Episode list

Second Nature: The Biomimicry Evolution explores biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate), a new discipline that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve industrial problems. Set in the wilds of South Africa, the film follows biologist, author, and Time magazine Hero of the Environment Janine Benyus and her team as they illustrate how organisms in the natural world can teach us how to be more efficient and sustainable in our designs and processes. Nature provides the models: solar cells copied from leaves, steely fibers woven like a spider-web, shatterproof ceramics drawn from mother-of-pearl, medical advancements compliments of chimpanzees, and a closed-loop economy that takes its lessons from redwoods, coral reefs, and oak-hickory forests. After 3.8 billion years, life has discovered not only how to survive but also how to thrive as a system. Organisms are the consummate aviators, builders, chemists, and physicists of our planet. They have done everything that we want to do, without polluting their homes or mortgaging their future. Benyus brings a deep affection and admiration for the natural world as she guides the viewer toward a vision of a planet in balance between continued human progress and ecosystem survival.

Using green roof technology and heirloom seeds, filmmaker Ian Cheney plants a vegetable garden on the only land he's got in the heart of New York City: his Granddad's old pickup.

Who's responsible for creative green victories such as saving over 89,000 gallons of water, campaigning for food justice and educating thousands of students about sustainability? Six young people under age 23.

This film demonstrates how to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, to fundamentally improve the lives of people who have been trapped in poverty for generations and to sequester carbon naturally.

A portrait of a family living an intentional life - working together to save and reintroduce the Californian condors back into the wild.

Living green is something many of us strive for in today's world, but did you know that you can die green as well?

It's not just Old MacDonald on the farm anymore. All across the U.S. there is a growing movement of educated young people who are leaving cities to take up an agrarian life.

Meet six extraordinary young people who were recognized in 2011 for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy.

With 3 stories from around the American West, we explore how the conventional concept of progress has influenced the exploitation of our natural resources and how our understanding of progress is coming full circle.

Meet climate change activist and professional skier, Alison Gannett, and founder of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, Gregg Treinish.

At dawn, nine-year-old Anzelma walks for miles in search of firewood. Many in her village have died from drinking dirty water, and firewood is a valuable commodity, used to boil water to make it safe. Anzelma's small body bends under the heavy loads of wood balanced on her head, but she won't stop. She knows her long journeys into the forest are crucial for her family's survival. Unsafe water claims more lives than war. In Kenya, water insecurity is a life-threatening reality, and the population is expected to leap from 40 million to 60 million in the next twenty years. Most of the country still depends on wood and charcoal for household energy, and forest cover is dwindling. At the same time, the climate is changing: rainfall is decreasing, river levels are low and water contamination is on the rise. In the fierce competition for shrinking resources, the most vulnerable are women and girls, who are responsible for finding water and fuel for their families. One company is attempting to change this by providing 900,000 water filters to the people of Kenya's Western Province, for free. This is the largest household water treatment program in the developing world, and it's being financed with carbon credits earned through the reduction in use of firewood. If successful, it will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2 million tons per year for a decade or more. But it requires changing the habits of 4.5 million people first.

RETURN FLIGHT chronicles how a dedicated team of biologists have been working tirelessly for decades to bring the bald eagle back to the Channel Islands in the face of extensive DDT contamination, leading to some amazing results.

Two feisty Western Shoshone sisters have endured 5 terrifying livestock roundups by armed federal marshals where more than 1000 of their horses and cattle were confiscated-for grazing on the open range outside their private ranch.