Bill Bigelow noted in Rethinking Globalization:

Compare the six days of the Book of Genesis to the 4 billion years of geologic time. On that scale, one day equals about 666 million years. All day Monday until Tuesday noon Creation was busy getting the earth going. Life began on Tuesday noon and the beautiful organic wholeness developed over the next four days. At 4 pm Sunday, the big reptiles; 5 hours later when the redwoods appeared there were no more big reptiles. At three minutes before midnight man appeared. One quarter of a second before midnight Christ arrived. At 1/40 of a second before midnight, the industrial Revolution began. We are surrounded by people who think that what we have been doing for 1/40 of a second can go on indefinitely. They are considered normal. But they are stark raving mad.

These words are from the late renowned environmentalist David Brower, spoken toward the end of the film Earth and the American Dream.  Loaded with contrasting quotes about humanity’s relationship to nature, Earth and the American Dream convinces most students that since the arrival of the first European settlers — whose leaders spoke of the new land as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men” — American culture has celebrated ideas and dreams that are fundamentally hostile to the environment. As the film sweeps through the decades, pairing quotes about nature with images of ecological degradation, students can’t help but be overwhelmed by the language of conquest and consumption woven into the fabric of American life. Perhaps too overwhelmed.

The film quotes are so effective in portraying a culture consumed with consuming that students may conclude that if only we “rethought” our attitudes toward the earth, we could chart a course to a more environmentally friendly future. What this notion fails to address is the way that the imperatives of the global capitalist economic system propel us toward ecological ruin. Growth, competition, and consumption are not just ideological constructs, they are systemic requirements. Ideas matter, but so do the economic structures that animate and in turn are nurtured by ideas. I wanted to create an activity in which students could experience classroom doses of the economic pressures felt by competing producers. Then when my students considered solutions to the environmental crisis, I hoped such reflection would be grounded in a fuller appreciation of the roots of that crisis.

Produced by Luna Productions.

Trailer

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This was the girl who one day would become the groundbreaking author of Silent Spring.

Combining Thomas Locker’s majestic artwork with Joseph Bruchac’s poetic text, Rachel Carson offers an educational and inspiring account of her life.

Includes excerpts from Carson’s work and a timeline of major events. [Publisher’s description.]

In this engaging biography, now updated, young readers will experience the enchantment of nature as seen through the eyes of the budding naturalist, while learning about her childhood, her accomplishments, and her passion for nature.

ISBN: 9781555916954 | Fulcrum Group

Fortieth anniversary edition of Rachel Carson’s watershed book with essays by Terry Tempest Williams and Carson biographer Linda Lear.

Rachel Carson, speaking before Senate Government Operations subcommittee studying pesticide spraying. Source: United Press International photo, 1963. Library of Congress.

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The women explain to the cutters that their trees provide the villagers with food and fuel; are home to animals; and prevent erosion. But the men are heedless. As the cutters move closer, Aani acts with quiet, instinctive heroism to save not only her special tree, but also the village’s beloved forest.

Based on a true event in northern India in the 1970s called the Chipko Andolan movement to save trees, which drew its inspiration for an earlier movement in 1730. [Publisher’s description.]

ISBN: 9781584300045 | Lee & Low Books

In rural northern India of the 1970’s, the brave women of the Chipko Andolan (“Hug the Tree”) movement became one with the trees. Atkins zooms in on one woman and her community, capturing a sense of place and the spirit behind actions. . . Richly textured writing and images offer an articulation of the lives and energy of the women of the Chipko Andolan and the land they inhabit. —Media Matters Magazine

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The Story of Stuff has been viewed millions of times by people throughout the world. There is a growing series of related films including the Story of Electronics, the Story of Bottled Water, the Story of Cosmetics, the Story of Broke, and more.

Watch

Here is a description of the Story of Stuff film from the website:

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Produced by Annie Leonard and Free Range Studios.

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Over five minutes long, the film explores the bottled water industry’s attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call to take back the tap, not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all.

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The production partners on the bottled water film include five leading sustainability groups: Corporate Accountability International, Environmental Working Group, Food & Water Watch, Pacific Institute, and the Polaris Institute.

View more films by Annie Leonard and Free Range Studios including:

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The dangers at Marsh Fork are manifold: a 2.8 billion-gallon lake of toxic coal slurry sits above the school, held back by an earthen dam; coal dust from a nearby coal processing plant coats the playground and sidewalks around the school; the community’s water is poisoned by mountaintop removal coal mining in the region and the “cleaning” of the coal in preparation for its shipment to coal-fired power plants; mountaintop removal explosions are nerve-jarring and put the earthen dam at continuous risk.

But On Coal River is not just an exposition of the problems associated with mountaintop removal: We learn about the breadth of the problems through the work of the activists who tenaciously challenge the coal industry. One of the “stars” of On Coal River is Judy Bonds, the passionate organizer who became one of the most outspoken mountaintop removal opponents; she died recently at age 58. The film is long and may be too slow for some classes. But in its attention to the details of one struggle in one small community, it tells a gigantic story.

Late in the film, it dawns on one of the community activists, Bo Webb, that “we’re on a mission to save the planet.” It’s no exaggeration. Struggles like On Coal River allow us to explore with students how local environmental justice work connects to the fight for planetary survival.

Trailer

Produced by Downriver Media.

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The juxtaposition of coal- mine-induced tragedy and the coal industry’s lesson plan propaganda makes for jarring reading. Coal mining “is a job for living people working in hell,” says the sister-in-law of a miner killed in a coal mine gas explosion. Meanwhile the coal industry curriculum manipulates students to see the world from the standpoint of owners. “Was making a profit easier or harder than expected?” the American Coal Foundation tells teachers to ask students in a lesson plan that uses chocolate chip cookies to simulate coal mining.

Coal Mountain Elementary is an odd but brilliant critique of curriculum that ignores the working people who produce all wealth. [Description from Rethinking Schools.]

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The novel is so beautifully written that the fact that Laneesha and her Mama Ya-Ya can see ghosts seems quite natural — and is an effective way of showing how the power of ancestors and history helped Ninth Ward residents survive.

It is also made crystal clear that the cause of the massive destruction was not the natural storm but the Army Corps of Engineer’s levees. (This point is also made in the documentary film The Big Uneasy by Harry Shearer of The Simpsons. While too long for classroom use, excerpts of the whistleblower from the Army Corps of Engineers can raise questions about public safety beyond New Orleans.)

After reading Ninth Ward, students will want to know more about New Orleans and will hope that Rhodes writes more young adult novels.

ISBN: 9780316043076 | Little Brown

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Heroes of the Environment features environmental activists taking on mountain-top removal, electronic waste, solar power, wetlands, and more. Written by Children’s Book Press founder Harriet Rohmer, Heroes of the Environment includes twelve activists of all ages in the United States and one in Mexico, including:

• Debby Tewa, Solar Electrician, Hopi Indian Reservation, Arizona
• Barry Guillot, Middle School Science Teacher, Destrehan, Louisiana
• Judy Bonds, Community Activist, Coal River Mountain Watch, Whitesville, West Virginia
• Erica Fernandez, Student and Environmental Activist, Oxnard, California
• Will Allen, Founder, Growing Power Community Food Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Sarah James, Spokesperson, Gwich’in Indian People of Alaska and Canada, Arctic Village, Alaska
• and more.

ISBN: 9780811867795 | Chronicle Books

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Goodell begins with the devastating impact of coal mining in Appalachia. He remembers when he first saw the impact of mountaintop removal mining: “It was like the first time you look into a slaughterhouse after you’ve spent a lifetime of eating hamburgers.”

The film travels to Mesquite, Nev., where residents are fighting a coal-fired plant, and also to China to explore the health impact of coal there — an important piece of the story not included in any of the other films reviewed here. The film’s strength is its exploration of alternatives to coal — wind, solar thermal, increased energy efficiency through recycling “waste heat” — which makes this a valuable resource for science as well as social studies classes.

The treatment of carbon dioxide sequestration may confuse students; the film simultaneously suggests that this is a terrible idea in North America but a good one in China. But, on the whole, Dirty Business is a fine and lively overview of a complicated issue.

By the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Trailer

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