While conservationists advocate for African wildlife the continent's indigenous people are experiencing poverty in growing numbers. Many tribes have been reduced to a subsistence farming that can barely sustain them, and their desperate slash-and-burn methods only exacerbate a vicious cycle of agricultural degradation. An additional challenge is the threat posed by hungry elephants that trample settlements and destroy crops. Though it is illegal to...

This clip compares how tropical rainforests and mangroves have adapted to their environments. We explore how despite sharing the same climatic conditions, mangroves face an additional challenges because of their coastal location. We see examples of how rainforests have adapted to their warm, damp environment including: the forest structure, drip tip leaves, lianas, buttress roots, epiphytes. This is then compared with how mangroves have adapted to...

Social media is changing how the world works. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Africa's most populous city, Lagos. In this bustling metropolis of an estimated 23 million people, around 10 million are under the age of 25 and their numbers are rising rapidly. Tech savvy and increasingly well connected, they have embraced social media and, in the process, a new generation of high profile and highly paid personalities have emerged. In this episode...

An enthusiastic, witty, and informative introduction to the world of insects and why we-and the planet we inhabit-could not survive without them. Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere-deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone's hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and...

Arnold Schwarzenegger explores how the military is adapting to climate change and limiting national security risk by increasing energy efficiency and using renewables, but needs to increase the pace of this adaptation. In Kuwait, he sees how fuel convoys are responsible for most US soldier deaths. He finds how our armed forces are dealing with an increased number of climate-related military conflicts and natural disasters. Cattle ranching, drought,...

The New Environmentalists share a common goal, safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution. The program features portraits of six passionate and dedicated activists around the globe who have placed themselves in harm’s way to battle intimidating adversaries for environmental justice in their communities. Narrated by Robert Redford, The New Environmentalists illustrates how ordinary people are effecting extraordinary...

"A vibrant history of the modern conservation movement-told through the lives and ideas of the people who built it. In the late nineteenth century, as humans came to realize that our rapidly industrializing and globalizing societies were driving other animal species to extinction, a movement to protect and conserve them was born. In Beloved Beasts, acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the movement's history: from early battles to save...

As much energy falls on the Earth's deserts in just six hours as all of mankind consumes in the course of an entire year. Morocco is aiming to become the first country in Africa to invest in solar thermal technology on a large scale. But small, decentralized photovoltaic systems can generate power more efficiently-in countries like Ethiopia or India, for example, where the majority of the people live in rural areas far from any power grid.