Summary: Over two decades ago, the original version of this program depicted the effects of wind, waves, and tides on the coastline of southeastern Massachusetts. Revised and updated for the 21st century, this edition takes a new look at the problem of erosion along America's shores, emphasizing the impact of climate change and sea level rise on our coasts. Continuing its case study of Cape Cod and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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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
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Summary: They are now banned worldwide-but the toxins known as PCBs are not going away. This program explains how the compounds have almost irreparably polluted the globe and still threaten future generations. The film begins in 1927, when PCBs became integral to electric power and, eventually, a vast array of agricultural and technological products. Describing the growth of scientific awareness of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: To save the world one bird at a time - that's what Brazilian-born biologist and TED Senior Fellow Juliana Machado Ferreira wants to do. She focuses on illegally trafficked specimens headed for a miserable fate in pet stores - but for Ferreira, rescue is just the beginning of the discussion. Once exotic animals are seized from smugglers, she asks, what's next? In this TEDTalk, Ferreira describes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Canal systems, ballast water from oceangoing ships, and seemingly little things such as fish stocking, bait bucket emptying, and trailering recreational boats all provide ways for non-native invasive species to infest North America's aquatic environments. Using the Great Lakes-unwilling home to the sea lamprey, zebra mussel, round goby, and Eurasian ruffe-as a case study, this program takes a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program explores the grave environmental consequences and unexpected opportunities due to the melting of the Arctic sea-ice cover-a vast region heating up at twice the speed of the rest of the Earth. Balanced against the benefits of shipping shortcuts and access to new undersea oil and gas fields is the looming catastrophic effect of a warming North Pole on the entire world's climate....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Despite the extraordinary engineering of Brazil's Porto Primavera Dam, many scientists and environmentalists view its ecological effects as catastrophic. This program offers a sobering look at a nation's effort to balance its growing energy needs against the long-term benefits of preserving unique and irreplaceable ecosystems. Produced prior to the completion of Porto Primavera and the creation...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Extinction is a natural process, and five times in the dim reaches of Earth's long history it has happened on a huge scale. Now, due to human activities, another mass extinction has been set in motion-and it is unfolding at an unprecedented speed. This program, hosted by David Attenborough, investigates the devastating effects of humankind's overpopulation and overconsumption in an attempt to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This video explains the problem and its possible solutions through a compelling futuristic drama reminiscent of Hollywood science fiction and packed with solid scientific information. Viewers meet a time traveler from the eco-distressed distant future who returns to the present to find out what went wrong. Through her work with a young scientist, viewers learn how species invasions occur, about...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Why are one third of amphibian species threatened by extinction? Hosted by CBC news anchor Kelly Crowe, this program summarizes the major reasons for the near-disappearance of hundreds of types of frogs, toads, and salamanders across the world. Dr. David Green, professor of biology at McGill University, and Toronto Zoo curator Bob Johnson explain one cause for the mass destruction of frogs-the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Some scientific studies predict that as the Earth continues to warm, up to a third of all species could go extinct by the middle of the century. This ABC News program looks at the effect of global warming on non-human life-specifically two species of frogs that used to inhabit the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, in Costa Rica; three additional vanished frog species in Madagascar; and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The most striking feature of life on Earth is its richness and variety. But research shows that the planet's biodiversity is seriously threatened with destruction by human activities. From the depths of the oceans to the tops of rainforest canopies, from the African savannas to the soil underfoot, this program hosted by David Attenborough reveals the extent of that living bounty-and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: By building roads, watering crops, and grazing cattle, we are constantly changing the climate. We may also modify the weather by cloud seeding, though there is no scientifically accepted proof that rain or snow would not have occurred naturally in cases where seeding appears to have been successful. This program shows how migration in the Sahel has altered regional climate; examines the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Nothing is so familiar, and yet so elusive, as water. A running faucet would require 136 trillion years to discharge the Earth's 326 million cubic miles of water, but only fresh water-less than three percent of the global supply-can sustain life. As we transport, utilize, and consume water, we are tempted to view it as eternally plentiful. But its protracted cycle of falling from the sky,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Forests protect and nurture humanity in a variety of ways. Why, then, does deforestation continue? Who is responsible for it? This program analyzes the problem through a socioeconomic lens, drawing connections between corporate interests, food security concerns, and annihilation of the planet's woodlands. Outlining the history of deforestation from Roman times to WWII, the film focuses on the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: The town of Sunnyville is thrilled with the jobs and development promised by a new factory, which will make efficient, inexpensive solar cells. However, nanomaterials used in the manufacturing process pose an unknown level of risk to city residents and the environment. In this Fred Friendly Seminar, Peabody award-winning correspondent John Hockenberry leads expert panelists through a series of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In 2007, the American honeybee population almost disappeared, the Northwest Passage became navigable without the aid of icebreakers, and China surpassed the United States in total carbon emissions. This program documents the most ominous environmental milestones of that year, providing an illuminating snapshot of the changing condition of the planet. Replete with fires and floods, migrations...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This collection of NewsHour segments examines developments in zoology and agriculture that are challenging scientists, business leaders, and government officials alike. With commentary from Lori Williams of the National Invasive Species Council, the program studies a disturbing increase in nonnative and often harmful insect populations on American soil. North Carolina's sprawling hog farms and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Almost without exception, fishing grounds all over the world are being recklessly exploited. This program brings the global problem to light, making clear that our planet is approaching an environmental crisis. It examines methods that are widespread in India's fisheries, including the use of nets so finely meshed that even seawater only trickles out; it also explores the waters of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Through her Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai-environmental activist, social justice advocate, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient-has planted 30 million trees in Kenya while protecting existing forests endangered by development. A veritable force of nature herself, Maathai communicates her infectious fervor as she advocates environmental action and government reform in this documentary. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: When seasonal rains sweep across South America, the Amazon River and its tributaries overflow their banks to create an ecosystem unlike any other-a place where, for six months out of each year, land-dwellers and water-dwellers mingle. This program joins an expert Amazon biologist in a journey into the flooded forests of the Amazon Basin to film dolphins navigating through treetops, a male...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This Science Screen Report explains how biologists help endangered species. It highlights captive breeding techniques that have strengthened populations of Malayan tapirs and southern white rhinos; it also examines the artificial insemination of giant pandas and the teaching of survival skills to orphaned orangutans. Emphasizing that humans can learn and benefit from these experiences-for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: At the current rate of resource depletion, humankind stands to lose fully half of Earth's remaining species over the next 100 years. At this crucial point in world history, a choice must be made: will coming generations inhabit a healthy planet or, quite possibly, a dying one? In this program, David Attenborough searches for solutions to this impending eco-disaster. The research of demographer...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How long will the biosphere tolerate exploitation of the oceans? Are local fishermen a doomed species? What can be done to reverse the decline of fish stocks around the planet? This program documents the environmental and socioeconomic costs of excessive fishing. The film contrasts ancient maritime practices-like those of Mauritania's Imragen fishermen and Djibouti's pearl divers and lobster...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008