One Belongs

Surrealistic animation beautifully juxtaposes the undersea movements of a jellyfish and a plastic bag, offering some poignant commentary on marine pollution in the process. Made by SHFT collaborator Elizabeth Klein, the film makes use of rotoscoping, an age-old animation technique that involves tracing over live-action film movement, frame by frame, creating a dreamlike visual effect. Music by......read more

Weekend Hippie

Paul Nosa makes "sustainable art" using a sewing machine powered by his bike. You give him an idea in five words or less, and he sews a piece of art for you. Not just any idea, though. I tried "baby punched in face" and he politely declined. How rude....read more

RETHINK - Contemporary Art and Climate Change

I recently met Beth Terry, the author of a great blog on plastic pollution called Fake Plastic Fish (the definitive resource on our culture’s obsession with plastics) at a very sobering event – the return from an expedition to Midway Island with photographer Chris Jordan, who traveled there with a film crew to document the “plastic graveyard.” Midway is literally......read more

Tom Fun Orchestra "Bottom of the River"

Wonderfully grim visual interpretation of a song by Tom Fun Orchestra, an eight-piece gypsy folk-punk ensemble from Nova Scotia. A bit of Brecht and a dram of Tom Waits, this gorgeously dark animated short packs a punch. Directed by Alisdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney of Trunk, the "Bottom of the River" video was showcased on BBC Films and nominated for Best Animation at the 2009 UK......read more

Sigur Ros "Gobbledigook"

Ryan McGinley's work is sensual, natural and perfectly suited for one of our favorite bands, Sigur Ros, and their inspired track Gobbledigook. There's an oblique environmental message here in the video's playful abandon in nature. It's a sexy nod to the SHFT mission....read more

Brighter Planet

Green social software app Brighter Planet came up with a brilliant idea on reversing climate change: use your living room as a CO2 sink. Hehe....read more

Carbon Footprint

Liz Klein's animation work is broad-ranged and eclectic. Her rotoscope work in the dreamlike ONE BELONGS is elegiac; her stop motion in BLUE TO GREEN takes Bambi into the terrors of climate change; and now with CARBON FOOTPRINT, Liz takes on yet another animation technique to remind us to be conscious about our own footprint monsters who follow us throughout our lives. This vid has a......read more

SHFT Green to Blue

SHFT animator extraordinaire Liz Klein creates a moving message about the environment and climate change, using the tried and true technique of stop motion animation. Just in time for the holidays. Watch this before they run Rudolph....read more