Closed Captioned
Study Guide
Grades 10-12, College, Adult
Produced by Robert Lang
DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45
US Release Date: 2003
Copyright Date: 2002
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-952-6
VHS ISBN: 1-59458-014-6
Subjects
Air Pollution
Atmosphere
Ecology
Environmental Ethics
Forests and Rainforests
Genetics
Indigenous Peoples
Philosophy
Physical Science
Religion
Science
Technology
Society
Awards and Festivals
National Primetime Broadcast on PBS
Science and Society Prize, International Television Science Program Festival, Paris
Golden Sheaf Award, Best Science/Nature, Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
Ekofilm, Prague
Planet in Focus, Toronto International Environmental Film Festival
Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival
Marin Environmental Film Festival
Convergence Sustainable Living Festival, Dublin
The Wine Country Film Festival
Journey into New Worlds
Suzuki celebrates the birth of a new scientific worldview that is holistic rather than reductionist.
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"A timeless piece, brilliantly conceived and executed, and an example of science and environment exposition at its best." E. O. Wilson, Harvard University |
In the past half-century science and technology have worked wonders - healing disease, extending human life spans, cloning life forms, communicating instantaneously with the other side of the globe. But along with all this progress there have been terrible costs: environmental, social, and spiritual.
In this episode, David Suzuki travels to Arizona, England, Massachusetts and to the Pacific Northwest rainforest in search of a new vision of the Earth and our place on it - a worldview we once had but seem to have forgotten. David looks back on the promise and limitations of Isaac Newton's reductionist science, sharing a personal journey that began with his work at the forefront of genetic research in the early 1960s through to his ecological epiphany on British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands.
With James Lovelock, physiologist Ary Goldberger, astronaut Julie Payette, and biologist Thomas Reimchen.
The other titles in this series are:
The Matrix of Life - Suzuki travels the world exploring our intimate relationship with water and air.
The Fire of Creation - Suzuki explores the latest scientific findings which amplify the age-old reverence for the sun.
Coming Home - Suzuki explores biophilia -- the innate, hereditary need of human beings to affiliate with nature.
Reviews
"THE SACRED BALANCE is a spiritual, holistic and almost poetic take on the science of the planet...it launch[es] the viewer's mind into a different space."
"Suzuki's talent has always been to take broad scientific topics and decipher and deliver them to viewers in plain, accessible terms. He's very good at it...while there's much to digest in this series, his tone is always patient and pragmatic"
"THE SACRED BALANCE is a challenge to all who watch it, a cornucopia of amazing comments and predictions. It's designed to make you think."
"Stunning cinematography and state of the art computer graphics"
"An enthralling, beautifully shot series...It's one of the most important and engrossing programs you'll see all year... [it] might very well go down as the crowning achievement in the career of David Suzuki."
"A timeless piece, brilliantly conceived and executed, and an example of science and environment exposition at its best."
"Strikingly beautiful and sometimes even profound...[it] becomes increasingly affecting as it piles up scientific research with remarkable dexterity."
"Recommended"
"[A] captivating examination of how the Earth's systems interact and depend on one another...Approaching the subject from a wide variety of cultural and philosophical viewpoints, Suzuki makes the point that we are a vital part of this 'web of life, ' and challenges viewers to feel that connection and then change the way we act towards our planet."
"Features stunning visuals and is unique in providing a multicultural perspective and philosophical points of view not usually studied with science."