Home/Articles in: Videos & Documentaries
Articles in: Videos & Documentaries
Politics, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Feb 15th, 2012,
American monologist Mike Daisey visited a factory in Shenzhen, China where Apple products are manufactured and then wrote a monologue about his experiences there, combined with details on the life of Apple’s late founder, Steve Jobs. Now, many Apple fans – and there are many, many Apple fans – speak of Steve Jobs as if he is a great philosopher, superman or even god, rather than a creative businessman who made a hell of a lot of money in the usual ways people make a hell of a lot of money. I mean he made products that people like, but…
Tags: Apple, China, Mike Daisey, monologist, Steve Jobs
Animals, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 14th, 2012,
I grew up in the suburbs of Washington DC in the 70s and 80s, when deer sightings in the area were not common, though not exactly rare occurrences. By my mid 20s, however, they were everywhere – munching on my mother’s daffodils or dashing into the street to get hit by an SUV. The reason for this is two-fold. First of all, suburban sprawl means the deer’s forest habitats shrink and keep shrinking in the face of unstoppable, endless developments of McMansions. The other reason is a nationwide population explosion in deer, whose predators (bobcats, coyotes and wolves) have been…
Tags: capital, cull, DC, deer, population, rock creek park, US, Washington, white-tailed
Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Feb 10th, 2012,
The aurora borealis, or ‘northern lights’ is an amazing phenomenon that occurs when a solar wind of charged electrical particles enters the Earth’s magnetic field. When these particles hit the Earth’s upper atmosphere above the Arctic region, the atmosphere produces an incredible spectacle of spectral multi-colored lights that ‘dance’ in the night sky. NASA has recently released a time lapse video composed of some 500 photographs of the aurora borealis taken by digital cameras on the International Space Station. From BBC News: By combining hundreds of stills taken from the International Space Station, they have produced the first ‘moving’ images…
Tags: Aurora Borealis, NASA, Northern Lights, space, video
Nature, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Feb 5th, 2012,
Scientists recently made an eye-opening discovery at Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa. Several nests of Massospondylus, a 20ft (6m) long sauropod, including fossilized eggs and hatchling footprints, is increasing scientists knowledge of the nesting, breeding and mothering habits of dinosaurs. The dinosaur nesting site is believed to be 190 million years old, some 100 million years older than any dinosaur nest previously found. At least 10 nests were uncovered at several different rock levels. Each contained up to 34 round eggs in tightly clustered clutches. The distribution of the nests indicated that dinosaurs returned repeatedly to the…
Tags: dinosaur, eggs, Massospondylus, nest
Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jan 29th, 2012,
US Republican presidential candidate and blowhard Newt Gingrich has stated that he will build a base on the moon by his second term should he get elected. Gingrich said he’d like to get there before the Chinese do. Well, the US did put someone there before the Chinese and everyone else back in 1969, though it was the Soviets who first put an unmanned craft on the lunar surface. OK, so they didn’t stay there and colonize as Newt would like. Republican rival Mitt Romney countered that while Gingrich’s moon colony vision is a big idea, it’s not good one….
Tags: Gingrich, lego, moon, Newt, space
Animals, Pollution, Recycling, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 22nd, 2012,
We’ve got two bits of eco-news from Asia this weekend. First we’re off to Vietnam to see how megacity Hanoi is coping with a growing waste problem with the help from scientists in Germany. Enormous amounts of waste, a rising population, over-crowding, and an aging infrastructure: Vietnam’s capital Hanoi is a perfect example of a fast-growing megacity. Scientists at Darmstadt University have developed a pilot project that combines wastewater treatment, waste disposal and energy production in one. Their goal is to design a biogas plant for Hanoi that digests waste to generate electricity and heat. –Deutsche Welle Next we jet…
Tags: bengal, China, Hanoi, megacity, tiger, Vietnam, white
Health, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 18th, 2012,
It may sound like a convenient excuse: it’s not my fault I’m fat, it’s all those common, everyday chemicals I unwittingly ingest through no fault of my own. That and all the burgers, fries and milkshakes I eat on a daily basis. But certain environmental, hormone-altering chemicals, which researchers call ‘obesogens’, may contribute to dramatic weight gain – especially when a fetus is exposed to them in the womb. If obesogens do cause obesity, what about fatty foods? Professor Bruce Blumberg of the University of California believes that both junk food and common environmental chemicals cause obesity, sometimes in tandem….
Tags: chemicals, environmental, fat, obesity, obesogens
Climate Change, Green living, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 15th, 2012,
A solar powered tourist boat, energy efficient office buildings, solar and wind power projects; and greener transport plans are just some of the reasons that Hamburg, Germany has won the title for European Green Capital of 2011. But does this industrial European port city have what it takes to live up to the eco-city image it promotes? Hamburg has scooped up the title European green capital for 2011. The northern German port city convinced the jury by presenting itself not as a green oasis but rather as a thriving industrial metropolis which has risen to the challenge of…
Tags: 2011, eco-city, European Green Capital, Germany, Hamburg
Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jan 13th, 2012,
Creating awareness among the people of nation has become the most necessary task these days. The awareness can be about diseases, environment, human beings etc. But the environment is what the focus is kept on and people have tried their best possible ways in creating the awareness among public regarding the environmental issues. The movies are one of the best sources of creating awareness among people and have come out to be a really good source of delivering strong environmental message. The movies thus are nowadays focused mainly on environmental issues and there were few classic movies which perfectly delivered…
Tags: amazon, arctic tale, environmental films, march of the penguins, the lorax, under the sea 3D
Animals, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 9th, 2012,
A killer whale (orca) was caught on film hunting sharks at a New Zealand beach. One sizable shark was driven onto the sand by the orca, where a local dog began circling and barking at it. The story has been reported by several news agencies, using the amateur footage, but leave it to ITN News to include the best bits – particularly the part with the dog. Killer whales are intelligent, skilled hunters and sit at the top of the marine food chain. According to this older video report from National Geographic and ABC News, they sometimes even hunt the…
Tags: beach, dog, killer whale, New Zealand, orca, shark
Conservation, Natural disasters, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 8th, 2012,
Leave it to ITN to come up with some short and (sometimes) sweet videos with which to catch up on some of the week’s environmental news. We’ve gathered three (yes, three) bite-sized eco-news reports in one place. Why? Because, like the Mouseketeers, we like you! First, check out Italy’s Mount Etna as she spectacularly spews forth molten lava and ash into the Sicilian sky. Next there’s a report on antipodean wildfires raging across New Zealand and Australia. Finally, Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers fight for both whale rights and whaling rights on the high seas. Guess who fights for which.
Tags: etna, Japanese, Sea Shepherd, whalers, wildfires
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jan 5th, 2012,
These amazing pictures and videos show the aurora, also known as the Northern Lights, which appeared over Kirkenes-Fjell. Norway is well known as a country to view this stunning phenomenon, but rarely has it been seen in such fantastic clarity. Auroras are visible all over Norway, but it is best to view them in the north, behind the Arctic Circle. If you are planning on visiting Norway, the best time that you’ll get a chance to see the Aurora is in late autumn and early spring. Best viewed in the night sky between 6.00pm and 1.00am, it is much easier…
Tags: Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights, Norway
Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Over 2,000 meters beneath the surface of the Southern (aka Antarctic) Ocean lives a colorless collection of newly discovered life forms. The animals that make up this ghostly white ecosystem survive without sunlight, instead living off minerals and energy from volcanic vents, which make waters as hot as 382°C (720°F). That’s pretty hot, especially considering it’s deep-sea Antarctica. From the Christian Science Monitor: Unlike vents in other oceans, the Antarctic vents lack tube worms, mussels and shrimp. Instead they harbor new species of barnacles and anemones, as well as a large brown spiral-shelled snail. The researchers even saw ghost-pale octopuses, which…
Tags: Antarctic, deep sea, ghost, life, ocean, vents, video
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 28th, 2011,
If you thought this post would be about the Rupert Murdoch-owned American right wing media outlet, you are mistaken. But now that I’ve lured you in with such a clever pun, why not stay a while and read about what our furry friends – actual foxes – are up to around the globe? Let’s start with the US state of Florida, shall we? On Florida’s Panama City Beach, red foxes are eating up loggerhead turtle eggs, much to the consternation of local egg-guarding environmentalists. Though the foxes aren’t the biggest threat to the turtles, they have been spotted digging up…
Tags: australia, beach, egg, Florida, foxes, loggerhead, red fox, turtles
Conservation, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 26th, 2011,
In Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) orangutans are being hunted and driven into possible extinction. Indonesia, which is home to 90% of the world’s orangutan population, is also home to rampant unregulated and illegal palm plantations, deforestation and logging. Loss of habitat has pitted villagers against the orangutans, who may venture into gardens for food. Locals are known to kill great apes for food and out of fear. But the real culprits are the industries who see orangutan conservation as a threat to their business. These firms are not only destroying the orangutans’ habitat, but have allegedly paid villagers to hunt and…
Tags: borneo, Indonesia, Kalimantan, kill, orangutan, palm oil
Climate Change, Conservation, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 23rd, 2011,
According to a UN report an increase in global temperatures puts up to 1/3 of all Earth’s animals at risk of extinction. The gorillas of Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains in central Africa are already at risk from rising temperatures. Changes in rainfall and hotter weather mean the vegetation the gorillas depend on changes growth patterns, moving up the mountain into higher altitudes. The gorillas provide Rwanda with tourist revenue and the rainfall in the Virunga Mountains feeds rivers and provides hydro electricity for the already poor and vulnerable African nation. From Reuters: Many ecosystems have already been stressed by increasing population,…
Tags: Africa, Climate change, gorillas, Rwanda, Virunga
Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Dec 22nd, 2011,
If the schlocky TV show Terra Nova left you grumbling and disappointed, as it did me, perhaps the real life search for a new Earth might spark your interest and inspire your imagination. NASA’s Kepler Mission is exploring the Galaxy in search of Earth-like inhabitable planets. Terrestrial planets are one half to twice the size of Earth and Kepler is particularly on the lookout for such planets that orbit stars at a distance allowing liquid water – and thereby the possibility of life – to exist. From NASA’s Kepler Mission homepage: The Kepler Mission, NASA Discovery mission #10, is specifically…
Tags: Earth, kepler, NASA, planet
Natural disasters, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Dec 21st, 2011,
Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared a state of emergency after a tropical typhoon Washi (Sendong) battered the country and reportedly claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 people. Regions most affected by the tropical storm were areas of the cities Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on Mindanao island. In a mere few hours the raging elements led to local rivers overflowing their banks and flash floods to cause water saturated soil to slip down slopes destroying everything in their path. Due to the almost zero chance of finding anyone still alive, dozens of people who previously were considered missing are now…
Tags: disaster, donate, help, killed, Philippines, Sendong, typhoon, victims, Washi
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Dec 20th, 2011,
On Friday morning in the sky over Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama, clouds in the shape of tsunami waves appeared. They have been called a “surfer’s dream” by the locals. Strange? It turns out that what was seen is actually a well known phenomenon to meteorologists. Residents of Birmingham documented the sighting and asked the local meteorological services to explain what it was that they had seen. The waves in the sky are an example of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. In the air the phenomenon arises when a strong wind causes an imbalance in the boundary between the layers…
Tags: Alabama, Birmingham, clouds, tsunami waves
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Dec 19th, 2011,
On Sunday a Russian oil platform capsized between Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk off far eastern Russia. The oil rig, which was manned by 67 people subcontracted by Russian oil giant Gazprom, was being towed during a storm when heavy winds toppled it into the sea. So far Russian authorities have confirmed 16 deaths and a rescue raft with 15 people has been spotted, but it is not known how many on the raft – if any – are alive. According to regional emergency services, the accident poses no environmental threat, since the drilling…
Tags: death, France, fuel, oil, okhotsk, platform, rig, Russia, ship
