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Current Concerns Videos on issues in the news |
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Energy at the center of the Pentagon's concerns The article "The New Geopolitics of Energy" in The Nation highlights how the struggle over energy resources, rather than ideology or politics, has come to dominate the martial landscape and is now the world leaders' main concern. The film ENERGY WAR reveals precisely how the economic importance of fossil fuels affects international politics and becomes a powerful tool of foreign policy. Labels: energy, environment, politics, war Earth Day 2008 While "green" has become the latest marketing buzz word and Earth Day is celebrated again today, The Washington Post brings up the lack of real changes as US emissions are projected to rise over the next 2 decades. The Guardian environmental blog also raises the question of the relevance of Earth Day and how to prompt lasting lifestyle changes in the general public. Maybe the beginning of an answer can be found in another Guardian article about renewable energy and the Icelandic model. THE NUCLEAR COMEBACK is the latest Icarus Films release on environmental issues. In a world living in fear of climate change, the nuclear industry is now proposing itself as a solution. Legitimate proposition or preposterous claim? The film goes on a worldwide tour in search of answers, visiting some of the planet's most famous nuclear facilities, including the control room of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Labels: earth day, ecology, green living, nuclear power, renewable energy Beijing's Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest, has opened! The centerpiece of this summer's Olympics has been unveiled to the press yesterday as reported by Reuters via Yahoo.com. This project was developed by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron with the help of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. With a bit more than 100 days till the opening ceremony, finishing touches are being completed on the $450 million stadium. Icarus Films will release in the coming weeks the documentary BIRD'S NEST - HERZOG AND DE MEURON IN CHINA. The film chronicles the development of the Olympic stadium project, exposing complex and often difficult negotiations and communications between two cultures, two architectural traditions and two political systems. Labels: architecture, Beijing, china, olympics, stadium There's a pill for that! A Sunday comic strip gives a humorous look on the escalation of drug prescriptions, hence proving the issue is so wide-spread it has become part of our pop culture. SELLING SICKNESS offers a more serious look at the relationship between drugs and marketing and how the pharmaceutical industry has turned emotions and worries into ailments to treat. Labels: health, humour, marketing, medecine Shopping for DNA testing in SoHo The company Navigenics has opened a temporary store in the trendy and luxury brand-friendly SoHo neighborhood hoping to create awareness for their DNA analysis services, reports The New York Times. After parting with $2,500 and a bit of your saliva, you will get a full report on your risks of contracting one of 18 conditions such as cancer, heart attack or Alzheimer's. Navigenics is the latest company to jump into the new lucrative market of genetic testing for consumers. This new business model is at the heart of TRACKED DOWN BY OUR GENES. The film shows how the scientific breakthrough of DNA mapping is allowing us to trace our ancestors’ footprints, and in a new age of genetic awareness, is generating hundreds of companies offering tests to determine ancestry, paternity, and hereditary diseases. Labels: biology, ethics, health, science Two visionary architects in this month's Vanity Fair The current "Green Issue" of Vanity Fair magazine profiles two architects and their endeavors to build eco-friendly sustainable buildings and change the way design interacts with the environment. In the article "Industrial Revolution, Take Two", American architect William McDonough explains his "Cradle to Cradle" philosophy and the concept of "Waste=Food" leading to the idea of a new industrial revolution. "Natural Phenomenon" explores the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the greenest museum ever built and one of the latest projects by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano. The films WASTE=FOOD and RENZO PIANO are the ideal companions to these articles. Through interviews of William McDonough and German ecological chemist Michael Braungart, WASTE=FOOD explores the concept and ideas behind the ecologically inspired new industrial revolution, while as a revealing personal and professional portrait, RENZO PIANO follows three projects at different stages of progress and offers the architect's views on his craft. Labels: architecture, ecology, environment, sustainability Two Aspects of Dust in the News While the New York Times wonders if "Star's Dust May Hold Clue to New Planet", the Washington Post warns us on the danger of dust storms blowing around our planet. In both cases, dust is the subject of amazing discoveries by scientists. On one hand, a gap in the dust surrounding a star could bring a new understanding on how planets are formed, on the other hand, the dust circulating around earth could be the sign of a grim future. The film DUST examines the myriad forms and pathways of dust. It pursues dust to the places where it settles and meets the people who contend with it, including scientists-botanists, biologists, meteorologists, and astronomers. Labels: astronomy, environment, public health, scientific discovery And the Pursuit of Happiness... In its April issue, The New York Review of Books examines the latest (and numerous) books on happiness as well as articles and essays on the subject. In HOW HAPPY CAN YOU BE?, filmmaker Line Hatland, who admits to not being as happy as she'd like to be, seeks answers to this question by interviewing and showing the work of some of the world's leading researchers on happiness, or "objective well being," including psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and neuroscientists. Labels: anthropology, happiness, health, philosophy, psychology, science Questionable New Trends in Tourism On March 9th, 2008, an article in The New York Times titled "Slum Visits: Tourism or Voyeurism?" explored the new trend of "slum tours" in developing countries such as India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico. This latest offer for adventurous tourists raises questions of voyeurism, exploitation and ethics. Tour operators, however, believe they can create awareness and change people's attitudes towards poverty through these visits. They also claim to be sensitive to the situation and give back to the communities financially through donations, by employing locals and fostering entrepreneurial activities such as the creation and sale of souvenirs. CAN'T DO IT IN EUROPE portrays another tourism trend related to the desire for "more reality." The film follows a group of international tourists as they visit the mines in Potosi—the poorest city in the poorest nation in Latin America—where Bolivian miners work by hand, just as they did centuries ago, to extract silver from the earth. Labels: ethics, Latin America, poverty, tourism Monks’ Protest of Chinese Rule in Tibet Ends in Violence Luc Schaedler’s film, ANGRY MONK, examines the life and work of Gendun Choephel (1903-1951) a legendary figure in Tibet. Choephel was believed to be the reincarnation of a famous Buddhist lama but he eventually turned his back on monastic life and became a fierce critic of his country's religious conservatism, cultural isolationism and reactionary government. Labels: Asia, Buddhism, human rights, Tibet The film KNOCK OFF - REVENGE ON THE LOGO brings us a reflection on branding and globalization through its journey from up the world's longest shopping strip, Broadway. Drug Approved for Disease of Questionable Origins Fibromyalgia, a disease consisting of chronic, vague, and widespread pain, has been a controversial diagnosis. As reported in the New York Times on Monday, some doctors say that it is a response to an emotional disorder which should be treated as such while others claim that it is a legitimate physical disorder and that it should be treated with drugs such as Pfizer's Lyrica. Lyrica was approved by the FDA for treatment of fibromyalgia last November, despite objections about the severity of its side effects versus its benefits. Since then, sales of the drug have been steadily increasing. SELLING SICKNESS exposes the unhealthy relationship between society, medical science and the pharmaceutical industry as it promotes not just drugs but also the latest diseases that go with them. Labels: articles, disease, FDA, Pfizer Make it Right Project for New Construction in New Orleans' Ninth Ward As reported Monday, December 3 in the New York Times, Brad Pitt recently commissioned thirteen of the country's top architecture firms to design 150 affordable, "green" houses. The houses are to be built over the next two years to house residents displaced over two years ago by Hurricane Katrina. The project is called "Make it Right" and is taking donations from the public online, to be matched, up to $5 million each, by Brad Pitt and the philanthropist Steve Bing. The team to help with the redevelopment includes William McDonough, one of the two theorists who inspired WASTE = FOOD, a film about major corporations embracing sustainability. Another force involved in the project is Shigeru Ban Architects, whose cheif architect is profiled in SHIGERU BAN. Labels: architecture, articles, brad pitt, hurricane katrina, new orleans, shigeru ban, sustainability Humpback Whale Hunting to Resume in Japan For the first time since a 1963 moratorium on hunting the animals, the Japanese whaling fleet is soon to launch a large-scale whale-hunt. Although it is ostensibly for scientific purposes, environmental activists plan to track and impair the hunt. Chris Marker and Mario Ruspoli's THREE CHEERS FOR THE WHALE chronicled the history of mankind's relationship with the largest and most majestic of marine mammals, and graphically exposed their slaughter by the fishing industry in 1973, shortly after the moratorium was effected. Labels: activism, articles, Asia, Chris Marker, international relations, Japan Concerns Over Global Energy Production Levels As worldwide demand for oil increses and prices continue to increase accordingly, energy resources are increasingly being used for political leveraging. As reported in the Washington Post on Wednesday, November 14, as governments gain increasing revenues from oil drilling, they also gain increasing bargaining power with the private companies who drill for the oil. This often forces production at below capacity as the private companies simply cannot afford to pay the prices asked by the governments with control of oil producing countries. Because of the decreased production, it appears that within a few years, as energy demand from developing countries increases, the supply will no longer be able to meet demand or the high prices will have to dampen the demand. ENERGY WAR is a global investigation into the geopolitical dynamics of the world's oil supply. It explores how the governments which control most of the oil are wielding their power on the world stage. Labels: international relations, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, oil Calls for Burial of Lenin's Body Yahoo! News reports that a referendum is being called for to determine whether the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin, housed in a mausoleum in Red Square for more than 80 years, should be removed and buried. Since the fall of the Soviet government, top officials such as Vladimir Putin have been calling for consideration of whether the shrine to the Bolshevik revolutionary is appropriate. FOREVER LENIN focuses on the reasons behind and the process of embalming Lenin as well as the maintenance required for the body and budgetary problems plaguing it today. Labels: history, Putin, Russia College Paper Editor's Ethics Questioned Nationally After publishing a vulgar comment aimed at President Bush in an editorial column in The Rocky Mountain Collegian, the paper's editor in chief, J. David McSwane was called to a formal hearing. As a question of free speech versus a violation of the paper's code of ethics, the incident is bringing national attention, the controversy even being covered in the New York Times. A new documentary about a year of publishing one of the nations leading student newspapers, THE PAPER depicts challenges and issues facing college journalists from ethics to access to news sources. Labels: independent media, journalism Click here to go to our Web log for information on screenings, events, news and comments. |
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