Abstract for: American Experience's Earth Days

The System Dynamics Society has been granted permission for a one time screening of this film. Dennis Meadows and his work is highlighted in this film. Earth Days traces the origins of the modern environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who propelled the movement from its beginnings in the 1950s to its moment of triumph in 1970 with the original Earth Day and to its status as a major political force in America. Director Robert Stone ("Oswald's Ghost," "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst") drawing heavily on eyewitness testimony and a wealth of never before seen archival footage, examines the revolutionary achievements - and missed opportunities - of a decade of groundbreaking activism. The result is both a poetic meditation on man's complex relationship with nature and a probing analysis of past responses to environmental crisis. Includes interviews with former Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall; renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins; Biologist Paul Ehrlich; former congressman Pete McCloskey; Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes; forecaster Dennis Meadows, and Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schwecikart. Includes footage of all the presidents from JFK to George W. Bush discussing the environment.