The Seeds of Vandana Shiva

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Environmentalist, physicist and food justice activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva takes on powerful corporations that pollute and degrade the environment.

Rated 100% by RT. 82 minutes, with captions.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEqTo8lDivs

RISING GIANTS: THE SECRETS AND SUPERPOWERS OF REDWOODS

Wednesday, November 12

This multiple award-winning film explores humankind's dramatic, ever-evolving relationship with redwoods. Their ability to withstand fire and capture carbon offer clues about longevity and can enhance well-being. How do they do it --and how will redwoods keep working their magic as they're pushed to their limits by humans and climate change? Through the voices of biologists, artists, Native peoples and others racing to understand and safeguard these trees, GIANTS RISING reveals the scientific wonders of redwoods and our deep cultural ties to them. It's a story that offers lessons about resilience and connection, and the promise of solutions to the challenges that lay ahead.

80 minutes long. An optional discussion follows with members of Sustainable Rossmoor's Tree Planting and Preservation Committee.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/2xsGlC06u4M?si=pOFegVgysqVRAFaj

THE GRAB

Wednesday, October 8

This multiple award-winning documentary is a thriller. Hard-hitting journalism by a Center for Investigative Reporting team takes the viewer around the globe to reveal one of the world’s biggest and least known threats. Quietly and out of sight, governments, private investors and mercenaries are working to seize food and water resources at the expense of entire populations. These groups are establishing themselves as the new OPEC, where the future world powers will be those who control not oil, but food.

Both Russia and Israel are using food as a weapon of war – a strategy common in war throughout the ages. The viewer is challenged to think about the larger implications for our environment, international food security, and local communities. 105 minutes, with captions.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dws3Rfn_ePo

I Could Never Go Vegan

Wednesday, September 10

On a quest for the truth, the filmmaker sets out on a journey to find out the leading arguments facing the vegan movement, and whether they're justified or not. He seeks answers to the questions: Are vegans vitamin deficient? Where do vegans get their protein? Do they lack strength or stamina compared to meat eaters? Do they sleep better or worse? Why go vegan instead of vegetarian? Do vegans have fun? Is veganism a plant-based con? 

97 minutes, with captions.

Three attendees can win a cookbook.

OCEAN with David Attenborough

August 13, 2025

A healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.

OCEAN with David Attenborough, the world’s leading natural historian, takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder, or surprise, than the ocean. The celebrated broadcaster and filmmaker reveals how his lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests, and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet, stable and flourishing. Stunning, immersive cinematography showcases the wonder of the life under the seas and exposes the realities and challenges facing our ocean as never-before-seen, from destructive fishing techniques to mass coral reef bleaching. Yet the story is one of optimism, with Attenborough, pointing to inspirational stories from around the world to deliver his greatest message: the ocean can recover to a glory beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen. 
95 minutes, with captions.

Rated 100% by Rotten Tomatoes, this 2025 film was released on Attenborough's 99th birthday. The full length movie can be streamed on National Geographic TV, supported by Xfinity (Comcast).

Invisible Hand

Wednesday, February 8, 7 p.m.

Winner of three Best Documentary awards and the first film to explore the Rights of Nature movement,  “Invisible Hand” focuses on one of the defining battles of our time — where Nature, democracy and capitalism face off – and asks: “Who will speak for Nature?”

In 2014, for the first time in United States history, an ecosystem filed to defend itself in a lawsuit claiming its ‘right to exist' in Grant Township, PA. The 700 inhabitants filed a suit to prevent a permit for a fracked waste water injection well that threatened their drinking water. Both the drilling corporation and the State counter-sued. “Invisible Hand” is a metaphor for how, in a free market economy, capitalists and other self-interested individuals operate to exploit nature for profit, and who loses along the way.

Executive produced and by narrated by Mark Ruffalo. 85 minutes. A discussion follows.