Bullfrog Films
59 minutes
Grades 9-12, College, Adult

Produced by Lynn Corcoran

DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45
, Rent $35

US Release Date: 1983
Copyright Date: 1982
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-735-3
VHS ISBN: 1-56029-264-4

Subjects
Activism
American Studies
Biography
Capitalism
Environment
Environmental Justice
Health
Humanities
Law
Social Psychology
Toxic Chemicals
Women's Studies

Awards and Festivals
Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival
Best of Category, Audubon International Environmental Film Festival
Third Place Award, U.S. Film and Video Festival
Merit Award, Athens International Film and Video Festival
Honorable Mention, Global Village 8th Annual Documentary Festival
In Our Own Backyard
The First Love Canal

Lois Gibbs brilliantly leads her fellow residents in Love Canal in this classic documentary on the nation's first encounter with toxic waste.

"Heartrending program...needs to be seen in public libraries, civic action groups, and schools." Booklist

A classic video documentary on the nation's first encounter with toxic waste, it provides a complete and moving account of the way the people involved, both in government and in the community, responded to a frightening situation.

It shows the complexity of the democratic process in action, as government officials struggled with a new set of questions -- weighing not only what government should do, but what it could do in the first environmental emergency of its kind -- while residents, brilliantly led by Lois Gibbs, formed their own views of these questions and developed strategies including public protest and a skillful use of the media to influence government's response.

Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/lc.html

Reviews
"Heartrending program...promotes realization of the magnitude of the potential tragedies seeping through the country's soil...needs to be seen in public libraries, civic action groups, and schools."

Booklist

"An historic document that carries the poignancy of a profound human problem with the balance necessary to understand it without polemics."
Anthony Bannon, The Buffalo News

"The film can work well in any one of a number of science, health, environmental science, and social science classes. The complexity of the many issues and problems it brings out encourages activities such as debate, role play, simulation, and independent research, with a premium on the development of critical thinking skills."
Curriculum Review