Eco Documentaries

Some of these documentaries are available on Youtube for free and some you need to rent for $5.00. You can just Google on line.

Those higher on the list impacted me greatly.

Climate Change in Four Dimension- not an actual documentary but a class with top UCSD/Scripps climate professors through the free online MOOC Coursera

Time to Choose-   great photography. Covers lots of dimensions of climate.  An efficient way to learn about lots of topics if don’t have time to watch lots of documentaries.

Mother: Caring for 7 Billion- discusses overpopulation’s impact on climate and the environment.

Racing Extinction- Biodiversity crisis. Outstanding.

The Cove– killing of 25,000 dolphins a year in Japan exposed. As a result, currently, killing gone down to 6,000.  Also great in showing what very determined activists can accomplish.

Dirty Business- coal. mountain top removal

The Corporation- how corporations take on an identity that supercedes any individual and not for the better

Cross of the Moment-  expresses an urgent need to correct the ill effects of climate change and environmental degradation

Gasland – fracking

Revolution  – ocean problems. Climate impact on oceans. Deforestry affects on climate change. Activists attempt to change this.

Elemental- journey of 3 activists

The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil- when Cuba was cut off from oil, they starved for a few years then transitioned well to organic, local gardening.

Merchants of Doubt- intentional misleading of public about scientific issues like the impact of tobacco, flame retardants, climate change

General Orders No. 9- the change from urban to city life.

Inconvenient Truth- climate change science. Great movie for introduction to the topic. But most of us already know this.

Chasing Ice- Documenation of the decline in glaciers. Really beautiful

More Than Honey- impact of pesticides on bees

 

Eco-Books

Climate Change and Public Health: Edited by Patz. Great book! Great for messaging those that don’t want to hear about climate change from fossil fuel angle.

Half Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for LIfe  EO Wilson  Biodiversity issues and solutions

Reinventing Fire: Amory Lovins. AUthor is very well respected. You need indepth prior knowledge on many of these issues (green building, transmission lines, etc.) Great detailed book  but difficult for folks new to these areas.

Maybe One:  Bill McKibben. Addresses overpopulation. Fabulous book.

SIlent Spring Rachel Carson. FIrst book that made the connection between chemicals and nature but so overly detailed that you get the point after a while.

The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy by Lester Brown:  great summary of the rapid shift towards renewables. The figures go through 2014 so already dated a bit. I still like it because it is a one stop, well written summary. Hopeful.

The End of Western Civilization: great summary of the lack of political will to solve this problem even thought all the science was available.

Merchants of Doubt   Naomi Oreskes- how certain people and organizations have purposely mislead the public about climate change

Sixth Extinction- Elizabeth Kohlbert

World on teh Edge Lester Brown- overview of how to reverse global degradation. Very readable.

Collapse  Jared Diamond- documenting collapse of civilizations as a result of ignoring environmental signals

Storms of My Grandchildren- former NASA head James Hansen- really good but very technical

This Changes Everything Naomi Klein

Over-Dressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion Elizabeth Cline – the impacts of fast fashion/cheap clothing on worker’s wages and the environment.

 

Next Meeting

Houston Climate Forum
Saturday, January 27th 12:30 to 4
Keck Hall Rice University with 7 of the District 07 Congressional Candidates in a forum. Congressman Beto O'Rourke receiving an environmental award.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/houston-climate-forum-2018-tickets-41611344652
December 5th, different location. Our first guest is Joe Blanton, Science Specialist at The Shlenker School. Joe will be speaking about carbon and nitrogen cycles. Currenlty, Joe is responsible for teaching 178 K-5 students the wonders of physcial science, earth science and life science utilizing both the indoor classroom laboratory and the outdoor classroom backyard habitat. Prior to teaching at The Shlenker School, Joe was the Director of Adult Programs and Director of Conservation at the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, where he led the Conservation Team in the implementation of the Conservation Management Plan to protect and enhance the Arboretum's 155-acre grounds, 5 miles of trails and 14,000 sf building, as well as planning and developing the Arboretum's adult programs as a nature education and conservation organization. He also was a project manager at Urban Harvest, where he developed and managed 16 outdoor classrooms at HISD Elementary and Middle schools! Joe graduated from the Unviersity of Texas at Austin wiht a BS in Microbiology and Immunology, and he completed his MS in Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine.Our second guest is Alex Triantaphyllis. Alex T is running for Texas's 7th Congressional District and is currently the Director of Immigration and Economic Opportunity at BakerRipley (formerly Neighborhood Centers), NOVEMBER 14th at 7:00. DIFFERENT LOCATION: Sewall 305, in Sewall Hall at Rice University (1601 Rice Boulevard) Topic: Implications of Climate Change for the Southeast Texas Food Supply By many measures, temperatures have been increasing rapidly in Southeast Texas and high rainfall events have increased dramatically. Most produce found in markets comes from plants that cease growing at temperatures like 75, 85, or 95 and develop serious problems in soggy soils or with heat exacerbated drought. Only a few plants thrive above 95 F, and already August averages in some parts of our area are above that. Compounding this is an agribusiness system that depends heavily on fossil fuels and greenhouse gases to produce and deliver our food.
PAST MEETINGS
Tuesday, October 11th at 7:00 PM Eleanor Elbert from Michael Skelley's Clean Line Energy. Topic: wind energy/transmission
Tuesday, November 8th at 7:00 PM Election party
Tuesday, December 6th at 7:00 PM Joey Romano on community solar for those that can't or don't want to do rooftop solar.
Monday, February 13th 4108 University Blvd- Marcus Theobald Solar in Developing Countries James Cargas on his bid against Rep Culberson. Culberson, despite being lobbied extensively, does not support efforts to help with climate change.
Tuesday, March 14th Jerry Friedman- civil rights attorney speaking on your rights during rallies
Tuesday April 11th Batteries as Big Power- Utility Scale Battery Storage
Tuesday, May 9th Climate Change Health Impacts by Brett Perkison at the University of Texas Health Science Center in the department of Family Medicine.
Tuesday, July 11th Industrial Agriculture and Climate Change by Michael Battey of Vegan for Life and Laura Moser District 07 candidate
Lizzie Fletcher candidate District 07 Diallogue on climate change
October Roman Belotserkovskiy, perspectives on major trends in the Electric Power industry.

""We just happen to be alive at one of - if not the- hinge moments in human history." Bill McKibben

"The sheer momentum of physics is bearing down on us." Wen Stephenson

"I don't need to do anything because God, Bill McKibben, Bernie Sanders, the geo engineers, and the billionaires will save us from the impact of climate change." They will all help but I don't think it's very nice for others to look away while they do all the work and absorb all the pain of the work. :)

What is hard but imperative, if we are to have any chance of changing course, is to become, as Pope Francis describes it, “painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening in the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it.”

VISIT OUR 350.ORG HOUSTON FB PAGE FOR BREAKING CLIMATE NEWS

Different belief systems mediate the relationship between humanity and the natural world with profoundly different consequences in terms of the ecological footprint. "Planetary"