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Resources in Film and Online

Games, activities, books and films designed to inspire a greener lifestyle

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FILMS Environmental Film Festival
The 17th annual romp in Washington, D.C., takes place March 11–22, 2009. Last year’s event drew more than 24,000 people and featured 120 movies.
www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/home.php Earth Cinema Circle
This DVD club offers four films with an environmental theme every other month, shipped carbon-neutral and in recycled packaging.
www.eccfilms.com

TOOLS Water Smarts
You know your carbon footprint, but how about your water footprint? Find out how much water you use just to eat a roast beef sandwich every day for lunch.
www.waterfootprint.org

Offset the Dog
Discover ways to green your pets: how to keep ticks off naturally, where to find eco-friendly pet products and how to offset Fido’s carbon emissions.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/green-pets


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ONLINE GAMES Green Your Brain
See how much eco-trivia you know—and add some of your own for other players.
www.greenmybrain.com

Cool Pursuit
Race to turn off all the appliances left on by E. Mission, the arch nemesis of Snowy the snowman, as you try to keep mountain slopes covered with the white stuff.
www.keepwintercool.com.au

BOOKS Eco Connection
Eco Books, an online independent bookseller, specializes in books about ecology and the environment, covering everything from the politics of food production to simple living.
www.ecobooks.com

Transition to Sustainability
Consider some big ideas for how the world can build a sustainable future, presented in this free downloadable book from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
www.iucn.org/resources/publications/index.cfm

INSPIRE KIDS
Three children’s books have won the 2008 Green Earth Book Awards—the nation’s first prize for environmental stewardship in children’s literature.
Winners are:

  • Winston of Churchill: One Bear’s Battle against Global Warming by Jean Davies Okimoto (Sasquatch Books). Prize for children’s fiction. A fearless polar bear unites other bears to save their melting Arctic habitat.

  • The Light-Bearer’s Daughter by O. R. Melling (Amulet Books). Prize for young adult fiction. A girl embarks on a mystical mission in the name of environmental protection and world peace.

  • The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon (Scholastic). Prize for nonfiction. An Academy Award–winning producer provides tips to combat global warming.

Winners of the fifth annual awards will be announced in January 2009.
www.newtonmarascofoundation.org/index.cfm

ACTIVITIES Biking Around
A helpful list of links provides bike maps and other cycling resources throughout the U.S. and Canada.
www.transalt.org/files/resources/mapsother.html

Exhibit Earth
Climate Change: The Threat to Life and a New Energy Future is at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City through August 16, 2009, before traveling to ­Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.
www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange

Citizen Science
Amateur scientists can help researchers generate data across the country and can even start their own projects. Check out the list of nearly 100 activities, including the Fish Survey Project and Visibility Volunteers, who measure air quality. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology provides all you need to know at www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit. For budding botanists, beginning in early spring help scientists track when plants bud and flower to record the effects of climate change in the BudBurst program.
www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/budburst

Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Resources".

SA Special Editions Vol 18 Issue 5sThis article was published with the title “Resources” in SA Special Editions Vol. 18 No. 5s (), p. 87
doi:10.1038/scientificamericanearth1208-87

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