''Earth Days'' is a 2009 documentary film about the history of the environmental movement in the United States, directed by Robert Stone and distributed by Zeitgeist Films in theaters. ''Earth Days'' premiered at the 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival, and released to theatres on August 14, 2009.

Overview

''Earth Days'' combines personal testimony and archival media. The film reviews the development of the modern environmental movement—from the post-war 1950s and the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s bestseller '' Silent Spring'', to the successful

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

celebration in 1970. Featured pioneers of the era include the former United States Secretary of the Interior

Stewart Udall Stewart Lee Udall (January 31, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was an American politician and later, a federal government official. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, unde ...

; biologist Paul Ehrlich, author of '' The Population Bomb''; '' Whole Earth Catalog'' founder

Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best known as editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He founded a number of organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the auth ...

; Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart; "The Forecaster"

Dennis Meadows Dennis Lynn Meadows (born June 7, 1942) is an American scientist and Emeritus Professor of Systems Management, and former director of the Institute for Policy and Social Science Research at the University of New Hampshire. He is President of ...

, scientist and Emeritus Professor of Systems Management; and "The Politician" Pete McCloskey, former Republican. Also included are Richard Nixon, former

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

Jerry Brown, Jimmy Carter, Denis Hayes, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and Hunter Lovins.

Release

The film premiered on April 2, 2009 at the Wisconsin Film Festival. It went on to have a limited theatrical release on August 14, 2009. It aired on US television on April 19, 2010 as part of the '' American Experience'' series on PBS.

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 33 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "This engaging and well-organized eco-doc maps the successes and failures of the American environmental movement, thanks to sharp interviews and remarkable archive footage." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards and nominations

* Closing night film, 2009

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

* The Sheffield Green Award, 2009

Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film s ...

* Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, 62nd Writers Guild of America Awards.

References

External links