If You Love This Planet
Encyclopedia
If You Love This Planet is a 1982 short documentary film
recording a lecture given to SUNY Plattsburgh
students by physician and anti-nuclear
activist Dr. Helen Caldicott
about the dangers posed by nuclear weapon
s. The movie was directed by Terri Nash and produced by Edward Le Lorrain for Studio D, the women's studio of the National Film Board of Canada. Studio D head Kathleen Shannon was executive producer.
Released during the term of the Reagan administration and at the height of Cold War
nuclear tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union
, If You Love This Planet was officially designated as "foreign political propaganda" by the U.S. Department of Justice
and suppressed in the United States. The subsequent uproar over that action gave the film a publicity boost; it went on to win the 1982 Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
. It appears that the first cinema showing of the film in Britain did not occur until April 2008, when it was screened by the London Socialist Film Co-op.
station KPFT
-FM in Houston and now plays weekly on dozens of U.S., Canadian and Australian stations. Each new episode (plus all archived programs) can also be heard on www.ifyoulovethisplanet.org. The series focuses on the threats to human survival posed by nuclear weapons, nuclear power
, global warming
, toxic pollution, deforestation
, and other public health issues.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
recording a lecture given to SUNY Plattsburgh
State University of New York at Plattsburgh
The State University of New York at Plattsburgh is a four-year, public liberal arts college in Plattsburgh, New York. The college was founded in 1889 and opened in 1890. The college is currently part of the State University of New York system and is accredited by the Middle States Association of...
students by physician and anti-nuclear
Anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
activist Dr. Helen Caldicott
Helen Caldicott
Helen Mary Caldicott is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general. She hosts a...
about the dangers posed by nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s. The movie was directed by Terri Nash and produced by Edward Le Lorrain for Studio D, the women's studio of the National Film Board of Canada. Studio D head Kathleen Shannon was executive producer.
Released during the term of the Reagan administration and at the height of Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
nuclear tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, If You Love This Planet was officially designated as "foreign political propaganda" by the U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
and suppressed in the United States. The subsequent uproar over that action gave the film a publicity boost; it went on to win the 1982 Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
This is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...
. It appears that the first cinema showing of the film in Britain did not occur until April 2008, when it was screened by the London Socialist Film Co-op.
Book and radio program
Helen Caldicott, M.D., later wrote a book of the same name, If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth (1992). A new edition of this book was published by W.W. Norton in September 2009. In addition, Dr. Caldicott hosts a weekly radio program called If You Love This Planet, which debuted in July 2008. The program was first aired by Pacifica RadioPacifica Radio
Pacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a group of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. It is also a program service supplying over 100 affiliated...
station KPFT
KPFT
KPFT is a listener-sponsored community radio station in Houston, Texas, which went on the air on March 1, 1970 as the fourth station in the Pacifica radio family. Larry Lee sold the idea to Pacifica to establish listener-supported radio in Houston as an alternative to main-stream broadcasting. The...
-FM in Houston and now plays weekly on dozens of U.S., Canadian and Australian stations. Each new episode (plus all archived programs) can also be heard on www.ifyoulovethisplanet.org. The series focuses on the threats to human survival posed by nuclear weapons, nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, toxic pollution, deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
, and other public health issues.