Premier Automne, a short film by French studio Je Regarde, is beautiful and emotional journey that explores nature’s balance: life, death, and the seasons.

Abel and his skeleton puppies live in an eternal winter. Apolline and her summer puppies frolic in the green. Keepers of their own seasons, they first encounter each other with curiosity before they both realize how different their worlds are, and how their worlds respond to each other. 

This story sparked a lot of discussion in our house, and the simple last scene has become an instant favorite. If you want to see how the animation was made, there is also a Premier Automne: Making Of video that shows some beautiful detail.

More nature, more seasons, and more animation in the archives.

via UFunk.net.

Watch the spring thaw of seasonal dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) on Mars, brought to us by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Fall, a time-lapse, season-catcher in New York City’s Central Park, shot from August 2011 to January 2012 by Jamie Scott.

via doobybrain.

In.gredients is a new package-free grocery store that is opening in Austin, Texas in the Summer of 2012. Its mission as the US’s first zero-waste, package-free grocery store will support local businesses and farmers, will sell based on seasonal rhythms of farming, will avoid processed foods, will reduce transportation costs and pollution, and will encourage customers to bring their own reusable containers. Bringing back this way of shopping is a great idea for Austin and I could see it easily working in places like Brooklyn, Portland or the Bay Area, just to name a few other starter communities…

A great side effect to watching this video is starting a conversation about eating foods in season — more than just squash and pumpkins in the fall — as well as being very aware of how much packaging we use, recycle and throw away in our own home.

Related research: learn more about buying sustainable food with local guides, find sustainable food near you at the Eat Well Guide, and check out this Seasonal Food Chart at Good.is. 

via It’s Okay to Be Smart.

To Spring, made in 1936. I loved this cartoon when I was a kid. The colors. The rhymes and music. The saga. Time to pass it along…