''Unacceptable Levels'' is a 2013

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the widespread use of artificial chemicals and their effects on the

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...

and

human health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. It was directed and written by first-time filmmaker Ed Brown.

Featured people

The film features

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...

, Devra Lee Davis, Stacy Malkan, Ken Cook,

Christopher Gavigan Christopher Gavigan (born April 19, 1974) is an American entrepreneur, author, and co-founder of The Honest Company. Career In January 2012, Gavigan and business partners Jessica Alba and Brian Lee launched The Honest Company. Gavigan has se ...

, Alan Greene,

John Warner John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 200 ...

, Andy Igrejas,

Joan Blades Joan Ellen Blades (born March 18, 1956 in Berkeley, California) is an American computer software entrepreneur, political activist, and author. In 1987, she and her husband Wes Boyd co-founded Berkeley Systems, a San Francisco Bay area software co ...

, William Hirzy, Richard Clapp,

Tyrone Hayes Tyrone B. Hayes (born July 29, 1967) is an American biologist and professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his research in frogs, concluding that the herbicide atrazine is an endocrine disruptor ...

Jeffrey Hollender Jeffrey Hollender (born 1954 in New York City) is an American entrepreneur, author and activist best known for founding Seventh Generation Inc. Early life Hollender grew up in New York City and attended The Town School, The Allen-Stevenson Sch ...

, and Randy Hayes.

Screenings

The film toured the United States in the summer of 2013, with screenings scheduled for San Francisco on July 11, Chicago on July 24, and

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, on August 24.

Reception

''Unacceptable Levels'' received several film festival awards, including Health & Environment Film Prize at the 30th International Environmental Film Festival in Paris, a special jury prize at the 2012 Yosemite International Film Festival and the PlayItFwd Award at the 2012 FILManthropy Festival. Geoff Berkshire in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' writes the film "marries folksy astonishment and alarmist speculation in a documentary far too easy to dismiss." Robert Abele of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called it "an appropriately feel-bad offering for discerning environmental paranoids."

References

External links

* * 2013 films 2013 in the environment 2013 documentary films Documentary films about environmental issues Documentary films about food and drink Documentary films about health care 2010s English-language films {{environment-documentary-film-stub