PERMACULTURE TRIO: Forest Gardening, Edible Landscaping, Urban Permaculture

This is three short documentaries: 1) Robert Hart's Forest Garden- find out what forest gardening is, and how to make your own! 2) Edible Landscapes- an amazing study about Rural Permaculture in Britain, showcasing edible plants, aquaculture, flowers, and medicinal plants. 3) Urban Permaculture- techniques used effectively in an urban back garden. 48 mins. download here.

Waste = Food (the Cradle to Cradle design concept)

German chemist, Michael Braungart, and American designer-architect William McDonough are fundamentally changing the way we produce and build. If waste would become food for the biosphere or the technosphere (all the technical products we make), produc­tion and consumption could become beneficial for the planet. A design and production concept that they call Cradle to Cradle. A concept that is seen as the next industrial revolution. • Design every product in such a way that at the end of its lifecycle the component materials become a new resource. • Design buildings in such a way that they produce energy and become a friend to the environment. Large companies like Ford and Nike are working with McDonough and Braun­gart to change their production facilities and their products. They realize that economically seen waste is destruction of capital. You make something with no value. An amazing story that will change your way of thinking about production and consumption. 50 min. Source page here.

Biomimicry: Sustainable Design from Nature

In this inspiring talk about recent developments in biomimicry, Janine Benyus provides heartening examples of ways in which nature is already influencing the products and systems we build. Instead of bioengineering and the industrial method of "heat, beat & treat", the future of technology has been developed by billions of experts over billions of years of R&D. 23 mins. download here.

Bogotá : Building A Sustainable City

A look at how the mayor of Bogota, Columbia, fought strong opposition to create innovative alternatives to cars and freeways. By creating dedicated space for mass transit, bikes and pedestrians, the city has become revitalized. Another example from Latin America leading the way for solving urban problems.

The Arithmetic of Catastrophe

Professor emeritus of Physics Dr. Albert A. Bartlett gives a lecture entitled "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy". Posted on YouTube as “The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See”, Dr. Bartlett makes the case that “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”
We all have a blind spot for the impacts represented by seemingly small annual growth rates, particularly with regard to energy consumption and population. A 7% growth rate means doubling every 10 years. We are now approaching the limits of growth on this planet, yet we still praise the benefits of growth. Highly recommended. 80 min.
Video source here.