Survival of Spaceship Earth

The Cost of Cobalt

In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.

De l'eau dans le gasoil

A Land Betrayed

Produced by Alfred Higgins Productions with assistance from the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Academic Support Center Film Library, Keep America Beautiful, Inc., and Keep Los Angeles Beautiful, Inc., the 1963 short film A Land Betrayed examines the various ways people have spread the “cancer of ugliness” across America and offers call-to-action solutions to combat the nation-wide problem.

Toxic Soup

Something is bad wrong as everyday Americans fight to protect their air, water and blood from pollution.

Gasland

It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called "fracking"-and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.

Les Fantômes du Pétrole

Propaganda Message

A cartoon film about the whole heterogeneous mixture of Canada and Canadians, and the way the invisible adhesive called federalism makes it all cling together. That the dissenting voices are many is made amply evident, in English and French. But this animated message also shows that Canadians can laugh at themselves and work out their problems objectively.

Sur le Front des Océans

Overload: America's Toxic Love Story

Before starting a family, Soozie Eastman, daughter of an industrial chemical distributor, embarks on a journey to find out the levels of toxins in her body and explores if there is anything she or anyone else can do to change them. She has just learned that hundreds of synthetic toxins are now found in every baby born in America and the government and chemical corporations are doing little to protect citizens and consumers. With guidance from world-renowned physicians and environmental leaders, interviews with scientists and politicians, and stories of everyday Americans, Soozie uncovers how we got to be so overloaded with chemicals and if there is anything we can do to take control of our exposure.

Your Chance to Live: Pollution

A surrealistic look at the future if man does not learn to control pollution.

Why Plastic: Coca Cola/American Plastic

Whales beached after ingesting plastic, oceans soiled: a quarter of marine waste today comes from cans and plastic bottles. The drinks industry produces 470 billion single-use bottles each year, 25% of which come from Coca-Cola. Although the world's largest soft drink producer has set ambitious targets to prevent this environmental pollution, it has often failed to do so. In the 1950s, the company sold its drink exclusively in returnable glass bottles, which it washed and refilled. Two decades later, these were replaced by disposable bottles - a decision whose devastating effects still linger.

Sind wir bald zu viele?

An Imminent Threat

“An Imminent Threat” follows a fisherman activist, Yngve Larsen, who fights against oil and gas drilling activities in north of Norway. Will Yngve succeed in avoiding the extinction of many species of fish and thus irreversible damage to our planet?

Where the Water Goes

In Tacony Creek Park, home to one of Philadelphia's lesser-known watersheds, Julie Slavet and Malcolm Bundy reflect on their involvement with and love for the park, made bittersweet by the continuous and increasing amount of pollution that flows into its river. Combined wastewater and stormwater sewage outfalls have affected Philadelphia's rivers for years, but as one innovative program mitigates this for the Schuylkill and Delaware, Tacony gets left behind. Scientist Laura Toran educates the audience on green infrastructure and its potential positive impacts, while Slavet and Bundy discuss how they're still waiting—not without hope—for those impacts to reach their community.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.

Manufactured Landscapes

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

East of Walbrzych

Something in the Air

Something in the Air is a one hour documentary that shows new risks in the most essential element for survival – air – that affect our brains, our DNA, and how new technology is changing the equation for the better.

Aspen, 1970

A compilation of conferences/debates between renowned designers, environmental activists, and students on the concept of design. Held in Aspen, Colorado, USA.

Food for Profit

The film exposes the links between Agrifood and politics. With a pool of international experts it analyses the many problems related to factory farming: water pollution, migrants exploitation, biodiversity loss and antibiotic resistance.