Friday, July 4, 2008
Thought-Provoking, Environmental Films from Earth Cinema Circle
While Hollywood has started to show interest in films covering environmental issues such as An Inconvenient Truth and The 11th Hour, many small budget, independent green films are having a much more difficult time reaching their potential audiences. Until now, unless you were lucky enough to catch these films at a festival screening you are left with very few remaining options. This has all changed thanks to Earth Cinema Circle.
Earth Cinema Circle
Earth Cinema Circle is an inexpensive bi-monthly DVD club created in October of 2007 by Gay Hendricks and Rick Ridgeway. Every two months, Earth Cinema Circle sends their members a small collection of environmentally focused short and feature-length films. Film collections size varies from four to five films per DVD. While all environmentally focused the individual films cover a broad range of subject matter including conservation, wildlife and even eco-travel.
Seeing Global Warming
"Film as a medium has the power to communicate the environmental crises we all face emotionally - not just intellectually. Today, for example, I just saw timelapse photos - which become in essence film clips - of glaciers shrinking before your eyes. For the first time ever, you could see global warming. That's the power of film." states Rick Ridgeway, co-founder of Earth Cinema Circle.
According to Ed Begley, Jr, spokesperson and host of Earth Cinema Circle, "Films have influenced the popular culture for many years, often for the good and certainly sometimes to detriment." Earth Cinema Circle is a collection of films that have to potential to influence popular culture in a positive and environmentally conscious way.
The latest collection of films, Volume 2, features:
- A Life Among Whales - "Renowned whale biologist Dr. Roger Payne shares with us his passionate quest to understand and preserve the world's whale population in this beautiful documentary."
- How To Save The World - "One Man, One Cow, One Planet. Can one man and one cow save the earth? Is it possible that instead of developing higher tech solutions to our farming problems, that we might see better results through an arcane method called biodynamic farming?"
- Papiroflexia - "Watch while Fred reinvents the world around him. Wouldn't it be nice if we could dream up a healthy planet as easily as Fred can fold one?"
- The True Cost of Food - "In this humorous animated short, The Sierra Club wakes us up with the reality of what our food is really costing us."
One Percent for the Planet
Earth Cinema Circle goes further than boosting public awareness of important environmental issues, they also participate in One Percent for the Planet. In One Percent for the Planet, participants pledge to donate 1% of all sales to environmental efforts.
Understanding any issue is key to dealing with it and Earth Cinema Circle offers a refreshing way to visualize many important environmental concerns through film. The film like the ones presented by Earth Cinema Circle can offer new awareness and event inspire people into action.
Sam Greyhawk is an environmental evangelist working with Cool-N-Save(tm), an Energy Star Partner, to spread the message of reduce, reduce and recycle. The Cool-N-Save(tm), endorsed by Ed Begley, Jr., is an energy saving device for your existing air conditioner that has been scientifically proven to instantly lower your utility bill.
