Summary: Called "the rainforests of the sea," the world's coral reefs are home to millions of species. But these underwater ecosystems are in grave danger. This program travels to Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar; Mafia Island Marine Park, Tanzania; and Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt, to study the fragile ecology and amazing biodiversity of coral reefs-and the impacts of tourism, pollution,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: After surviving an emergency crash-landing, Dr. Sam Chao resolved to do something that would make a difference in the world. This award-winning program follows the outcome of his resolution: ECO, the Ecological Conservancy Outreach fund. Donating his life savings to the project, Dr. Chao enlists his childhood friend, Dr. Larry Wang, to clean up the Yangtze River and its tributaries, ravaged by...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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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
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Hudson River, the catalyst for the conservation movement of the 19th century and the environmental movement of the 20th, remains a focus of conflicting desires and competing demands. In this Bill Moyers program, Robert Boyle, author of The Hudson River: A Natural and Unnatural History; Hudson Riverkeeper John Cronin; folksinger Pete Seeger, founder of the Clearwater Foundation; Franny...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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: 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: 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: 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
View online at AVOD
Summary: Flush toilets are one way to deal with human waste-but they themselves are wasteful, as clean water and nutrient-rich biological matter are allowed to simply go down the drain. This earthy but informative program addresses the benefits of the dry toilet and waterless urinal, ecosanitation devices that collect human waste for use as compost and fertilizer. Ideal for regions where conventional...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: They take hundreds of years to biodegrade and have sparked heated debate around the world. This documentary examines the controversy over plastic bags, from their often devastating environmental impact to their remarkable ubiquity in consumer culture. Outlining the bag's connection to Big Oil, the film presents environmental case studies in Mumbai, where clogged flood drains have sparked...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in cases of low sperm count, sperm abnormalities, and testicular cancer—while, in more than 20 industrialized nations, the male birth rate has steadily declined. This program examines the phenomenon and its likely cause: synthetic chemicals found in everything from common plastics to meat and dairy products. Investigating these so-called...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: According to some environmental experts, the air inside our homes and offices could be more polluted than the outdoor air in the largest cities. Radon, mold, household cleaning products, and secondhand smoke are only a few elements that may pose health risks. This program examines the issue in detail and illustrates ways to improve indoor air quality. Case studies include a nonsmoker diagnosed...
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: This program investigates sources of runoff and the pollution that occurs when it washes contaminants such as pesticides, bacteria, oil, and unwanted nutrients into aquatic ecosystems. Cost-effective initiatives to divert and filter runoff are also spotlighted, including stormwater rehabilitation systems, highway runoff purification systems, construction site erosion controls, and waste...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In an era of high-speed international commerce, safety standards and import inspection procedures are riddled with loopholes. The result? Quantities of dangerous substances found in goods manufactured overseas have risen dramatically. This program investigates the alarming global mobility of synthetic toxins, tracing egregious-yet often repeated-hazardous material violations from supplier to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Plastics, cleansers, automobile exhaust-the list of carcinogens in our air, soil, and water seems to go on and on. Featuring an interview with activist Erin Brockovich, this program looks at the environmental dimension of the fight against cancer, presenting expertise from several sources and highlighting ways to reduce the cancer risks in one's surroundings. Case studies include a breast...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: While international corporations boast of newfound environmental stewardship, toxic materials are still produced on a worldwide scale-with underdeveloped nations serving as the planet's dump site. This program explores the issue, traveling to Asia, Africa, and Latin America to illustrate the effects of industrial waste on the environment, social systems, and human life. Viewers will gain an...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Arguably the most basic law of the biosphere is this: waste matter must be recycled into fresh building blocks if life is to continually renew itself. To illustrate this principle, this program, divided into 10-minute segments for easy inclusion into lectures, features close-up photography of carrion beetles reducing a rat carcass, pill bugs and worms turning leaves into humus, dung beetles...
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
View online at AVOD
Summary: First-flush runoff from a rainstorm can be as bad, in quality, as raw sewage. What are municipalities doing about it? In this program, Ray Allen, executive director of Coastal Bend Bays Estuaries Program; stormwater engineer Valerie Gray; and many others discuss the positive effects of governmental regulations, stormwater management projects, and runoff purification initiatives. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The world knows too little about what happened in the Indian city of Bhopal on December 3, 1984. This program provides a chilling reconstruction of the Union Carbide methyl isocyanate disaster and details its horrific and protracted consequences. Interviews with eyewitnesses-including medical personnel, a company technician, Bhopal's police chief, and a young man orphaned by the tragedy-tell...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Over 200 years of industrial activity have left the earth with a legacy of pollution and waste. This program looks at how pollution from everyday industrial production and from ecological disasters like the Exxon Valdez oil spill can be cleaned up with bacterial treatment. The mighty microbe is no longer a laboratory curiosity. The program demonstrates how microbes can and are being used...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The UN Environment Program has identified approximately 150 dead zones in the Earth's seas-some more than 40,000 square miles in size. Examining causes ranging from too many partially cremated bodies in the Ganges to defunct sewage systems in Nairobi, this program explains how watercourses flowing into the seas are being polluted and coastal areas are being destroyed. The catastrophic effects...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Made from waste, packaged in waste: that's the mantra of TerraCycle, an entrepreneurial startup that uses worms to turn premium organic garbage into fertilizer that is then packaged and shipped in repurposed plastic containers and cardboard cartons. This fast-paced program will have viewers sweating right along with TerraCycle's 22-year-old founder Tom Szaky as it tracks his company through...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008