Educational Media Reviews Online

This well-edited and informative documentary was originally broadcast as part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation series The Nature of Things and is hosted by David Suzuki. The film is organized into nine segments. “Rammed Earth” describes the traditional building technique that yields a well insulated, energy efficient house. “House of Straw” shows how straw bales are stitched together and covered with plaster to form insulated walls. “Clean Energy” touches on the use of solar and wind power and “Doing What Comes Naturally” describes the importance of designing and orienting a house properly to take advantage of solar radiation. “Small Living” shows how a well-designed house need not have a large footprint and need not contain any toxic materials. “Garden Apartments in the Sky” describes how green building practices can even come into play with high-rise apartment buildings. “Greening Suburbia” challenged architects to design the ultimate suburban house. “Urban Retrofit” showed how an inner city housing complex was refurbished rather than torn down and “Future Green” told the story of Victoria and a plan to build an ecologically friendly addition to the waterfront over the next 10 years. There are a number of ways to “build green” and many of them are addressed by this film. Each of the segments provides a quick overview of the building method or any conservation scheme making this a good choice for general audiences. The nine individual segments may be of value when using this film in a classroom setting.

Recommended for high-school, college and public libraries.