puckett. 2004. 23 min. DVD 8251

Hazardous Waste: Are We Poisoning the Golden State?
UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. "The California forum, September 8, 1983." Debate about the problem of regulating production as well as disposal of hazardous waste in California. 1983. 59 min. Video/C 672

Fenceline: A Company Town Divided
Explores the environmental struggle between Shell Oil Company and the people of Norco, LA, illustrating how a community and a corporation struggle over the question of pollution and its effects on Norco residents. With nterviews of people from a wide spectrum including industry experts, industry workers, environmentalists and local community members, this documentary juxtaposes misconceptions about the role of industry in polluting the environment against scientific facts. Directed by Slawomir Grunberg 53 min. Video/C 9156

In Our Children's Food.
A Frontline special that traces the 30-year history of the U.S. pesticide use, regulation, and scientific study and explores the risks of agricultural chemicals in our food. Examines how the government has failed to certify the safety of pesticides and why the only source of data on pesticide safety is the industry that profits from them. c1993. 56 min. Video/C 3066

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

In Our Own Backyard: The First Love Canal.
A documentary that combines footage of public events and interviews to examine the ways that residents in the Love Canal area, their scientific and legal advisors, and government officials understood and responded to the discovery of toxic wastes in Niagara Falls, New York. 1982. 59 min. Video/C 506

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

In Our Own Backyard: Uranium Mining in the United States
The mining and milling of uranium involves the stripping of vast areas of land, reduction of water tables and the creation of huge amounts of radioactive waste. Through interviews with mining executives, scientists, environmental and health advocates, Navajo Indians and other residents the film explores the impact of the process on the environment and on the health of workers and nearby residents. Looks at the specific case of the uranium waste problem in Church Rock, New Mexico. 1982. 29 min. Video/C 9836

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

In Our Water.
Investigates the degree of chemical pollution in local drinking water. c1981. 58 min. Video/C 575

Killer Bargain.
An indictment of the corporate irresponsibility of various Indian textile companies, who expose their workers to dangerous chemicals (long since banned in the developed world) and pollute their surrounding environments. Consumers who remain unaware of the conditions under which the goods they buy are produced must hold companies accountable. A film by Tom Heinemann. 2006. 58 min. DVD 8482

Description from California Newsreel catalog

Litigating Disaster.
The worst and deadliest chemical disaster of all time occurred in 1984 in Bhopal, India. Vast amounts of toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory, killing thousands of people and poisoning hundreds of thousands of others. This film documents this tragedy and presents the legal evidence assembled against Union Carbide including never before seen documents and exclusive interviews with former Union Carbide officers. A film by Ilan Ziv. c2004. 58 min. DVD 5257

Description from First Run/Icarus catalog

Maquilapolis (City of Factories)
Explores the environmental devastation and urban chaos of Tijuana's assembly factories and the female laborers who have organized themselves for social action. Carmen earns six dollars a day but she is not a victim. She is a dynamic young woman, busy making a life for herself and her children. In "Maquilapolis," Carmen and her friend Lourdes confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos, reaching beyond their daily struggle for survival to organize for change, taking on both the Mexican and U.S. governments and a major television manufacturer. The women also use video cameras to document their lives, their city and their hopes for the future. Produced and directed by Vicky Funari, Sergio De La Torre. 2006. 68 min. DVD 6606
© notice

View this video online
UC Berkeley users only - Requires Windows Media Player or Flip4Mac

Description from California Newsreel catalog

Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos (Emerging Powers)
This documentary presents the pros and cons of the maquiladora (or maquila) an export manufacturing program established by the Mexican Government and looks at industrialization in Mexico after NAFTA, considering low wages, working conditions, environmental and cultural impact. 2000. 55 min. Video/C 7459

Pesticides and Pills, For Export Only. Part I.
Documents the sale by large chemical companies to 7 underdeveloped countries of pesticides banned from use in the United States and Europe, noting the irony that the hazardous substances return to the industrialized nations in the form of contaminated agricultural imports from the underdeveloped countries. c1981. 57 min. Video/C 2972

Description from Richter Productions catalog

Pesticides and Pills, For Export Only. Part 2.
Documents the practice of large pharmaceutical companies selling medicine banned in the United States and Europe to Third World countries. Shows pharmaceuticals marketed in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with no warnings of the side effects or danger of these products. c1981. 59 min. Video/C 5779

Description from Richter Productions catalog

A Plague on Our Children (Nova series)
Part 1 focuses on dioxin herbicides and their possible harmful effects on man and the environment. Shows sites in Oregon where residents suffer from an extremely high incidence of cancer, miscarriages, and disease. Also discusses claims made by veterans who blame their health problems on Agent Orange. Part 2 documents the problems of disposing PCB's. Examines the ecological crisis at Love Canal, N.Y., where a school was built directly over buried chemicals and where hundreds of families have been evacuated because of the disposed chemicals. 1980. 57 min. Video/C 209

Politics of Poison.
A documentary which focuses on herbicide spraying in the United States and shows how the Environmental Protection Agency is dealing with this problem. 1979. 53 min. Video/C 417

The Rise and Fall of DDT
Deals with the pros and cons of DDT by investigating its various uses as an insecticide, military weapon, safeguard against tropical diseases, and threat to the environment. A segment from the television program: Nova. 1975. 18 min. Video/C 92

Stepan Chemical: The Poisoning of a Mexican Community.
When the Chicago-based Stepan Chemical plant in Matamoros, Mexico dumped xylene, a toxic solvent linked to birth defects, into open canals near the homes of the people of Matamoros, the people of Matamoros, through their community leaders and with help from the U.S.-based Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, fought to end this contamination and demanded a full accounting from Stepan Chemical and environmental agencies in the U.S. and Mexico, as part of their struggle for a clean environment. c1992. 18 min. Video/C 2615

Toxic Chemicals: Information is the Best Defense.
Part 1 presents a PCB fire in San Francisco and a toxic gas release near an Orange County school; part 2 examines long-term problems caused by hazardous chemicals at abandoned sites and dumps. 1984. 55 min. Video/C 850

Toxic Trials (Nova series).
Examines how one community was affected by hazardous wastes and follows the course of the resulting lawsuit that was filed against a local chemical company. Also looks at the variety of scientific, medical, and legal expertise amassed by both parties to the lawsuit. 1986. 58 min. Video/C 1196

Toxic Waters
This program documents the efforts of neighborhood residents to clean up and close down a toxic waste dump in southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In Sept. of 1999 Hurricane Floyd flooded the Darby and Cobbs creeks, bringing smelly, multicolored ooze into the Eastwick neighborhood of Philadelphia. Rhonda Hill Wilson, lawyer-leader of the Saturn Place Committee, led the fight to close the site. 2000. 58 min. Video/C MM691

Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report.
This documentary exposes the 40 year history of the American chemical industry's supression of information regarding the threats to public health by synthetic chemicals being introduced into the environment at all levels. Addresses the danger to public health by the continued use of approximately 9000 of the 15,000 mass produced chemical substances that have never undergone toxicological study in the United States. Concludes with a panel discussion with industry spokesmen, environmental, and medical experts. c2001. 120 min. Video/c 7879

White Snow: The Dirty Truth About Environmental Cleanup
In this investigative documentary of "environmental racism," environmental cleanup workers in the United States, who are often illegal immigrants, tell about their health risks incurred while working on environmental cleanup projects for industry and government. If they speak out about their working conditions they risk loosing their jobs and being deported. 2000. 21 min. Video/C MM604

Urban Environment

Environmental Design

America the Ugly.
Program looks at suburban sprawl and how town planners are trying to create a more intimate community environment. Looks at the housing paradigm called "traditional neighborhood developments" through an interview with architect and town planner Andres Duany who is part of the new urbanism movement. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1999. 22 min. Video/C 6797

Cities
Discusses the effects of the world's increasing urban population on the environment and on our quality of life. Addresses issues such as transportation, urban sprawl, socioeconomic divisions, and pollution. Looks at what sustainability means in locations as diverse as East L.A., Vancouver, Portland, and Sao Paulo and Curitiba, Brazil. Directed and produced by David Springbett, Heather MacAndrew. c2000. 49 min. DVD 8970

Bullfrog Films catalog description

Save Our Land, Save Our Towns
Explores how America can save its cities, towns, and countryside and enhance the quality of life for all. Americans are frustrated with traffic congestion, angry about the loss of open space, and perplexed by the decline of America's cities. Many think sprawl is inevitable, but it's not. Filmed in Pennsylvania, England, Oregon and North Carolina, this program shows how America's towns can be rebuilt and its countryside preserved from strip malls and subdivisions. 2000. 57 min. Video/C 7810

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Subdivide and Conquer: A Modern Western.
In the West urban sprawl is gobbling up the land. What makes it more shocking in the West is that it assaults our national myths about the frontier, its wide-open spaces and unique landscapes. After examining the causes of sprawl and its effects on the sense of community and the environment, the film suggests remedies, and shows examples of sound public policy and good land use planning. 1999. 57 min. Video/C 6409

Too Close for Comfort: The New American Sprawl
This documentary examines how quadrupled immigration numbers are driving urban sprawl, traffic congestion, school overcrowding, wage stagnation and widening inequality in the United States. Interspersed are five presentations by author Roy Beck on why the American quality of life is threatened including the infamous "gumballs" demonstration that illustrates the global moral issues. involved. 1998. 27 min. Video/C MM33

Understanding Urban Sprawl.
In this program, scientist and environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki examines the social, economic, and environmental implications of 'sprawl,' the low-density development that spreads out from the edges of cities and towns. 1998. 47 min. Video/C 6796

The Urban Explosion
Four mega-cities are investigated to see how they are meeting a major challenge of the 21st century: how to shelter and sustain the world's exploding urban population without destroying the delicate balance of the environment. Visits Mexico City, Istanbul, Shanghai, and New York City. Originally broadcast as a segment of: Journey to planet earth. c1999. 57 min. Video/C 9736

Water Supply / Oceans, Rivers, Lakes / Water Management

Are You Swimming in a Sewer? (Nova series).
Concerns about public health and ecological damage are leading scientists to take a second look at age-old assumptions about the ocean's ability to dilute waste. Americans must decide whether the cost of switching to nonpolluting methods of waste disposal is a worthy investment in the future of their coastal waters. c1986. 58 min. Video/C 1360

Asia's Water Crisis
Explores the conflict of burgeoning populations and economies in three Asian countries -- Sri Lanka, the Philippines and the People's Republic of China -- and looks toward solutions to Asia's growing water crisis and the diminishing supply of safe, potable water. 1997. 19 min. Video/C MM124

Baikal, Blue Eye of Siberia (Fragile Earth series).
A comprehensive look at the Baikal Lake Region in Siberia. Description of Lake Baikal and the pollution of some of its tributary rivers and of the lake itself. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1991. 105 min. Video/C 2482:1-2

The Battle of Westlands
This program provides a look at the future of American farming, especially the central valley of California. 1980. 59 min. Video/C 288 NRLF #: B 4 175 154

Blue Danube? (Life; 4)
The Danube, the world's most international river connecting 18 countries, is at the heart of a very modern dilemma -- how to create prosperity through trade and development without destroying the environment? This program examines the consequences when more than one country shares what a river has to offer, investigating how the Danube has become a new battleground in the conflict between the European Union's transport and agriculture lobbies, and environmentalists fighting to preserve the river's unique ecology. Directed by Ron Orders. 2005. 27 min. DVD 3970

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Boiling Point
This program spotlights three troubled areas that epitomize the intensifying competition for freshwater and efforts being made to manage it: the Okavango River which flows through Angola, Namibia and Botswana, the Rio Grande, a source of agricultural irrigation for both the U.S. and Mexico and rainwater reservoirs in the West Bank. Dist.: Films Media Group. c2004. 27 min. DVD 2506

Brazilian Dreams: Visiting Points of Resistance
Explores cultures of opposition in Brazil as documented by two US travelers in 1988-1989. Woven together in a hybrid narration that combines travelogue, political reportage and personal reflection, the documentary features testimonies of Brazilian activists involved in a wide range of social movements: the modernist graffiti counterculture of cosmopolitan Sao Paulo, working-class feminists in the parishes of Sao Paulo's slums, the Black Consciousness movement of Bahia, a first-ever meeting of Indian tribes in the Amazon to protest dam construction on their lands, and the Amazonia rubbertappers' struggle to preserve their sustainable way of life in the rainforest. c1991. 54 min. DVD 6889

Cadillac Desert.

Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the transformation of the American West. 1997.

Mulholland's Dream. Tells of William Mulholland's search for water for the people of Los Angeles. Superintendent of the L.A. water system in 1913, he found a solution to the problem in a remote valley 250 miles to the north. After the city secured water rights to the valley's Owens River, he spent 6 years building an aqueduct across the Mojave Desert. The program also recalls the shady land speculations behind the deal, how northern ranchers fought back, and the great disaster that destroyed his dream. 1997. 85 min. DVD 8700 [preservation copy]; vhs Video/C 5053

An American Nile. Charts the dramatic transformation of the Colorado River from a wild desert waterway into the most controlled, litigated, regulated and over-allocated river in history. From the heroic construction of the Hoover Dam during the Great Depression to the bitter political and environmental battles over the potential damming of the Grand Canyon, this program illustrates how the Colorado became so impounded and diverted that by 1969 it no longer reached the ocean. 1997. 55 min. DVD 8701 [preservation copy]; vhs Video/C 5054

The Mercy of nature Traces the fierce political and environmental battles that raged around the transformation of California's Central Valley from semiarid desert into the most productive and environmentally altered agricultural region in global history. It illustrates the role that presidents, governor, and giant agri-business companies have played in the ebb and flow of water. The program then follows the recent trend in which water is diverted away from agriculture and toward cities and wildlife. 55 min. DVD 8702 [preservation copy]; Video/C 5055

Last Oasis. Opens with the story of how America's large dams became examples for water projects abroad, particularly in developing countries. The film goes to India and China, where big dam building continues in full force, and to Mexico, the Middle East, and back to the American West to explore how, in the face of rising water needs conservation may be humanity's last oasis. 55 min. DVD 8703 [preservation copy]; Video/C 5056

California's Coastline (California Journal Report; 2).
This program takes a look at the on going battle between environmentalists and developers in California. The issues of public access to wetlands are reviewed in detail. 1981. 29 min. Video/C 2099

Can I Drink the Water?
Focuses on three California communities with different sources of water and different water problems, and shows how and why water is treated and tested for various kinds of contamination. c1986. 27 min. Video/C MM876

Canary of the Ocean
Stretching for miles off the Florida Keys is the largest coral reef in the continental U.S. and one of the longest in the world. But America's primary reef is dying, and like the proverbial canary in a coal mine, its decline is a warning that something is very wrong in our oceans. Portrays the stunning beauty of America's fragile undersea kingdom, investigates the serious threats to its health, and profiles some of the concerned people working to preserve it for future generations. 1997. 56 min. Video/C 7904

Crops Protected, Water Threatened.
Addresses a problem on Long Island, N.Y., where an agricultural pesticide entered the aquifer system. Explains the geology of groundwater and covers the history of pesticide development and how to judge how persistent a pesticide really is. Highlights thecooperative approach by industry, government, farmers, and consumers to solving groundwater contamination problems. 1987. 21 min. 3/4" UMATIC Video/C 491

Do We Really Want to Live this Way? (Race to Save the Planet ; 3).
Two dramatic examples of air and water pollution: the city of Los Angeles and Europe's Rhine River illustrate the price we pay for progress. Ways to sustain the environment in Western industrial life are also explored. c1990. 60 min. Video/C 1790

Does the End Justify the Means?(Examined Life.; Part 19)
Looks at utilitarianism against the backdrop of a Malaysian dam construction project with environmental import and asks what is instrinsically valuable. Video/C MM955

Drought and Flood: Two Faces of One Coin (Fragile Planet).
Reviews the environmental effects of global warming Predicts that hotter air will strip the soil of moisture, causing soil erosion, drought and famine. Predicts that as the temperature of the oceans increases, rising air reaching the colder air above will cause massive storms and world-wide flooding. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 8 min. Video/C 2409

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

Drought Survival Guide.
Shows practical ways you can save water in your home and garden now, and also plan ahead for a more water-sensible future. 1991. 30 min. Video/C 2451

Drowned Out (1997)
The people of Jalsindhi in central India must make a decision fast. In the next few weeks, their village will disappear underwater as the giant Narmada Dam fills. Author Arundhati Roy joins the fight against the dam and asks the difficult questions. Will the water go to poor farmers or to rich industrialists? The film follows the Jalsindhi villagers through hunger strikes, rallies, police brutality, a six year Supreme Court case and stays with them as the dam fills and the river starts to rise. c2002. 75 min. Video/C 9831

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Entrega De Agua Potable A Domicilio V. Mexico
Film examines the problem of polluted water and the need to develop pure water for domestic use in rural Mexico. 198-?. 25 min. Video/C 3692

Fish Eye View.
This program looks at water pollution through the eyes of creatures which must inhabit polluted waters. 1991. 25 min. Video/C 2480

Fishing in the Sea of Greed
As export governments hand over territorial waters to transnational corporations, they actively promote abuse of the seas. This film documents the response of traditional fishing communities in India to the threat of displacement by overfishing and pollution resulting from industrial fishing practices such as use of gigantic factory ships, and the protests of Bangladesh rice growers to the flooding of large stretches of fertile land with salt water. 1998. 45 min. Video/C 7901

Description from First Run/Icarus catalog

Getting in Step: A Video Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns
Designed to teach effective outreach techniques as part of a state or local water quality improvement project. This documentary presents how four groups in diverse American communities conducted successful outreach campaigns for local water quality improvement projects. Washington, DC : U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, c2003. 35 min. Video/C MM26

The Giver of Life (Water Wars ; 3).
Discusses water rights in the Soviet Union, including spas in the Caucasus, the ecological cleanliness of water in the Volga River, and the attitudes of Soviet citizens regarding the health-giving properties of water. 1991. 49 min. Video/C 2935

Good as Gold (Water Wars; 1).
Focuses on the dispute over water rights between the city of Los Angeles and Arizona Indians. Water rights is one of the most powerful resources in the West. 1991. 49 min. Video/C 2933

Great Wall Across the Yangtze (Yangtze Jiang shang de chang cheng)
In 1994, the People's Republic of China ordered the damming of the Yangtze River, a 15-year project creating the world's largest dam and hydroelectric power-plant. To China's leaders, the Three Gorges dam will propel the nation's economy into the 21st century. To critics worldwide it is a social and environmental disaster. This film investigates the profound changes the Three Gorges dam will bring to China's people, environment, and history. c2000. 60 min. Video/C 8148

Harvest of Rain (Wealth of Nations. People and the Environment)
One of the basic principles of water management is to conserve water where it falls. But India is chasing hydraulic nightmares: big dams and canals while an age-old wisdom lies forgotten. This video examines India's traditional water harvesting systems, wandering though Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, to illuminate a profound science of the people. The film analyses a wide variety of water management systems as a function of differing ecological terrains. 1995. PAL format 48 min. Video/C 5660

In the Cradle of Storms
A thoughtful program which explores one of the major mysteries confronting marine and environmental scientists today-- the decline of many marine mammals and birds in the Bering Sea in the wake of development of large-scale fisheries in the area. 1991. 59 min. Video/C MM686

Large Dams, False Promises
Explores the dramatic history of the 15-year battle to save the ancient coastal redwoods of the Headwaters Forest, examining the interrelated questions of global economics and bio-diversity, of private property rights and the public good, of species extinction and resource management. c2000. 57 min. Video/C 9314

Living on the Edge: California's Coastal Erosion Dilemma
Presents footage and interviews with scientists and coastal homeowners examining the problems and possible solutions to storm damage and erosion on California's coast. Explores the importance of beaches to the California public, the natural ecosystem including the influence of El Nino, the state's tourist economy, and examines the practice of coastal "armoring" and seawall constuction. c1999. 32 min. Video/C MM623

Lesotho: Water, Water Everywhere.(Africa: Search for Common Ground; 8)
Focuses on the Lesotho Highlands Dam Project which seeks economic development for this poor nation. Here community and government leaders meet to discuss how all those concerned can benefit from the endeavor. c1997. 26 min. Video/C 5351

A Narmada Diary.
Documents five years of activities by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (the Save Narmada Movement) which has spearheaded the agitation against the construction of the Sardar Sarover Dam in India. The people of the Narmada Valley, with their insistence on non-violence and their determination to drown rather than be shifted off their land, have become a symbol of global struggle against unjust and unsustainable development. 1995. 60 min. Video/C 7894

First Run/Icarus catalog

The Ocean Planet: The Death of the Mississippi (Blue Revolution; 15).
Contrasts advances in seafood cultivation with the destruction caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, as backdrop to the problems of increasing contamination of the Mississippi River and the effect of pollution on riparian ecology and on fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. c1990. 23 min. Video/C 2483

The Ocean Sink (Blue Revolution; 16).
Governments have been slow to protect their own environments wanting proof of damage before acting. This program visits sites around the world to show what happens when the sea is used as a dumping ground and how difficult are the problems of disposing of waste even when the problems are recognized. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 27 min. Video/C 2484

One Hundred Years of Drought
Examines the causes of recurrent drought in Maharashtra. Demonstrates the extent to which drought is a man-made phenomenon, including a review of the impact of colonial rule and the famine policy, as well as the post-independence path of development which has resulted in deforestation, soil erosion and depletion of ground water reserves. Examines alternative approaches involving people's participation in integrated watershed management based on the principles of sustainable development. 1993. 21 min. PAL formatVideo/C 475

Rebel with a Real Cause: The Story of the Fight for Truth over the Controversy of Pak Mun Dam.
A documentary about the construction of the Pak Mun Dam in Thailand and its social, economic and environmental impact on the local Thai communities and cultures. [1998?] 28 min. PAL format. Video/C 7929

The River: a U.S. Documentary Film (1939)
Presented by the Farm Security Administration with the cooperation of the Public Works Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, Civilian Conservation Corps and the Army Engineers. Recorded at General Services Studios. A documentary story of the Mississippi River. Traces the history of the Mississippi and its tributaries; shows that the destruction of forests had led to erosion and the loss of soil, floods and the loss of lives and property. Emphasizes the need for conservation and rehabilitation. A film by Pare Lorentz. 32 min. DVD 7298; DVD 691; also on VHS Video/C 5060
Information about this film from the Internet Movie Database

The Sand Dams of Kitui: Where There is No Water
This documentary highlights the successful efforts of providing water "where there is no water." Through the intervention and technical assistance of an NGO called SASOL (Sahelian Solutions) many communities of men and women of the Kitui District of Kenya began the construction of sand dams as far back as 1990. Presently they have completed 158 sand dams in the last five years alone. Now, because of the availability of water, both their health and economic situations have vastly improved. This video introduces the construction technique of a sand dam which is fairly easy and effective. The technology can be adopted to benefit other communities living in arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya and beyond. Nairobi: SASOL Foundation, c2000. 30 min. Video/C MM1143

The Shoreline Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Looks at the eroding power of shorelines, how much of it is part of a natural process and how much is human-induced. Examines Folly Beach, South Carolina where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unsuccessfully attempted to dredge and move sand to a beach whose erosion was caused by jetties built just north of the site. 1994. 46 min. Video/C 3784

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

A Silent Disaster.
A documentary on the impact of riverline and oceanic erosion in the delta lands of Bangladesh. PAL format. In Bengali and English. 1997. 20 min. Video/C 6174

Thin Edge of the Bay
/ producer and director, Ruth Landy. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Extension Media Center distributor, 1980. Uses San Francisco Bay as a focus to study the economic and political conflicts over shrinking environmental resources in urban areas. 1980. 22 min. Video/C 310

Thirst
The survival of communities is threatened when big business buys the water supply. This documentary tells the stories of communities in Japan, Bolivia, India and the United States where global corporations are buying up local water supplies, investigating such questions as: Is water part of a shared "commons," a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold and traded in a global marketplace? c2004. 62 min. DVD 2469
© notice

View this video online
UC Berkeley users only - Requires Windows Media Player or Flip4Mac

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Thirsty Planet
Dist.: Films Media Group. 2003. 27 min. each installment

Water for the Fields. Looks at the use of water for agriculture from locations around the world, surveying both disasters of agricultural irrigation, such as cotton farming in Uzbekistan, and innovative successes in water-efficient techniques and crops, such as in California and India. Also looks at the destructive effects of deforestation and overgrazing, the difficulty of fighting erosion and reclaiming arable soil, and the urgency of the motto: more crop per drop. DVD 2507

Water for the Cities. Takes a hard look at the mounting challenge of providing millions of people in urban areas with potable water and adequate disposal of waste water. To highlight the difficulties, segments focus on the water problems of the magalopolis, cities with populations over 10 million people such as Lagos, Jakarta and Mexico City. The massive logistics that enable Las Vegas, Nevada to prosper in the middle of a desert are also explored. DVD 2508

Testing the Limits of Possibility.Looks at the construction of dams examining the positive and negative impact as well as the politics and economics of several ongoing or proposed projects: China' Three Gorges Dam, Egypt's Mubarak pumping station, pit-mine reclamation in Germany's Lausitz Region, and Spain's controversial national hydrological plan for the Ebro River. DVD 2509

Water for Profit. When demand outpaces supply, water becomes a commodity to be traded on the global market. But who owns water and how can a price be set on water? In this program the pros and cons of privatization are assessed in a number of water management situations around the world: Aguas Argentinas in Buenos Aires; the Bechtel Corporation in Cochabamba, Bolivia; Thames Water Company in Jakarta and a public/private test partnership in Albania. DVD 2510

Waters of Discord. Almost half the world gets its drinking water from rivers that cross national boundaries. Analysts predict that more wars will be fought over water than oil. This program surveys a number of active or potential hot spots: Israel and the river Jordan; the Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey and its effects on Syria and Iraq; Egypt's Toshka Canal and the Nile Basin Initiative; and the Tehri dam in India. The program also looks at the effects of the Hoover dam on the Colorado River delta in Mexico and the success of Lesotho's Katse dam. DVD 2511

Watery Visions. In a dramatic reversal of policy since apartheid, South Africa has become a model of water fulfillment. Despite being one of the driest regions on Earth, India's Rajasthan is an oasis due to the revival of a system of ancient rain basins. This program looks at these encouraging examples to show how sustainable solutions to long-term water management can be achieved, while a visit to Sertao in Brazil illustrates the appalling alternative -- two very different futures. DVD 2512

To the Last Drop (Water Wars; 2).
There is great competition for water among nations of the Middle East. Water is scarce in this region and most countries get their water supply from aquafers. 1991. 49 min. Video/C 2934

Troubled Waters: The Dilemma of Dams
A documentary on dams in the United States and their effect on the environment. Blending still photos with archival and new footage, the film considers cultural, economic, spiritual, and environmental arguments for and against decommissioning dams, arguing that dams remove a river for its eco-system, thereby destroying biodiversity and the river's habitat. Dist.: The Video Project. 2002. 55 min. Video/C 9789

Troubled Waters.
Shows how increased land development, offshore oil drilling, and the search for fresh water sources is threatening California's coastal wildlife. Focuses on brown pelicans, great egrets, elephant seals, sea lions. 1984. 28 min. Video/C 780

Turbulent River in Tibet and Southwest China
First in a series of programs exploring the lifestyles of the people who live near the Mekong's banks. This program examines the lives of people who live at the source of the Mekong: shepherds, fisherman, farmers and traders in Tibet and southwestern China. The Bai people and the Dai people discuss their concerns about the overcutting of timber, water pollution and proposed dams. The role of the Mekong in their local economies is explored along with their history, customs and religion. 1999. 52 min. Video/C 7341

Water.
Experts and State officials debating the question of building more dams, reservoirs and canals now, in order to meet California's water needs in the future. 1983. Video/C 673

Water, A Clear and Present Danger.
Looks at the magnitude and spread of water contamination at a number of sites around the United States. Also considers what the Environmental Protection Agency is, or is not, doing. 1983. 27 min. Video/C 714

The Water Crisis.
Describes water problems currently being experienced by communities from the Adirondack Mountains to the American West Coast and explains that water scarcity will be the next ecology issue.1981. 57 min. Video/C 426 NRLF #: B 4 175 239

Water For All Series.
Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, c2003.

Breaking Barriers (Clean Water for Dhaka's Slums).Documentary on a local nongovernmental organization that has pioneered an effective scheme to bring water to poor communities in the squalid slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 23 min. Video/C MM446
Waibulabula: Living Waters. A documentary on coastal communities, a local nongovernmental organization, and a tourist resort working together to save coral reefs and protect water resources in the Fiji Islands. 23 min. Video/C MM447
Hidden Paradise.A documentary on a community of former squatters with tidy homes and clean, dry streets, a safe drinking water supply, and healthy children in the city of Bacolod, Philippines. Community leaders reveal how they solved water problems and transformed a slum into a thriving community. 23 min. Video/C MM448

Water More Precious Than Oil.
Examines the use and abuse of water around the world. Shows how water resources must be managed on small, as well as large, scales and shows the consequences for those who are unwilling or unable to manage their water resources. 1981. 60 min. Video/C 537

Water of Ayole: Togo West Africa.
Shows how a poor community in Togo is making its water system work and providing safe water to about 600,000 people in 864 villages. Producer, Sandra Nichols. 1988. 28 min. DVD 9278 [preservation copy]; vhs Video/C 1784

Water Wars.
This three part series takes a look at the possession of water and casts a light on many of the world's conflicts. 1991. 49 min. ea Video/C 2933 - 2935

Water Wars, the Battle for Mono Lake.
Program about Mono Lake, its beauty and importance as refuge of migratory birds and breeding ground for the California gull. The existance of the lake is threatened by the California state water right system which encourages massive diversions of water from one area to benefit another. University of California, School of Journalism, 1983. 3/4" UMATIC. Video/C 523

Water, Water, Everwhere? (California Journal Report; 106).
Investigates California's water policy in relation to agriculture which uses 85% of the state's water supply. The program goes to Kern County and examines contrasting views of those who support and oppose the Peripheral Canal. 1982. 30 min. Video/C 2096

Water is for Fighting Over(Human Geography, People Places and Change).
Along the parched California Nevada border, groups with compelling yet competing interests claim the water of the Truckee River Basin. Film examines the lives and livelihood of these people for whom the Truckee River water is so important. 1996. 27 min. Video/C 4247

When the Rivers Run Dry
This program discusses the long term problems associated with intensive water use in the Southwestern United States. The tremendous amount of water needed for irrigation and housing as well as other uses is examined. Since the water supply is not unlimited and a critical shortage is foreseen in 15 years, what happens when the rivers run dry? A film by Mary Louise Grossman and Fred Aronow. 1979. 30 min. Video/C MM567

Whose Water?
Documentary television program on water policy in India and how people's initiatives are changing the water management in this country. 2002. 26 min. Video/C MM859

Words on Water
Documentary looking at the effects of the Sardar Sarovar Dam (the largest one in the Narmada Project involving the construction of 30 large, 135 medium-sized and 3000 small dams in Gujarat and other parts of Central India) and the millions of people who will be adversely affected by this project sponsored by the World Bank and the Central Government of India. 2002. 85 min. Video/C 9874

Forests

Amazonia, Voices From the Rain Forest.
Reviews the ecology of the rainforest, the indigenous indians attitudes towards the forest and their increasing concern for its protection as the fragile ecosystem is threatened with destruction by outside commercial developers. 1991. 69 min. Video/C 2564

America's Forests: A History of Resiliency and Recovery.
Using film footage and still photographs from turn-of-the-century, this video graphically depicts the forest, watershed and wildlife conditions that led to our first national conservation movement. Portrays how much of our natural world was altered, first by Native Americans and later by pioneers. Film reviews lessons learned from the past and tries to create public awareness for the need for constructive environmental and community action to manage and preserve the natural environment. 1993. 23 min. Video/C 3085

Ancient Forests
An environmentalist film which presents two photographic journeys through ancient forest ecosystems which are being destroyed by man; shows harvested forest areas, demonstrating man's influence on and destruction of nature. The second episode focuses on the old growth, temperate rain forest of the Pacific Northwest, Washington's Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park. Consequences of the disappearance of forest ecosystems and the diversity of life found there are discussed. 1998. 21 min. Video/C MM781

Banking on Disaster.
A three part documentary filmed over a ten year period exposes the detrimental effects of deforestation interliked with roadbuilding and colonization in Rondonia, Brazil. 1989. 78 min. Video/C 1559

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Between Midnight and the Rooster's Crow
Multinationals are working to extract billions of dollars of oil reserves from beneath Ecuador's rainforest. This film documents the environmental and social impact the EnCana Corporation is having on Ecuador as they build a heavy crude pipeline from the Amazon, across the Andes, to the Pacific coast. Also looks at the relationship between EnCana and the government of Eduador. Directed, produced and written by Nadja Drost. 2005. 66 min. DVD 5255

Description from First Run/Icarus catalog

Brazilian Dreams: Visiting Points of Resistance
Explores cultures of opposition in Brazil as documented by two US travelers in 1988-1989. Woven together in a hybrid narration that combines travelogue, political reportage and personal reflection, the documentary features testimonies of Brazilian activists involved in a wide range of social movements: the modernist graffiti counterculture of cosmopolitan Sao Paulo, working-class feminists in the parishes of Sao Paulo's slums, the Black Consciousness movement of Bahia, a first-ever meeting of Indian tribes in the Amazon to protest dam construction on their lands, and the Amazonia rubbertappers' struggle to preserve their sustainable way of life in the rainforest. c1991. 54 min. DVD 6889

Building from Below
Documentary on the impact of agroforestry on rural villages of India, showing several successful land and forest reclamation projects. PAL format. 1999. 30 min. Video/C 7942

Creeks of Conflict
Documentary television program on the destruction of the mangrove forests in India due to aquaculture and other development activities. The film also documents the breeding of Oliver Ridley Turtles. A film by Krishnendu Bose. 1996. 30 min. Video/C MM857

The Death of a Tree.
Reviews the life cycle of a tree as a mini-ecosystem and the impact of its life and death on the ecology of the surrounding forest. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1990. 60 min. Video/C 2234

The Decade of Destruction
Chronicles the destruction of the Amazon rainforest - perhaps the 20th century's worst environmental disaster. Episode 1. In the ashes of the forest (2 videocassettes) --Episode 2. Killing for land -- Episode 3. Mountains of gold -- Episode 4. The killing of Chico Mendes. c1987. 55 min. ea. Video/C 1834

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

The Ecology of the Forest.
Reviews the life of both temperate forests and rain forests. Included are the processes of composition and decomposition, increment and excrement, measuring phytomass, biomass, adaptation, water storage, propagation and germination of seeds, and the role of insects and bacteria in the forest's underground economy. Dist.: Films Media Group. c1989. 28 min. Video/C 2235

The Fate of the Forests (Only One Earth; 3).
First documents the devastating effects of acid rain on the trees and forests of Europe, then explores the pressures causing tropical deforestation in the southern hemisphere. c1987. 58 min. Video/C 1666

Fire in the Eyes
Taped at various locations where anti-logging protesters were attempting to demonstrate in the Headwaters Forest Wilderness, this program shows police officers swabbing & spraying pepper spray on the eyelids of non-violent protestors as a "pain compliance tool" as they demonstrated at Pacific Lumber, at Bear Creek logging camp and in the Eureka office of Republican Representative Frank Riggs. It also includes the story of David "Gypsy" Chain's death in Grizzly Creek. c1999. 32 min. Video/C 7905

The Fires of the Amazon
More than a decade after his series "The Decade of Destruction", Adrian Cowell returns to Amazonia and finds that many friends and collegues of Chico Mendes are in power. There have been some notable gains for the rubber-tappers, including the establishment of the forest preserves, literacy for their children, and higher prices for their certified lumber. But year after year, the deforestation by fire continues. Less than 1/3 of Amazonia is protected in a park or preserve. Roads are being built, and agriculture is moving into southern Amazonia. Directed by Adrian Cowell. 44 min. 2002? Video/C MM500

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Flames in the Forest.
Since the 1950's, the Amazon Indians of eastern Ecuador have bitterly resisted the invasion of international oil companies which, with the encouragement of the Ecuadorian government, seek to use the resource-rich region for intensive oil production. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1991. 52 min. Video/C 5500

Free-for-All in Sarare.
More than six thousand gold and mineral prospectors have invaded the reserve of the Nambiquara of Sarare, Brazil and loggers in the regions raid their mahogany-rich forests, stealing wood which is becoming extinct in Amazonia. Only pressure on the World Bank, with whom the Government of Mato Grosso is negotiating a loan, could bring prospecting to a close. But the pillage of the forest continues. 27 min. Video/C 4421

The Gabonese Forest: Sustainability of the African Forest: The Way Forward.
An overview of the forestry industry, ecology and conservation efforts in the forests of Gabon. 1994. 33 min. PAL Format. Video/C 4982 (NRLF #: B 3 198 298 )

Green Means: Borneo
This short program looks at the work of the Berkeley-based group The Borneo Project and its efforts to protect the rainforests of Borneo by working with indigenous groups to promote ecological justice. Originally broadcast on the PBS television program Green Means. 2000. 5 min. Video/C 9711

Jardhar Diary
Documentary television program on the protests by people in India against the destruction of thousands of acres of forests in the mountains of the Himalayas. These villagers are willing to give up their lives to save their homes. In addition the film talks about the role the women are taking in these activities and how they have become the backbone of the economy of the region. Written & directed by Krishnendu Bose. 2002. 29 min. Video/C MM860

The Last Stand: Ancient Redwoods and the Bottom Line
Explores the dramatic history of the 15-year battle to save the ancient coastal redwoods of the Headwaters Forest, examining the interrelated questions of global economics and bio-diversity, of private property rights and the public good, of species extinction and resource management. c2000. 57 min. Video/C 9314

Mad River: Hard Times in Humboldt County.
Portrays a community in the redwood region of Northern California. Deals with unemployment, plant closures in the lumber industry and the impact of environmental questions. 1982. 54 min. Video/C 367

Microchip Al Chip.
Examines the destruction of Chilean forests in order to sustain its paper exports to other nations, notably Japan. Disturbing statements from a Chilean forest manager and a Japanese economic minister build into an invective against the loss of an irreplaceable natural resource. c1991. 18 min. Video/C 3037

Description from First Run/Icarus catalog

National Forest Management: Great Issues and Great Diversions
Dale Bosworth, chief of the USDA Forest Service, delivers an address covering policies on forest management, wildfires, logging, invasive species, public land use, habitat fragmentation and new road construction in national forests. A Berkeley Webcast event ; sponsored by the College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley. 4/23/2003. 87 min. Video/C 9558

View it with RealPlayer

A Naturalist in the Rainforest.
Tells the story of Alexander Skutch and reveals the splendors of tropical nature that have captivated him for over half a century. One of the great naturalists of our time, Skutch travelled around Central America for years uncovering the secrets of tropical birdlife. His later efforts to live and farm in harmony with the rainforest in Costa Rica, make Skutch's remarkable story especially relevant today. 54 min. Video/C 4114

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

On the Edge: Nature's Last Stand for Coast Redwoods
Explores the history of the California coastal redwood trees from the Gold Rush to the present day and efforts by conservationists over the last century to protect and preserve the redwood groves. 1989. 33 min. Video/C MM759

Renewable Tree (Nova series).
Explores solutions to the problems of conserving trees while meeting the economic and social demands for paper. 1976. 59 min. Video/C 249

Runa, Guardians of the Forest (Sachata hulhuac runa)
Describes the Amazon rain forest area of Ecuador where the Runa people live, the deforestation of their country, and how it affects their lives. 28 min. c1989. Video/C MM904

Second Nature
More people means more trees -- this is the unexpected finding of an Oxford University research project in this West African country. The researchers found that the most thickly forested parts of the savannah regions are inevitably to be found surrounding human settlements. When villages are deserted the trees disappear and the savannah shrubland takes over. The evidence from photos taken in tthe 1950s backs their findings. Originally presented as a segment on the television program Earth Report. 1998. 26 min. DVD 5944

The Stump Makers.
Delivers an indictment of the wasteful forestry practices and ecological devastation caused by the major logging companies operating in California and Oregon in the 1950's and 1960's. Looks at the impact of clear cutting on the environment and the logging communities reliant upon the industry. A film by Harvey Richards. Dist.: Estuary Press. 1963. 22 min. DVD 4227

Sudesha.
The "Chipko" movement was founded in India by peasant women who recognized the economic consequences of deforestation of their regions and was one of the first environmental movements in the Third World. This is an account of "Sudesha," a woman who lives in the foothills of the Himalayas, who organized the women of her village to save the forests, thereby challenging the rules of Indian society and women's traditional roles. 1983. 30 min. Video/C 4170

Threatened Forests
. Documents the deleterious effects of pollution and acid rain on trees and forests. 1988. 19 min. Video/C 1463

Timber Tigers.
Surveys the lumber industry in the United States from its beginnings to the early 1970s. Discusses profits obtained by the lumber and paper industries at the expense of the ecological devastation of natural resources. A film by Harvey Richards. Dist.: Estuary Press. 1971. 23 min. DVD 4250

Timber to Tibet: Trees from Nepal for Food from Tibet
Documentary deals with the pro-conservation tradition of the Nepalese people and their compulsion to cut down a priceless Himalayan forest which will not regenerate once it is gone. 2002. 28 min. DVD 7381

Vanishing Redwoods
Shows destructive forestry practices used on the West Coast during the 1950's and 1960's. Focusing on clear cutting and the immense machinery that cut and processed the giant redwoods, the film reveals the rapid deterioration of the forest ecology and the disappearance of towns and businesses, along with the forests, in large areas of the West Coast. A film by Harvey Richards. 1975. Dist.: Estuary Press. 28 min. DVD 4228

Wasted Woods.
Shows destructive forestry practices used on the West Coast during the 1950's and 1960's. Focusing on clear cutting and the immense machinery that cut and processed the giant redwoods, the film reveals the rapid deterioration of the forest ecology and the disappearance of towns and businesses, along with the forests, in large areas of the West Coast. A film by Harvey Richards. Dist.: Estuary Press. 1964. 20 min. DVD 4226

Nuclear and Electrical Energy Controversies and Disasters

Arlit, The Second Paris (Arlit, deuxi`eme Paris)
A case study in migration and environmental racism set in an uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger. Here European corporations extracted nuclear power and profits, leaving behind illness due to radiation, contamination and unemployment. Arlit flourished during the oil crunch of the early 70s when its uranium mines employed 25, 000 workers from around the world in high paying jobs. It has now become a ghost town, a place of transit. A film by Idrissou Mora Kpai. 2005. 78 min. DVD 5274

Description from California Newsreel catalog

The Atom and Eve
This vintage piece of pro-nuclear propaganda was designed as a marketing tool to sell nuclear energy to the American public. The viewer is introduced to Eve as a baby and a growing girl and finally as a woman (who dances through the film) in parallel to growing needs of millions of eves for more and more electricity. Also makes a case for building an investor-owned nuclear power plant in Connecticut to meet the region's power needs. 1966. 15 min. Video/C 8024

Bhopal: The Second Tragedy.
More than ten years after "the world's biggest chemical disaster," there remain unresolved serious issues of unpaid damages, legal accountability, environmental reform and institutional failure on the part of Union Carbide, the chemical industry, and the US and Indian governments. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1995. 54 min. Video/C 4587

Bound by the Wind
Discusses the effects of nuclear weapons testing, especially the effects on the human population. Features victims of radioactive fallout from these tests. Includes interviews with victims who live near the test sites as well as those who live downwind of the sites, the "downwinders." Produced by David L. Brown. 1993. 59 min. DVD 8976

Chernobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks (Glasnost Film Festival).
This film crew was the first in the disaster zone following the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in1986. They shot continuously for more than three months. Portions of the film are exposed with white blotches--a radiation leakage. 1987. 53 min. Video/C 1593

Description from Video Project catalog

Chernobyl: The Taste of Wormwood.
A Japanese documentary about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which includes on-site photography of the blast site and of people and areas affected. Also included are interviews with victims, bystanders, medical personnel who treated burn victims, physicists, and politicians. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1987. 52 min. Video/C 1048

Deadly Deception.
Expose of the human and environmental effects of General Electric Company's nuclear weapons facilities. Plant workers have been poisoned by radiation and asbestos; neighboring homes have experienced cancers and birth defects. Shows the activists who are working to inform the public and stop the company's dangerous activities. Producer/director, Debra Chasnoff Academy Award for Best Documentary. c1991. 29 min. Video/C 2461

Text of review from ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

Ames, Katrine. "The Deadly Deception." (television program reviews) Newsweek v121, n5 (Feb 1, 1993):66.
Hitchens, Gordon. "Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment." (video recording reviews) Cineaste v19, n1 (Wntr, 1992):67.
Dover, Debbie. "Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons, and Our Environment." (movie reviews) Dollars & Sense, n177 (June, 1992):9 (3 pages).

Living Under the Cloud: Chernobyl.
Dr. Vladimir Chernousenko, scientific directory of the cleanup of Chernobyl, discusses the devastating impact of the accident in terms of the environment and humanity. Eight years later the death toll is still rising and the land and its life forms are still suffering. c1993. 69 min. Video/C 3875

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Meltdown at Three Mile Island
Discusses the events of March 28, 1979, when a reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, overheated. Employs news footage and first-person interviews in relating the 1999. 60 min. Video/C 6648

A Question of Power
Documentary on the history of the nuclear power controversy and the antinuclear movement focusing on the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant in California and anti-nuclear demonstrators such as the Sierra Club and Mothers for Peace and their views and suggestions for alternative sources of energy. Produced by David L. Brown, Jane Kinzler and Tom Anderson. 1986. 58 min. DVD 8975

Take It and Like It: Why Would a Town Accept 70,000 Tons of Nuclear Waste in Its Own Backyard?
A film that examines what happens when one town's quest for stability encounters the nation's search for a place to bury high level radioactive waste. Most Nevadans and their legislators strongly oppose nuclear storage in their state, but in Tonopah many feel differently prefering to think of it as a nuclear resource, which they hope will help Tonopah climb out of its latest economic slump. Now the town's search for survival and the nation's search for a nuclear waste dump are meeting in the Yucca Mountain Project ... in a hollowed out mountain in Tonopah's backyard. Produced, directed and edited by Kate Davidson and Bret Sigler. Produced as a masters thesis for the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley. 2003. 26 min. Video/C 9628

Toxic Bust
A healthy woman finds a lump in her breast which launches this documentary that uncovers mounting evidence that links cancer to chemical exposure. Most breast cancer funding and research has gone toward treatment, and finding the elusive cure. Far less emphasis has been given to prevention and discovering the causes of breast cancer. This film focuses on three cancer "hotspots" (Cape Cod MA, SF Bay Area, and hi-tech manufacturing workers) to more fully explore the connection between breast cancer and chemical exposure in the home, community and workplace. Produced and directed by Megan Siler. 2006. 41 min. DVD 9236
Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Oil/Petrochemicals/Alternative Energy Sources

Between Midnight and the Rooster's Crow
Multinationals are working to extract billions of dollars of oil reserves from beneath Ecuador's rainforest. This film documents the environmental and social impact the EnCana Corporation is having on Ecuador as they build a heavy crude pipeline from the Amazon, across the Andes, to the Pacific coast. Also looks at the relationship between EnCana and the government of Eduador. Directed, produced and written by Nadja Drost. 2005. 66 min. DVD 5255

Description from First Run/Icarus catalog

The Big Spill (Nova series).
Examines the oil spill of Exxon Valdez and what research is being done in the area of clean up technology. 1990. 52 min. Video/C 2138

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
A documentary film that debunks the conventional wisdom that oil production will continue to climb, and instead stares bleakly at a planet facing economic meltdown and conflict over its most valuable resource. "Our civilization's addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with disaster .. the film visits with the world's top experts and comes to a startling but logical conclusion--our industrial society, built of cheap and readily available oil, must be competely re-imagined and overhauled. The world's oil supplies are peaking and the crisis of global shortage looms, we are running out of oil and we don't have a plan." Contents: Precious and non-renewable -- We use it for everything! -- From boom to bust -- A magnet for war -- The numbers don't add up -- Peaking out -- An insatiable demand -- The end of the American Dream -- Technology to the rescue? -- Life after the peak. Special features (93 min.): "Petrostates" bonus chapter (4 min.); theatrical trailer (2 min.); additional interviews with Colin Campbell (20 min.), Matthew Simmons (25 min.), Fadhil Chalabi (24 min.), David L. Goodstein (18 min.). Produced and directed by Basil Gelpke & Ray McCormack. 2006. 83 min. DVD 9084

Deliverance From Oil: 10 Years in the Wake of Exxon Valdez
Biologists, commercial fishers, company officials and community leaders describe the residual effects of the Mar. 24, 1989 spill of 11 million gallons of oil from the tanker Exxon Valdez on Prince William Sound, Alaska, and on the surrounding ecosystems and human communities. Written and produced by Kevin Hartwell. Originally presented as a program on KTOO-TV, Juneau. 1999. 56 min. Video/C MM654

Delta Force.
A documentary of the environmental and social effects that the oil drilling by Shell International has had in the 1990's, on the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. Also includes commentary and interviews with the political activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa. 1995. 50 min. Video/C 5061

Ecuador: Divided Over Oil(What in the World? People of the Developing Nations)
The Ecuadoran government granted Burlington Oil a contract to explore and exploit oil in the Achuar Indian territory without consulting with the Achuar. The Achuar are opposed to the oil company's presence in their land. President Lucio Gutierrez is threatening to control the area militarily if the Achuar do not cooperate. The Achuar are attempting to evict the oil company by suing them for environmental damage to their land, which has contaminated drinking water, killed crops and game, and caused health problems among the Achuar. c2004. 26 min. DVD 5448

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
Through interviews with scientists and policy makers this documentary explores the premise that American suburbs, built on the easy availability of fossil fuels, may become untenable. As oil reserves are exhausted and energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? 2004. 78 min. DVD 3193

Extreme Oil.
Dist.: Films Media Group. 2004. 57 min. each installment,

Pipeline. Follows the circuitous route of the 1,100-mile BTC oil pipeline, that links the cites of Baku, in Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, in Georgia; and Ceyhan, in Turkey. The pipeline will transport the previously untapped energy reserves of the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, but its route makes many detours around areas of regional conflict and territorial dispute. DVD 6055

The Oil Curse. Contrasts the cases of Ecuador and western Africa looking at how the discovery of oil has affected the local populations. In Ecuador, the toxic environmental legacy has sparked a lawsuit over international corporate accountability, while in Angola, the oil industry is creating health and education projects to ensure that some of the profits from oil will benefit the local population. DVD 6056

The Wilderness.. As the industrialized world's desire for oil grows larger, so does the opposition from environmental groups intent on protecting the land. As demand increases, what restraints should be put on where oil companies drill? This documentary journey heads to Alaska and Canada, with a side trip to Washington, D.C. exploring these tensions. As the pressure for oil increases, fragile wiilderness areas across the globe are being opened up to oil exploration and furious debate. DVD 6057

Fat of the Land.
This video shows how internal-combustion vehicles can be converted to run on vegetable oil or on grease. Covers the 2,300 mile cross-county demonstration run by five women in their "lard car", a van powered by vegetable oil or grease (mainly grease) and the problems and difficulties encountered in obtaining vegetable oil or grease for fueling this van, and in promoting vehicles powered by vegetable oil or grease in general. Includes interviews with scientists in Colorado who are doing extensive research with vegetable oil as a replacement fuel. 1995. 56 min. Video/C 4648

Oil. Each installment 58 minutes. 1986.

Oil: God Bless Standard Oil. Opens with the story of John D. Rockefeller, the father of the modern oil industry. DVD 7951 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1720

Oil: Floating to Victory. Charts the growth of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and British Petroleum, Europe's leading oil companies, against the backdrop of the two world wars. DVD 7952 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1721

Oil: Sisters Under Siege. Focuses on the trials and tribulations of the seven major oil corporations known as the "seven sisters"--Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, Gulf, British Petroleum and Royal Dutch/Shell. DVD 7953 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1722

Oil: The Rise of OPEC.Focuses on Saudi Arabian Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani and his role in OPEC, the oil-producing cartel established to counter the power of the oil companies. DVD 7954 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1723

Oil: The Devil Gave us Oil.Looks at the plight of heavily indebted Mexico, where the expectation of a continued rise in oil prices encouraged that government to borrow too heavily. DVD 7955 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1724

Oil: The Independents.Examines the tough, rugged individuals such as H.L. Hunt, John Paul Getty and T. Boone Pickens who have gambled millions in the oil game. DVD 7956 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1725

Oil: Oil and Water. Looks at the challenges of obtaining oil from the North Sea. DVD 7957 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1726

Oil: The Global Gamble. Looks at the future of oil, with exploration taking place in far-flung areas of the world from the Arctic to the African desert. DVD 7958 [preservation copy]; Video/C 1727

Power Struggle
Explores the struggle over ways to produce the energy needed to supply power for the United States. Shows ways energy is currently being produced and describes new technologies, including solar, wind, and water power, geothermal energy, biomass, and co-generation. Tells advantages and disadvantages of each type of energy production, including possible effects on the environment. Shows nuclear power plants, experimental solar and wind farms, a geothermal steam complex, and other examples of energy production. Describes ways in which cars, appliances, and buildings can be made more energy-efficient. 1986. 58 min. Video/C 1133

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power
This PBS miniseries tells the epic history of oil... how it has dominated global politics, shaken the world economy, and transformed our century. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Daniel Yergin. Each program approximately 60 minutes. Contents: Tape 1. Program 1. Our plan. Program 2. Empires of oil -- Tape 2. Program 3. The black giant. Program 4. War and oil -- Tape 3. Program 5. Crude diplomacy. Program 6. Power to the producers -- Tape 4. Program 7. The tinderbox. Program 8. The New order of oil. 1992. 480 min. Video/C 2806 Pt. 1-4

Running on Empty (Fueling the Future Series; 1).
This program traces how the automobile became the mainstay of our transportation system and the perils posed to our environment by reliance upon petroleum based fuels. Also examined are the viability of gasahol and other alternative fuels and the feasibility of resurrecting public transportation on a large scale. c1988. 60 min. Video/C 2552

Taken for a Ride
Through archival film footage, animation and interviews follows the history of the automobile and the highway system in America. Presenting a long buried trail of auto/oil industry schemes, this documentary exposes the dummy companies, secret stock transactions and propaganda compaigns that removed one third of the nation's streetcars. Tracks were torn up overnight and bone jarring buses took the trolley's place. Scores of American cities lost their streetcars, including five of the nation's ten largest. The same players, organized as "the highway lobby," then campaigned for a network of urban freeways that would destroy America's downtowns. c1996. 55 min. Video/C 9243

What if the Oil Runs Out
Transporting viewers to the year 2016, this program paints a disturbing picture of an oil-starved America and the socioeconomic upheaval that may accompany the death of the Oil Age. This docudrama follows a middle-aged, Midwestern couple through violence at gas stations, conflicts with neighbors, and the loss of their livelihood; it also focuses on their daughter, an oil prospector determined to find new crude oil fields in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. The film is interspersed with interviews with experts and notable statistics on oil production and consumption. Dist.: Films Media Group. 2006. 44 min. DVD 8881

Endangered Species

The Arctic Refuge: A Wilderness in Peril.
A look at the wildlife of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a plea that the coastal plains of Alaska should not be opened to offshore oil exploration. [1987?] 16 min. Video/C 2781

Big Fish, Little Fish (Only One Earth; 6).
Examines the Solomon Island's attempts to help their economy by developing their tuna fishing industry. Discusses their conservation efforts, effects on the Islanders and problems with poachers from other nations. 1987. 30 min. Video/C 1669

The California Condor
Illustrates the behavior and natural habitat of the extremely endangered California condor and shows the work of the Los Angeles Zoo in rearing these birds in captivity for future release into the wild. 1984. 13 min. Video/C MM813

The Chances of the World Changing
This documentary begins in a penthouse apartment high above the urban frenzy of New York City, where writer Richard Ogust lives among 1200 turtles and tortoises. For years, Richard has rescued these endangered turtles from the food markets in Southeast Asia, where an unregulated and flourishing trade keeps many turtles and tortoises at the top of the world's endangered species lists. Overwhelmed by the demands of managing his personal ark, Richard decides to create the country's largest turtle and tortoise conservation institute. Directed & produced by Eric Daniel Metzgar. Originally produced in 20055; Broadcast premiere on P.O.V. 2007. 99 min. DVD 7572

Chimps R Us
A five part program focusing on chimpanzees. It opens with an interview with zoologist Jane Goodall about her remarkable life among the chimps and then visits a chimpanzee sanctuary where psychologist David Bjorklund is investigating how young chimps learn. Primate behaviourist Frans de Waal observes the social behavior of a group of chimps living at the Yerkes Regional Primate Center in Atlanta. In the next segment David Bjorklund tests two young chimps for the ability to think abstractly while at Ohio State University, Sally Boysen demonstrates these skills in chimps. Closes with a segment photographed by Karl Ammann about the illegal bushmeat trade in chimpanzees and other animals in Africa, as he follows poachers deep into the forest to document the commercial trade. 2001. 57 min. Video/C 8199

The God Squad and the Case of the Northern Spotted Owl
A documentary focusing on the controversial Endangered Species Committee proceedings over the Northern Spotted Owl and 44 proposed federal timber sales in Southwest Oregon, presented through interviews with cabinet members, staff, committee witnesses, lawyers and people in rural Oregon. While the proceedings ostensibly focused on the owl and timber sales, the controvery was a microcosm of a much larger debate concerning the fate of the Pacific Northwest's old growth forests and the Endangered Species Act. 2001. 57 min. Video/C 8119

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

The Harris' Hawk
A documentary tracing the reintroduction to the California wilderness of the Harris' hawk, a species which became extinct in the state in the 1950s. It examines habitat restoration and documents all aspects of the reintroduction project, from raising chicks to releasing the birds into the wild. c1987. 20 min. Video/C MM837

Killing Coyote
This documentary looks at how the coyote is viewed as a predator by ranchers and hunters while conservationists are trying to responsibly monitor the coyote population. Interviews are conducted with wildlife conservationists, ranchers, hunters, and others who give opposing viewpoints regarding the value of the coyote. The contemporary sport of coyote hunting is presented along with local government hearings on this issue. 2000. 83 min. Video/C 7544

Oil on Ice
A documentary connecting the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to decisions America makes about energy policy, transportation choices, and other seemingly unrelated matters. Caught in the balance are the culture and livelihood of the Gwich'in people and the migratory wildlife in this fragile ecosystem. Discusses the conflict between the oil industry and environmentalists over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Produced and directed by Dale Djerassi and Bo Boudart. 2004. 90 min. DVD 4608

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

A Sea of Trouble
This is a dramatic and fascinating documentary on the rise and fall of the West Coast tuna fishing industry and the untold story of the efforts by tuna fishermen to save dolphins and minimize their entrapment in tuna nets. Also looks at contemporary methods used by tuna fishermen to save dolphins. 1995. 33 min. Video/C MM818

Sealing Fate.
This is a provocative investigative documentary, showing how commercial fishing interests and government bodies in Canada have tried to blame marine mammals such as seals for the dramatic decline of fisheries in recent years. The film claims that government mismanagement of resources combined with commercial manipulation of 'scientific' data has led to decades of unsustainable practices in the Canadian fishing industry. c1993. 54 min. Video/C 3898

The Sinking Ark (Only One Earth; 2)
Takes viewers from the Amazon to Indonesia illustrating the variety of plants and animals which provide life-saving vaccines and medicines. Also examines the crisis faced by individuals trying to maintain species in danger of extinction. c1987. 58 min. Video/C 1665

Troubled Waters.
Shows how increased land development, offshore oil drilling, and the search for fresh water sources is threatening California's coastal wildlife. Focuses on brown pelicans, great egrets, elephant seals, sea lions. 1984. 28 min. Video/C 780

Turtle Excluder Devises: Responsible Fishing Technology for the '90s
As a result of shrimp fishing operations, it is estimated that more than 155,000 sea turtles drown every year in the nets of commercial shrimp trawling vessels of over 80 nations. To protect the dwindling population the use of turtle excluser devises, which have been proven to be 97 percent effective without significantly reducing shrimp catch, should be installed to avoid costly shrimp boycotts and trade restrictions. 1993. 17 min. Video/C MM415291

Wildlife for Sale: Dead or Alive.
Because of the multi-billion dollar trade in wildlife worldwide, thousands of animal species are poised on the brink of extinction. The demand for exotic pets, the whims of fashion and the quest for rare animal parts used in folk medicines, are all taking a toll on animals. This program investigates the politics and problems behind the wildlife trade, taking a look at both the legal and illegal aspects and investigates some success by the Wildlife Forensics Lab in Oregon, where illegal animal trade issues are being approached in a new way. c1998. 46 min. Video/C 7205

Description from Bullfrog Films catalog

Wolves and Man
Describes a twenty-year effort to save the Mexican gray wolf from extinction and to reintroduce it into its native habitat in the southwestern United States. Examines the struggle between environmentalists working to reestablish the wolf and ranchers who oppose reintroduction of wolves in the modern Southwest. 2000. 33 min. Video/C MM756

Population Issues

China, One Child
Twenty-five years after its institution, assesses the success of China's controversial "one child" policy and the impact it has had on ordinary families through interviews with middle-class Beijing families to those in poor rural areas. Population growth has been slowed, but at an enormous social cost: A generation without siblings; abortion of female foetuses; imbalance between the sexes and a real concern that the policy has created a generation of spoilt children, so-called "Little emperors and e