Focus

In the spring of 2005, acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog was dispatched to the Arctic on a tricky assignment: to capture images that tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. At the time, Balog was skeptical. Even if human-caused climate change is real, can we correct it? But what he saw on that first trip was too compelling to dispute. Balog had to act and so created the Extreme Ice Survey, a multi-year project that would, through time-lapse photography, document dramatic changes to numerous glaciers around the world. With stunning cinematography and access to never before seen areas of the Arctic, Chasing Ice documents Balog's incredible journey to provide incontrovertible proof—at great risk to his own health—that our planet is in crisis and what we do to it matters.

Key Subject Connections:
MS: Language | Geography | Science
HS: English | Geography | Science | Civics | Media Arts | Media Studies | Politics

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Looking at the social and environmental implications of fast fashion, this film aims to raise awareness of the demands consumers are putting on the planet when they participate in this billion-dollar industry. How toxic chemicals released by the garment industry are polluting waterways that millions of people rely on. We will see the former Aral Sea once one of the largest bodies of fresh water now reduced almost entirely to dust. The doc challenges the viewer to make a difference, starting with their own closet.

Key Subject Connections
MS: Language
HS: English | Media Arts | Integrated Arts | Clothing | Understanding Fashion | The World of Fashion | Regional Geography | Forces of Nature: Physical Processes and Disasters | Equity and Social Justice | Human Development | Challenge and Change | Politics | Economics | Science | Chemistry

Through animation, interviews, and a viral Youtube video, this film confronts audiences with a silent killer: plastic drinking straws. We meet environmental activists from all over the world and of all ages working to educate individuals on how we can all can make a difference and keep straws out of the oceans.

Key Subject Connections
MS: Geography | Science & Technology | Language
HS: Science | Biology | Chemistry | Environmental Science | English | Media Arts | Regional Geography | Forces of Nature | Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice | Challenge and Change | Politics | Economics

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The film takes us inside the rise of the Global Youth Climate Movement. Slater Jewell-Kemker was 15 when she began documenting the untold stories of youth on the front lines of climate change refusing to let their futures slip away. Over the course of 11 years the film follows the evolution of a diverse network of youth rising up to shape the world they will live in.

Key Subject Connections
MS: Geography | Science & Technology | Language
HS: Science | Biology | Chemistry | Environmental Science | English | Media Arts | Regional Geography | Forces of Nature | Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice | Challenge and Change | Politics | Economics

Film website

Director speaking about the film