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Asbestos invasion Climate and man Evolution, the evidence for modern ideas on evolution Fighting the tide Geology (New York, N.Y.) Late lessons from early warnings Precious earth Science on the newshour Sustainable development, the world challenge Ultimate media librarian collectionFilter By Series
Asbestos invasion Climate and man Evolution, the evidence for modern ideas on evolution Fighting the tide Geology (New York, N.Y.) Late lessons from early warnings Precious earth Science on the newshour Sustainable development, the world challenge Ultimate media librarian collectionSummary: Stretching over 4,000 miles across South America, the Amazon River has long defied human efforts to tame it. Not a single bridge crosses it, and not one dam halts its flow. This program visits urban centers on the banks of the Amazon and examines new attempts to harness-or exploit-the river's energy and natural abundance. The journey begins at Iquitos-a Peruvian city blighted by poverty and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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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
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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
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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: Urban punks with green hair and green thumbs, the members of Tierra Viva transform toxic Mexican earth into vegetable gardens. Their actions make up one remarkable part of this wide-ranging Mexican odyssey. Depicting Michoacan farmers who are fighting the trend to move to the cities-and preserving the winter home of the monarch butterflies-the program also journeys to Magdalena Bay,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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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
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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: 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
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Summary: For nearly a hundred years, asbestos fibers were woven into the very fabric of commercial and residential life in North America and Europe-despite an industry awareness that asbestos dust is extremely dangerous. This program featuring Geoffrey Tweedale, author of Magic Mineral to Killer Dust, and environmental consultant Barry Castleman illuminates the dark history of flame-retardant asbestos:...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Freon was a refrigeration breakthrough in 1928. It took 45 years for scientists to recognize its dangers, and another 15 for the international community to enact a worldwide ban on all CFC gases. This program illustrates that long process of problem-solving and political action, focusing on the work of Nobel-winning chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina and how their discoveries led to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program examines how urbanization, industrialization, and overreaching agriculture are depleting the Earth of its natural resources. Citing environmental changes in Morocco, Ghana, Ukraine, Mexico, and Vietnam, the program studies the impact of population growth and profiles organizations that respond to ecological crises stemming from such growth. With a focus on educational outreach...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Consider the following irony: that we live twice as long as our ancient ancestors did, even though our bodies contain all manner of synthetic and sometimes toxic substances-an unpleasant requirement of life in our modern age. This program explores the health impact, wide variety, and alarming ubiquity of manufactured chemicals. Viewers will see how communities around the world-including Inuit...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Changing climate probably played the decisive role in drawing hominids out of the trees, up on their hind legs, and off in search of food whose supply had been dispersed by the replacement of rainforests by grasslands. Migrations were motivated by the search for food; during ice ages, when sea levels dropped, new areas became accessible and populations spread. Links between climatic changes and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: At ground level, shallow seas, broad beaches, dunes, and waterlogged hollows seem to comprise a chaotic environment. In fact, there is order and form, produced by the interaction of wind, vegetation, and moving sand. Because sand dunes develop rapidly, the development of a landform can be observed. Measuring wind velocity demonstrates how saltation, sand movement, and erosion happen. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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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: The tremolite asbestos-tainted vermiculite from Zonolite Mountain has spread its lethal legacy well beyond Montana and the town of Libby, where it was mined and milled for decades: over the years, 236 cities in 42 states received billions of pounds of it to be processed into a range of consumer products. This ABC News program focuses on trouble spots in Michigan, New Jersey, and Colorado. With...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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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: The lowland basis around Los Angeles contains the most extensive water conservation and flood control system in the world. In 1917, work began on a system of dams and improved channels to control the floodwaters entering the basin. This program looks at the way this system was built and the problems entailed in its design and construction.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This ABC News program begins with an overview of the controversial new type of crop hybridization known as genetic modification, exploring why the technology has panicked European consumers and has left many American farmers with mixed feelings. Then, correspondent John Donvan moderates a vigorous discussion between Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman; Val Giddings, Vice President of Food and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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: This program illustrates how natural selection works to enable a species to adapt to adverse environments; shows how human breeding of desirable varieties-which antedates by millennia any theories of genetics or evolution-often overrode natural selection; demonstrates how species can be changed by artificial selection and in response to human interference with the environment; and explains the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Transporting viewers to the year 2016, this program paints a disturbing picture of an oil-starved America and the socioeconomic upheaval that may accompany the death of the Oil Age. The film follows a middle-aged, Midwestern couple through violence at gas stations, conflicts with neighbors, and the loss of their livelihood; it also focuses on their daughter, an oil prospector determined to find...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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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: Whether they arise from human causes or forces within planet Earth itself, natural disasters threaten life and civilization with what seems to be growing frequency. This album of NewsHour segments studies troubling developments in marine, arctic, wetland, and urban environments—highlighting research opportunities that may help prevent future catastrophes. Coral reef decay, Everglades habitat...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007