Over eight million tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year, killing sea life. Now new evidence says it's entering our food chain with unknown health effects.
Thomas Moore
as Himself - Correspondent
16-year-old Bella and Vipulan are part of a generation convinced its very future is in danger. Between climate change and the 6th mass extinction of wildlife, their world could well be inhabitable 50 years from now. They have sounded the alarm over and over, but nothing has really changed. So they’ve decided to tackle the root of the problem: our relationship with the living world. Over the course of an extraordinary journey, they come to realize just how deeply humans are tied to all other living species. And that by saving them… we’re also saving ourselves. Humans thought they could distance themselves from nature, but humans are part and parcel of nature. For man is, after all, an Animal.
The story of a normal water bottle living the average day to day life when suddenly tragedy strikes and he isn’t anymore, but what is it that remains of him? Has anything even changed in his absence? Does anyone notice the water bottle is gone?
Dzerzhinsk, a Russian city 240 miles east of Moscow, is considered the most chemically polluted town on Earth. Factories producing industrial chemicals (and in Soviet times, chemical weapons) employ a quarter of the 300,000 residents in a city where life expectancy has fallen to 42-47 years, the death rate is 2.6 times higher than the birth rate, and the men are close to impotence. Reporter Tim Samuels recorded a series of in-depth interviews with the inhabitants of Dzerzhinsk for the Correspondent strand, revealing what life is like for the beleaguered populace.
In his first film, Julien Chauzit gathers four young adults in their twenties who are on holiday in Martigues, and he shows their political awakening, in the face of the environmental disaster to come.
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
The Living Sea celebrates the beauty and power of the ocean as it explores our relationship with this complex and fragile environment. Using beautiful images of unspoiled healthy waters, The Living Sea offers hope for recovery engendered by productive scientific efforts. Oceanographers studying humpback whales, jellyfish, and deep-sea life show us that the more we understand the ocean and its inhabitants, the more we will know how to protect them. The film also highlights the Central Pacific islands of Palau, one of the most spectacular underwater habitats in the world, to show the beauty and potential of a healthy ocean.
Werner Boote presents an up-close and personal view of the controversial and fascinating material that has found its way into every facet of our daily lives: plastic. He takes us on a journey around the globe, showing that plastics have become a threat for both environment and human health.
Omondi lives in the biggest slum in East Africa. Everyday he sees airplanes fly over him. He dreams of becoming an airline pilot and flying far away.
Follow the Manhattan-based Beavan family as they abandon their high consumption 5th Avenue lifestyle and try to live a year while making no net environmental impact.
Thomas Haemmerli is about to celebrate his fortieth birthday when he learns of his mother's death. A further shock follows when he and his brother Erik discover her apartment, which is filthy and full to bursting with junk. It takes the brothers an entire month to clean out the place. Among the chaos, they find films going back to the 1930s, photos and other memorabilia.
Before starting a family, Soozie Eastman, daughter of an industrial chemical distributor, embarks on a journey to find out the levels of toxins in her body and explores if there is anything she or anyone else can do to change them. She has just learned that hundreds of synthetic toxins are now found in every baby born in America and the government and chemical corporations are doing little to protect citizens and consumers. With guidance from world-renowned physicians and environmental leaders, interviews with scientists and politicians, and stories of everyday Americans, Soozie uncovers how we got to be so overloaded with chemicals and if there is anything we can do to take control of our exposure.
Branda has hit rock bottom. Her addiction has spiralled so far out of control that medical intervention is the only option left. She's forced to confront her darkest demons in order to lick her deadly appetite, and must apply all 12 steps to her four stomachs - Branda is a cow addicted to eating plastic bags. It's easy to find humour and irony in Branda's toxic lifestyle, harder to admit that we're the ones being ridiculed.