The title, “Green Porno” is shocking but the reality is probably no less bizarre than what you first imagined. A series of eight short films depicting the strange and amazing sexual practices of insects, Green Porno was written, co-directed and stars Isabella Rossellini. It was created for the Sundance Institute and premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival but was made to be viewed primarily on mobile phones.

Since the films have been pulled from YouTube “due to a copyright claim by the Sundance Channel”, I’m posting the AP story featuring clips and an interview with Rossellini below. However you can see all eight films on the Sundance website.

If anthropologists from the distant future took a look at the objects we’ve left behind, what conclusions would they come to? KQED’s QUEST series explores this idea with a funny and revealing take on the “future” analysis of plastic water bottles. What does our use of these objects say about us and our society?

Special thanks to Morgan M. for the tip!

We all know by now that drastically reducing carbon dioxide emissions would be good for the planet, but many of us also wonder how strict environmental policies could effect the economy. Is regulation aimed at protecting future generations worth it if people will suffer now because of reduced growth?

Enter Yale Professor Robert Repetto who has put together an interactive website that calculates the costs of climate change (Treehugger.com is featuring an great post about his work today). The site, See For Yourself, is unique because it allows you to input your own assumptions about the economic impact of policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Then you can form your opinion based on the final calculations. Hint: As the site states, “Assumptions matter. Even under worst case assumptions the economy would continue to grow.”

In addition to reducing pollution by taking cars off the road, bicycles can be used to bring clean water to people around the world. Check out this video about the winning entry in the Innovate or Die contest put on by Google and Specialized. The contest challenge was to build a pedal powered machine that has environmental impact. Team Aquaduct created a pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world. The YouTube description explains how the Aquaduct works:

A peristaltic pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large tank, through a filter, to a smaller clean tank. The clean tank is removable and closed for contamination-free home storage and use. A clutch engages and disengages the drive belt from the pedal crank, enabling the rider to filter the water while traveling or while stationary.

A video for all the bicyclists out there who feel like drivers just don’t see them! This awareness test was created as part of the UK’s cycle safety campaign that aims to reduce the number of cyclists that are hurt on London’s roads. We’d say it’s good for American drivers as well…

This year, the National Geographic Channel asked college students from around the country to create a film or PSA for their Annual Preserve Our Planet Film + PSA Contest using the theme “what you do counts.” From now until March 28th you can vote for your favorite short film and Public Service Announcement once per day from among the top finalists in each category.
Check out this amusing finalist, “Animal Cracker Nature Show” by American University student Genna Duberstein:

Produced by Hassan S. Ali and Dorothee Royal-Hedinger

Hear ye, city dwellers: Spring is here, and for those of you surrounded by urban sprawl, it’s time to show your neighborhood greenery some love.

“Seed bombing” involves planting flowers on barren land that’s otherwise hard-to-reach or simply not conducive to plant growth, such as construction sites, abandoned lots, and even alleys and sidewalks.

In this episode of “DIY,” we give it a shot for ourselves.

(Photo credits, via Creative Commons License: North Avenue Beach, Skyline, Millenium Park)

The Live Earth concert last summer may not have done as much for the environment as all the hype suggested but that hasn’t stopped Live Earth from continuing to raise awareness about global warming. Their latest venture is the online Live Earth Film Series which will display new films each week. You can expect the usual time-lapse montages of the earth set to poems and poignant music but you can also view gems like “Think”. In this film, director Rupert Jones takes a farcical look at an everyday situation where planning ahead can make an impact not just on the environment, but on your relationship with your grocer. And speaking as someone who consistently forgets her canvas shopping bags despite the best intentions - this film provides the necessary repetition to slap us into shape!

Since when did outer space a) get so off-the-chain exciting and b) receive the amount of press that it has over the past week?

I guess the answers to both questions go hand-in-hand: when crazy stuff happens in space, people listen. And there’s been plenty of space happenings to go around lately.

First, there’s the safe return of the shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts on Wednesday. The crew, which included a suburban Chicago native (galactic shout-out!), had been on a mission to deliver a $2 billion European research laboratory to the International Space Station. Of course, leave it to America to do Europe’s dirty work!

Then astronomers discovered planets orbiting a star some 5,000 light-years away, implying that “solar systems like ours may be unexpectedly common,” according to Scientific American. (Still don’t believe in aliens?)

The talk of the town yesterday had to be when/where/how to watch the total lunar eclipse, which won’t happen again for two years. I was especially taken by Newsday’s coverage of the occasion:

The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 was accompanied by cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon.

In some spots, skywatchers viewing through a telescope could also see Saturn’s handsome rings.

Wow, so that’s what space porn sounds like!

Continue Reading…

In 2006, the French nature doc March of the Penguins won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The film tracked the breeding habits of a flock of emperor penguins in the extremely harsh conditions of the Antarctic winter and was narrated by Morgan Freeman. Last summer, another nature movie, Arctic Tale was released, but it’s unlikely to ever become a household name like March of the Penguins.

When directors Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson came out with this family-friendly arctic nature film that tracked the lives of a walrus named “Seela” and a polar bear named “Nanu,” it had all the makings of a slam-dunk, but it never quite took off. That the subjects of the film are given names should be the first indication that this isn’t your typical nature documentary; it makes them seem like pets. The second tip-off is the poster, which shows some cartoony polar bears in the foreground that resemble the bears from those ubiquitous Coca-Cola commercials of the 1990s. Continue Reading…