Confession: I'm A Documentary-a-Holic.

That's a thing, right?

The first documentary I remember watching was Super Size Me as a sophomore in college. I absolutely loved it and watched it several more times (Partly because I found it fascinating and partly to talk myself out of McDonald’s French fry cravings). I had never seen anything like it – equal parts entertaining and informative.

I was hooked on the non-fiction genre: films, books, and podcasts. I could learn  and gain new perspectives while hearing stories. Gain new perspectives while listening to individuals debate about health care reform or Planned Parenthood funding. Learn while reading about someone’s adventures in local eating. I. Love. It. (I'm well-aware this might make me a total dork, but I've embraced it.)

Since I’m always on the lookout for good documentaries, books, and podcasts, I wanted to share some documentaries that I’ve watched and enjoyed lately:

Food, Inc.

A super-popular film about food that I’m sure many of you have watched. There’s a good reason it’s so popular, though. It’s a fascinating (sometimes even damning) look at the food industry. Its tagline, “You’ll never look at dinner the same way” is accurate. Since food choices are deeply personal, this documentary is a great, albeit challenging, one.

Tapped

Do you drink bottled water? Want to learn some ridiculous facts about bottled water? How few plastic water bottles are actually recycled? How bottled water is less regulated than tap water? Watch this movie. Even if you’re a tap water aficionado, you’ll learn something from this. Or at least be motivated to speak out about issues of water and ponder whether drinking water is a right or a commodity to be purchased.

Run Granny Run

A beautiful, refreshing film about an endearing 94-year-old woman who inspired me in ways I can’t even explain. She walked across America at the age of 90 to raise awareness about the influence of big money in campaigning and politics. Then she entered the political arena for the first time by running for the U.S. Senate at the age of 94. She is a feisty, remarkable woman. A 94-year-old activist: you’re never too old to stand up for what you believe in.

Street Fight

Sigh. I cannot say enough about how excellent this film is. It follows the story of Cory Booker as he runs for mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is straight-laced, Oxford-Harvard-Stanford-educated vegetarian good guy who runs against a longtime mayor who’s arguably corrupt - pitting police, businesses, and all resources against Cory. It’s an inspiring, frustrating, and captivating film.

King Corn

A food film that takes a look at how corn, a heavily subsidized crop, permeates almost every food we eat in America. Two rather entertaining guys plant an acre of corn in Iowa, then follow the corn as it is processed. It’s ridiculously funny and quite eye opening.

Inside Job

Another popular documentary, this film will probably make you a little bit mad (both in the 'angry' and 'crazy' sense). It’s about the bank bailouts, the economic fallout, and the people who got us there. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was very interesting (and maddening-slash-saddening), and won plenty of accolades, so you should probably check it out.

Let’s swap. Any documentary recommendations for me?

Three Planets.

I'd imagine many of you have taken this quiz at one point or another during your college career. But I recently revisited the Ecological Footprint Quiz to see what my footprint is these days. (And the quiz is totally fancy schmancy and all 3D now!) For those of you unfamiliar with what the heck an ecological footprint is and why you should care - it's a rough measure of your consumption and how much energy that uses. How much land would be required to support 6 billion other individuals living just like YOU.

The result? Is startling.

I'd like to think I make some considerable effort to make less of an impact: I eat no meat, a little dairy (hello, cheese, my love!), live in a tiny 500 square foot apartment with someone else, only commute 10 miles round trip to work, and generally make an effort to tread more lightly on the earth. And yet? I still would need THREE FRIGGIN' PLANETS to support my habits for everyone on the planet.

Seriously.

That's disheartening in so many ways. I know the statistics - we're 5% of the world's population and use 25% of the resources. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It can be depressing to think about this stuff. {An aside: I recently read an article in Newsweek about the happiness gap between 'liberals' and 'conservatives' - and how 'liberals' aren't as happy. (Gah! I hate these divisive, loaded terms. And caring about the environment shouldn't be a political issue! I really want to rant about how the religious right should give a crap about being stewards of God's creation, but I won't. Oops, a little just squirted out there, sorry.)}

This is a complex issue (when I say that, I hear Joey Tribbiani tell Monica that Chandler is 'a complex fellow, one who is unlikely to take a wife.' ha!). The quiz is obviously not 100% accurate (how can you measure something like that perfectly?) and finding solutions to these problems isn't easy, simple, or painless. But I think it's important to think about our consumption and to realize that even small changes can make impacts. And those impacts add up to BIG impacts. (There's a cool tool on the website that allows you to see how changes you make might impact your footprint.)

So, go, check it out and if you do - what's your footprint??
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Some updates:

• I'm totally going to be doing my pay-it-forward giveaway sometime soon, I promise! I bought some things to give away this weekend in Yellow Springs. Be on the lookout to enter...
• A few weeks ago, I told you guys about my MIL asking about my blog, which led me to thinking about the fantastic, insightful comments you all left. So I decided to let a few friends and my sisters know about my blog. I don't think any have taken the bait, besides my beautiful friend, Eileen, who insists this is my secret life I've been hiding. She makes me laugh. :)
• As far as the comment reply thing - I email sometimes, but I always talk aloud to my computer when I get a new comment. Like, "Aww thanks, Lindsay," "Yeah, Gabriel Brothers!," and so on. So I guess I'll email you if you have an email address associated with your Blogger ID and I want to tell you something. Otherwise, come live in my computer and hear what I have to say to you. Because replying on my own website? Kind of a pain. :) (And no one reads it, right? Why am I blathering on about this? Who cares? I'm stopping...now!)

Seven Deadly Sins Remix

So, the Vatican has come out with some "new" sins we can be guilty of.

I'm actually really excited about these, though, because they are finally drawing attention to social and environmental obligations. (Perfect for my oh-so-religious-but-thinks-global-warming-is-a-money-making-farce family!)

Here they are:

1. genetic modification
2. carrying out experiments on humans
3. polluting the environment (!)
4. causing social injustice (!)
5. causing poverty (!)
6. becoming obscenely wealthy (!)
7. taking drugs

Faith and religion can be a wonderful way to give individuals happiness, fulfillment, and peace. A religion can encourage followers to make the world a better place through social justice and stewardship of the environment. I so wish it always worked like that. I wish religions never focused hatred and division – but instead on acceptance and unity. Maybe I sound all hippie-dippy, but seriously. What is the point of promoting anger or a superiority complex when there are REAL issues that we can tackle?

End rant.