Mint Green Lifestyle

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Actors: Martin Sheen.
It begins with a solemn funeral%u2026for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person's terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer). And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine's film so desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Amazon Price: $12.49 (as of 12/22/2009)

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Actors: Edith Arana, James Cromwell, Diane DeVoy, Jordan Esry, Red Esry...
Everyone has seen Wal-Mart's lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop.

Amazon Price: $12.95 (as of 12/22/2009)

An Inconvenient Truth

Actors: Al Gore, Billy West (II).
With the fate of our planet arguably hanging in the balance, An Inconvenient Truth may prove to be one of the most important and prescient documentaries of all time. As he jokingly refers to himself, "former President-elect" Al Gore felt an urgent personal calling to draw attention--as he had been doing throughout his political career--to the increasingly desperate crisis of global warming, and this riveting documentary is basically a filmed version (by respected TV director Davis Guggenheim) of the PowerPoint lecture that Gore has presented (by his own estimate, well over 1,000 times) to attentive audiences all over the world. Considering Gore's amiable, low-key approach to charts, graphs, statistics, and photographs that leave no room for doubt regarding the reality (not "theory") of global warming as Earth's ultimate environmental crisis, many viewers will be surprised by just how fascinating and convincing this no-frills film really is.
As we learn about the milestone events that shaped his character (including his sister's death and young son's near-fatal injuries after being struck by a car), Gore sheds the stiff demeanor of his 2000 presidential campaign and impresses us as a man with a mission, transcending partisan politics with an impassioned plea for common sense, ethical forthrightness, and passionate purpose in reversing the harmful effects of global warming through personal and political responsibility. Some may accuse Gore of exploiting global warming as a Democratic platform, but his honest conviction regarding this "inconvenient truth" (i.e. overwhelming evidence of global warming that's troublesome to those whose interests are threatened by Gore's irrefutable message) is likely to silence all but the most obtusely stubborn detractors. By taking the high road and discreetly avoiding a full-on assault against the George W. Bush administration (which has steadfastly avoided "the inconvenient truth" with obfuscating spin control and policies favoring the oil industry), Gore effectively rises above political differences with a stern but hopeful eye toward a better future for our children.--Jeff Shannon

Amazon Price: $17.49 (as of 12/22/2009)

All-Natural Kimono Bodysuit in Chocolate (0-3 Months)

Amazon Price: $18.95 (as of 12/22/2009)

Poplin Peasant Top & Capri - Fair Trade Organic Egyptian Cotton

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Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube

Amazon Price: $10.31 (as of 12/22/2009)

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden Play Food - 10 Piece Set

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Maxim 50 Pc Tumbletree Town w/ Buildings, Vehicles and Accessories

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Melissa & Doug Deluxe Latches Board

Amazon Price: $17.49 (as of 12/22/2009)

miYim Organic Fairytale Knit Collection - 9" Baby Victoria the Bunny

Amazon Price: $22.64 (as of 12/22/2009)