List of Documentaries

My students are always asking about where to find more information. As busy students, they often do not have the time or energy to read more books. Here is a list of documentary movies I consider "must-see" films but could also be great holiday gifts. If I missed some, I would love to hear your suggestions.

Who Killed the Electric Car?
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

An Inconvenient Truth
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Why We Fight
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

The Future of Food
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

The End of Suburbia
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

The Corporation
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Antonio Gaudi
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Soylent Green
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Goff in the Desert
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

The Yes Men
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Blue Vinyl
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

My Architect: A Son's Journey
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Rivers and Tides
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Frank Lloyd Wright
RENT on Netflix
BUY on Amazon

Green Building Directories

There are several great directories available of green materials and green professionals. I am involved with several:

(DISCLOSURE: I am on the Advisory Boards of both of these...)
GreenHomeGuide
Greenopia
and included in:
Green Zebra San Francisco

There is another new one on the market now. It just launched this week. Green Building Blocks seeks to list green professionals and connect us with the materials, products and appliances we use. It is an interesting model.

As a professional, I obviously want to be included in as many directories as available. These four all take different approaches and all are interesting and well done.

organicARCHITECT on Green Building Blocks
Green Building Blocks Home

Google's Solar System

That example of how a huge multinational corporation SHOULD be run, Google, is beginning installation of 1.6 megawatt solar photovoltaic system at their Mountain View campus.

This project will be the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the U.S., if not the world. The panels will cover the roofs of the main buildings of the Googleplex.

The amount of electricity that will be generated is equivalent to powering about 1,000 average California homes, offsetting approximately 30% of their electricity consumption.

More here

"Design is the first signal of human intention..."

"Design is the first signal of human intention..."
- William McDonough

Fortune Magazine asked Bill McDonough to design the skyscraper of the future. This video talks a little about the design (though it doesn't show it to us.)

Environment: not a Democratic issue

Whenever I am outside of San Francisco, I often have to remind myself to not be so vocal about my more liberal opinions. After all, we are quite spoiled here in the "bastion of liberalism" as many have called it. I was booed once when giving a lecture and forgetting my location, both cultural and geographic, assuming everyone in the audience shared my distaste for the current administration.

But when it comes to the environment, I am even more particular to avoid any connection with politics. The worst thing one could do for the environmental movement would be to try to attach it to a specific political party. As RFK. Jr. says, "There are no Republican children or Democratic children."

The environment MUST be seen as the only truly bi-partisan issue. It is not just in the domain of the Democrats, but should be the concern of everyone. Why else would the Republicans call themselves Conservatives if they are not conserving our planet.

So now, post election, we can start to see how the Republicans should no longer ignore the environment. Just ask Republican Rep. Richard Pombo of California whose openly hostile approach to the environment cost him is seven term seat in the House. Maybe if he wasn't chairman of the House Resources Committee, which writes environmental laws, it would not have been such a big deal.

Perhaps surprises like this will show all politicians how protecting our environmental future is the responsibility of ALL government.

Full Story

Edgar Tafel: Organic Architect

An old friend and mentor, Edgar Tafel, spoke recently at Cornel. A review of his talk is below. Based in New York, Edgar also wrote one of the best accounts of Mr, Wright entitled Apprentice to Genius.

Tafel touched on Wright’s distinct style, called organic architecture, which involves a harmonious consistency between his buildings and their natural environments - one that “proceeds, persists and creates according to the nature of man and his circumstances,” as Wright himself once described. Through the images featured in Tafel’s slideshow, the audience was able to gain knowledge and appreciation of this European, avant-garde structural technique and innovative design. The various pictures of the Fallingwater residence, which was built in 1935 for Edgar J. Kaufman in southwestern Pennsylvania, capture this style distinctly, as the house itself is constructed over a natural waterfall.

Full Story

Warming tops eco-concerns in U.S. survey

Latest survey says majority of Americans are willing to pay more in utilities bills to curb global warming:

Full Story
Warming tops eco-concerns in U.S. survey
Respondents also willing to spend more than in previous poll

"In 2003, people said they would spend $14 more per month on their electricity bill to help mitigate climate change; the amount increased to $21 in 2006."

Here come the warnings...

In a terrible moment of "I told you so" we are not receiving one warning after another of the results of oour actions. Heightened awareness, combined with what can only be called an environmental cumulitive effect, are now bringing in the inevitable reports of what is hopefully not our inevitable demise.

Read on...
here
and here
and here
and here
and here

The skinny on solar energy costs

The costs and innovative uses of solar energy are examined in this clip from "The Power of the Sun," narrated by John Cleese.

Watch the Video Here