Video purchase information accompanies each entry; prices may vary.
1. The American Environment and Native-European Encounters
The Columbian Exchange, video, 60 min. $40.00 purchase. (From Columbus and the Age of Discovery series. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
Interchange of horses, cattle, corn, potatoes, and sugar cane between the Old and New Worlds and its impact on people of both worlds. Illustrates Alfred Crosby’s concepts in his 1972 book The Columbian Exchange. (1991)
“Confronting the Wilderness,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series Time-Life, No. 2 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
The Huron, Ottawa, and Cree Indians and the French in the Northeast. (1991)
A history of environmental transformation from the first agricultural settlements to the Industrial Revolution to agribusiness and widespread urbanization. The environmental impact of humans on the planet and perspectives on ecological stewardship for the twenty-first century. (1999)
The Environmental Revolution, video, 60 min. $39.95 purchase; $169 series. (From Race to Save the Planet series, No. 1, 1-800-LEARNER, The Annenberg/CPB Project, c/o Intellimation, P.O. Box 1922, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93116-1922)
Hosted by Meryl Streep and narrated by Roy Scheider. Broad history of environmental transformation from agriculture in the Middle East to the Industrial Revolution and Rachel Carson. (1990)
“Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World,” video, 58 min. $199 purchase, $75 rental. (New Day Films, 1-888-367-9154)
A compelling study of the Hopi that captures their deep spirituality and reveals their integration of art and daily life. (n.d.)
“Living on the Edge,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series, Time-Life, No. 6 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
Missionaries in the Southwest and their impact on Papago, Pima, and Apache peoples. (1991)
“The Story of Hawaii: Children of the Long Canoes,” video, 56 min. $19.95. (Island Heritage, 1-800-468-2800)
The history of the Hawaiian Islands from their discovery by Polynesians who sailed across uncharted waters in their “long canoes” to the Hawaii of the 1930s. (n.d.)
“The Sun Dagger,” video, 58 min. $30 purchase (Bullfrog Films, P.O. Box 149, Oley, Pa. 19547; 1-610-779-8226)
Explores the complex culture of the Anasazi Indians, who constructed the calendar and thrived both spiritually and materially in the harsh environment of Chaco Canyon a thousand years ago. Narrated by Robert Redford. (1983)
The Sword and the Cross, video, 60 min. (From Columbus and the Age of Discovery series. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
The Conquistadors and the Church and their effect on indigenous peoples. (1991)
2. The New England Wilderness Transformed
“New Found Land,” film, 52 min. (America series, narrated by Alistair Cooke) (Available from Documentary-Video, 28 west 44th St., Suite 2100, New York, N.Y. 10036; 1-800-526-4663)
Columbus’s 1492 voyage, routes of Spanish Conquistadors such as Coronado, French-Canadian hunters and trappers, and La Salle’s journey to the mouth of the Mississippi. (1973)
Plymouth Plantation, video, $29.95 purchase. (Teacher’s Video Co., 1-800-262-8837)
Life in seventeenth-century Plymouth Plantation as reconstructed and reenacted. (1989)
The Shape of the Land, film, 60 min. $37 rental (America by Design series) (#37644 Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
History and consequences of American efforts to control, shape, and alter the land and its rivers, marshes, and forests. Engineering feats of mining, dam, and waterway construction and efforts at preservation of wilderness and national parks. (1987)
3. The Tobacco and Cotton South
“Booker T. Washington: Life and Legacy,” video, 32 min. $19.95. (Harper’s Ferry Historical Association, P.O. Box 197, Harper’s Ferry, W. Va. 25425, 1-800-821-5206)
Details the life of Booker T. Washington and the founding of Tuskegee Institute. (1982)
“Colonial Naturalist: The Life and Work of Mark Catesby,” video, 55 min. $24.95 purchase. (Colonial Williamsburg, 1-804-220-7645)
In the 1700s, Mark Catsby led the way to documenting plant and animal life in America by observing the natural environment, making drawing, and sending plant specimens back to London. (1964)
“Conquering the Swamps,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series, No. 3 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
The Timuca, Seminole, and Calusa peoples meet Spanish in the Caribbean and Florida. (1991)
“Cotton Production,” video, 35 min. $79 purchase. (Visual Education Productions, 1-800-235-4146; fax: 1-800-243-6398)
Field trip to view West Texas cotton production, cotton gin, burr and seed removal, cleaning of cotton lint, baling of cotton, weaving and dying of cotton denim. (n.d.)
Dark Passages, video, 60 min. $69.95 purchase. (PBS videos)
The slave trade conducted in West Africa, narrated through interviews and dramatization. (1990)
“Family Across the Sea,” video, 56 min. $75 rental, $195 purchase (5 or more videos from California Newsreel are $99 each) (California Newsreel, 1-415-621-6196)
Uses the research of historians to demonstrate the efforts of African-Americans to maintain their ties with their African heritage. (1991)
“The Great Encounter,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series, Time-Life, No. 1 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
English in the Chesapeake Bay area and the Powhatan and Cherokee tribes. (1991)
“Homecoming,” video, 56 min., $75 rental, $195 purchase, 5 or more videos from California Newsreel are $99 each. (California Newsreel, 1-415-621-6196)
Explores the relationship between African-Americans and the land they have worked for centuries. Brings the story to the present. (1998)
“Longing to Learn,” video, 14 min. $13.95 purchase. (America’s National Parks, 470 Maryland Dr. Suite 2, Ft. Washington, Pa. 19034, 1-877-Nat-Park).
Based on Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery (1901). Washington’s own words are used to describe his boyhood years, spent as a slave on the Burroughs Plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. (1990)
“Lumber Production,” video, 35 min. $85 purchase. (Visual Education Productions, 1-800-235-4146; Fax: 1-800-243-6398)
Field trip to logging production in West Texas. Lumberjacks, shearers, sawhands, skidders, and loaders at Spurlock Logging. Debarking, soaking, peeling, and cutting logs and plywood production at Champion International Corporation in Camden Texas. (n.d.)
Roots of Resistance—A Story of the Underground Railroad, video, 60 min., $59.95 purchase. (From The American Experience series. PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-344-3337)
The secret passage traveled by black men and women out of American slavery. (1989)
“A Son of Africa: The Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano,” video, 28 min. $75 rental, $195 purchase (5 or more videos from California Newsreel are $99 each) (California Newsreel, 1-415-621-6196)
The powerful story of a black man’s capture into slavery and his struggle to free himself and fight the institution of slavery. (1996)
Where America Began, video, 60 min. $29.95 purchase. (Teacher’s Video Co., 1-800-262-8837)
Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. Historic sites and events that shaped life and times in the colonial Chesapeake. (1988)
4. Nature and the Market Economy
Hands to Work, Hearts to God, video, 60 min. $34.95 purchase. (Hancock Shaker Village, Hancock, Mass. 1-413-443-0188; 1-800-817-1137, x246)
Ken Burns portrays the life, work, and worship of the Shakers at the restored nineteenth-century Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts. (1985)
“Land,” video. 25 min. $90 purchase (Visual Education Productions, 1-800-235-4146) (Part 2 of America the Bountiful Collection—set of 6, $395.)
Land-development concerns of Thomas Jefferson and William Penn, religious attitudes toward agricultural experiments, rise of cotton and tobacco and the institutionalization of slavery. (n.d.)
Old Sturbridge Village, video, $19.95 purchase. (Old Sturbridge Village, Mass., 1-508-347-3362
Life and work in nineteenth-century Sturbridge Village as reconstructed and reenacted. (1989)
“Swords and Plowshares,” video, 26 min. $90 purchase (Part 3 of America the Bountiful Collection—set of 6, $395) (Visual Education Productions, 1-800-235-4146)
How strains of Indian corn made possible the formation of the mid-western corn belt. Work of agricultural experimenters Seaman A. Knapp, Perry G. Holden, and Henry Wallace. (n.d.)
“Talking with Thoreau,” video, 29 min. $79 purchase. (Humanities series, Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation, 1-800-554-9862)
Imagined conversations with Thoreau at Walden Pond as visited by David Brower, B. F. Skinner, Rosa Parks, and Elliott Richardson. (1975)
Thomas Jefferson, a biography by Ken Burns. 180 min. $29.98 purchase. (PBS videos, 1-800-344-3332)
The life and accomplishments of one of the country’s founding fathers. (1997)
“Torchlight,” video. 24 min. $90 purchase. (Part 4 of America the Bountiful Collection—set of 6, $395) (Visual Education Productions, 1-800-235-4146)
Growth of the transportation infrastructure, rise of commerce, and the agrarian revolt. Agricultural chaos following the Civil War and the work of George Washington Carver. (n.d.)
5. Western Frontiers: The Settlement of California and the Great Plains
“Across the Sea of Grass,” video, 58 min. (From: The Land of the Eagle series, Time-Life, No. 4 in series of 8 videos.) Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.
The Mandan, Sioux, Pawnee, and Kiowa of the Great Plains. (1991)
Alaska: A History in Five Parts, video, 90 min. $29.95 purchase. (Alaska Natural History Association, 750 West Second Ave, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska 99501-2167. 1-907-274-8440)
(Or, Portage Glacier Recreation Area, Boggs Visitor Center Bookstore: 1-907-783-2326, x105)
Part 1: “The Mists of Time” on the legends, lives, and cultures of Alaska’s earliest native peoples. Part 2: “Age of Discovery” on Russian America and the sea otter, known as “soft gold.” Part 3: “Folly or Fortune” on “Seward’s Folly.” Part 4: “Adventures of a Pioneer” on a sourdough’s recollections of the gold rush. Part 5: “The Silver Years” on the discovery of “black gold.” (1985)
Battle for the Great Plains, video, 60 min. $59.95 purchase.
Narrated by Jane Fonda. A penetrating look at the many sides of the fight over the future of the Great Plains. A National Audubon Society Special.
The Donner Party, video, 90 min. $19.98 purchase. (From The American Experience series. PBS videos, 1-800-344-3332)
The story of the men and women trapped for the winter of 1846 in the Sierra Nevadas of California after trying to take a shortcut to the valley below.
“Dakota Encounters,” video, 13 min. $99 purchase, $45 rental. (New Day Films, 1-888-367-9154)
Portrays the Dakota culture in the last days before European settlement. (n.d.)
“Ghost Dance,” video, 9 min. $99 purchase, $45 rental. (New Day Films, 1-888-367-9154)
The 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee is remembered through poetry, art, and the haunting beauty of the Dakota landscape. (n.d.)
Gold Fever, video, 60 min. $59.95 purchase. (From The American Experience. PBS series, 1-800-344-3332)
What drove men and women from around the world to California? What did they encounter along the way? When they arrived? (1997)
Gold Rush, video, 60 min. $19.95 purchase. (Boettcher/Trinklein Television, Inc., 635 S. 8th St. Pocatello, Idaho 83201)
Story of the nineteenth century quest for gold in frontier California. Historical documentary of the discovery of gold, westward journey, fortunes made and lost, frontier women, conflict of cultures, environmental destruction, birth of San Francisco, and the long-term impact. Narrated by John Lithgow. (1998)
Last Stand at Little Big Horn, video, 60 min. $24.98 purchase. Total Marketing Services
Looks at the conflict between the Sioux and the American settlers over western lands.
“Letters From America: The Life and Times of O.E. Rolvaag,” video, 30 min., $99 purchase, $55 rental. (New Day Films, 1-888-367-9154)
Immigrant author Ole Rolvaag captures the triumph and tragedy of American pioneering. (n.d.)
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, video, 240 min., $29.95 purchase. (PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-344-3337)
Drawing from the magnificent journals kept by the party and stories from Indian oral tradition, the film recreates the epic exploration of the Northwest by Meriweather Lewis and William Clark. (1997)
Lost in the Grand Canyon, video, 60 min. $59.95 purchase. (The American Experience series, 1-800-344-3332)
The story of John Wesley Powell’s epic exploration of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. (1999)
“Plow That Broke the Plains,” 16mm film, 25 min. $24 rental. (Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, #9204, 1-510-642-0460)
Documentary of the Great Plains from the defeat of the Indians to the Dust Bowl and the Depression of the 1930s. (1936)
“Paniolo O Hawai’i: Cowboys of the Far West,” video, $21 purchase. (Film-Works Ltd., 1-808-585-9005)
Shows the history of Hawaii’s paniolos (cowboys) and their culture in the cattle country of Hawaii. Narrated by Willie Nelson and others. (1997)
Romance and Reality: Yesterday’s World of Work. Set of four videos. $177 purchase for set of videos and guides. (Hawkhill Associates, 1-800-422-4295)
Includes “Romance of the Lumberjack” (17 min.), “Voices of the Great Lakes” (18 min.), “Iron Mines and Men” (18 min.), “Thar She Blows” (22 min.) (1995-96)
“Searching for Paradise,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series, Time-Life, No. 8 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
The Chumash, Miwok, and Yokut tribes of California and the Spanish impact. (1991)
Surviving the Dust Bowl, video, 60 min. $19.98. (The American Experience series, PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-344-3337)
A new look at the ecological disaster which coincided with and contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. (1998)
“T.R. Country,” video or film, 15 min. (National Park Service, Harper’s Ferry Historical Association, 304-535-6881)
Chronicles the development of Teddy Roosevelt’s environmental ethic as it developed during his visits to the Badlands of North Dakota. (n.d)
The West (directed by Ken Burns), set of 9 videos, 84 min. each, $149.98 purchase series. (PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-344-3337)
Each episode explores a different aspect of the West’s history: Native American heritage, the Gold Rush, slavery, and immigration. Also looks at current resource use issues. (1996)
Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, video, 90 min., $49.95 purchase. (The Way West series, PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-3447)
The westward expansion of American culture. (1994)
6. Urban Environments
“A Big Stink: City Sewer Systems,” video, 29 min. $10.25 rental, $99 purchase. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
Focusing on London, this film traces the history of urban efforts to manage sewage.
“The City and the Environment,” video, 23 min. $89.95 purchase. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
Focuses on three facets of the urban ecosystem: the underground infrastructure that enables a city to function; traffic and its management, and efforts to protect city trees from urban pollution. (n.d.)
“Frederick Law Olmsted and the Public Park in America,” video, 58 min. $39.95 purchase. (BuyIndies.com)
Explores the creation of New York City’s Central Park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and the emergence of the profession of landscape architecture through reenactment of Olmsted’s life. (1990)
Goin’ to Chicago, video, 71 min. $195 purchase, 5 or more videos from California Newsreel are $99 each. (California Newsreel, 1-415-621-6196)
The great migration of African Americans from the rural south to the cities of the North and West, from the poverty of sharecropping to better paying jobs in Chicago. (1994)
“The Growth of Towns and Cities,” video, 19 min. $75 rental, $129 purchase. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
This film looks at the problems caused by urbanization and industrialization. It also uses architectural evidence to trace local histories.
“Laid to Waste,” video, 52 min., $75 rental, $225 purchase. (Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
The West End of Chester, Pennsylvania, is bordered by a trash-to-steam incinerator, a sewage treatment plant, and a processing facility for hazardous medical waste. Its residents are largely African-American. An exploration of the environmental justice movement at the grassroots level. (1997)
“The Old Quabbin Valley: Politics and Conflict in Water Distribution,” video, 28 min. $24.95 purchase (Lawrence Hott, Florentine Films, Distributed by Direct Cinema Limited, 1-800-345-6748)
Traces the history of Boston’s water supply, the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir, the plan to divert the Connecticut River, and the east-west conflict in Massachusetts water policy.
“Taken for a Ride,” video, 52 min. $55 rental. (New Day Films, 1-201-652-6590)
This video argues that public transit declined in American cities because of the lobbying efforts of General Motors to dismantle streetcar lines. This was followed by a highway lobby in Washington that pushed through funding for construction of the nation’s interstates. (n.d.)
Water and the Dream of the Engineers, video (or film), 80 min. $125 video rental. (Cine Research Associates, 170 Garden St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138; 1-617-442-9756)
Four-part video (2 sections available separately). Part 1a, “Water for All,” documents the history of modern water and sewer systems; Part 1b, “Water Wars: California,” explores the social conflicts of water systems in California (available separately, 25 min. video rental $45); Part 2a, “Upstream-Downstream: New Orleans,” places one system’s struggle with chemical pollution in the context of history (available separately, 18 min. video rental $40); Part 2b, “The Sludge Dumpers,” shows how the modern use of old sewer systems poses a threat to the water environment.”
7. Conservation and Preservation
America’s National Parks, video, $34.95 purchase. 2 cassettes, 85 min. ea. (Encounter Video, Inc. Portland, Ore. 1-800-677-7607)
Vol. 1: America’s Adventurous and Majestic Parks; Vol. 2: America’s Historic and Scenic Parks. Includes legends of “the ancient ones,” the discoveries of traders and trappers, the trials of homesteaders and explorers, and the landscapes of the country’s 53 national parks. (1995)
Cadillac Desert, set of four videos, 60–90 min. $99.95. (PMI/Home Vision Select, 1-800-343-4727)
Based on Marc Reisner’s best-selling account of the use and misuse of water in the American West. Told in four segments: “Mullholland’s Dream,” “An American Nile,” “The Mercy of Nature,” and “Last Oasis.” (1997)
“The Cradle of Forestry in America,” video, 18 min. $11.95. (Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, 1-877-457-4023)
The story of the efforts to make the Biltmore Estate and the Pisgah Forest into a national showpiece of managed forests. Features the work of George W. Vanderbilt, Frederick Law Olmsted, Gifford Pinchot, and Carl Schenck. (n.d.)
The Forest Through the Trees: Battle for the Redwoods, video, 60 min., $45 purchase. (Green TV, 1125 Hayes St. San Francisco, Calif. 94147; 1-415-255-4797)
The struggle to preserve the ancient redwood forests of the West Coast. (1990)
Hoover Dam, video, 60 min. $19.98 purchase. (The American Experience series, PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-344-3337)
During the worst depression in American history, a group of engineers constructed one of the most spectacular and controversial dams in the world. (1997)
“John Muir: The Man, the Poet, the Legacy,” video, 50 min. $24.95 purchase (Panorama International Productions, P.O. Box 1255, Beverly Hills, Ca. 90213)
Follows the life of John Muir from his birth in Scotland to his campaign to save Hetch Hetchy Valley through images of the places in which he lived and worked, accompanied by narration. (n.d.)
“On the Edge: Nature’s Last Stand for Coast Redwoods,” video, 33 min. rental $50, Purchase $150. (Produced by James Daniels for the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the Sempervirens Fund. Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460).
Explores the attitudes and relationship of the California Indians to the redwoods, and shows how the Gold Rush and the ensuing growth of California resulted in the cutting of 95 percent of the redwoods by 1989. Traces the history of conservation efforts over the last century to protect the redwoods forests.
“Water Wars: The Battle of Mono Lake,” film, 39 min. $35 rental. (Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
Controversy over diversion of fresh water from California’s Mono Lake to Los Angeles and its impact on nesting birds. (1984)
Wild by Law: Bob Marshall, Aldo Leopold, and Howard Zahniser, video, 60 min. $34.95 purchase. (Produced by Lawrence Hott and Diane Garry of Florentine Films, Distributed by Direct Cinema Limited, 1-800-345-6748)
Dust Bowl, New Deal conservation, tourism, and wilderness issues from 1930–1964. Features Leopold and Zahniser’s sons and daughters as well as historians and activists such as William Cronon, Roderick Nash, Wallace Stegner, Max Oelschlaeger, Baird Callicott, Floyd Dominy, and David Brower.
The Wilderness Idea, video, 60 min. $34.95 purchase. (Florentine Films, Distributed by Direct Cinema Limited, 1-800-345-6748)
Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, and the battle over the Hetch Hetchy Valley of California (with Roderick Nash, William Cronon, Annette Kolodny, Michael Cohen, Stephen Fox, and others). (1989)
Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven, video, 60 min. $39.95 purchase. (Direct Cinema Limited, 1-800-345-6748)
Narrated by Robert Redford. Shows the history and conquest of Yosemite by the militia and the problems Yosemite faces today. (1989)
8. Indian Land Policy
“The First and Last Frontier,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series, Time-Life, No. 7 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
The Tlingit, Aleut, and Eskimo encounter Russian fur traders and Yankee whalers in Alaska. (1991)
Last Stand at Little Big Horn, video, 60 min. $29.95 (Teacher’s Video Co., 1-800-262-8837)
Views the conflict between Custer and Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse from both the settlers’ and the Sioux’s perspectives. (n.d.)
“Into the Shining Mountains,” video, 58 min. (From The Land of the Eagle series, Time-Life, No. 5 in series of 8 videos. Available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
From the days of the Ute, Shoshone, and Blackfeet to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. (1991)
Koyaanisqatsi (“Life Out of Balance”) Available from most video rental stores.
Images of pristine nature and the developed industrialized world against the continual refrain of “Koyaanisqatsi.” No additional dialog. (1975–82)
Make Prayers to the Raven, five 30-minute videos, $29.95 each, purchase; set $125 purchase. (University of Alaska KUAC TV, 1-907-474-7491)
Based on Richard Nelson’s book Make Prayers to the Raven, on the Koyukon of Interior Alaska, their subsistence way of life, and their environmental ethics. Narrated by Barry Lopez.
9. The Rise of Ecology
“Ecological Realities: Natural Laws at Work,” 14 min. video #37390, $40 rental; $150 purchase, or 16 mm film, #8174, $30 rental. (Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
Flow of energy from the sun to plants and animals, life cycle of a marsh food chain, regulation of prairie population species. Concept of the food pyramid and recycling of mineral nutrients. (1976)
“Ecosystems,” video, 34 min. $126 purchase. (Hawkhill Video, 1-800-422-4295)
Part 1, “From Nature Study to Ecology,” traces the naturalist tradition from Henry David Thoreau to the quantitative tradition of Eugene and Howard Odum. Part 2, “The Web of Life,” outlines concepts used by ecologists to study ecosystems today. Includes contributions of Darwin, Rachel Carson, and Aldo Leopold. (1999)
“The Gaia Hypothesis,” video, 25 min., $129 purchase, $75 rental. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
James Lovelock explains the development and evolution of his hypothesis, which considers the planet a self-regulating system of physical, chemical, and biological processes. (n.d.)
“Natural Resources,” video, 38 min. $126 purchase. (Hawkhill Video, 1-800-422-4295)
Part 1, “The Record of the Past,” shows how the concept of natural resources has changed over time, exemplified by whale oil and gold. Part 2, “The Promise of the Future,” looks at current limitations on the world’s resources. Includes the agricultural and industrial revolutions, acid rain, greenhouse effect, population, species extinction, fossil fuels and wind farms. (1999)
“A New England Pond,” video, 27 min. $86 purchase. (Hawkhill Video, 1-800-422-4295)
Uses a small New England pond to teach basic concepts in ecosystem science, such as food webs, abiotic-producer-consumer-decomposer cycles, pond succession, and acid rain. (1998)
“Principles of Ecology,” video, 23 min., $89.95 purchase. (Films for the Humanities and the Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
Explains the underlying themes of the science, as well as exploring the Gaia hypothesis. (n.d.)
10. The Era of Environmentalism
Alaska: The Last Frontier? video. (Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1-800-LEARNER)
While Alaska is perceived as this nation’s last great frontier, the region, in fact, faces continuing struggles between its indigenous people, the lovers of its wilderness, and those who wish to develop its natural resources.
“Ancient Forests,” video, 21 min. $50 rental; $150 purchase. (Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
The story of the Pacific Northwest’s threatened ecosystem. What do we stand to lose if we allow the logging of our last ancient forests? (1997)
“Do You Really Want to Live Like This?” video, $29.95 purchase. (From The Race to Save the Planet series, 1-800-LEARNER, The Annenberg/CPB Project, c/o Intellimation, P.O. Box 1922, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93116-1922)
The price of progress—smog, toxic wastes, and water pollution—as a product of Western industrialism. (1990)
Edward Abbey, A Voice in the Wilderness, video, 60 min. $18.96 purchase (Eric Temple Productions, P.O. Box 2284, South Burlington, Vt., 05407-2284)
A biographical account of Edward Abby, his philosophy, and his work on behalf of national parks in Utah and the canyon lands of the southwestern United States. (1993)
“The Ever-Normal Granary,” video, 24 min. $90 purchase (Part 5 of America the Bountiful Collection, set of 6, $395) (Visual Education Productions, 1-800-235-4146)
American agriculture in the 1930s, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl. Agricultural plans of Henry A. Wallace and FDR’s New Deal. (n.d.)
The Fight in the Fields, video and book. (Paradigm Productions, 1-800-903-7804)
Story of Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers of California in the 1960s through the 1980s.
“The Four Corners: A National Sacrifice Area?” video, 58 min. $25 rental; $49 purchase. (Bullfrog Films, 1-800-543-3764)
Producer Christopher McLeod documents the cultural and ecological impacts of coal stripmining, uranium mining, and oil shale development in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona—homeland of the Hopi and Navajo. (1983)
“Global Warming: Turning Up the Heat,” video, 46 min. $75 rental. (Bullfrog Films, 1-800-543-3764)
Examines how human activity has contributed to the trend in global warming. Guests include noted scientists and government officials.
In the Light of Reverence. Video, 73 min. $95 rental; $275 purchase. (Bulldog Films, P.O Box 149, Oley, Pa. 19547, 1-800-543-3764)
Produced by Christopher McLeod. A portrait of land-use conflicts over Native American sacred sites on public and private land around the West. (2001)
Now or Never, video, 60 min. $39.95 purchase; $169 series. (Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1-800-LEARNER)
Hosted by Meryl Streep and narrated by Roy Scheider, this video is the last in a series entitled Race to Save the Planet. Looks at the efforts of individuals who today are trying to make a difference in the fight to protect the environment. (1990)
Paul Ehrlich and The Population Bomb, video, 60 min. $149 purchase, $75 rental. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
Ehrlich set out thirty years ago to convince the world that the planet’s ecosystems would not be able to support unlimited population growth indefinitely. This film makes the same argument, using interviews with Ehrlich, and brings the viewer to the present.
“The Poisoned Dream: The Love Canal Nightmare,” video, 48 min., $89.95 purchase. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1-800-257-5126)
A “riveting exposé” of the efforts of three mothers to force the New York and federal governments to take action against the dangerously polluted community of Love Canal.
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, video, 60 min., $59.95 purchase. (The American Experience series, PBS videos, Alexandria, Va., 1-800-344-3337. Also available on interlibrary loan from The Valley Library, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.)
The story of Carson’s enduring classic and the controversy surrounding its publication. (1993)
“River,” video, 34 min., $28 rental. (#38084 Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
Classic documentary, produced in 1937 by the Farm Security Administration, about the exploitation and ruin of the Mississippi River basin through agricultural, industrial and urban expansion and subsequent efforts at reforestation and flood control via TVa. (1937)
Water Is for Fighting Over, video. (Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1-800-LEARNER)
The Truckee River Basin, which bridges the border between Nevada and California just north of Lake Tahoe, is the site of perpetual battle between the need for water and the desire to protect our scenic rivers.
“Waste Not, Want Not,” video, $29.95 purchase; $169 series. (From The Race to Save the Planet series, No. 8, 1-800-LEARNER, The Annenberg/CPB Project, c/o Intellimation, P.O. Box 1922, Santa Barbara, Calif., 93116-1922)
Hosted by Meryl Streep and narrated by Roy Scheider. Garbage barges, toxic dumping, landfills, and sewage pollution of coastal waters and alternatives to disposal such as source reduction and recycling. (1990)
“When the Rivers Run Dry,” video, 29 min. $150 purchase, $50 rental. (#37146, Center for Media and Independent Learning, University of California, Berkeley, 1-510-642-0460)
Explores the long-standing conflicts among Anglo, Hispanic, and Indian farmers for the limited water resources of the southwest. (1980)