Director: Neal Livingston

Budworks

Through the 1980's in every Canadian province east of Saskatchewan, except Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, chemical insecticides are sprayed from the air onto the forests to combat the spruce budworm and other forest insects. The focus is on the province of New Brunswick whose spraying began in 1952. It explores who both sprayers and anti-sprayers are, the role of government, the economics and the health issues surround the aerial application of insecticides.

Herbicide Trials

In 1983, fifteen Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, landowners went to court to stop the spraying of herbicides by the local subsidiary of a Swedish multinational on forests adjacent to their properties. They found that the testimony of scientists and the support of public opinion, both here and abroad, were not enough to win their case. The film shows their ordeal and the landmark Sydney trial. Concerns raised included potential conflict-of-interest situations where a government must protect citizens' health while supporting certain kinds of industry; the relative value of the political and judicial processes in mediating social problems; and the need for a public forum for debating environmental issues. The film contains outstanding footage from chemical-industry films of the 1950s and recent material about Vietnam veterans affected by Agent Orange.

Rudy Haase

A biography about Canada's great unknown environmental and social activist, Rudy Haase. Rudy was born in the USA and lives in Nova Scotia with his wife Mickey. His life's work has involved preserving wilderness in Canada, the USA, Costa Rica, and New Zealand. In Nova Scotia Rudy Haase has been active for more than four decades on many environmental issues from fighting against the clear cutting and pesticide spraying of forests to opposing uranium mining.