Hippie Documentary of the....week? The 11th Hour

When I last wrote about a Hippie Documentary, I entitled the post 'Hippie Documentary of the Week.' I figured with as many documentaries as I had been watching, I would be able to post a new one each week for you to consider watching. Unfortunately, that did not come to fruition. I got busy, and forgot to post. Oops. So here I go again. I will try to be more on top of this. This week, I am recommending The 11th Hour. Produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, this film discusses global warming and our impact on the planet. Although some of the footage was, in my opinion, somewhat excessive (did they really show a man bludgeoning a seal??) and bordering on shock effect scare-tactics, this film does present a powerful message: we are trashing the planet, and we need to stop. Now. Fortunately, as is the goal with most documentaries, a solution is ultimately provided, and the viewer is left feeling hopeful and inspired. *Spoiler alert* : The coolest fact this doc presented is that by using existing technologies, we can reduce our impact on the planet by 90 percent! That is pretty remarkable and encouraging. Renewable energy sources like solar power and wind energy could reduce our impact by 90 percent. Pretty cool. Not to mention new innovations in renewable energy technology that are being developed every day. It seems that we are at a turning point, as the film mentions. Will we continue to trash the planet until it's too late? Or will we find ways to change our lifestlyes and change our mentalities so that protecting the planet becomes a priority?

Hippie Documentary of the week: The Future of Food

I've been watching a LOT of documentaries recently. It's become a bit of an obsession, actually. Thanks to my Netflix subscription, I don't have to go to the video store, or even wait for them to get mailed to me. Most documentaries are available to watch instantly from my computer. Pretty convenient. I consider myself a pretty educated individual. I like to think my eyes are open to a lot of what is happening in the world. But every documentary I watch proves to me how little I know about certain topics, and leaves me wanting to know more. And so I watch more documentaries. And research certain topics on the internet. And read. And watch more documentaries. In the last few weeks, I've watched more doumentaries than I had in my entire life prior. As I said, it's become a bit of an obsession. And so, I thought I would share some of these documentaries on my blog in case you are interested. Not all the films are big names like Super Size Me (although I did enjoy that one). The film I just got finished watching is called The Future of Food. The Future of Food discusses the overwhelming trend of Genetically Modified foods and its implications on agriculture, our food, our society, and our health. The film discusses the process of genetic modification and the controversy that surrounds it. It looks at the huge corporations that utilize these methods (ahem, Monsanto) and how they bully the small farmer for monetary gain and greater control of the overall market. The film also explores the controversial concept of patenting living things. Did you know there is a patent on a gene linked to breast cancer and that researchers who are trying to find ways to treat/ cure breast cancer have to pay patent fees to use this gene in their research? To me that is both mind-boggling and infuriating. This is just one of the interesting tidbits I learned from this film. I found The Future of Food to be very intriguing and eye-opening. It's a quick 88 minutes, and in my opinion, definitely worth checking out. If you don't have Netflix, you can watch it here for free.