Episode 1 • 2020 • episode "S1E1" • Fight For Planet A: Our Climate Challenge

40:47

The disaster began during a routine systems test at reactor number four of the Chernobyl plant located near the town of Pripyat, on April 26, 1986. After a power surge, an emergency shutdown was attempted and after a subsequent power spike, there was a reactor vessel rupture and a series of steam explosions. The cascading course of events led to exposing the graphite moderator of the reactor to the air, causing it to catch fire. This sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. The fallout from Chernobyl prompted mass evacuations as it drifted over an extensive geographical area, including the western Soviet Union and Europe. Over 350,000 people were resettled from contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and the Ukraine. Thirty-one deaths are directly attributed to the accident, and all the deaths were among reactor staff and emergency workers. This is the kind of atmosphere Nelson and Ochota are investigating on Life After: Chernobyl as they attempt to determine how the radiation continues to impact the affected areas. They are allowed to stay for as long as they need to in order to conduct their ground-breaking research, but the duo must also be sure to take the necessary safety precautions. Broadway World noted in their Life After: Chernobyl article that by staying in the area for too long, the radiation exposure could reach dangerously high levels in their bodies, and they must always monitor the radiation levels.

2014 • Environment

41:50

65 Million Years ago, an asteroid impact caused a cascade of catastrophes that led to the downfall of the dinosaurs, but what would happen if the same size space rock struck near the same spot again?

S1E1 • Doomsday: 10 Ways the World Will End • 2016 • Environment

44:54

A tsunami is a dramatic indicator of geological activity magnifying the impact into extensive coastal destruction. Scientists searching for evidence of past tsunamis to predict when they are likely to recur and how severe they are likely to be uncover a new phenomenon, the mega-tsunami.

S1E9 • How the Earth Was Made • 2009 • Environment

58:59

Iain travels into the stratosphere in a Cold War fighter, gets his eyebrows singed in Siberia and discovers why Argentina is one of the stormiest places on Earth. All to show why our atmosphere is unique and utterly crucial for life.

S1E2 • Earth: The Power of the Planet • Environment

54:22

With the plastic industry expanding like never before, and the crisis of ocean pollution growing, FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the fight over the future of plastics.

Frontline • 2020 • Environment

28:59

James May asks the big questions about the weather, including what is a cloud?

S1E3 • James May's Things You Need to Know • 2011 • Environment