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THE GREEN - COMPLETE LIST OF FILMS & SERIES


BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET, the seminal documentary series on Sundance Channel and one of the first programs developed for THE GREEN, continues to be on the forefront of the discovery and discussion of green design, innovation, and process. Each week, a different green theme comes into focus through the work of three specific forward-thinking innovators -- from scientists to product and fashion designers; from entrepreneurs to first-time inventors -- inspiring audiences to incorporate green thinking and practices into all facets of their daily lives. It asks audiences to imagine a world in which we eat, build, and raise our children green, but this season it expands its scope to address communities, animals, and art, as well as sports, music, and greener ways to relax.

Premieres August 5 8PM e/p


 

In each episode of this new, original series, host Josh Dorfman seeks out environmental skeptics who are experts in fields as diverse as fashion, food, architecture, business and design in order to persuade them that a green lifestyle can easily meet the demands of their professional and private lives. Operating on the theory that consumers should not settle for an expensive product or innovation of inferior design simply because it is environmentally-friendly, it is Josh’s mission to bring these experts ecologically-sound options that stand up to their very high standards and show them that living a green lifestyle can not only be done with little sacrifice, it can make their lives easier.

Premieres June 16 9PM e/p


 

ECO TRIP: THE REAL COST OF LIVING is an eight-part original series exploring the origins and environmental impact of common everyday products. Hosted by eco-adventurer David de Rothschild, whose far-flung travels have garnered international attention, the half-hour primetime program investigates iconic items from cotton t-shirts and paper napkins to salmon and cell phones, and follows their life cycle from production to disposal, revealing the environmental, social and health effects along the way. “Eco Trip: The Real Cost of Living” inspires and educates viewers on what they can do to live a greener life. Episodes are: Chocolate, Cotton T-Shirt, Gold Ring, Paper Napkin, Light Bulb, Bottled Water, Cellphone, Salmon.

Premieres April 21 9PM e/p


 

Following up the critical and popular success of her 2008 short film series about the sex lives of insects, Isabella Rossellini migrates from the land to the sea in GREEN PORNO 2. Like the first season of Green Porno, this batch of very short films about the reproductive habits of marine animals is scientifically accurate yet extremely entertaining. Executed with a handmade aesthetic, the Green Porno films are a playful mixture of real world and cartoon. Each film features Isabella speaking directly to the camera about the subject at hand, be it the broad topic of mating strategies or the peculiarities of barnacle procreation. Produced by Isabella Rossellini, Jody Shapiro and Rick Gilbert.

Watch Online Starting April 1


 

CARBON COPS follows six families as they are led through a fascinating step-by-step process of auditing their current use of energy in order to lessen their carbon footprint and the effects of global warming on the planet. Each episode of the six part series follows Carbon Cops Lish Fejer and Sean Fitzgerald as they challenge a household to reduce their domestic carbon emissions by 50%. In a manner that is refreshingly down to earth, Fejer and Fitzgerald blend science and the environment in simple and practical terms that are easily understandable, as they walk each family through the process of conserving energy and changing habits.

Premieres April 21 9:30 PM e/p


 

Appeared at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
From South Africa and India to Bolivia and Michigan, Irena Salina's award-winning documentary presents a "galvanizing ... informed and heartfelt investigation" New York Times into the growing world water crisis. In the developing world, corporate interests and complicit governments have made drinkable water - previously a free natural resource - into the world's third-largest industry. Meanwhile, in the United States, bottled water is alarmingly unregulated and tap water may contain pollutants - even rocket fuel! "Smartly done" - L.A. Times.

Premieres April 21 10PM e/p


 

Filmmaker Ian Connacher conducts an international odyssey revealing the disturbing long-term effects of the most ubiquitous and versatile material ever invented. From water bottles and Styrofoam cups to toothbrushes and garbage bags, in less than a century the pervasive presence of plastics has marked every ecosystem and all aspects of human activity. Visually compelling, entertaining and thought provoking, ADDICTED TO PLASTIC is both a wake-up call and an inspiring consideration of possible recycling or down-cycling solutions.

Premieres April 28 10PM


 

Offering a rare glimpse of scientists at work under extreme physical conditions, ICE PEOPLE visits some intrepid geologists in Antarctica in search of evidence of a million-year-old alpine lake ecosystem. Filmmaker Anne Aghion and her cameras witness the breathtaking natural beauty as the six-month Antarctic night subsides; document the geologists' tedious and difficult field work; and capture the strained interpersonal dynamics between the few academics and the much larger support staff at the famed American-run McMurdo research station.

Premieres May 5


 

Robert Redford narrates this inspiring short film recounting how an unlikely coalition of citizens --mayors of major cities, ranchers, CEOs and community activists --thwarted construction plans for a series of conventional coal-fired power plants fast-tracked by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Conceived to inspire others into similar action, FIGHTING GOLIATH serves as an energizing example of what can happen when people concerned about our future, land and resources take personal responsibility and get results. Mat Hames and George Sledge direct.

Premieres May 12


 

German filmmaker Doris Dorrie serves up a playful and insightful documentary about Zen, baking, affluence and waste as she profiles Buddhist teacher and best-selling cookbook author Edward Espe Brown (The Tassajara Bread Book). For Brown, cooking and serving food is all about using the body and savoring the senses; baking and meditation are intimately related as both require being fully aware of what is happening. A mischievous, "jaunty [and] refreshingly straightforward" New York Times cinematic cooking class packed with ideas.

Premieres May 19


 

West Virginia provides coal to produce electricity for half the nation. Ironically, while preserving jobs, coal mining disfigures mountainsides, destroys plant and animal species and spreads toxic groundwater. Yet so effective is the coal industry's public relations campaign promoting "clean coal" that these long-term environmental disasters remain largely unreported. In response, documentary filmmaker David Novack provides an impassioned, harsh exposé of big coal. "As upsetting as it is informative" - New York Times.

Premieres May 26


 

With carbon-based fuels becoming more expensive and the world witnessing increasing evidence of global warming, many are now calling a nuclear energy renaissance the only clean alternative. New Zealand filmmaker Justin Pemberton, whose country has never housed a nuclear power plant, conducts a worldwide investigation of the pros and cons of going nuclear. Searching for answers, Pemberton was granted rare access to power plants and a uranium mine, and visits England's notorious Sellafield and Chernobyl in the Ukraine.

Premieres June 2


 

Documentary filmmaker James Jandak Wood, a former CEO and founder of two software companies, presents a provocative and award-winning exploration of humanity's dependence on fossil fuels and the future of the planet. Hoping to promote a positive change regarding energy consumption, CRUDE IMPACT looks at peak oil - the point when worldwide petroleum supplies begin a steady decline - and how energy consumption by industrial nations severely affects indigenous cultures, diverse species and the global climate. With Amy Goodman and Thom Hartmann.

Premieres June 9


 

Appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Narrowing her focus to one spot on the planet - Austin, Texas, and a local community reservoir - documentary filmmaker Laura Dunn presents an engrossing and resonant story about the environmental consequences of real estate development and sprawl. In a "gripping narrative of political resistance" (Film Comment), THE UNFORESEEN delivers an engrossing account of one community's struggle to preserve a portion of the vanishing American landscape. This unusually poetic and lyrical documentary won a Truer than Fiction Independent Spirit Award.

Premieres June 16


 

For more than 35 years, maverick architect Michael Reynolds has been passionately creating self-sustaining buildings from simple natural materials and the detritus of consumer society: tires, beer cans, glass and plastic bottles. These off-the-grid “earthships” utilize simple natural phenomena — gravity, radiation, convection — and have no sewage pipes, water pipes or electricity lines. Filmmaker Oliver Hodge profiles a true visionary and his battles to overturn the inflexible zoning and housing laws that endangered his creations.

Premieres June 23


 

Documentary filmmaker Ian Cheney tells the unlikely story of Boston's first residential "green" building and how it united a tight-knit community. With its sloping grass roof and recycled materials, The Macallen Building seemed an odd addition to South Boston - "Southie" - a traditionally working-class neighborhood. Yet The Macallen not only won high marks for its sustainable design ideas and offered its diverse residents luxury features, its creation also spurred construction workers and environmentalists to think about the city of the future.

Premieres June 30


 

Appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Mixing humor with urgency, documentarians Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand (BLUE VINYL) profile the small group of global warming messengers who continue to prod a largely apathetic public into political activism. Looking for the perfect image or most effective language, these modern-day Paul Reveres -- including author Bill McKibben (The End of Nature) and Pulitzer-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan -- worry that time is running out. Meanwhile, corporate spinmeisters and recalcitrant politicians continue to obscure scientists' warnings.

Premieres July 7


 

What if an average North American household was compelled to account for their personal garbage? Spurred by the belief that revolutions start at home, filmmaker Andrew Nisker persuaded Glen and Michele MacDonald, parents of three growing children, to measure their garbage output by retaining the family's refuse for three months. While the MacDonald's garage fills up with waste bags, foul odors and maggots, Nisker provides illuminating reporting revealing what actually happens to refuse after it disappears into a garbage truck.

Premieres July 21


 

The melting of Arctic polar ice has led to an unexpected and radical geographic development: the emergence of a Northwest Passage, a strategic maritime route between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Industrialized nations are keen to exploit the commercial possibilities of this shipping highway, which courses through a vulnerable, biologically unique region. Yves Billy's French documentary explores the critical issues to be resolved by a handful of powerful countries as they weigh economic potential against environmental consequences.

Premieres July 28


 

Appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
What does it take to fall under suspicion as a terrorist in contemporary America? Experimental filmmaker and artist Lynn Hershman Leeson (CONCEIVING ADA) tells the disturbing Kafkaesque story of Steve Kurtz, a conceptual artist/college professor who was suspected of bioterrorism after FBI agents found harmless microbes in his house. Breaking from documentary convention, Hershman Leeson uses comic strips and actors (Tilda Swinton, Thomas Jay Ryan and Peter Coyote) to tell the tale. "A scary testament to the power of fear" -- Seattle Times.

Premieres August 4


 

Appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal considers the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky and presents a mesmerizing meditation on man's troubled relationship with his planet. Burtynsky, who calls his photos "reflecting pools of our times," specializes in images depicting nature literally transformed by industry - from massive factories and refineries to dead-end destinations where old computers and aging oil tankers are harvested for raw materials. "An extraordinary, haunting, beautiful, insightful, touching and thought-provoking movie" - Al Gore.

Premieres August 25