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 Video - FilmsRegional: Mediterranean AreaNote: The title is followed by the length, producer, distributor (if different from producer), and year film was made. Unless otherwise noted, the videos listed below are VHS format. Many are available in Beta, 16mm and other formats. Some are on laser disks.
+ Indicates video sold or rented with teacher’s instruction guide.
"The First Eden. The Mediterranean World and Man"; "Strangers in the Garden." 60 minutes. BBC/Australian Broadcasting Corporation/WQED, Pittsburgh. BBC Bristol. 1987.
Hosted by Sir David Attenborough, the descent of the once verdant coasts of the Mediterranean to barrenness, and the plundering and polluting of its waters are the subjects of this excellent film. Greeks cut the forests of most of the northern shores, followed by the Romans, who stripped the forests of Italy and North Africa 2,000 years ago. Here and there are a few remnants of what was once here: a beautiful forest on the Yugoslavian coast in its original condition; the marshes of Ichkeul, Tunisia, where 1 million waterbirds winter; and areas of untouched seagrass teeming with fish. Most of the damage to the fisheries and water pollution took place in this century, with overfishing, and oil spills that totaled 800,000 tons per year in the early 1970s. A multi‑national organization monitors pollution at present, and all dumping is prohibited, but sewage still flows into the sea from cities along the European shores. The Mediterranean is a classic case of long‑term abuse of the land by man, and although some measures have been taken to reverse the damage, reforestation may never take place. The once fertile topsoil is now gone, and today's inhabitants seem not to miss the natural world that once lined the Mediterranean, or perhaps they are unaware of the lost Eden. A book of the same title by David Attenborough provides a useful adjunct to this film.
"Mediterranean: Cradle or Coffin?" 60 minutes. Jacques Cousteau. Video Finders. 1979.
The once productive and species-rich Mediterranean has become increasingly polluted and overfished. Cousteau's divers chronicle the underwater effects of bottom trawling, sport spear fishing, dynamiting of fish and pollution. Vast areas are now lifeless. Threatened species, such as the Mediterranean Monk Seal, are glimpsed.
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