Climate Change: A Horizon Guide

The endless expanses of the Indian Ocean are home to the last natural paradises: Remote atolls surrounded by coral reefs in crystal clear water. Whole regions of this ocean are still unexplored, many reefs are not marked on any map. The departure of the research vessel Agulhas II from the island of La Réunion marks the beginning of one of the greatest scientific adventures of our time. The expedition, initiated by Monaco Explorations with the support of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, lasted six weeks and led into the Western Indian Ocean along the Mascarene Plateau.

With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, Nuclear Now explores the possibility for the global community to overcome the challenges of climate change and energy poverty to reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth’s crust hold incredibly concentrated energy. Science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines. The United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid-20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in part by coal and oil interests.

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse

Many geneticists and archaeologists have long surmised that human life began in Africa. Dr. Spencer Wells, one of a group of scientists studying the origin of human life, offers evidence and theories to support such a thesis in this PBS special. He claims that Africa was populated by only a few thousand people that some deserted their homeland in a conquest that has resulted in global domination.

Greenland

Most people fully accept paranormal and pseudoscientific claims without critique as they are promoted by the mass media. Here Be Dragons offers a toolbox for recognizing and understanding the dangers of pseudoscience, and appreciation for the reality-based benefits offered by real science.

The heatwave of 2003 remains etched in our memories. We remember an angry emergency doctor, crowded hospital corridors, and a health minister in a polo shirt who seemed completely out of touch with reality. Between August 1 and 20, 2003, the heatwave claimed 15,000 lives. One in three victims lived in the Ile-de-France region, which was hardest hit by this deadly heatwave. This tragedy revealed many shortcomings. First, the lack of preparedness of the public authorities to deal with such a health crisis. Second, the way in which the elderly are treated. Climatologists estimate that from 2050 onwards, the summer of 2003 will be the norm. Hyper-urbanization, poor insulation in homes, and a lack of green spaces are all factors that exacerbate the effects of high temperatures.

A huge new global protest movement is changing public attitudes to climate change. Reporter Ben Zand gains access to the most high-profile activist group, Extinction Rebellion.

In a world tussling with climate change, an innovative start-up named All.g emerged with a mission to take action against it. One seaweed at a time, they pivot seaweed farming from traditional shores to uncharted territories of carbon credit markets. This documentary will dive deep into the seas of innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability, and will uncover the hidden potential of seaweed not only as a carbon warrior but as a catalyst for transforming livelihoods within seaweed farming communities.

The film interweaves the personal accounts of polio survivors with the story of an ardent crusader who tirelessly fought on their behalf while scientists raced to eradicate this dreaded disease. Based in part on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky, Features interviews with historians, scientists, polio survivors, and the only surviving scientist from the core research team that developed the Salk vaccine, Julius Youngner.

Dr George McGavin and Dr Zoe Laughlin set up base camp at one of the UK's biggest sewage works to investigate the revolutionary science finding vital renewable resources and undiscovered life in human waste. Teaming up with world-class scientists, they search for biological entities in sewage with potentially lifesaving medical properties, find out how pee can generate electricity, how gas from poo can fuel a car and how nutrients in waste can help solve the soil crisis. They follow each stage of the sewage treatment process, revealing what the stuff we flush can tell us about how we live today, and the mindboggling biotechnology being harnessed to clean it, making the wastewater safe enough to return to the environment.

Professional snowboarder and POW founder Jeremy Jones has always had a deep connection to the outdoors. It’s not just his escape—it’s his identity, his passion and his legacy. Growing up in New England, Jeremy carved out his beginnings in the mountains, but in the years since, he’s witnessed troubling changes: wilder weather, fewer snow days and mountain towns struggling to survive.

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

The Filomena snowstorm in central Spain was undoubtedly exceptional. Its return period in many places exceeded half a century, particularly in Madrid. Despite accurate weather forecasts, Filomena brought roads, public transport, health centers, and other basic services in Madrid to a standstill. What went wrong in the management of this weather event?

Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramid is the only one to survive. Many believe that even with our 21st-century technology, we could not build anything like it today. Based on the most up-to-date research and the latest archaeological discoveries, here is how the Pyramid came to be.

In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.

This 90-minute documentary brings to life Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s international bestseller, “The Cloudspotter’s Guide”, which draws on science, meteorology and mythology for a magical journey through the world of clouds. It is no dry treatise on the science of nephology but a playful trip through the varied beauty and distinctive personalities of the ten principal cloud types From the ethereal cirrus to the terrifying cumulonimbus, the film tells the story of the short but eventful life of clouds and their importance to our planet. Find out how immense quantities of water can stay up in the sky for so long and how lightning and thunder are created.

This film takes us on an emotional journey from sacred ground above Byron Bay to Antarctica, Indonesia to Pakistan, and is sure to light a fire under the strongest climate change denier. THE POWER OF ACTIVISM focuses on six highly spirited female activists as they are put under the microscope to ascertain the financial impact of their environmental solutions… and the results are astonishing. From shark conservation to indigenous practices, intensive farming to plastic pollution; all their ‘causes' fall under the umbrella of "climate change", but they should also fall under the umbrella of "saving tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars!”

When the U.S. trade embargo left Cuba isolated from medical resources, Cuban scientists were forced to get creative. Now they've developed lung cancer vaccines that show so much promise, some Americans are defying the embargo and traveling to Cuba for treatment. In an unprecedented move, Cuban researchers are working with U.S. partners to make the medicines more widely available.

Bill Nye and Ken Ham debate whether creation is a viable model of origins in today's modern scientific era.