Environmental Studies Filmography
updated (1/05)

After the Warming. 1990. 2 videocassettes (55 min. ea.). Social journalist James Burke presents several possible scenarios caused by the greenhouse effect during the 1990's to 2050. Episode one presents various warming scenarios of the year 2050. What would our future hold if the scientists are correct, and if we take no action to slow the greenhouse effect? Episode two looks back to the 1990's from 2050, and traces various ways that man could respond to the growing environmental crises. VHS 1526

Alaska, the last frontier? Human geography, people places and change. 1996. 1 videocassette (27 min.). This program shows the difficulties of balancing the needs of indigenous peoples and the wilderness with economic development and modern life in the state of Alaska. VHS 3605

Alterations in the atmosphere. The fragile planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (18 min.). 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. VHS 1222

An American Nile. Cadillac desert. 1997. 1 videocassettes (60 min.). Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the transformation of the American West. This second episode 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. VHS 4442

America's first river: Bill Moyers on the Hudson: Stories from the Hudson, part 1. 2002. 1 videocassette (120 min.). The strategic key to the American Revolution, a vital transportation artery for a fledgling nation, and an enduring source of spiritual and artistic inspiration, the Hudson River is a true American icon. This Bill Moyers program focuses on the seminal role the Hudson has played in the development of America's culture, literature, art, economy, industry, and ideology. Interviews with historian Roger Panetta, former West Point superintendent Gen. David Palmer (retired), art scholars Barbara Novak and Ella Foshay, art dealers Howard Godel and Alexander Boyle, Bill McKibben, author of The end of nature, and others shed light on the many facets of the Hudson. VHS 6946

America's first river: Bill Moyers on the Hudson : part II, the fight to save the river. 2002. 1 videocassette (120 min.). A waterway of ethereal beauty and vast commercial utility, the Hudson River has been both a medium for communing with nature and a convenient sewer for industrial waste. Over the course of this two-part series, Bill Moyers explores the dramatic history, complex ecology, profound natural beauty, and far-reaching legacy of the nation's conflict between its deep love of nature and its relentless desire for development. Archival film, photos, paintings, engravings, journal entries, book excerpts, and breathtaking location footage illustrate the many faces of the Hudson while historians, environmentalists, and others explain how colliding agendas have combined to shape the story of America's first river. VHS 6947

Amor, mujeres y flores  = Love, women, and flowers. 1988. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Describes the health hazards from pesticides in the flower industry in Colombia. VHS 2560

Ansel Adams. American Experience. 2002. 1 videocassette (ca. 100 min.). Intimate portrait of a great artist and ardent environmentalist-for whom life and art, photography and wilderness, creativity and communication, love and expression, were inextricably connected. VHS 6990

Antarctica: Frozen ambitions. 1990. 1 videocassette (58 min.). The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1961, is scheduled for review and possible revision in 1991. How can the original aims of peaceful scientific study and international cooperation be reconciled with world politics and the interests of the 25 nations representing 2/3 of the world's population that have established scientific posts in Antarctica? The program was filmed in Antarctica and in Paris, site of the treaty meetings. VHS 1204

Art of the wild. 1996. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Across a backdrop of nature photography and soft music, nature writers talk about their view of the world at the Art of the Wild, an annual writers conference in Squaw Valley, California. VHS 5126

An Atmosphere of change. Breakthrough, the changing face of science in America. 1996. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Profiles of scientists Keith Miles, Karen Medville, and Maurio Molina who combine adventure and research in their attempts to counter environmental hazards. VHS 3942

Back to Chernobyl. Nova video library - Adventures in science. 1989. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Nova goes to the Soviet Union for an investigation of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, to see the plant as it stands today, and to hear opposing views on the long-term health effects of the radiation. VHS 1417

Baked Alaska. 2003. 1 videocassette (26 min.). Documentary about how rising temperatures and the battle over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) are impacting life in Alaska. "Temperatures in Alaska are rising ten times faster than in the rest of the world. President Bush is ignoring the warning signs. He pulled out of Kyoto and now wants to open a wildlife refuge for oil drilling. Native Alaskans are divided: The Inupiat Eskimos want the jobs and the money, but the Gwitchin Indians fear it will destroy their reindeer. Alaska is rich from oil. But each barrel sent south comes back as damage to the delicate balance of Arctic life." -from container. VHS 7267

Banking on disaster. 1989. 1 videocassette (78 min.). A three part documentary filmed over a ten year period exposes the detrimental effects of deforestation interlinked with roadbuilding and colonization in Rôndonia, Brazil. Story told through colonist, Renato Ferreira ; ecologist, José Lutzenberger ; Seringuerio Union leader, Chico Mendes. VHS 760

Bhopal: The second tragedy. 1995. 1 videocassette (54 min.). 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. VHS 4262

The Big spill. 1990. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Examines the oil spill of Exxon Valdez and what research is being done in the area of clean up technology. VHS 1420

Black triangle. 1991? 1 videocassette (52 min.). Looks at Europe's most polluted region, where Czechoslovakia, Germany and Poland meet. The concentration of uranium mines and power stations in the area has resulted in the defoliation of forests and enormous health problems for those who live in this region.  VHS 4630

Blowpipes and bulldozers: The story of the Penan tribe and Bruno Manser. 1988. 1 videocassette (ca. 60.). Australian documentary that looks at the Penan, a unique tribe of rainforest nomads living in Sarawak, Borneo, whose way of life is being destroyed by logging. Bruno Manser, a Swiss national, lives with the Penan and works to organize their resistance to the loggers and to publicize their plight to the outside world. Manser's work has brought him into conflict with the Malaysian government. VHS 4911

Blue vinyl. 2002. 1 videocassette (97 min.). An investigation of vinyl siding and its effects on people and the environment. VHS 6943

Borderline cases: Environmental matters at the United States-Mexico border. 1997. 1 videocassette (65 min.). Filmed in three border regions (Matamoros and Brownsville; Tijuana and San Diego; Ciudad Juarez and El Paso), documentary describes problems caused by factories built in Mexico at the US - Mexico border which did not need to comply with US environmental regulations and also presents proposals and projects to remedy the border's deteriorating environmental conditions. VHS 4320

The burning season: The Chico Mendes story. 1995? 1 videocassette (123 min.). Spurred to action after a key organizer of the rain forest's working poor is slain, Mendes stands firm against slash-and-burn deforestation.  He becomes a nonviolent activist, union leader, political candidate and a recognized authority who helps alert the world to the plight of the Amazon. VHS 5031

Butterfly. 2000. 1 videocassette (80 min.). Julia "Butterfly" Hill, a twenty-four year old has spent two years living in a tree. She's protesting lumbering of redwood forests in California. Wolens' interviews over two years, including six nights with Hill on her 180-foot high platform, reveal an intensely spiritual and articulate woman determined to accomplish her goal. VHS 6409

Cadillac desert. 1997. 4 videocassettes (270 min.). Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the vast transformation of the American West and many parts of the world. VHS 4441-4444

Chelyabinsk:  The most contaminated spot on the planet. 1994. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Outlines the repeated nuclear accidents beginning in 1957 in the Mayak Military Reactor Complex near Chelyabinsk, a city of nearly 1 million on the east slope of the Urals in the geometric center of the U.S.S.R., where life expectancy now is less than 55 years and ninety percent of the children suffer from chronic illness. VHS 5882

Chemistry and the environment ; Futures. The World of chemistry. 1989. 1 videocassette (ca. 30 min. ea.). Program 25 points out how modern chemistry has provided marvelous benefits and products, but also challenging chemical waste problems. It examines the tools, techniques and frustrations of dump site waste management.  Program 26 reviews the basic principles of the series. It also features leaders from academia and industry who explore the frontiers of chemical research and speculate on the future impact of these investigations. VHS 857

Chesapeake past, Chesapeake future. Outdoors Maryland. 2003. 1 videocassette (ca. 30 min.). "This special explores the state of the Chesapeake Bay from the unique perspective of a new study, the Chesapeake Futures Report. Written by a diverse group of environmental researchers and scientists from around the region, the Chesapeake Futures Report takes a close look at the scientific, cultural and biological elements behind the Chesapeake Bay's demise over the last 25 years. The report paints a grim picture for the Bay's future if little or nothing is done to amend current policy, sprawl, and lifestyles within the watershed. The authors counter the bad news with recommendations on how to stem the spiraling effects pollutants and over fishing have had on the bay, once known as the world's most productive estuary." --www.mpt.org. VHS 7744

The City. Matinee classics. 1991? 1 videocassette (79 min.). The city (52 min.), made to be exhibited at the World's Fair in 1939, is a documentary showing life in an old New England village, the overcrowded life in New York City, and life in a planned community. It points out problems of city planning and describes desirable conditions of living in small planned suburban areas. Power and the land (27 min.) portrays a farm family in Pennsylvania before and after electrification of their farm. It contrasts farm duties and tasks with and without electricity and discusses how to form a farmer's electrical cooperative. VHS 3858

Clean Air Act: Highlight compilation. 1991. 1 videocassette (106 min.). A compilation of excerpts of committee hearings and Congressional debates that illustrate the process in which a bill becomes a law.  VHS 2629

Clean air clean water. 1993. 1 videocassette (15 min.). An excerpt from the Sept. 20, 1992, television broadcast of CBS News' 60 minutes, updated in 1993, featuring jobs versus the environment, the problems caused from both air and water pollution, and the violence and danger experienced by those in the environmental movement. VHS 2770

Clearcut. 1992. 1 videocassette (98 minutes). A story of rage. A harrowing action adventure set in the wilderness in which one man tortures another as punishment for his crimes against the environment. VHS 6552

The climate puzzle. Planet earth. 1996. 1 videocassette (ca. 58 min.). Explains why no human being has ever experienced the earth's normal climate. Questions will the climate change again and why, and is the earth entering a new ice age, or will the current global warming trend hold off the inevitable? VHS 5853

Coal solution or pollution? 1981. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Explores the effects of coal use on the environment.  Examines the issues of acid rain, air pollution, and potential health hazards linked to the burning of coal. VHS 4962  

Continent on the move. Americas. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Series of programs focusing on contemporary Latin America. This segment follows a Mexican migrant family on its rural-to-urban journey, comparing this internal migration with the transnational flow of immigrants from war-torn Guatemala into Mexico. VHS 2123

Crossing the stones. 1992. 1 videocassette (47 min.). Presents the life and philosophy of Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher who coined the term "deep ecology" to express a vision of a world in which we protect the environment as a part of ourselves, never in opposition to humanity. Næss is also a noted alpinist who in 1950 led the first Norwegian Himalayan expedition. VHS 4907

Dark circle. 1991. 1 videocassette (82 min.). Uses archival footage and interviews to tell the story of the Atomic Age from the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Japan to the present day perils of hydrogen bomb assembly line and nuclear power in the U.S. "This updated version of the Emmy Award-winning film weaves dramatic personal stories of nuclear victims with previously classified footage of the secret world of sites where nuclear bombs are tested and built. The link between nuclear power and nuclear proliferation is also explored. Even with the end of the Cold War, ... nuclear weapons are still with us, nuclear power is re-emerging, and the capability to build atomic bombs is spreading to other countries"--Video Project webpage [www.videoproject.org.]. VHS 4620

Deadly deception: General Electric, nuclear weapons and our environment. 1993. 1 videocassette (29 min.). Exposes 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 worked to inform the public and stop the company's dangerous activities.  After years of pressure, on April 2, 1993, GE sold its Aerospace Division. VHS 3598

Decade of decision. 1992? 1 videocassette (13 min.). Gives an overview of the growth of the world's population during the 20th century and what the implications are if it is not controlled. Examines the problem of an ever increasing world population and the resultant impact upon the natural environment. If the rate of population growth remains unchecked a major environmental disaster is inevitable. To forestall such an event, contraceptive education and materials, along with a reduction in wasteful consumption are suggested. This approach is considered inexpensive but would require political will and action. VHS 2934

Do we really want to live this way. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). The price of progress: smog, toxic wastes, and the contamination of once pristine waters is examined as this program investigates the by-products of Western industrial lifestyles. VHS 1000

Down in the dumps. 1988. 1 videocassette (26 min.). Examines the technological approaches to the garbage dilemma, including composting, resource recovery, and high-tech incinerators. Also discusses the public reaction to the location of new waste treatment facilities. VHS 706

Down to the last drop. 1988. 1 videocassette (26 min.). Discusses ways to conserve and protect water in order to assure a plentiful supply for the future. VHS 777

Drought and flood two faces of one coin. The fragile planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (18 min.). Predicts environmental effects of global warming. VHS 1220

Edward Abbey: A voice in the wilderness. 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.). A retrospective combining remembrances by sixteen of wilderness preservationist Abbey's family and friends with images of his favorite sites, including several national parks.  Also includes film clips and photographs of Abbey. VHS 2400

Edward O. Wilson: Reflections on a life in science. 1990. 1 videocassette (65 min.). Wilson offers insight into the scientific process, relating how an interest in studying ants and social insects led him to establish the field of sociobiology. He compares scientists to mythmakers and examines the role of imagination in scientific inquiry. His passionate concern for the preservation of our natural heritage has placed him in the forefront of environmental activism. VHS 2411

The Effects of water pollution. The fragile planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (19 min.). Discusses the effects of marine pollution, focusing on the Seal Disaster of 1988 in the North Sea. VHS 1223

Entropy ; Low temperatures. The Mechanical universe and beyond. 1987. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Program 47: discusses the work of Carnot on engines, and the second law of thermodynamics. -- Program 48: discusses the research on and laws of temperature, and the effects of temperature on the states of matter. VHS 2247-2248

Environment. Inside the global economy. 1994. 1 videocassette (60 min.). This program looks at the international dimension of environmental problems, focusing on transnational pollution, international property rights, and perceived differences between trade and environmental protection. The U.S.-Mexico agreement on dolphin-safe tuna fishing is explored, as is the transnational implications of pollution along the Rhine River border. VHS 2872

Environment under fire: Ecology and politics in Central America. 1988. 1 videocassette (28 min.). Examines the way export crops, pesticides and war contribute to mass poverty and ecological destruction in Central America. Discusses the role of U.S. policies in that destruction, and Nicaragua's attempts to preserve the natural environment. VHS 1564  

Environmental justice.  Summary not yet written but tape is available. VHS 6615

The environmental revolution. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Shows the relationship of humans to their environment and how this has changed over time from coexistence to domination. VHS 998

L'Espoir Sierra de Teruel. Les grands films classiques. 198? 1 videocassette (75 min.). Set in 1937 at Teruel during the Spanish Civil War. Malraux, a volunteer in Spain, contrasts the horrors of war with the beauties of nature and the simple pleasures of life. He uses the struggle against Spanish dictatorship as a statement of the universal hope that war will produce a better life for all and overcome the evils of fascism. VHS 3241

The Factory and marketplace revolution. Day the universe changed. 1986. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Describes the origins of the Industrial Revolution and the resulting growth of urbanization, the creation of the factory system and an industrial working class, and the exploitation of the planet. VHS 2896

Fate of the earth. Planet earth. 1996. 1 videocassette (ca. 57 min.). Explores the role of life in shaping the earth and in shaping the future. Probes the question: is man a threat to earth's future or is he emerging as the brain or nervous system of this living organism called earth? Reveals new theories about global consequences of a nuclear winter and an ultraviolet spring. VHS 5857

Fires of Kuwait. 1992. 1 videocassette (36 min.). 607 oil wells burning out of control, ignited by retreating Iraqi troops are put out by the united efforts of firefighting teams from ten countries. Kuwait's cry for help was eventually supported by more than 10,000 people from 40 nations who battled the firestorm and won. VHS 2494

Fit to drink. Chemistry in action. 1987. 1 videocassette (20 min.). Traces water cycle from collection of rain water, through purification in a water treatment plant to places where water is needed. Describes how water is treated and shows facilities for doing them in a modern British plant. VHS 1250

Follow the rainbow. Indigenous peoples standing their ground. 1992. 1 videocassette (ca. 52 min.). Damming the Subarnarekha River in India's South Bihar region will have catastrophic results for the native Ho Indians. The Ho's campaign of resistance has so far led to the temporary suspension of World Bank payments for the project. VHS 1950

Fooling with nature. 1998. 1 videocassette (60 min.). This program examines new evidence in the controversy over the danger of manmade chemicals to human health and the environment, 35 years after Rachel Carson first raised concerns of an impending ecological crisis. This program takes viewers inside the world of scientists, politicians, activists, and business officials embroiled in this high-stakes debate. VHS 5187

Frogs. 1988. 1 videocassette (90 min.). Film examines the question of what happens if the denizens of the local swamp decide to strike back at those who despoil their environment. Rich great-grandfather Jason Crockett gathers his clan on an isolated Florida island. After family members discover the corpse of the island's caretaker crawling with frogs and snakes, it becomes ominously apparent that the party may not leave the island alive. Features frogs, snakes, lizards, spiders, tarantulas, scorpions, alligators, salamanders, toads, leeches and even an alligator turtle. VHS 5227

Future conditional. 2005. 1 videocassette (55 min.). Investigates the link between environmental change and the future health of the planet, a future conditional on how we cope with the spread of toxic pollution. In the Arctic, animals and humans are suddenly plagued with rising levels of hazardous chemicals: DDT, PCBs, dioxins, and mercury. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, tariff-free factories have been poisoning the soil and air for more than a decade, and local communities in Tijuana struggle with contaminated water while their backyards have become toxic playgrounds for children. In Uzbekistan, the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the Aral Sea, has become the site of what the United Nations calls man's greatest ecological disaster. In the United States, a Latin neighborhood in San Diego celebrates an environmental victory, while only 150 miles away, the people of Palm Springs may be living in the path of a toxic storm of dust. VHS 7804

Germany reunites. Eastern Europe : breaking with the past. 1990. 1 videocassette (50 min.). A look at the changes in East Germany following the revolution in the fall of 1989 as East Germany begins to face the cultural, environmental, economic, and political challenges of freedom and reunification.  Includes documentaries on life under dictatorship, the East German secret police, and the pollution problems found in an industrial town. VHS 1709

Ghost dance. The West. 1996. 1 videocassette (85 min.). By the late 1880s, the Americans were astounded by the change they had brought to the West. Mining towns such as Butte, Montana were now full-fledged industrial cities.  Defeated militarily, Native Americans throughout the region now flocked to the call of a Paiute mystic, who offered the illusionary hope that the lost world of the buffalo could be brought back by a Ghost Dance. But its promises would be trampled in the snow and blood of Wounded Knee. In place of the great Native American cultures which once dominated the Plains was a new culture, epitomized by the Oklahoma Land Rush, in which 100,000 eager settlers lined up for a mad dash to stake out a farm and a future. VHS 4238

Ghosts along the freeway. 1992. 1 videocassette (10 min.). In the 1950's new freeways gave Americans increased mobility but they also became instruments of destruction.  This film shows what effects the coming of the "super highways" had on established neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Area. VHS 3597  

Global concerns. International law video course. 1995. 1 videocassette (ca. 30 min.). Each program includes an introduction to the subject and its historical perspective, presentations of scholars and experts in international law from the academic community, the United Nations, the American Society of International Law and other international organizations plus historical and contemporary film footage and still photographs. This segment, global concerns, deals with 3 related areas of international law: international environmental law, Law of the Sea and the law of international development. VHS 4498

The global connection. Local heroes, global change. 1990. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Focuses on the creativity, heroism, and the "spark of change" in Third World countries.  Shows how social and economic problems in the Third World affect the entire global community. VHS 869

Global warming: What's truth and what's propaganda. The InterChange series. 1998. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Stephen Schneider, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University, and an expert on global warming, talks about how interested citizens can determine what's truth and what's propaganda in the scientific wars regarding the environmental status of planet Earth. VHS 5183

God squad and the case of the northern spotted owl. 2001. 1 videocassette (57 min.). 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 controversy was a microcosm of a much larger debate concerning the fate of the Pacific Northwest's old growth forests and the Endangered Species Act. VHS 7167

Goodwood. Nature of things. 1999. 1 videocassette (45 min.). Examines whether we can halt deforestation while still sustaining communities that depend on the forest for their livelihood. Film looks at four forestry-based places where communities are discovering - sometimes with help from surprising places - that it can be done. VHS 6129

Green plans. 1995. 1 videocassette (56 min.). A look at the comprehensive national environmental policies, or green plans, that The Netherlands and New Zealand have developed. VHS 3842

Greenbucks: The challenge of sustainable development. 1992. 1 videocassette (55 min.). Looks at the first steps major corporations on five continents are taking to change their ways. Chief executives from some of the world's largest companies discuss their changing attitudes and their attempts to contribute to environmental solutions, from developing new, cleaner technologies and recyclable cars to producing "green cotton" and investing in alternative energy. The film also looks at how a California energy utility and environmentalists developed a plan to make energy efficiency profitable. VHS 3001

The Greenhouse conspiracy. 1990. 1 videocassette (55 min.). This program suggests that many of the predictions that the earth is gradually warming-up, the so-called 'Greenhouse Effect,' are erroneous and based on inadequate and inaccurate information. Four main aspects of the theory are analyzed. These are: 1. The climatic records from the past; 2. that carbon dioxide release increases the temperature; 3. prediction of climate using models; 4. the underlying physics. VHS 3575

The Greening of planet earth. 1991. 1 videocassette (28 min.). Examines the role that carbon dioxide plays as one of nature's basic building blocks of life in the process of photosynthesis and the evolution of the earth's biosphere. Evidence is presented to show how current carbon dioxide levels, 30 percent higher than in the pre-industrial era, have greatly enhanced the growth of trees and other plants. VHS 4128

Half lives. 1995. 1 videocassette (55 min.). Through interviews with physicists, engineers and laborers, this video examines the evolution of nuclear power from the nuclear tests of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge during World War II, to the proliferation of nuclear power plants across the United States. Discusses the current problems of managing nuclear waste, and the dangers of potential nuclear accidents. VHS 4230

The Hidden city. 1989. 1 videocassette (57 min.). The utility systems of New York City -- power, water, sewage and trash -- are all huge, complicated and ancient, and for all intents and purposes, invisible to the average city dweller -- until they break down. This program takes a look at these four vital utility systems, their growth over time, and the city's plans for adapting them to New York's future needs. VHS 840

Hot enough for you? 1989. 1 videocassette (60 min.). A study of the greenhouse effect on planet earth caused by the increase of the carbon dioxide (CO2) level due to the burning of fossil fuels (18 billion tons CO2 yearly) as well as other gases like nitrogen oxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons. Scientists explore the effects of these gases on ozone layer, climatic changes (cloud formation, rainfall, desertification, coastal level) as well as plant life. VHS 1297

Hot zones. Journey to planet earth. 2003. 1 videocassette (57 min.). This film "explores the link between environmental change and human health: are we winning the battle to prevent global outbreaks of infectious disease? Environmental change is fostering the tide of contagion which threatens to engulf us all--Container. Journeys to Kenya, Peru, Bangladesh, and the United States. VHS 7417

In our children's food. 1993. 1 videocassette (56 min.). Traces the 30-year history of U.S. pesticide use, regulation, and scientific study and explores what is and is not known about the risks of agricultural chemicals in our food. Also 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. VHS 2552

In our own backyard: The first Love Canal. 1982. 1 videocassette (59 min.). 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. VHS 1609

In service to America. America's war on poverty. 1995. 1 videocassette (57 min.). By 1967, poverty warriors increase the sophistication of their tactics at the same time that a number of outspoken opponents rise to national prominence. This program highlights the beginning of Legal Services and VISTA, two programs that combined individual action with the idea of volunteerism. Lawyers team up with migrant farm workers in California to fight for better education, health care and working conditions, and VISTA volunteers and local residents organize against strip mining in Appalachia. Both stories raise significant questions about activities the government funds in the name of fighting poverty. VHS 3034

In the ashes of the forest. The Decade of destruction. 1990. 2 videocassettes (110 min.). Series chronicles the devastation of the Amazonian rainforest from 1980 to 1990. In this segment a Brazilian settler's two sons are murdered and another is kidnapped by Indians. While a government expedition searches for the child, the colonists' expansion continues to encroach on the Indians. Landless peasants are lured to the forest with promises of free land and big harvests. By the decade's end, the fate of the kidnapped boy is learned; an epidemic kills many of the Indians; the settler's farms have failed; and more than 15% of the rainforest has been destroyed. VHS 1675

In the light of reverence. 2001. 1 videocassette (73 min.). Across the United States, Native Americans are struggling to protect their sacred places. Religious freedom, so valued in America, is not guaranteed to those who practice land-based religions. This film presents three indigenous communities in their struggles to protect their sacred sites from rock climbers, tourists, stripmining and development and New Age religious practitioners. VHS 7424

In the name of progress. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Asks whether economic development and environmental protection are in conflict.  Includes case studies of development projects that resulted in environmental disasters. VHS 1001

Inside the Golden Gate. 1976. 1 videocassette (59 min.). Film joins a team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists on a mission to find out just how San Francisco Bay works: its physics, its chemistry and its biology. Examines the ecological problems caused by pollution and the dumping of millions of tons of landfill into the bay. VHS 5689

Inside the poison trade. 1990? 1 videocassette (50 min.). Recently, more than 20 ships loaded with toxic waste from chemical plants have left European ports bound for the Third World. Favored targets for dumping the lethal cargo are the impoverished nations of Africa. Focusing on Italy's exports of industrial residues, film features interviews with waste brokers, public officials, environmental workers, and concerned citizens. VHS 1421

Intimate strangers: Unseen life on earth. 1999. 1 videocassette (120 min.). Provides an overview of the microbial world and offers a clear and exciting picture of the field of microbiology. The Tree of Life: Scientists explore how all living things are related and how microbial life on the planet has evolved over its 3.8-billion-year history. Keepers of the Biosphere: Scientists trace the role of microbes in maintaining the conditions on Earth, including how they affect the global climate and perform the recycling that keeps the world habitable. VHS 6333

The Invisible wall. 1993. 1 videocassette (ca. 54 min.). Presents issues of the power in food politics, roles of multi-national corporations, Third World debt, and trade barriers in fueling poverty and environmental destruction in the world's poorest countries. It argues that, in the post-Cold War era, global rich-poor inequalities will occur on a grander scale than ever before. VHS 4082

Is science for sale? 1994. 1 videocassette (23 min.). Focuses on the influence of politics and business on environmental policy and on scientific arguments that seek to discredit environmentalists' concerns over ozone depletion and global warming. Spotlights Fred Singer of the Science & Environmental Policy Project. VHS 2759

It needs political decisions. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). This segment examines the power of politics in protecting the environment.  Three nations in varying stages of economic development (Zimbabwe, Thailand, and Sweden) offer three different strategies for conserving the environmental future. VHS 1006

It's a jungle out there. The private life of plants. 1995. 1 videocassette (50 min.). Depicts the extremes under which plants grow--from the coldest Arctic wastes to the driest deserts. Shows that plants can endure in a harsh and changing world in environments where humans often cannot exist. VHS 5966

Journey to planet Earth. 1999. 3 videocassettes (57 min. ea.). Discusses achieving a balance between the needs of people and the needs of the environment, focusing on loss of farmland, river pollution, and inadequate housing and water resources.  VHS 6181-6183

Jungle cat. Walt Disney's true-life adventures. 1986. Orig. 1959. 1 videocassette (69 min.). Reproduction, survival and the elements affecting the greatest hunter of them all, the jaguar. VHS 6672

Jungleburger. 1986. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Film examines the impact - social, cultural and environmental - of the fast food industry on Third World countries. Focuses on the operations of a meat processing plant in Costa Rica that exports meat for the use of the fast food industry in the United States and how this industry has contributed to the depletion of the rain forests and the drop in meat consumption in Costa Rica. VHS 4695

Kaise jeebo re! 1996? 1 videocassette (80 min.). Looks at the human cost of large dams which - in the name of development or national interest -  often disrupt lives, submerge villages, destroy and/or erode ancient and contemporary cultures and eco-systems. Filmed in locations in Central India that were once thriving economic and cultural centers but that now lie submerged under the reservoir waters of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river. Kaise Jeebo Re records the victims' account of this man-made disaster. VHS 5598

Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance. 2002. 1 videodisc (87 min.). Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian word meaning variously: crazy life, life in turmoil, life disintegrating, life out of balance (the subtitle for this film), and a state of life that calls for another way of life. This film presents a concert of visual images set to the music of Philip Glass that progesses from purely natural environments to nature as affected by man, and finally to man's own manmade environment that is devoid of nature. DVD 567

Laid to waste: A Chester neighborhood fights for its future. 1996. 1 videocassette (53 min.). Documentary film looks at the impact of a group of waste processing facilities on the residents of Chester, Pennsylvania. The neighborhood is already home to a trash-to-steam incinerator, an infectious medical waste disposal plant and the county's sewage treatment plant. When there are plans to locate a plant to process petroleum contaminated soil in the same area, the citizens form a community action group (Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living) and begin a protest. VHS 4850

Last oasis. Cadillac desert. 1997. 1 videocassettes (60 min.). Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the transformation of the American West. This fourth episode 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. VHS 4444

The Last resort. 199. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Deals with the confrontation between proponents and opponents of the construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook, N.H. as it looks at the struggle that resulted when the Public Service Company of New Hampshire - despite the opposition of local communities - broke ground on one of New Hampshire's most delicate tidal estuaries. Within days nuclear opponents had founded the Clamshell Alliance and pledged themselves to peaceful direct action as a means of stopping construction at Seabrook. Their tactics and their success in organizing set the stage for the public reaction to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and sparked an on-going debate that has led to a curtailing of America's nuclear power program. On August 1,1976, eighteen New Hampshire citizens were arrested for occupying the newly-bulldozed site. Nine months later, more than 2,000 people repeated the action in a growing non-violent movement that made world headlines and that prompted parallel occupations all over the United States. VHS 6128

Lessons of darkness. 2001. 1 videodisc (130 min.). Lessons of darkness: A stirring documentary of 1992 post-Gulf War Kuwait, focusing on the oil well fires ignited by retreating Iraqi soldiers. What resulted is less a simple documentary about an environmental catastrophe than an apocalyptic vision of hell, a strangely beautiful portrait of a world on fire. Fata Morgana: Herzog brings his cameras to the Sahara desert in order to film mirages. He combines the apocalyptic, often hallucinatory images of the desert with passages from the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh, set to songs of Leonard Cohen. DVD 452

Life of birds. 2002. 3 videodiscs (ca. 500 min.). David Attenborough journeys across seven continents filming thousands of species of birds, revealing their patterns of behavior. DVD 606

Living desert. 1985? Orig. 19531 videocassette (69 min.). A look at the flora and fauna of the desert. VHS 6673

Living on the edge. 1991? 1 videocassette (18 min.). Explores the social life and customs, natural beauty, and environmental conditions of the Chesapeake Bay. VHS 1768

Living with the Earth: The Loma Prieta earthquake ; Living with the Earth : Preserving the legacy. Earth revealed. 1992. 1 videocassette (58 min.). The 1st program expresses human responses to the destructive forces of natural phenomena, such as earthquakes and landslides.  The 2nd program explores the impact of human activity on Earth and discusses ways in which people can shape their actions to benefit Earth. VHS 3325-3326

Local heroes, global change. 1990. 4 videocassettes (ca. 60 min. each). Shows efforts made toward economic change for developing nations. VHS 866-869

Lovejoy's nuclear war. 199. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Looks at issues of nuclear power, civil disobedience and the politics of energy. In 1974 Sam Lovejoy, a 27-year-old farmer, toppled a 500-ft. weather tower in Montague, Massachusetts, which had been erected by a local utility as a part of their effort to build a nuclear power plant. Lovejoy then turned himself in to the police and six months later was tried for "willful and malicious destruction of personal property." He was acquitted. Film explores his motives and discusses the legal aspects of a situation in which an action taken with good intentions is not within the law. VHS 6127

A Man for all reasons. Profiles in progress. 1991. 1 videocassette (30 min.). The focus of this program is on Maurice F. Strong, "Mister Environment."  The Canadian-born businessman is at the leading edge of the environmental and developmental movement globally.  Much of the deterioration in the global environment is caused by patterns of production and consumption, especially in the industrial world.  In the developing countries -- which contain more than 80 percent of the world's 5.3 billion people -- poverty, population growth, and environmental damage are closely related.  Protection of the local as well as global environment must be integral to the development process. VHS 2300 pt.8

The mercy of nature. Cadillac desert. 1997. 1 videocassettes (60 min.). Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the transformation of the American West. This third episode 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, governors, 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. VHS 4443

MicroCosmos le peuple de l'herbe. 1996. 1 videocassette (75 min.). Documentary that took 15 years of research, 2 years of equipment design and 3 years of shooting. A wordless close-up view of a variety of the insects as they hatch from eggs, search for food and cope with a rain storm. Ants race to gather food as a pheasant gobbles them up while a dung beetle moves his prize up hill and down. Timelapse and mircophotographic techniques are used. VHS 4917

The Military and the environment. 1992. 1 videocassette (ca. 29 min.). Looks at the military's handling of toxic wastes, especially those developed at nuclear facilities, that has led to environmental disasters and health hazards. This creates enormous costs for cleanup as well as the need to reduce the incidence of pollution as a result of current and future military operations. VHS 2522

The Money lenders the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 1983. 1 videocassette (90 min.). This program looks at the two world bank systems originally set up after World War II for governments that needed short or long term loans, and at the economic and environmental problems the two systems are experiencing today. Travels to Bolivia, Ghana, Brazil, Thailand, the Philippine Islands, and Mexico to show how the money has been used and the consequences of those loans. VHS 1578

Monumental: David Brower's fight for wild America. 2004. 1 videodisc (74 min.). Tells the story of conservationist David Brower, first executive director of the Sierra Club and founder of Friends of the Earth and the Earth Island Institute, who worked to save the natural environment and to protect and establish some of America's national parks. Includes 16-mm archival footage (much shot by Brower himself), photographic images from well-known artists, and interviews with leading conservationists, photographers, historians, curators, and politicians, as well as Brower's family, friends, and colleagues. DVD 980

More for less. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Discusses some innovative alternative fuel sources that result in fewer harmful economic and environmental effects and less danger of global warming than fossil fuels. VHS 1003

MTBE. 1999. 1 videocassette (30 min.). An examination of the widespread pollution of ground water caused by the reformulated gasoline additive MTBE (butyl methyl ether), especially in California. Asks the questions: Why was this chemical not fully tested before use?, Why is it still being used?, What are the health consequences of ingesting it through drinking water? VHS 6169

Mulholland's dream. Cadillac desert. 1997. 1 videocassette (90 min.). Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the vast transformation of the American West and many parts of the world. This episode tells of the search of William Mulholland (Superintendent of the Los Angeles water system in 1913) for water for the people of Los Angeles. After securing water rights to the Owens River, he spent the next 6 years building an aqueduct across the Mojave Desert. VHS 4441

A New look at the H-bomb. 1990. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Five films about the hydrogen and atomic bombs, the effects of radioactive fallout, surviving a nuclear blast, and combating biological warfare. New Look at the H-Bomb: The U.S. Federal Civil Defense Administrator offers a detailed explanation of the effects of radioactive fallout. -- Operation Cue: A young journalist reports on Operation Cue, a series of government-sponsored tests held to determine how objects Americans use in their everyday lives are effected by atomic blast. -- United States Civil Defense in Action: In the event of an atomic attack, America's civilian population will be rendered into three categories: those who can help; those who need help and those beyond help. The point is that survival after nuclear blast will depend upon the American peoples' awareness, preparedness and knowledge about what to do to prevent spreading further panic and fear. Let's Fact It: Observes that the threat of hydrogen bomb warfare is the greatest danger our nation has ever known and it has impacted upon the American Way of Life. -- What You Should Know About Biological Warfare: America's enemies can attack the country by using not only the H-bomb but germ warfare. Enemy agents can plant biological agents in the nation's air and water supply. Suggest what Americans can do to protect themselves and their country. VHS 3426

North America, the post-industrial transformation The Geographic dynamic of the Pacific Rim, [Pt.1]. The power of place: world regional geography. 1995. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Oregon, a fight for water, investigates the competition for water resources in Eastern Oregon. U.S. Midwest, spatial innovations examines the incorporation of Japanese production techniques into the midwest U.S. automotive industry. Northern Japan, protecting the harvest concerns rice-farming methods in Tohoku in Northern Japan. Tokyo, anatomy of a mega-city examines the transportation patterns of commuters in Tokyo and its surrounding suburbs. VHS 3759

Now or never. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Shows ways that individuals can work to protect the environment and affect policy by profiling people who are already succeeding in doing so. VHS 1007

Nukes in space. 1999. 1 videocassette (ca. 52 min.). Draws on newly declassified test footage and secret government documents to explore the story of U.S. and Soviet nuclear bomb testing in the upper atmosphere and near space region of earth. Examines the scientific, military and political motivations behind the space nuclear weapons testing program, the need for information on anti-ballistic missile systems, the hazards posed to artificial satellites, astronauts and cosmonauts, and what implications the tests hold for the future of U.S. security. Shows man-made auroras created by nuclear detonations and reviews the radiation belts resulting from these tests and the lingering effect the "Rainbow Bombs" have had on the near space region of earth. Includes interviews with key military and scientific figures of the era. VHS 5911

On deadly ground. 1994. 1 videocassette (102 min.). Stevan Seagal's directing debut. To protect the Alaskan wilderness and its people Forrest Taft (Seagal), an oil-rig firefighter (and former CIA operative), and a Native Alaskan environmental activist (Joan Chen) battle Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), the president of a renegade oil company, who is plotting to open up a new refinery on Eskimo lands. VHS 5081

On the brink. Journey to planet earth. 2003. 1 videocassette (57 min.). This film "explores a growing national security threat throughout the world: how environmental pressures can lead to violence, terrorism and regional conflict. Travel to areas where environmental degradation and unsustainable development practices have had negative impacts on the quality of life for millions of people"--Container. Journeys to Bangladesh, South Africa, Peru, Haiti, Mexican/U.S. border. VHS 7415

On the cowboy trail. Odyssey series. 1981. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Shows Ray Holmes, one of the last true cowboys, who still rides herd in the cattle country of southeastern Montana, and looks at how new farming techniques and strip-mining threaten time-honored traditions of ranching and the land itself. Contrasts modern cattle ranching with traditional ranching. VHS 4947

One sky above us. The West. 1996. 1 videocassette (85 min.). As the 20th century neared, Americans celebrated with the World Columbian Exposition, where they were told that the frontier had closed, but in the real West, for every frontier story that ended, another one began. Some Native Americans waged a struggle to hold onto their traditions in the midst of rapid, overwhelming change, while others chose to learn the white man's ways, hoping to help their families and their tribe. In California, the emerging metropolis of Los Angeles waged yet another battle to control the arid region's most precious commodity--water. Much had changed in the West, but it continued to be what it had always been--a landscape of the imagination, the reservoir of our shared hopes and dreams, a place of both conflict and infinite possibility, and an enduring symbol of something unquestionably American. VHS 4239

Only one atmosphere. Race to save the planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Explores the earth's atmosphere and discusses global warming as a major international environmental challenge. VHS 999

Patterns in the air. The miracle planet. 1989. 1 videocassette (56 min.). Traces the development of the ozone layer and the subsequent transformation of barren land into forests and fertile prairies. Includes a look at the devastating effect of modern-day deforestation techniques. VHS 983

PCB's in the food chain. The Fragile planet. 1990. 1 videocassette (ca. 18 min.). This program shows how the effects of marine pollution moves up through the food chain, as the tiniest plankton absorb poisons and pass them up the chain, poisoning those who feed on them. VHS 1225

Peacemakers create a difference. 1988. 1 videocassette (73 min.). Following her introduction by professors Albert Mott and Abdul Said, School of International Service, Petra Kelly addresses an audience at The American University.  She emphasizes the importance of peace studies in the higher education curriculum, describes such a program, and stresses the interplay of non-violence, human rights and environmental concerns with the goal of world peace.  She sees arms sales, nuclear testing, militarism, and the infringement of human rights for women and others as jeopardizing the chances for peace.  She advocates world citizenship and says that all people must reclaim a civil society from the state.  Following her speech, she answers questions from the audience. VHS 892

Planet earth. 1996. 7 videocassettes (406 min.). Scientists explain current theories about the formation of the earth's continents, oceans and climate, and examine the earth's relationship to the sun and other planets. VHS 5851-5857

Poison and the Pentagon. 1988. 1 videocassette (60 min.). The military is America's largest producer of toxic waste. Frontline reporter Joe Rosenbloom investigates the Pentagon's poor record of cleaning up its pollution that contaminates the