BIO 102: Prof. Tuaillon's Classes: Films

New York caterer Liz Neumark has parlayed supporting local organic farms into a 35 million dollar a year business. Neumark believes that promoting sustainable farming and reducing the carbon footprint of food is an idea whose time has come.

Over two decades ago, the original version of this program depicted the effects of wind, waves, and tides on the coastline of southeastern Massachusetts. Revised and updated for the 21st century, this edition takes a new look at the problem of erosion along America’s shores, emphasizing the impact of climate change and sea level rise on our coasts. Continuing its case study of Cape Cod and the surrounding region, the film shows how beaches and dunes are formed and migrate, shaped by wind, waves, and the movement of sand—all in the wider context of global warming and human development. Also included: a hard look at the future of America’s once-pristine marine settings.

The Hudson River, the catalyst for the conservation movement of the 19th century and the environmental movement of the 20th, remains a focus of conflicting desires and competing demands. In this Bill Moyers program, Robert Boyle, author of The Hudson River: A Natural and Unnatural History; Hudson Riverkeeper John Cronin; folksinger Pete Seeger, founder of the Clearwater Foundation; Franny Reese, chair emeritus of Scenic Hudson; GE’s apologist and former CEO Jack Welch; and others discuss both the long-running fight to rescue the Hudson from contamination and the far-reaching environmental legislation that has resulted from that struggle.

"In a little town in upstate New York, a close-knit family struggles over many decades to hold onto a small dairy farm. With extraordinary candor and heartbreaking intimacy, this poignant documentary brings to light the true story of an American family: their hopes and dreams, their triumphs over tragedy, the modern conflicts that divide them and the love that binds them together. At the center of this world, Langdon "Lanny" Ames, the fifth generation to work this land, stands proud. Yet Lanny is faced with an uncertain future when all of his children turn away from the family tradition to build new lives elsewhere. Featuring new footage never seen in theatres, this Collector’s edition DVD is a moving portrait of a vanishing way of life"--Container.

Darwin’s nightmare is an essential documentary on the perverse aspects of globalization. Enter the Nile Perch, a voracious predator implanted into Lake Victoria in Africa in the ’60’s which extinguished native fish species and multiplied so fast that its fillets are today exported worldwide - predominantly in exchange for the countless weapons used to wage war in the dark centre of the continent"

In 2009, filmmaker Josh Fox learned his land was on top of the Marcellus Shale, a giant reservoir of natural gas, and that he would be paid to lease his land for natural gas extraction. Fox documented his cross-country trek to find out if the controversial process of hydraulic fracking is actually safe. What he unearthed was a shocking discovery about a practice that is understudied and inadequately regulated, and he raced to find answers about fracking before it was too late.

Describes how the homeowners of what is now the Village of West Hampton Dunes came together to force the government to rebuild the beach and restore the barrier island after decades of erosion and government neglect.

The planet’s oceans are rapidly becoming the world’s trash dump. Every mile of ocean now contains an average of 74,000 pieces of plastic. A "plastic soup" of waste, killing hundreds of thousands of animals every year and as chemicals trickle slowly up the food chain. In California, conservationists are seeing increasing numbers of whales and dolphins die agonizing deaths. Their intestines blocked with plastics and other trash. In Holland, scientists researching the decline of the fulmar bird found plastic in the stomachs of 95% of all samples. In Germany, chemicals leached from plastic have been found to affect the reproductive systems of humans as well animals. What will be the long-term impact of this "plastic pollution?" Can anything be done to clean up our oceans?

"A moving tribute to Long Island’s rich agricultural heritage and call for preservation of farms, farmers and farming as a way of life on Long Island. A public service presentation of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society"--Container.