Most environmental news coverage takes one of two approaches: terrifying "the world is about to end" propaganda, or jargon-heavy science updates. So, as the health of the planet becomes an increasingly important issue, perhaps what's needed is a lighter approach. That's the theory behind ZapRoot, an engaging new podcast launched last week by ViroPOP.

Covering the world of "the new environmental pop culture" with bright graphics and a cheerful approach, host Jessica Williamson reports on stories like bee colony collapse disorder with flair and charm (in case you're wondering, the accent comes from growing up between New Zealand and Utah). According to producer Damien Somerset, "ZapRoot was created in response to the way I and the people I know feel about modern environmentalism. We don’t look counter-culture, we don’t act counter-culture, there’s no club that you have to be part of to care about environmental issues. You don’t have to be counter-culture to be green."

"Environmental pop culture makes caring about our planet cool -- we try to cover stories that our viewers can relate to and might have impact on the way they think or live," says producer Sarah Szalavitz. And that's the most striking thing about Zaproot: its positive mindset, promoting opportunities for environmental improvement on a large and small scale. It's enough to make you think the world's not about to end. Maybe.

-Liz Miller

Given the way the U.S. government has responded to the tragedies of 9/11 and Katrina, I've found myself more or less desensitized to conspiracy theories. We're living in a world where anything -- from manufacturing intelligence and outing CIA agents, to hiring nincompoops to run our most critical relief organizations -- is possible.

Then I saw The Shock Doctrine, and my jaw has yet to pick itself up off the floor. If there was ever a short that made you want to click through to Amazon and buy the book on which it was based, this is it.

Based on the book of the same title by Naomi Klein and overseen by Jonás Cuarón's auteur dad Alfonso Cuarón, The Shock Doctrine covers the connection between the radical theories of economist Milton Friedman, a Nobel laureate and close advisor to countless heads of state, and the activities of the CIA. To crudely paraphrase Friedman's thesis: disasters, whether they be natural, economic, political, or war-related, are the ideal opportunity to institute extreme economic policies that favor big business. The aftermath of a tsunami, for example, is an ideal time to privatize land, and a military coup is a great way to take over a poor country's oil business. "This is the secret history of the free market," states the film's narrator. "It wasn't born in freedom and democracy -- it was born in shock."

Utilizing a combination of archival footage, animation, and superimposed statistics, Cuarón illustrates his point by presenting a number of examples (Chile, the Falklands, etc.) of how Friedman's theories have been put into practice. It's a stunning piece of agit-prop filmmaking that owes much to the current master of the form, Adam Curtis.

But the filmmakers cleverly steer clear of the most obvious point, namely, how the Bush administration has used Friedman to their advantage. (Iraq, anyone?) That, dear viewer, is up to you.

For more on The Shock Doctrine, visit Klein's Web site or purchase her book. The short is currently screening at this year's Toronto Film Festival.

-Matthew Ross

Jorge R. Ramirez didn't know much about the Middle East when he was asked to document "United for Lebanon," a fact-finding trip to Lebanon in August 2006. Meant to determine the impact of the 2006 Lebanon War, the British-Muslim delegation looked at the extent of devastation and internal displacement caused by heavy Israeli bombardment. And thus Ramirez spent three days exploring the damage done during the air strikes, interviewing refugees, and seeing what happens when a million people lose their homes. He was asked a lot of questions about what it was like to be an American, which was apparently a topic of much interest because, according to Ramirez, "They would say, 'In America, you can make a future. Plan you life. Here, you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow.'"

August Lebanon is only a three minute sampling of the twelve hours of footage accumulated, focused around an interview with Dr. Phyllis Starkey, Minister of Parliament. According to Ramirez, "[condensing it] was impossible -- I had to find the best sentence and just cut the segment around that." While the BBC has expressed interest in seeing a full documentary, there was no offer of financing for post-production, and "I refused to work on it for free," Ramirez said. "My body and mind couldn't handle it. Plus, I wanted to take a step back." So he tabled the project for several months and immersed himself in the region's history.

The soundtrack for the film was determined before a single frame was shot: while waiting at San Francisco International Airport, Ramirez realized that a friend of his, Tim Myers, had written a perfect song for the film. He called Myers before take-off, and Myers agreed to let him use the song, aptly entitled "World War," for free.

While he and his producing partners will continue to pursue investors, Ramirez is determined to eventually finish the project, financing or no. "I want my friends to understand what's happening over there," he says. "You can have a city like Beruit, which is a resort destination, populated and urban, like any other place in the world. And for some reason, it's ok for super-powers to drop thousands of bombs in the middle of the place and destroy God knows how many homes -- because Hezbollah leaders happen to live in the area. It was a completely residential area that was bombed. They were nice enough to drop leaflets advising people to leave the area because the bombs were coming, so the losses were minimal. But the damage was intense."

-Liz Miller

Few online documentaries seize The Daily Reel's short attention span, but this mind-expanding, evocatively animated look at the state of the earth is a gripping piece of nonfiction. The first in a series of short animated films presenting new techniques for social and ecological transformation, "Post Modern Times" evolved out of concepts in the best-selling book "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" by Daniel Pinchbeck, who also narrates the web installments. But opposed to some bland talking-head, the videos communicate Pinchbeck's ideas through wildly inventive stream-of-conscious animated sequences, pioneered by Curious Pictures' Joao Amorim.

"In the animation I wanted to develop a language that was accessible to many people, hip, fun but also psychedelic," says Amorim, who also created The Daily Reel favorite "Ferrets for Freedom." "Usually people, when talking about this subject, tend to use a very cheesy 'New Age' language. I think that limits the audience, so I approached the whole project with the idea of creating a hip graphic language, where symbols take multiple meanings, and their meaning evolves with the film. The main concept behind all of the Graphics is the 'Golden Section' and 'Spirals,'" he explains. "It is pretty much in every animated shot."

Future segments of the series will focus on shamanism, sustainability, alternative energy systems, the Mayan Calendar, quantum physics and synchronicity, human sexuality, and a host of other subjects. Amorim and his team are currently looking for investors to take the project forward. For more info, check out: http://www.postmoderntimes.com.

When Posh and Becks arrived at Los Angeles International Airport last week, he was greeted by a posse of photographers -- and a whole bunch of free hamburgers. To promote A&W's new "Moove to American" campaign, a two-person film crew showed up at Terminal 4 with A&W Papa-Burgers. While they never got a chance to share the joy of 100% American beef with the Beckhams, the filmmakers made an impression on many new visitors to our country -- not to mention some very hungry paparazzi.

To supply the 100 burgers consumed over the course of the day, Landon E. Cowan and Heather Fill relied on support from the local Hawthorne A&W franchise for fresh deliveries of cheeseburgers. Fortunately, this arsenal meant that airport personnel was extremely receptive to their presence: "We were giving so many hamburgers to the airport staff that they became our eyes and ears behind-the-scenes, and we ended up becoming a major source of information," says Cowan. "The paparazzi would be coming to us with two questions: what's the latest news, and when does the next shipment of burgers arrive?"

For A&W, going viral is their newest effort to promote what Director of Marketing Tim Mathis refers to as "the best brand no one's heard of." Says Mathis: "Our challenge is that we're not the biggest brand, but have a pretty long history. The hope was that this would be a fun way to introduce ourselves to a different target crew, and get our name out there." Due to Beckham's flight being delayed, Cowan had the chance to reach out to at least one new demographic -- tourists freshly released from Customs, who he welcomed to America with two patties worth of viral promotion.

Aspiring do-it-yourself video-makers, meet Eric Beck: he may be your new online bestfriend. As the host of Next New Networks's how-to weekly series "Backyard FX," Beck offers "Hollywood style-special effects for extra value meal prices," as he says in the introductory webisode, with specific topics ranging from building jet packs to puppets, zombies to this week's entry, bloody gunshot wounds. While the show – sort of a "Mythbusters" for the underground filmmaker – is as low-budget as the showcased effects, the videos are crisply edited, informative, and Beck, himself, is an affable and entertaining webcaster.

Launched in mid-May, Backyard FX's YouTube channel "Indy Mogul," has 4,202 subscribers and their recent video on how to make ultra-cheap zombie make-up has received nearly 450,000 YouTube views since going up last week. New webisodes go up every Monday, with suggestions from viewers fueling subsequent shorts. With no shortage of pleas for help from video-makers ("I challenge you to make an exploding head, or an exploding body part," writes in one fan), Beck and the Next New Networks crew will be keeping busy in the weeks to come. For more info, check out: http://www.indymogul.com/

This, um, revealing look at the Internet's biggest industry will impress you with its size. Of its statistics, that is.

Breathing life into gravestones at a local cemetery, this touching documentary by Josh Flowers seeks to remember those who have left us.