Edward Burtynsky and Jennifer Baichwal’s film Manufactured Landscapes is now available in DVD format in the UK and it contains some tremendously powerful images and takes which underline the depth of impact on our landscape that rapid economic development, globalisation and mass production can have.

The opening sequence - the endless factory - is an unforgettable five minute sequence film at the Sentai factory in China which drove home to my hard-bitten Year 13 economists the concept of absolute and relative advantage in the production of low value household goods. There is a remarkable piece covering the creation of the Three Gorges Dam and also haunting pieces of workers putting together electrical components into a kettle and the vast container ports that have supported China’s export drive.