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Conservation of natural resources Economic aspects Energy consumption Energy development Environmental protection Human ecology Land use Environmental aspects Natural resources Management Nature Effect of human beings on Power resources Environmental aspects Water Environmental aspectsSummary: Almost one-fifth of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. Supporters claim it is safe, cheap, and the answer to global warming. Critics call it dangerous, expensive, and hardly the solution to climate change. This program presents arguments for and against nuclear energy while exploring scientific concepts behind it. Topics include: the disposal or storage of radioactive waste; the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Harnessing the power of the atom is a staggering technological achievement-but how is it done, exactly? This program guides viewers through the complex science and basic operation of a nuclear power station. Outlining the nuclear fuel cycle-including mining, milling, enrichment, fabrication, storage, and reprocessing-the video looks at specific mining procedures; discusses the structure and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Revolutionary technologies now make it possible to harness a completely renewable energy resource-the natural power of the sea. This program explores ways that electric power can be drawn from tidal forces or from fluctuations in ocean currents. Traveling the globe, the film highlights several innovations, including a tide-driven rotor off the coast of Cornwall in the U.K., a multi-rotor locks...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some experts believe that up to 25 percent of the world's electricity could eventually be generated by wind power. This program presents the viewpoints of wind energy's supporters and opponents, and explains recent developments in wind power technology. Challengers to the proliferation of wind farms, including conservationists and citizens' groups, argue that wind turbines destroy the landscape...
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: Radical changes in building design are needed to protect our fragile planet. This program studies the work of leading architects around the globe, all of whom employ green concepts and eco-friendly materials. Through extensive interviews and detailed visuals, the film provides insight into a wide range of residential and office design innovations-such as green roof technology, geothermal and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Powering houses and heating water in more energy efficient, sustainable ways is an important component of many remodeling projects. Whether it's through the use of passive or active solar technologies, wind, or other renewable power sources, today's remodelers need to understand the basics of green power so they can guide their clients toward smarter choices and then integrate these...
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: 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: Nuclear fusion has kept our Sun burning for five billion years. Might it be harnessed here on Earth as an energy source? This program illustrates the race to create artificial stars that can ensure humanity's earthbound survival. Several facilities and projects are profiled-including the Joint European Torus, or JET, which initiates nuclear fusion at a rate far higher than that inside the Sun;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: As the world’s top two carbon emitters, China and the U.S. face significant challenges reducing emissions while keeping up with a growing demand for more energy. Is there potential for cooperation between both Pacific Rim nations on this important issue, or is each country seeking its own distinct solutions? This program explores the collaborative efforts of American and Chinese academics and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Will biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions or actually increase them? Does the biofuel industry threaten the world's rainforests? Is corn, palm, rapeseed, or sugar cane the best plant source? What about recycled cooking oil? This program explores the ongoing controversy over biofuel technology, raising disturbing questions about sustainability and environmental impact while evaluating...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge-also known as ANWR or the "Alaskan Serengeti"-is a vast wilderness near the top of the world. From here, thousands of caribou begin a pilgrimage to the ocean every summer, and for that reason alone the place is a national treasure. This program examines another treasure hidden beneath ANWR's coastal plain: oil. Since oil virtually runs the planet and is used...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Electricity and heat-two forms of energy that American households and businesses can't do without. More and more consumers and companies are realizing that we can't rely on fossil fuels for these necessities and must switch to renewable sources. This program investigates three main ways in which solar energy is used around the world: solar hot water, photovoltaic solar panels that generate...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The ocean tides offer a clean and renewable energy source that can reduce reliance on fossil fuels. This Science Screen Report shows how Earth's tides are formed, illustrates their relationship to the Moon's gravitational forces, and explains how these principles can be applied to the construction of underwater turbines. The program also explores efforts to reduce the environmental impact of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Produced in Oahu, Hawaii, during the 2008 Blue Planet Energy Summit, this Fred Friendly Seminar features a panel of high-profile environmental and political leaders tasked with envisioning America's energy future. Broadcast journalist Frank Sesno, assuming the top post in a hypothetical presidential administration, challenges each "cabinet member" to contribute to a strategy that will end...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: What lies behind the dramatic spike in oil and gas prices of recent years? What role have American oil companies played in it? And what do American economists and business leaders expect down the road? This CNBC Original documentary follows the flow of oil-from drill site to supertanker to refinery, then finally to the gas tank-while addressing economic and geopolitical issues associated with...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: With roller-coaster gas prices becoming the norm, this ABC News program travels the country to uncover surprising and sometimes disturbing aspects of the oil industry. Charles Gibson reports from Cushing, Oklahoma, where the price of a barrel of oil dictates the price nationally; journeys 160 miles off the coast of Louisiana to one of the deepest-drilling oil rigs in the nation; and visits...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Peak oil: the point at which oil-producing countries, faced with diminishing crude reserves, can no longer keep pace with growing demand. Has the world already reached it, or is the point of irrevocable decline still decades away? That is the slippery question that frames the narrative of this program as experts from around the world give their views on factors associated with escalating oil...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: America hasn’t built a nuclear power plant in thirty years. Is that due to a right-headed concern over health and environmental dangers, or an unfounded timidity that puts us behind the rest of the world? This CNBC Original documentary explores the issue, which, despite rising support for nuclear energy, remains divisive. Guiding viewers through the basic workings of a nuclear facility, the...
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: Combining aesthetics, sustainability, and function is the challenge of green architecture-and 20 teams of college students from North America and Europe brilliantly rise to that challenge as they compete to design, build, and demonstrate the operation of the most attractive and energy-efficient house at the 2007 Solar Decathlon held in Washington, D.C. This program tracks the teams from the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Once widely considered a sustainable energy source, some forms of biofuel are now seen as exploitative and environmentally harmful. This program examines the global dilemma over palm oil-a fuel source championed by the European Union before the effects of its cultivation became apparent in the developing world. Viewers meet members of Indonesia's Orang Rimba tribe who have drawn sustenance from...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Besides the well-documented ecological harm that fossil fuels inflict, they have another drawback: our planet is running out of them. What will we use in their place to heat our homes, power our vehicles, and light our cities? This program studies the problem of energy resource depletion and explores potential solutions appearing around the world. Graphically illustrating the "deadlines" at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009