Here's Sam's top tips for videos. Watch the video I made here, watch Klara's Video here... And watch Vrinda's video here:

Hello all,

   Following my monday experience of watching around seven different climate DVDs, and reviewing them, whats good and whats not, I decided it was probably time I shared my experiences with the world. These are my reviews about what I think are some of the most inspirational climate films around.

Cherwell School Video & East Hendred Video

 Fellow Climate Explorer Klara Wanelik from Cherwell school made a video about what her friends think about climate change. I thought this was a really good film, as it shows what other people from around Oxfordshire think about climate change, also, I think the background music was very appropriate, ("The weather with you", by Crowded House). It could maybe do with more male views, as every person on there was female, and I think there would be some changes in opinion there. You can find it by looking at it on the discription above, or by following the hyperlink of "Cherwell School Video". Also, the East Hendred video is one that I made, you can see it in the discription of this article, or by clicking on the hyperlink of "East Hendred Video". Or find them both on the links button opposite. Tell me what you think!!

  Waking Up to Climate Change

 An American made film called "Waking up to Climate Change" really surprised me with the amount of anti-Bush and the amount that the public wanted something to be done about Climate Change. When asked for one word that shows how they feel about Climate Change, some of these came up; scared, frightened, problematique, terrified, serious and (I think this is interesting) exciting. Something that came up quite often was when asked what is stopping them, or holding them back from responding to Climate Change qutie a few people said the Government did. Also, something that will stick with me about that video is the following quotation, "It's crazy to think that the way that you live isn't going to be an option anymore", which I think really symbolises a lot of people's views to Climate Change, and bearing in mind that this came from someone from the southern states, that is really saying something.

Tomorrow's Climate, Today's Challenge

   Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) made a DVD about Climate Change called Tomorrow's Climate, Today's Challenge, I found some of the videos really interesting and inspiring. Really shocking in some cases, I think it was definitly worth watching it. I'm sure I've seen it on the TV at some point as well, and if my memory doesn't falter, I think its great that something like this is slipping through onto the airwaves to people. It was only two minutes long and it really outlined the effects and possible outcomes of Climate Change, here's the link to one of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DIHRyqcIrQ. I also think its really good that the government made this one, and put it on the TV, which must show that something's going on behind the scenes. Most of the rest of the DVD I found quite painful to watch, 8 minutes for Champion's Diaries was quite long to commit, although it did show that humour obviously works it getting the message across. A good DVD if you want a very brief outline on the Climate and what might happen.

Surviving Peak Oil

How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

   There was another DVD, (very professional this time), about how Cuba survived Peak Oil, it had some relvance to Climate Change, but the main bit was how the entire community of Cuba worked together to survive the depression after the Soviet Union. I found it really interesting, as before watching the video I didn't know what Peak Oil was (Peak Oil is when half of the worlds Oil reserves are used up. Cuba experienced this in the 1990s because they had no means of getting Oil from anywhere). Cuba Survived Peak Oil by harvesting any possible land into agriculture, even going as far as using rooftops. Something that really stood out for me from the video was the way Cuba had the same infant mortality and life expectancy as America, but drastically changed fuel consumption, and the only difference between the countries was probably the standard of living, which hadn't changed for Cuba. As I say, the emphasis was not on Climate Change, but on how Cuba survived a big depression, and it made me think that maybe the developed countries need to experience some kind of catastrophe or depression before it realises the consequences of their actions.

Greenpeace, "What are we waiting for?"

   Greenpeace made a video about decentralised energy, which was very informative and inspiring. Decentralised energy is when there are more highly efficient power stations around the country instead of fewer less efficient power stations such as Didcot. Something that really stood out for me was that most of the Netherlands has been converted to decentralised energy, and it is working fine, and if anything has changed its the standard of living, which is for the better. When asked why they changed to more efficient biomass or bio incinerators, Dutch power station managers replied with "higher taxes on hydrocarbon fuels" (or words to that effect). Which goes to show that maybe the Government should be doing more to combat Climate Change than making videos.

Sam