Open-Access Multimedia Resources

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Global Weirding” by Katharine Hayhoe, PBS Digital Studios.

Description: A wide range of videos explaining all aspects of climate change.

Mount Sustainability” interview with Ray Anderson, Watchmojo.com, October 8, 2009 (3 min).

Description: Perhaps the best example of a firm that has comprehensively attempted to integrate a lifecycle approach throughout operations is the carpet manufacturer Interface, whose inspirational founder and CEO, the late Ray Anderson, explained his journey in terms of the seven (+1) faces of Mount Sustainability: 1. Waste. 2. Emissions. 3. Energy. 4. Materials. 5. Transportation. 6. Culture. 7. Market. 8. Social equity.

Story of Bottled Water,” The Story of Stuff Project, March 22, 2010 (8 min).

Description: “‘The Story of Bottled Water’, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day), employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand--how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows virtually free from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industry’s attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call for viewers to make a personal commitment to avoid bottled water and support public investment in clean, available tap water for all.”

The Story of Cap & Trade,” The Story of Stuff Project, December 2009 (10 min).

Description: “‘The Story of Cap & Trade,’ released in December 2009, is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution discussed at the Copenhagen 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the ‘devils in the details’ in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about Cap & Trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the movie for you.”

Cleaning Up the Plastic in the Ocean,” CBS 60 Minutes, December 16, 2018.

Description: A look at an innovative attempt to clean up the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”

Plastic China” by Jiu-Liang Wang, CNEX Studio Corporation, 2017 (trailer, 3 min).

Description: This documentary provides a dramatic sense of how important China was to the global supply chain of recycled materials. The official trailer and clips from the documentary are available on the website.

The True Cost of Fast Fashion,” The Economist, November 29, 2018 (7 min).

Description: An analysis by The Economist of waste in the fashion industry, in general, and as a result of “fast fashion,” in particular.

Eliminating the Idea of Waste” by Tom Szaky (founder and CEO of TerraCycle), presentation at Chicago Ideas Week, March 7, 2013 (13 min).

Description: This video provides an overview of the scope of TerraCycle’s work in the recycling industry and an indication of why its business model is successful.

The Story of Electronics,” The Story of Stuff Project, November 2011 (8 min).

Description: “The Story of Electronics, released in November 2011, employs the Story of Stuff style to explore the high-tech revolution’s collateral damage--25 million tons of e-waste and counting, poisoned workers and a public left holding the bill. Host Annie Leonard takes viewers from the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the horrific backyard recycling shops in China where many end up. The film concludes with a call for a green ‘race to the top’ where designers compete to make long-lasting, toxic-free products that are fully and easily recyclable.”

E-waste: Cleaning Up the World’s Fastest-Growing Trash Problem,” World Economic Forum, August 30, 2018 (8.5 min).

Description: “E-waste is now the world’s fastest-growing waste stream. Indeed, we generated the equivalent of 4,500 Eiffel Towers of electronic waste in a single year. And yet just 20% of gets collected and recycled. Where does it all go?”