Summary: Stretching over 4,000 miles across South America, the Amazon River has long defied human efforts to tame it. Not a single bridge crosses it, and not one dam halts its flow. This program visits urban centers on the banks of the Amazon and examines new attempts to harness-or exploit-the river's energy and natural abundance. The journey begins at Iquitos-a Peruvian city blighted by poverty and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Among the most utilized waterways in the world, the Yangtze River is also one of the most volatile. This program sheds light on humanity's battle to tame and profit from the river-specifically, a project initiated by Chiang Kai-shek in the 1930s. The program also studies corresponding ecological problems. Viewers are introduced to the Three Gorges Dam, a concrete mega-structure visible from...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Its name conjures images of America's mythical past, encoded in the stories and novels of Mark Twain. But today's Mississippi River is rife with challenges no 19th-century storyteller could have imagined. From issues of basic survival to triumphs of creativity and profit, this program follows the day-to-day lives of those who dwell on the Mississippi. Starting in the town of Cairo,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Rich in history, the Rhine feeds Europe's collective identity-as well as its divisions. Flowing from Switzerland through Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, the river intersects a multitude of towns and cities in the process. This program follows the Rhine on its multifaceted journey and examines economic, political, environmental, and historical issues surrounding it....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Were it not for the elemental forces of the Nile River, the great architecture of ancient Egypt and Ethiopia might never have been built. But in today's water-starved world, the river could lead both countries down a destructive path. This program examines lives and livelihoods that depend on the Nile, from the humble to the hugely ambitious. In Egypt, viewers encounter a struggling Cairo...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Rising from a Himalayan ice cave and emptying into the bay of Bengal, the Ganges River is sacred to Hindus as a purifying spirit-yet it currently suffers from pollution and neglect. This program follows the Ganges through various Indian cities, studying their relationship with the river and assessing its uncertain future. Beginning in Gangotri, the program profiles a photographer who has...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: As fresh water sources dwindle in the arid American Southwest, California faces growing difficulty in managing and sustaining its irrigation infrastructure. This program analyzes the multifaceted problem, sifting through environmental and political factors and assessing a number of potential solutions. Beginning its fact-finding tour at the Water Education Foundation in Sacramento, the film...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Will biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions or actually increase them? Does the biofuel industry threaten the world's rainforests? Is corn, palm, rapeseed, or sugar cane the best plant source? What about recycled cooking oil? This program explores the ongoing controversy over biofuel technology, raising disturbing questions about sustainability and environmental impact while evaluating...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Peak oil: the point at which oil-producing countries, faced with diminishing crude reserves, can no longer keep pace with growing demand. Has the world already reached it, or is the point of irrevocable decline still decades away? That is the slippery question that frames the narrative of this program as experts from around the world give their views on factors associated with escalating oil...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Despite great strides made in reducing point source pollution, America still has 300,000 miles of rivers and streams and 5 million acres of lakes that remain contaminated. This documentary examines how coastal and inland communities across the country are turning their attention to controlling non-point source pollution through watershed management and TMDL-total maximum daily load-programs....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Taking viewers deep inside a devastated landscape, this program examines physical forces directly tied to flooding in Bangladesh as well as the broader causes of such disasters, including climate change. It also explores the social, economic, and environmental impact of intense flooding through the personal accounts of people living by major rivers and on Bangladesh's char lands, areas built up...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Exploring the aisles of a Dutch grocery store, this program clearly demonstrates that globalization has made almost any food item, no matter how exotic or remote, available to the Western consumer. But the film also shows the downside of that new global access, tracing specific foods to their countries of origin and revealing the impact on indigenous communities and ecosystems. Viewers witness...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Have Earth's vibrant waterways-its streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans-become delivery systems for pollutants and poison? This program points to signs that toxic substances are overwhelming our planet's aquatic ecosystems. Viewers encounter many of the causes for this concern, including a radical decrease in frog populations, distressed marine mammals in estuary habitats, and disturbing changes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: At ground level, shallow seas, broad beaches, dunes, and waterlogged hollows seem to comprise a chaotic environment. In fact, there is order and form, produced by the interaction of wind, vegetation, and moving sand. Because sand dunes develop rapidly, the development of a landform can be observed. Measuring wind velocity demonstrates how saltation, sand movement, and erosion happen. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The lowland basis around Los Angeles contains the most extensive water conservation and flood control system in the world. In 1917, work began on a system of dams and improved channels to control the floodwaters entering the basin. This program looks at the way this system was built and the problems entailed in its design and construction.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beneath our feet lies a world of violence, death, and renewal-the soil. This program takes viewers deep inside that unseen realm, focusing on the chemical and ecological complexity that enriches soil and sustains plant and animal life. A wide array of fungi, microorganisms, insects, and small animals are examined, illustrating the roles they play in the development of root systems and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In a dramatic reversal of policy since apartheid, South Africa has become a model of water fulfillment. Despite being one of the driest regions on Earth, India's Rajasthan is an oasis due to the revival of a system of ancient rain basins. This program looks at these encouraging examples to show how sustainable solutions to long-term water management can be achieved, while a visit to Sertao in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The crash of 1929 left a country—once reeling with optimism—with 25% of its citizens unemployed and at a near complete loss of hope. But in March, 1933, within weeks of his election, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stepped in with a solution: the Civilian Conservation Corps. As told by four veterans of this unique organization, The Civilian Conservation Corps, from the PBS American...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: For decades, local food producers in the West have faced a shrinking market share. But if well-intentioned Americans and Europeans stop eating vegetables from Africa, will Africans have more to eat? Or will we simply deprive African farmers of a living? This program delves into that issue and other food-related problems, some of which have solutions while others urgently await answers. Viewers...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: A progenitor of the National Geographic Society, John Wesley Powell was a naturalist, a rough-and-ready explorer, and a visionary in his understanding of the uncharted Colorado River. This program illustrates Powell's historic passage through the Grand Canyon in 1869, when the 35-year-old set out with eight companions from Green River, Wyoming, into the unknown. The film describes how, at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: As current sources of fresh water become increasingly inadequate to support the needs of North America below the Canadian border, the U.S. and Mexico are looking toward their northern neighbor for relief. This program examines the political and commercial ramifications of NAFTA on the bulk export of water, as well as initiatives to conserve and recycle fresh water in the Sun Belt and in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In sub-Saharan Africa, water is the focus of daily life. This program seeks to understand its centrality by investigating the situation at Lake Ganvie, Benin, an "African Venice" where survival is threatened by environmental changes, improper sanitation, and water-related illnesses; a perceived correlation among Dogon elders between their people's shift away from the worship of Nommo and an...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: While high-tech agriculture is one of the hallmarks of Western society, a growing number of Americans and Europeans believe that our farming methods are harmful on a number of levels. This program looks at the evolving debate over industrialized food production versus organic farming. Showing how and why farming techniques and policies have changed in the U.K. and similar countries over the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Due to its rapidly growing economy and a new demand for consumer goods, China is challenged to create a model for long-term sustainable development. In this program Hazel Henderson talks with Professor Zhouying Jin, author of Global Technological Change, about efforts in China to cultivate a green economy. The country has made great strides in clean energy, and is the world's largest exporter...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010