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: Characterized as an LDC or Least Developed Country, the nation of Chad wrestles with drought, population growth, and resulting tensions between farmers and herders. This program investigates hydraulic projects and mediation initiatives that are fostering relationships between Chad's food growers and its nomadic, livestock-centered cultures. Overviewing the basic causes of Chadian land disputes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Illegal deforestation, slash-and-burn practices, poverty, land disputes-these are among the many problems associated with farming in Madagascar. This program guides viewers through the real-world challenges of building sustainable agriculture in the country. Outlining reasons why many growers are unable or unwilling to leave outmoded techniques behind, the film visits community offices that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Close to the Russian border, far removed from Mongolia's polluted and overcrowded capital city of Ulaanbaatar, an ancient herding culture fights to maintain its identity-and its survival. This program examines the nomadic communities of the Mongolian plains and their resistance to change, despite growing pressure on many herders to modernize and migrate to urban areas. Viewers meet some who...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: When an 11-year-old Paraguayan boy named Silvino Talavera died from pesticide poisoning in 2003, his name became a rallying cry in the fight against intensive soya production. This program recounts the tragedy and the legal, political, and economic impact of "agritoxins" in Latin America. Opening with a poetically filmed reenactment and moving on to feature key players in the story, the film...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Home to more biodiversity than either Europe or North America, Costa Rica has shown the world how to benefit from the environment without destroying it. This program treks across the Central American nation with a spotlight on ecotourism and how it fits into Costa Rica's overall economy. Visits to a banana farm, a coffee plantation, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and the Tortugero National Park...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Virtually every reef system in the world is endangered, and the island nations of the South Pacific provide some of the most troubling examples. This program examines the uncertain future of tropical offshore ecosystems using the French collectivity of New Caledonia as a case study. Viewers accompany lagoon protection crew members as they patrol fragile marine reserves by boat; an itinerant...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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: 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
View online at AVOD
Summary: Having overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter, China is now responsible for 11 percent of all greenhouse gas production. Can the country reduce its carbon footprint without slowing its unprecedented economic growth? This program shows how that question is playing out in the Chinese construction industry, highlighting the creation and practical application of new homebuilding...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although the social and economic conditions facing the Maasai people have changed significantly since this classic film was produced, it remains a valuable snapshot of the evolving interaction between an age-old culture, modern influences, and the striking natural surroundings of the Serengeti. Today's geography and anthropology students still stand to gain from the story of Tepilit Ole...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Use this program to illustrate connections between fish stock depletion and growing tensions over ocean resources. The exhaustion of West Africa's fisheries is shown to have economic consequences a hemisphere away-specifically in Japan, which depends on Moroccan production for much of its octopus imports. Heavy fishing by European fleets in Senegalese waters-and the 1995 "Turbot War" between...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Dramatic changes over the past 20 years have created a tech-savvy Indian middle class. This program details the economic strength of the "new" India, its ongoing problems of unemployment and poverty, and how these issues are linked to overpopulation. Outlining the country's 5,000-year history, the video focuses on the southern city of Bangalore, also known as the Silicon Valley of India, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Journeying to a remote land high in the Andean mountains, this program follows a team of adventurers and scientists on a perilous rescue mission. Their goal is not to save lost tourists or injured hikers but to rediscover forgotten cultures, ancient Inca ruins, and rare species of plants and animals. All of this work must be done before a massive highway, which will crisscross the South...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Among the largest, most pristine areas of tropical woodland on the planet, the Congo Basin forests could easily fall prey to shortsighted and exploitative commercial interests. This program looks at sustainable lumber production initiatives taking root in the region, with a focus on cutting-edge forestry management as well as economic growth through increased cooperation between local...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Use this program to correlate the precarious existence of endangered species and the forces of global trade. Visiting Indonesia, Japan, and the Florida Everglades, the video studies the difficulty of balancing economic and ecological well-being. The plight of animal populations-Sumatran elephants losing their habitat to palm oil plantations, Oriental white storks feeding in pesticide-ridden...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Our most valuable treasure, is how residents of Dakar describe the Bay of Han. But pollution from both residential and industrial sources is destroying the body of water that has long supported fishing families in the Senegalese capital. This program reports on Western-aided efforts to restore the bay's ecological health and its viability as an economic resource. Specific challenges include the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: The UAE's oil is plentiful and readily consumed by an energy-thirsty world; meanwhile, the nation struggles with its own thirst for water. This program documents the history of the wealthy Arab nation and how it deals with water scarcity and an abundance of petroleum. Detailed discussions of the oil drilling and seawater desalinization processes, conversations with young UAE citizens, and a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program focuses on three facets of the urban ecosystem: the underground infrastructure that enables a city to function; traffic and the increasingly complex technologies required to manage it; and the trees in the city and the ongoing effort to protect city trees from the effects of urban pollution.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Noma is an acute oral infection that attacks young, malnourished children. If left untreated-which, tragically, is often the case in Africa-it devours bone tissue and permanently disfigures its victims. This unflinching program studies the impact of the pitiless disease and will help viewers assess the ability and readiness of the international community to combat the suffering. Graphic scenes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: To at least one resident of the fictional city of Metropolis, a new outer suburb being planned for some pristine farmland sounds like the American Dream come true. His brother, also a Metropolite but an advocate of smart growth, sees it as a nightmare. Moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller, this Fred Friendly Seminar seeks to understand the housing situation facing the U.S.-a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A growing number of environmentalists, ethicists, and economists believe that the needs of the "have-nots" will one day become too powerful to ignore. This program highlights that viewpoint, illustrating vast disparities between the living standards of developed and underdeveloped nations and questioning the wisdom of looking the other way. Deconstructing conventional economic notions of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: According to Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at London's City University, future wars may be fought specifically over agricultural resources. Given the present volatility of food prices and the riots they provoked in 2008, his theory seems to be on the mark. This program assesses the potential for a global food crisis as it guides viewers through issues involving climate change, oil...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Inhabiting a shrinking pocket of rainforest in Paraguay's Eastern Canindeyu Region, the Ache are one of South America's last hunter-gatherer societies-and in imminent danger of cultural extinction. This program presents an intimate portrait of the Ache in their natural habitat, focusing on the Gatu tribal group. Sequences filmed during extensive stays with the tribe reveal their customs and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009