This series was started because of interest from Caltech students about various aspects
relating to sustainability. To address this, we host monthly movie nights which cover
topics of interest. Let us know
if you have a topic of interest!
Movie nights are generally structured to begin with a brief summary of the issue. During this
time refreshments are provided. After 15-20 minutes, the movie is started. Participants are encouraged to stay
afterwards for further discussion
DamNation 7:00pm Mar. 24, SFL 328
This powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds, after decades without access. DamNation's majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature.
In this film, individual Cubans tell us how they responded to an artificially imposed "Peak Oil" in the 1990s, when the fall of the Soviet Union caused the loss of most food and oil imports. Their stories serve as a valuable model for a world facing Peak Oil on a global scale. Cuba's transition to a low-energy society is hopeful and instructive.
The film outlines the dire consequences of Cuba's energy crisis. Transportation halted. Electricity was available sporadically. Lacking substitutes for fossil-fuel-based farming, food production was devastated. The average Cuban lost 20 pounds.Morgan shows us the innovative responses of the Cuban people. We see city-dwellers planting urban gardens on every available plot, using permaculture and organic farming to reclaim soils destroyed by chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
We also see how Cuba coped with a sudden lack of energy for modern infrastructure. Without fuel for cars, Cubans walked, carpooled, and rode buses. They even massively adopted the bicycle, despite the prior absence of a cycling culture. We also see Cubans creatively reducing energy consumption in their homes and workplaces and implementing small-scale renewable energy projects.
The epic story of radical Earthship eco-architect Michael Reynolds, and his fight to build off-the-grid self-sufficient communities.
For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds has been advancing the art of Earthship Biotecture by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge. However, these experimental structures defy state standards and create conflict between Reynolds and the authorities. Frustrated by US politics, Reynolds finds the opportunity to continue building Earthships in the Philippines in communities devastated by tsunamis.
As Pasadena continues it's Level 1 water restrictions, come discuss water issues!
A short presentation on California water issues will precede the film.
The film covers numerous worldwide examples of people fighting for their basic right to water,
from court cases to violent revolutions to U.N. conventions to revised constitutions to local
protests at grade schools. A line is crossed as water becomes a commodity.
The Caltech Sustainability Film Series continues with "Gasland". Join us as we continue the discussion about natural gas and energy resource extraction. Professor Dave Rutledge will give an intro to the documentary at 6:10pm and will lead a discussion after the film.
"In May 2008 Josh Fox received a letter from a natural gas company offering to lease his family's land in Milanville, Pennsylvania for $100,000 to drill for gas. Fox set out to see how natural gas drilling is affecting communities in the west. He reaches out to scientists and policy experts and ultimately finds himself in the halls of Congress."
Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.
With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family's wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year's high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is.
Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.