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.
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. 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 |