Good Views: 10 Videos About Global Warming

by Emily Gertz

Published October 05, 2008 @ 02:42PM PST

Looking for an enviro-visual fix?  Spend some time with one of these choice online videos about global warming.

1. Frontline: Hot Politics

Written and produced by Peter Bull

Reported by Deborah Amos

Frontline's Deborah Amos delves into the decisions made on global warming over 16 years, and 3 presidential administrations -- choices that created and perpetuated U.S. government inaction on one of the biggest environmental threats we've ever faced.  Amos details how the energy industry financed an aggressive disinformation campaign to promote skepticism about global warming that ran counter to the scientific facts, but stalled public discussion and political action.  She also covers suppression of science, and scientists, by the Bush administration.  You can watch the entire show online at PBS.org; here's a preview:

2. Frontline: Heat

Producer: Martin Smith

Set to premiere online and on public television stations across the country, this report will explore how big business is shifting from suppressing discussion of global warming to planning more pragmatically for the future. Per PBS: "With the election looming, Frontline producer Martin Smith investigates what some businesses are doing to fend off new regulations and how others are repositioning themselves to prosper in a radically changed world." Here's a preview:

3. TED Talks: James Howard Kunstler on "the tragedy of suburbia"

I don't subscribe wholly to Howard Kunstler's end-of-the-oil-era doomsday scenarios.  That said, I think he's spot on when he indicts America's post-war sprawl as unsustainable, and (more arguably) socially destructive.  Here Kunstler speaks about creating "places worth caring about" -- designing our cities and towns to support vibrant civic life, the common good, a healthy balance with the environment, and "dwelling in the hopeful present."  He's a passionate and funny presenter.

4.

O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference: Energy Literacy

Inventor Saul Griffith puts a rational spin on the politically charged energy debate.  He presents real information on how to improve our "energy literacy": knowing how much energy we use, and what's involved in keeping that power coming.  Griffith also goes into the actual potential of different energy technologies -- and the role of energy conservation -- to help create cleaner power now and in the future.

5.

Global Warming: What Can I Do?

Directed by Mandy Moran

Most of us can get by with a lot less than we currently consume -- but we still need some stuff. And while over-consumption is part of what's gotten us to this environmentally precarious point, being admonished by well-meaning greenies isn't going to solve anything, either.  Enter the adorable hipsters in this video. Each demonstrates how they have made one change in consumer behavior to do something about global warming.  I like this well-produced short for its modesty and optimism.  And the snacky half-naked guy in the shower is a bonus.

6.

TED Talks: Amy Smith: Simple designs that could save millions of lives

Mass. Institute of Technology mechanical engineer Amy Smith has a practical approach to solving desperate problems in impoverished communities worldwide: Invent cheap, low-tech devices, using local resources, so communities can reproduce her efforts and ultimately help themselves. Here she describes a simple and effective method she and her students devised that enables rural Haitians to make charcoal from commonly available agricultural wastes -- and an alternative to burning wood from the country's scant remaining forest.  " This new charcoal source can save lives in Haiti, where thousands die annually from massive flooding associated with the country's almost total deforestation," wrote Wired magazine, which called Smith "a MacGyver for the Third World."  These kinds of inexpensive and ingenious solutions will be vital for adapting to the climactic changes that are already in motion -- especially for the world's poorest people, who will likely bear the brunt of global warming impacts.

7.

Polar

Directed and produced by Scott Nyerges

You will love Polar or hate it. Director Scott Nyerges created this non-narrative, silent short (chosen for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival's "Environmental Rupture" short films program) with handpainted 35mm film strips and digital video. Per the TFF's program notes, "Polar presents apocalyptic inner visions of the polar ice caps' demise, using the Arctic as metaphor for a body out of balance. Fissures emerge. Mass transforms. The sea falls into itself."  This is the only visual work so far that I know of that explores the emotional territory of global warming.  Some stills:

8. & 9.

The Daily Show, June 25, 2008: Be Patient This Gets Amazing - EPA E-mail

The Colbert Report, September 30, 2008: Prescott Oil Loves the Earth

It's hard to find the funny in global warming -- but if I didn't laugh, I'd cry.  So, I'm all the more grateful when the satire geniuses at The Daily Show and The Colbert Report take aim at environmental politics, skewering mendacious big business spokesflacks, the government's infuriating negligence, and even the occasional earnest environmentalist.  These are a couple of my favorites -- they crack me up, and make sharp observations that both broadcast and cable tv news usually avoid.

10.

After the Warming

The date: January 1, 2050. "Remember hamburgers?", James Burke asks the camera. "Traffic jams?  Log fires in winter, and a place called Miami?  That world has disappeared so fast."  This 1989 program by Connections host Burke anticipates how we will adapt to anthropogenic global warming in the first 50 years of the 21st century.  Burke does this in part by examining how different past civilizations around the world were affected by relatively abrupt (though largely natural) climate changes that forced them to adapt or die off. The occasional anachronism betrays the program's 1980's roots, such as Burke's "Konichiwa!" greeting to the audience. (Were it made today, he'd probably say "Ni hao!") Still, After the Warming may well be most relevant science program ever produced on global warming.