planted city

Thinking Globally: ‘Overview’ (Short Film)

From Vimeo:

On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.

More here.

It’s Gettin Hot in Here: ‘Chasing Ice’ (Official Trailer)

From Chasing Ice via YouTube:

In the spring of 2005, National Geographic photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change and a cynic about the nature of academic research. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.

Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.

As the debate polarizes America and the intensity of natural disasters ramps up globally, Balog finds himself at the end of his tether. Battling untested technology in subzero conditions, he comes face to face with his own mortality. It takes years for Balog to see the fruits of his labor. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Chasing Ice depicts a photographer trying to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.

Much more here. Definitely looking forward to watching this one!

Related:

• TED Talk: James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss (Video)
• ‘Arctic ice melt ‘like adding 20 years of CO2 emissions’ (BBC)

(Photo source: James Balog Photography)

Clean Energy Transition: ‘Switch’ (Documentary Trailer)

From Switch via Vimeo:

What will it really take, to go from the energy that built our world, to the energy that will shape our future?

SWITCH explores the world’s leading energy sites, from coal to solar, oil to biofuels, and gets straight answers from the international leaders driving energy today, to discover the path to our energy transition.

Embraced by fossil and renewable energy companies, environmental groups, academics and the general public alike, SWITCH is the first truly balanced energy film.

It’s part of the Switch Energy Project, a film, web and education effort designed to lead a balanced national energy conversation.

Thinking Sustainability: ‘Last Call: The Documentary’ (Trailer)

From Last Call:

Present system crisis, both environmental and economical, matches with the reference scenario outlined in the 1972 book “The Limits to Growth”, by a group of researchers of the MIT. Climate change, natural disasters, wars, natural resources reduction, economic and financial crisis, democracy and political, systems crisis, poverty, hunger and famines, over population… While these crisis are acknowledged by almost everybody there is a tendency to consider them separately. The Limits to Growth team’s approach, in 1972 and in 2012, shows that all these crisis are different parts of a single big problem… The documentary “Last Call” shows the urgency to listen to this message of warning, in order to pursue a new model of equity and sustainability, before it’s too late.

(Graphic source: PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency via Scientific American)

Urbanization: ‘Thinking Cities, Networked Society’

From Ericsson via YouTube: 

The documentary ‘Thinking Cities’ deals with one of the most dramatic societal trends happening today: urbanization. The world population is expected to soar to more than 9 billion people by 2050, with roughly 70 percent living in cities. At the same time, information communications technology (ICT) is extending its reach.

These parallel trends are intersecting at a time in which the world faces serious economic, environmental, and social challenges in achieving a more sustainable development. Thinking Cities explores the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in the Networked Society.

More here.

(‘The World at 7 Billion - Urbanization’ Infographic’: Reuters)

Sustainable Transportation: ‘How the Dutch Got Their Cycle Paths’

From Smart Planet:

The Netherlands is famous for many things — tulips, drug culture, the Hague — and its bicycle infrastructure should certainly be on that list. Its capital city, Amsterdam, is one of the top biking cities in Europe, with 600,000 bikes in a city of 750,000 people, many of the country’s roads have multiple bike-only lanes or paths, and policy requires that every shop have bicycle parking.

Many cities would like to install similar infrastructure to save money, protect cyclists, and encouraging the energy-efficient and healthful activity. But how did the Netherlands get there in the first place?

A short documentary, made by the Dutch Cycling embassy, highlights the history of Dutch cycling and is well worth a watch.

You’ll find more on the documentary here. If this is of interest you may also want to check out the New York Times article, ‘The Dutch Way - Bicycles and Bread’.

(Photo credit: The Guardian)

Sustainability on Film: ‘Surviving Progress’

From the National Film Board of Canada:

Surviving Progress is a stunning new feature documentary that connects the financial collapse, growing inequity, and the Wall Street oligarchy, with future technology, sustainability, and the fate of civilization. Inspired by Ronald Wright’s bestseller A Short History of Progress, filmmakers Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks dig deep into human nature and patterns of history to challenge and redefine the very idea of progress.

An Urban Planning Classic: William Whyte’s ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’

Atlantic Cities says that it’s:

Probably one of the most well-regarded films about urban planning is now available online in its entirety. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, a 1979 documentary by William H.  “Holly” Whyte, explores the successes and failures of public spaces in New York City. It was made as part of a research effort spearheaded by The Street Life Project in conjunction with the Municipal Art Society of New York.

Whyte had contributed to the city’s comprehensive plan in 1969, and became interested in how the city governed public space usage as a result. Through the film and an accompanying book, Whyte and his team chose a variety of public spaces like plazas, streetscapes, playgrounds, even entire neighborhoods like Harlem, and set about observing and recording how and why people use them.

Trailer: ‘Urbanized, a Documentary film by Gary Hustwit’

Urbanized is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call a city home by 2050. But while some cities are experiencing explosive growth, others are shrinking. The challenges of balancing housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development, and environmental policy are fast becoming universal concerns. Yet much of the dialogue on these issues is disconnected from the public domain.

Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanized frames a global discussion on the future of cities. 

Urbanized is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica and Objectified. 

Check out the film’s website for more information.

‘The Nature of Cities’

From Biophilic Cities:

The Nature of Cities is a one hour documentary about the projects and people in cities across the world who believe that, even as we become more urbanized, we must reclaim an essential piece of our humanness - our connection to the nature around us. Amazing projects in cities around the globe have already begun this task.

The Nature of Cities explores both the nature in our own backyards - Austin and San Diego and the possibilities in projects of cities of the future - Malmo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Freiburg, Amsterdam and Paris.

The film features sustainable communities professor Timothy Beatley as he tours these places with city planners, landscape architects, ecologists and residents. Commentary by Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods) and Dr. Stephen Kellert (Biophilic Design) provide the background for looking at the living possibilities of how we can be in an urban environment integrated with the nature around us.

You can read more about the film here.