Videos

ENDANGERED PLANET: THE ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF GROWTH

produced 1999.

In the past century, the natural world was assaulted by advancing technology. Cheaper fuel, bigger factories, more cars, pesticides - all promised rewards. And their byproducts were tolerated as the price of progress. For many however, evidence of industry's environmental toll emerged in the late 1950s - in Minamata, Japan where thousands were poisoned over many years by the outflow from a local aluminum factory. This was only one of the many environmental disasters to hit the headlines as the cost of mass industrialization was beginning to have its affect.

This documentary is an umbrella overview, a compelling history of the environmental movement, from the "awakening" of the environmental movement, the major incidents that caused this awakening - beginning with the Minimata poisoning in Japan, DDT in the U.S., to incidents in England, Switzerland, Bhopal India, Chernobyl, Love Canal, - and on.

This documentary stands as a primer for understanding the environmental concerns today. But even as the West adopts more earth-friendly environmental policies, the nations of the Third World continue to industrialize - and pressure to set high environmental priorities is sometimes rejected. Over time, it will become painfully clear that threats to the environment are threatening to all humanity.

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