Commissioned by the March 2012 Planet Under Pressure conference in London, Welcome to the Anthropocene takes a 3-minute journey through the last 250 years of human history — from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the Rio+20 Summit. The film charts the growth of humanity into a global force on an equivalent scale to major geological processes.
The video is part of a new webportal on the Anthropocene, now in beta.
In commemoration of one of the world’s horticultural wonders, we thought we’d step back in time to 1957, when an unusually mild Swiss winter and virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil led to a bumper crop of home-grown spaghetti.
Aired as a special report on the authoritative BBC program, Panorama, the 3-minute April Fool’s Day segment was viewed by millions in the UK, hundreds of whom phoned in afterward to learn how they could grow their own spaghetti...
In Dr. Nelson Mandela’s words, “I know of no political movement, no philosophy, and no ideology that does not agree with the peace parks concept as we see it going into fruition today. It is a concept that can be embraced by all. In a world beset by conflict and division, peace is one of the cornerstones of the future. Peace Parks are building blocks in this process, not only in our region, but potentially in the entire world.”
A Peace Park, or Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA)...
Last December, a camera crew from EcoHearth went to Wall Street in New York City and asked passersby, “Who is most responsible for the poor state of the environment: corporations, politicians or us as individuals?”
It’s a more interesting question than it might first appear.
There’s an obvious theme running through the responses, but what struck me was something the last gentleman said: “…we allow it.”
To accept that premise is to acknowledge a...
In this week’s Friday Night Movie, Dr. Paul Raskin shares his thoughts on achieving a sustainable, planetary civilization through what he calls a “great transition.”
Much as Copernicus opened our eyes to the fact that Earth was not the center of the universe, Raskin envisions a perceptual shift in which humankind recognizes that we are not the center of life on Earth, but players in an interconnected web.
Raskin’s positive, hopeful vision in which we rise to meet the...
