Eco-Short Films & Eco-Docs

Goldman Foundation’s Six Newest Environmental Heroes

2013-05-20T05:24:00Z

San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Foundation has singled out six new environmental activists from around the world, awarding them the famous Goldman Prize, which is to environmentalism what the Nobel Peace Prize is to peace activists.

This year’s honorees include an anti-coal campaigner from the Chicago area who organized neighbors and succeed in shutting down two very old, very polluting coal-fired power plants.

To watch videos of each of this year’s winners, go to Goldman winners.

Rudolph the Green-Nosed Reindeer???

2013-02-24T20:01:51Z

What do you get when you take a story everybody knows and change it ever so slightly? In the case of Rudolph, the “Green-Nosed” Reindeer, you get a memorable way to remind people about the importance of saving energy -- in this case, by using compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Watch this short video from Greenpeace and you’ll see what we mean.

2 Million Have Watched ‘Plastic Bag Mockumentary’

2013-02-18T05:01:00Z

There are documentaries and then there are “mockumentaries.” A mockumentary is like a documentary, except that it’s a send-up -- a cynical, sarcastic take on an issue.

The “Plastic Bag Mockumentary” uses form of a documentary about endangered species to mock how plastic bags are endangered, too.

The very clever point the filmmakers are trying to make is that plastic bags need to be banned precisely because of the damage they cause the environment. Watch and laugh.

The ‘Life’ of Water

2013-02-11T05:01:00Z

Just like people have lives, water does too. Well, sort of. You’ll find out when you watch “The Life of Water,” a short film made by a branch of the United Nations.

Ready to lol?

2013-02-03T18:52:54Z

Who hasn’t forgotten something while rushing to get out of the house in the morning? Well, this guy has forgotten two things. Which do you think is the more important?

Everything Man Has Done to Mess up the Environment

2013-01-21T05:01:00Z

In just a little over three minutes, London-based artist Steve Cutt’s animated video “Man” illustrates the incredible number of things that man has done to mess up the environment. At the end, you will see what his “reward” is when visitors from another planet show up.

See if you can catch everything the film shows that “Man” has done to mess up the environment. Here are a few: polluting the oceans and air; deforestation, electronic waste pile-ups. (In all, we count over a dozen such actions. Will you find even more?)

Who is Aldo Leopold?

2012-10-22T04:02:24Z

Aldo Leopold has been described as the greatest American conservationist of the 20th century. In this 13-minute feature about Leopold produced by the US Forest Service, you’ll learn how man who died decades ago is still inspiring today’s kids to protect and conserve the outdoors -- even kids in a city like Chicago. If you care about the environment, Aldo Leopold is a man you ought to know.

Kids’ eye view of climate change

2012-09-17T04:01:44Z

Imagine what would happen if a professional filmmaker went to an elementary school and spent time with children to find out what climate change means to them. It actually happened in England and the result is this animated film by and about kids, who did all the animation, suggested the script and lent their voices. The result? You’ve got to see it to believe it. (It’s that good.)

Exposing China’s eco-nightmares

2012-08-27T04:01:27Z

China (in Green)From Middle East news outlet Al Jazeera – hardly a source of Western propaganda – comes a documentary about China’s many environmental problems. Among the more shocking scenes: people growing vegetables using water from a blackened river. One computer worker says she thinks her bosses knew they were using dangerous chemicals. Electronic waste (e-waste) is another monstrous problem. Reporting on China’s environmental problems can be dangerous too, as you will see.

How much water do we really use?

2012-08-06T04:01:26Z

This three-minute-long animated feature explores how much water we really use (and by “use” we mean waste) every day. This film short was made in connection with the recent documentary “Last Call at the Oasis.”