School's out for summer

Explore your vision for the new year

Take some time to watch a few short films that have been designed to inspire and motivate people to make positive change. We have compiled a great selection of short films that are currently freely available on internet sites for the public to view and download. 

These short films are an engaging introduction to the issues of sustainable living, and could encourage students to start planning for next year’s Sustainable Living Challenge projects.  Films address issues such as technology and design, biodiversity, cultural heritage, compassion and changing the world. 

Please note that these films are of varying length and quality and we cannot guarantee the appropriateness of all films for all student groups. You are advised to watch the films and make your own judgements about content and language. This list of films was collated for our Celebration Kit. Click here to view some short films on sustainability.

Encourage a more sustainable Christmas holiday

Not everyone celebrates Christmas, but nevertheless it is a pretty all consuming holiday festival in Australia. It is also a time of year when we can experience a real conflict in values – our strong environmental convictions can often give way to social pressure to buy, shop and consume. Here are a few ideas to encourage students to consider the impact of their Christmas activities

• Encourage your students to closely examine all the stuff they have and the stuff they want. Check out this new short film, The Story of Stuff, produced by Free Range Studios. The Story of Stuff is a 20 minute, fast paced and fact-filled look at the underside of production and consumption patterns. It exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.
• Students could create a list of things they can do to make their Christmas celebrations more sustainable - environmentally, socially, economically and personally. Encourage students to think about things that they can do personally as well as things that could be done by their families. You could use some existing lists as starting points, for example
  - Dreaming of a green Christmas, 12 tips for a more environmentally friendly Christmas,  from Early Childhood Australia
  - How to have a green Christmas, Some simple  ideas from the Science Network Western Australia.
  - The Hidden Cost of Christmas, This Australian Conservation Foundation report calculates the environmental impacts that occur in the production of popular Christmas gifts. At the end of the report there are a few suggestions for treading lightly at Christmas time.
• Get students to debate the pros and cons of a 'Buy Nothing Christmas'  - Who benefits and who loses? What would be the environmental, social, economic and personal impact of not buying presents at Christmas time? Are there alternative ways to celebrate Christmas without to buying presents?