Product Description

Big Ideas For A Small Planet is a documentary series presenting the forward-thinking designers, products and provesses that are at the forefront of a new green world. Each episode revolves around a different green theme as it spotlights 3 specific innovators or innovations that have the potential to transform out everyday lives. The indivials profiled range from scientists to fashion and product designers, and from entrepreneurs to first-time inventors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100608 in DVD
• Brand: HART SHARP VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-04-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 328 minutes

Features

• This documentary series focuses on important environmental topics and features interviews with forward-thinking designers discussing alternative ideas that could save the planet. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES Rating: NR Age: 829567049327 UPC: 829567049327 Manufacturer No: 670493

Review
Big Ideas for a Small Planet is a documentary series created by Sundance Channel and airs as part of that network s weekly environmentally focused The Green. Each episode revolves around a different green theme as it spotlights three specific innovators or innovations that have the potential to transform our everyday lives.
Even if one were to view this series from a strictly artistic standpoint, one would surely become intrigued by its thousands of fertile ideas. These episodes are hopeful yet sobering, decidedly educational and yet endlessly inspiring, never using guilt or finger pointing to get its message across. The array of subjects are filmed at the top of their game, visionaries in various industries who, bitten by the environmental bug, happily invite us into their studios, labs and workshops, connecting the dots thereby illustrating how they got to where they are today. Entrepreneurs, inventors, designers and artists provide the viewer with an all access pass to their dreams, their products, their triumphs.
Filmed in countless locations throughout the United States, this series organically and expertly traces lines of thought, insofar as to how a simple idea can progress into a design, then into a sustainable product that in turn becomes a solution. This is a one of a kind series that has a knack for piquing the viewer s interest while educating and suggesting thousands of solutions that are both more affordable and aesthetically pleasing. Environmentalism is a highly political issue because it comes down to a question of not merely quality of life, but of life itself. And, there is no sector of modern life that does not directly impact our ecological footprint: a measure of how much land, air and water is taken to support us in a year. Meaning, if what we take from the earth in a year we can replace via farming and reforestation, then we are living in a sustainable way. In recent history, we certainly have not. With helpful alternatives learned from the Big Ideas series, we will realize it s not about sacrifice, it s about change. The worst and best news is this: we can live sustainably and improve our quality of life. But no one can make us care.
Dr. David Suzuki, a geneticist and author seen in Big Ideas, puts our delicate situation in layman s terms when he states, I feel as if we re in a giant car heading at a brick wall at a hundred miles an hour, and everybody in the car is arguing about where they want to sit. The repercussions of not getting involved are too great. Not to sound overly dramatic, but this series will change your life in that it will shoot you with a hefty dose of optimism and reality. It convinces us how, in doing more with less, we can have it all, because in today s world there is no sector of life that does not directly affect nature - we are our environment. In the words of De La Soul, Stakes is high. This is crunch time...the future is now. --StudioUpstairs.net

Customer Reviews

The evolution of television.
I was watching the first installment of the second-season of "Big Ideas" recently. It featured a young couple that was organizing a beautiful "green" wedding, visited Pitzer College in California which is doing amazing things to green their campus, and toured the editorial offices of the wonderful new environmental journal Plenty Magazine. This is typical of Sundance's "Big Ideas" program, which is uplifting, informative, and produced with great skill. So, I was thilled to discover that the first season of "Big Ideas" is now on DVD and can be shared with others who don't have the Sundance Channel.
When television was first developed, there were many promises about how wonderful a tool it would be for the welfare of society. How it would inform and inspire people to create a better world. Sadly, we know that tv has so often instead been used to disinform us, or divert us, or degrade us; especially the commercial tv which is owned by weapons contractors like GE and sponsored by industries that care only about expanding markets and maximizing profits.
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media

I had largely drifted away from tv, but recently invested in a satellite dish to receive C-SPAN and the Sundance Channel. In addition to independent films, each Tuesday evening Sundance airs a program called "The Green," which includes the "Big Ideas" program, followed by a documentary on the environment. Past films have included Radiant City and Refugees of the Blue Planet (both of which are excellent). The first season of "Big Ideas" introduced me to people all over the country - in their schools, their homes, and their businesses - who are approaching various environmental issues in all sorts of creative ways - from a pastor who goes to various places of worship talking about waste and recycling and solar panels, to fashion designers who are utilizing organic cotton and fabrics that are dyed in non-toxic processes. "Big Ideas" is tv that honors people and their common decency, and that offers a perception of ourselves and our relation to our planet that has been so sorely lacking. While "Big Ideas" is sponsored by corporations like Lexus, it appears that our environmetal crises have become so severe that a growing number of once reluctant industries are now contributing to the environmental movement.Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage Once dismissed or marginalized sensibilities have become mainstream, and "Big Ideas" is a magnificent expression of that evolution.
Now, with the 1st season on DVD, the message of "Big Ideas" can reach a broader audience. This 2-disc collection is a strategic tool to overcome the despair so many are feeling about our troubled planet. We can make a difference, in our little corners of the world and beyond. And we owe the people at Sundance a debt of gratitude for reminding us of that.

A couple other resources that provide the sort of ideas we need to heal our planet, and heal ourselves:
Sustainable Industries
Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind
The Power Of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
How to Save the World
Yes!

Sundance Chanel's contribution to the new trend in geenovation.
The program shows how it is possible to geenovate with enough time to each subject that you can think about it. However it is in sound bite form and bounces back and forth in place of a consistent narration. The content is more like preaching than a how-to presentation. The program is worth watching to see what is going on. However you are left out of any opportunity to interact. There is no reference to any companies you can contact. Or how to apply the things learned to your private life. I hope they keep it up and maybe in the future the can talk more technical or how one can apply the information.
Season 1, Episode 1: Fuel
Season 1, Episode 2: Build
Season 1, Episode 3: Cities
Season 1, Episode 4: Wear
Season 1, Episode 5: Eat
Season 1, Episode 6: Drive
Season 1, Episode 7: Furnish
Season 1, Episode 8: Create
Season 1, Episode 9: Kids
Season 1, Episode 10: Paper or Plastic?
Season 1, Episode 11: Sports
Season 1, Episode 12: Work
Season 1, Episode 13: Pray
Season 2, Episode 1: Power
Season 2, Episode 2: Decorate
Season 2, Episode 3: Water
Season 2, Episode 4: Gen Y
Season 2, Episode 5: Episode #2.5
Season 2, Episode 6: Fashion
Season 2, Episode 7: Episode #2.7
Season 2, Episode 8: Episode #2.8
Season 2, Episode 9: Transport
Season 2, Episode 10: Live
Season 2, Episode 11: Business
Season 2, Episode 12: Gadgets
Season 2, Episode 13: Animals
Season 3, Episode 1: Music
Season 3, Episode 2: Design
Season 3, Episode 3: Edibles
Season 3, Episode 4: Creatures
Season 3, Episode 5: Architecture
Season 3, Episode 6: Energy
Season 3, Episode 7: Habitats
Season 3, Episode 8: Companies
Season 3, Episode 9: Art
Season 3, Episode 10: Leisure
Season 3, Episode 11: Communities
Season 3, Episode 12: Games

Who Killed the Electric Car?

An Excellent Introduction!
I show an episode of this series to my high school students once a week. It is an excellent introduction to the green movement and has opened their minds to new and positive ways of thinking about our environment and how we affect it. This series is not a doomsday downer but offers a whole range of solutions to take positive steps.

I highly recommend this for the classroom or home.