Summary: Spark classroom discussion about gender roles and evolving definitions of family with this program on worldwide birthrates. Examining trends in Denmark, Japan, South Korea, and other countries, the video uses data-mapping of childbirth statistics to construct a global picture of cultural conventions and expectations. How adults in different areas of the world view parenthood-whether or not both...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Year by year the tourist trade has dwindled in fictional Pingwah Falls, leaving the town practically bankrupt. When a plan was unveiled for a modern resort, everyone's hopes rose.until they learned the land is home to a threatened species of bird. In this Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller, panelists including former county supervisor Tom Mullen; Christopher...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program-a valuable tool for introducing the concepts of energy security, antiterrorism, and managing change at the global level-identifies the roots of violent conflict by way of specific examples. Through discussion of territorial conflicts (India/Pakistan, Israel/PLO), genocides (Rwanda, Srebrenica), terrorism (al Qaeda, IRA, ETA), and hybridized violence such as that found in Sudan,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Defining the typical New Yorker has always been impossible; today, the definition of a Londoner is nearly as elusive. This program travels London's increasingly cosmopolitan neighborhoods, sorting through perspectives on immigration and resistance to it. Interviews with leaders and everyday citizens reveal distrust in several quarters; Lord Nazir Ahmed and East London Muslims cite examples of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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
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Summary: The human population is likely to double by the middle of the 21st century, soaring past 10 billion people. How will all these people survive? Will there be enough resources to meet everyone's needs or will there be massive social upheaval, famine, and rampant pollution? These questions have been a consuming passion for biologist and environmental pioneer Paul Ehrlich, who set out decades ago...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The dire prediction by controversial economist Thomas Malthus that the world's expanding population would swiftly outrun its food supply has not come to fruition-yet. In this program, demographer Paul Demeny, of the Population Council; Walter Reid, of the World Resources Institute; and Max Singer, co-founder of the Hudson Institute, join Ben Wattenberg, of the American Enterprise Institute, in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: A city shouldn't be a problem, says Jaime Lerner, the former mayor of Curitiba. "It should be a solution." This program explores innovative planning, engineering, and conservation at work in the Brazilian metropolis as it transcends many of the problems plaguing other South American cities. The film spotlights fully modernized public transportation and recycling systems, a "Citizenship Street"...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines types of conflict that can occur at the local level, whether that locality is a single town, a region, or an entire country. After generally addressing armed conflict-different types of war, where they tend to proliferate, and kinds of weaponry used-Conflict on a Local Scale illustrates unarmed conflict through five examples. They include a clash of recreational interests...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Why do urban crime rates soar in some wealthy countries while dropping in others? This program analyzes that question using data-mapping to find telltale patterns in Japan and the United States. With the Japanese crime rate increasing in 90 percent of the nation, a data map based on locations and peak times of criminal activity sheds light on deteriorating conditions in city outskirts. Opposite...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Tokyo is one of the most technologically advanced cities on the planet, but Japan's low birth rate and the diversifying interests of its young people are causing Tokyo to rely increasingly on skilled immigrant labor. This program examines the implications of that change, gathering insightful commentary from a wide range of Japanese society about multiculturalism, racism, and interracial...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
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: This program examines how urbanization, industrialization, and overreaching agriculture are depleting the Earth of its natural resources. Citing environmental changes in Morocco, Ghana, Ukraine, Mexico, and Vietnam, the program studies the impact of population growth and profiles organizations that respond to ecological crises stemming from such growth. With a focus on educational outreach...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Satisfying one's hunger is a primal act which most Westerners never connect to global issues. But the diets and farming systems of wealthy countries can be directly linked to starvation in the underdeveloped world. This program sheds light on the international tragedy of hunger and malnutrition, emphasizing that the problem is one of distribution, not production. Filmed in Asia, South America,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Thirst, starvation, claustrophobia-all three await the whole of humanity, if global population and consumption rates continue unchanged. This program explores the looming crisis in practical terms, measuring as accurately as possible our planet's capacity for human habitation. Host Sir David Attenborough guides viewers through the core problems of water scarcity, shortsighted agricultural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program defines Mexico City's globalization in terms of winners and losers, examining how, in the world's largest metropolis, immigration challenges are linked to poverty and population influx from surrounding rural areas. Contrasting the city's high-tech facilities and fashionable neighborhoods with its sprawling slums and their struggling inhabitants, the program outlines the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Each week, in countries around the globe, nearly a million people say goodbye to their homes in impoverished rural regions-and move to even worse conditions in cities. This program explores the tragic results: illegal slums filled with some of the poorest people in the world, lacking water, sanitation, and other resources needed to support exploding populations. Viewers are shown the lives and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: What do we mean when we talk about sustainable communities? How can they be created? This program joins architects, urban planners, civic leaders, business owners, and community residents in three separate localities as they respond to the challenge of building a sustainable community. A number of environmental and urban-planning questions are addressed, including: Is the architecture sound,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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: It has altered our sense of space, fueled our mega-economy, knifed into the hearts of thriving city neighborhoods, and changed the lives of millions of people in the 40 years it's taken to build. This program about the Interstate Highway System combines archival material, newsreels, and interviews to describe the impact of what has been called the world's largest public works project. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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: It's easy to talk about environmental stewardship, but quite another matter to practice it. This compilation of 12 ABC News stories shows how governments, businesses, and individuals around the world are taking concrete, eco-friendly action. Each engaging example of "going green" offers an opportunity for class discussion, further study, and perhaps even genuine change.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: To describe New York City’s cultural makeup, the best metaphor is a salad bowl rather than a melting pot. This program follows the Queens #7 subway line through a dazzling array of ethnic communities, each with its own distinct texture and flavor, illustrating demographic changes the city has undergone since the early 1990s. Less inclined to learn English and join mainstream society than...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the population of the Earth poised to double within the next five decades, there is evidence that the pendulum of overpopulation is beginning to swing the other way. In this program, Population Communication's Robert Gillespie visits India, China, Mexico, Indonesia, Iran, Ghana, Nigeria, France, the U.S., and elsewhere to observe a fertility transition that may prove to be one of the most...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006