EarthDay Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Earth Day was founded in 1970 with the goal of shaking up "the political establishment and [forcing] this issue onto the national agenda." The site for the Earth Day Network has many practical suggestions; start with the "footprint calculator" to see your impact on the planet.

In Theaters. Disney opened the G-rated documentary Earth today; its the first in a planned series from their new Disneynature label. Narrated by James Earl Jones, it's a condensed version of the 12-hour BBC mini-series Planet Earth, directed by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill. Critical reaction has been mostly positive: 76% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. And, as Elisabeth Rappe alerted us, Disney will plant a tree in your name if you buy a ticket to the movie via their web site between now and next Tuesday, April 28.

Online Viewing. We've already pointed to one option earlier today, Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa, which can be viewed at our site, thanks to SnagFilms. Other docs available for free streaming at SnagFilms include Greasy Rider, "a cross-country road trip powered by vegetable oil in a 1981 Mercedes-Benz," with appearances by Morgan Freeman and Yoko Ono, and Blind Spot, which explores the oil and energy crisis.

The latter two titles are offered by Cinetic Rights Management, which is also launching other eco-friendly flicks. The Green Chain, which covers the battle between loggers and environmentalists, is available for free at Dailymotion, Hulu, and YouTube, while The Unforeseen and Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home will be available for small fees at Amazon VOD. Cinetic's Matt Dentler contributed an article to The Huffington Post on the subject: "Documentaries have always been a source of education and activism, but in today's connected online climate, there are more tools and more power at one's finger tips."

In celebration of Earth Day 2009, our friends at SnagFilms have collected a series of 10 documentaries "that highlight the impact we all have on the environment, and the responsibilities we bear for the planet's future." If that sounds too high-minded for you, consider this: they're free! And, though I haven't seen all of them, the ones I have seen are quite entertaining, as well as educational.

For your viewing convenience, we've embedded one of them below. Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa introduces a group of people who have moved to an isolated, 15 square mile region in New Mexico known as "The Mesa." About 400 people live there, with names like Dreadie Jeff, Maine, Cowboy, and Gecko. One of them says, "We don't dial 9-1-1; we dial 3-5-7: .357 Magnum."

The film played a slew of festivals in 2007 and 2008, including the Portland Film Festival, where Cinematical's Eric D. Snider saw it. "Unfortunately, [the doc] starts by showing the most idiotic ones," he wrote. "Luckily, as Off the Grid (directed by Jeremy and Randy Stulberg) progresses, it introduces us to a greater diversity of people, and facts are revealed that cast the whole experiment in a more sympathetic light. ... The doc runs just 70 minutes, but it's packed with so many small insights into humanity that it probably didn't need to be any longer."

Please note: the doc is NSFW due to strong language and brief nudity.

Two new surveys released this week indicated that Americans couldn't care less about global warming at the moment, and while things are rough for everyone right now, we can't just blow the environment off like that. It's starting to get scary out there -- I live in Colorado's high country, in a climate that's generally akin to Moscow, and have been wearing t-shirts since mid-February. It's record breaking ... and not normal.

But Cinematical isn't really a place for me to preach on that kind of topic -- but I can tell you about a cool promo that Disney is running for their Earth documentary. If you buy a ticket for opening weekend (April 22), they'll plant a tree in your name. They're on sale now via Disney's official Earth site, where you can achieve a moment of Zen by watching the trailer.

Lest you think this is just cutesy Disney stuff, know that Earth was directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the duo behind the amazing Planet Earth documentary series. If you've never seen the footage they can capture, you're in for a treat and a learning experience.

So buy some tickets to Earth -- not only will it be money and time well spent at the theater, but you'll also help clean up our precious planet. Wall-E would thank you.