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Conservation of natural resources Economic aspects Environmental geography Environmental protection Human ecology Human geography Environmental aspects International economic relations Land use Environmental aspects Nature Effect of human beings on Social ecology Water Environmental aspectsSummary: The Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa peoples live along northern California's Klamath River, and each tribe's ancient culture revolves around the majestic Pacific salmon. Today, four large hydroelectric dams have made salmon extinction a real and frightening possibility. This case study follows tribal members as they confront the owners of the dams-specifically, a global energy giant in Scotland which...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The fictional locale known as Eagle Bay is breathtakingly beautiful. First home to a handful of modest houses, over the decades it has transitioned into a neighborhood of stately mansions-except for one 50-acre parcel, whose owners now want to sell it for subdivision. This Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller explores the complexities that arise when a family's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Filmed in a wide range of suburban and metropolitan areas around the United States, this program presents a dynamic and thought-provoking exploration of American suburbia, including its genesis and history, its dramatic political and social evolution, and its developmental challenges. Viewers are guided through specific issues facing the nation’s suburban landscape, including problems in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: The strategic key to the American Revolution, a vital transportation artery for a fledgling nation, and an enduring source of spiritual and artistic inspiration, the Hudson River is a true American icon. This Bill Moyers program focuses on the seminal role the Hudson has played in the development of America's culture, literature, art, economy, industry, and ideology. Interviews with historian...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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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: 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
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
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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
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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
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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
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Summary: Will rampant overdevelopment of agriculture, housing, and industry increase the demands for fresh water beyond the finite supply? This program examines the role of high-level corporate and political players in the shrinking availability of what is already the most precious substance on Earth. Viewers follow numerous worldwide examples of the struggle for the basic right to water-from local...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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: What's wrong with enjoying the rich variety of foods that importers make available? Do the reported drawbacks of globalization mean that we should eat only locally grown food? How are Western food choices related to environmental problems and to developing-world farmers? This program explores those questions by studying agricultural practices in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Comparing...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although more than 12,000 organic farms operate in the United States, increasing demand for organically grown food requires substantial imports from abroad. This program delves into the world of sustainable, eco-friendly agriculture; it also highlights advances that should eventually enable all Americans to "act locally" when they shop for organic food. George Siemon, founder and CEO of Organic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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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: 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: 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: 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
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
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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
View online at AVOD
Summary: The tropical rain forests of the world are home to nearly half the animal species on earth and contain some of the most fascinating examples of natural adaptation ever seen. This classic program takes viewers into the rain forests of Costa Rica to witness a richly varied habitat under threat from human encroachment. Here, a basilisk lizard walks on water, howler monkeys bask in the sun, and...
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: In 1970, the paper industry set its sights on the lush forests of Tasmania-beginning what environmentalists call a chain saw massacre that still cuts down 8 million cubic meters of timber each year. This program documents the ongoing fight to save the coveted woodlands, championed by a diverse group of activists. Viewers learn about early on-site protests that met with violence and abuse, as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010