This compilation features a wide variety of pollution propaganda films, each with a unique set of ideas and opinions. Topics include water management, soil conservation, erosion, litter, TVA, industrial pollution and wildlife management.
Included Films:
The River
The River
Produced: 1937
Length: 30 Minutes
This movie details the destruction and rebuilding that has occurred several times in American history because of the Mississippi River. It starts out with the opulence and prosperity in antebellum America. It features Americans building dykes, and plowing and harvesting farms. Goods from the South are being sent by steam ships to other parts of the United States and abroad.With the onset of Civil War, however, the landscape changed and war ravages the land. After the war, the land is useless due to over farming. The citizens begin an exodus to Western America to get away from their problems and start over.In order to provide housing and building materials for this expansion, timber is cut from Northern America. Although this allowed for the building of the West, this devastated the wooded areas of Northern America and caused the land to be barren.Flooding begins to occur and ruin the homes and lives of those living near the Mississippi. and the efforts of the American people to help those around them. The movie begins to show the effects when it cuts off before the movie should end.
Test Tube Tale
Test Tube Tale
Produced: 1941
Length: 9 Minutes
From the Middle Ages down to modern times, the magic of chemistry has fascinated and inspired people to achieve greater and better things. The 1940s was no exception to the thrill of researching and designing new things, like nylon, rayon, plastic hair brushes that come in an array of colors and plastic raincoats that protect the wearer. Test Tube Tale, expounds on the many ways in which chemistry can be used for the greater good, encouraging young men to take up the call of science during a time when the nation needed chemists badly. Designed primarily to get men interested in chemistry during World War II the film also serves as a strangely prophetic look at the worries of pollution from factories, offering chemistry as the way to stop such pollution, as well as serving to show the wonders created by daring men who refused to stop searching for answers.
To Conserve Our Heritage
To Conserve Our Heritage
Produced: 1940
Length: 35 Minutes
As much as America is a land of boundless opportunity, it is a land of gutted hills and ravished valleys, of worn out land and muddy rivers choked with topsoil from misused hillsides. Though made in the 1940s, To Conserve Our Heritage, explores the problems of pollution and conservation in a remarkably modern way. Its message is, an America rich in land and soil is an America built tough from the inside out; and the only way to ensure the land is strong is to practice conservation techniques and prevent harmful polluting. Some of the pollution we have to worry about now, thanks to advances in technology, is not included, but the idea that the pollution must stop and we must take responsibility for our land is a message which transcends time and technology. This brilliant film is an excellent testimony to what should be included in our everyday thinking and offers solutions to the problems of pollution that should be heeded.
Pollution Below
Pollution Below
Produced: 1975
Length: 14 Minutes
Three average people are touched by the living thing called pollution on a Thanksgiving Day in 1975. A kayaker, a fisherman, and a grandfather all encounter waste and trash left by mankind in wasteful neglect, showing how it affects them detrimentally. “Pollution Below” explores an emerging technique in science that uses satellite images to track pollution. Sponsored by NASA, the EPA and NOAH it has an underlying subtext that searches for an end to pollution and encourages further involvement to that end through supporting scientific programs such as those that NASA offers.
Heritage of Splendor
Heritage of Splendor
Produced: 1963
Length: 18 Minutes
Narrated by Ronald Reagan and sponsored by an oil company, this vintage film explores the conservation of natural resources. The beginning of this conservation film promotes the efficient management of the countrys natural resource as opposed to preservation, and explains how mixed-use land makes everyone happy. Then the film also attacks the littering problem that is sweeping the nation, especially recreational sites
City Water Supply
City Water Supply
Produced: 1941
Length: 10 Minutes
City Water Supply describes the importance of water to all living things and, more precisely, details the New York City water-supply system. Water sources include springs, underground reservoirs, lakes, and rivers. Animation shows the relationship between rain and the rest of the watershed. The workings of the NYC water-supply system, especially water treatment and pollution prevention, are discussed thoroughly. The film captures lab tests done on water, demonstrations of how the filtering systems work in the water-treatment plant, and the addition of compounds such as alum and lime to facilitate the process. From the aqueducts that bring water into the city to the pressure pumps that deliver it to individual houses, footage illustrates the transportation of water from its source to consumers.
