Plastics • 2000 • episode "S1E4" • History 101

Category: Environment | Subtitle:

Plastics have transformed how we live, but progress comes at a high price: 7.8 billion tons of waste. Are plastics a miracle or a catastrophe?

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History 101 • 2000 - 2022 • 20 episodes •

Fast Food

Cheap, quick and tasty, fast food became a culinary craze in the 1950s. But has our quest for convenience created an irreversible health crisis?

2020 • Health

The Space Race

Fifteen international agencies spend $62 billion every year on space travel. What's fueling our costly - and dangerous - drive to explore the universe?

2020 • Astronomy

The Rise of China

The Rise of China

In the 21st century, China has become a global economic powerhouse. Why was the rest of the world so slow to notice its rise to the top?

2020 • Economics

Plastics

Plastics have transformed how we live, but progress comes at a high price: 7.8 billion tons of waste. Are plastics a miracle or a catastrophe?

2000 • Environment

Oil and the Middle East

Oil and the Middle East

Oil has brought great wealth to the Middle East and ignited major wars. Is it a blessing or a curse for the region, as well as the rest of the world?

2020 • Economics

Robots

We share the planet with an estimated 9 million robots, from self-driving cars to surgical arms. Could they one day completely replace humans?

2020 • Technology

Feminism

Feminism has ushered in sweeping changes to society, securing rights for women around the world. How much further do we have to go?

2020 • People

Nuclear Power

Over 10% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. But with radioactive waste and the threat of nuclear meltdown, are we playing with fire?

2020 • Economics

AIDS

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV. After decades of research and activism, how far have we come in finding a cure and battling the stigma?

2020 • Health

Genetics

DNA analysis has given us the tools to map disease, solve crimes and more. But in our rush to decode DNA, are we leaping before we look?

2020 • Science

GPS

Today, GPS is guiding - and following - pretty much anything that moves, all around the world. It's so accurate it can track you down to the head of a pin. But where is GPS leading us? Is it helping us find the way, or lose it?

2022 • Technology

MP3s

MP3s transformed how we listen to music - and spawned digital piracy. Streaming helped the industry recover, but how can artists get their fair share?

2022 • Technology

Credit Cards

Credit cards changed the global economy and attitudes about personal spending, but record levels of consumer debt beg the question: Just who's in charge?

2022 • Technology

Psychedelics

Growing evidence suggests that psychedelic drugs could treat brain injuries and psychological problems. But can we get past their controversial history?

2022 • Brain

Bottled Water

Bottled water is a big business, selling itself as a tastier and healthier alternative to the tap variety. Is there truth behind the claims?

2022 • Economics

Dating Apps

Thanks to dating apps, finding love is easier than ever. But are we now so focused on playing the game that we're missing out on real connection?

2022 • Technology

Lasers

They're used for everything from entertainment to medicine - and now for weapons straight out of science fiction. Have lasers become too hot to handle?

2022 • Science

Home Workouts

The home fitness revolution has exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry. Are home workouts a healthy habit - or just hype?

2022 • Health

IVF

A groundbreaking medical reproductive procedure has made parenthood possible for millions around the world - but at what cost?

2022 • Health

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Sweet deal or bitter pill? High fructose corn syrup rose up to dominate supermarket shelves, but what is it doing to our health?

2022 • Health

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Fragile Paradise

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Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost Girl

Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost Girl

In 1998, wildlife enthusiast and photographer Chris Packham had a remarkable encounter with the Orang Rimba, a tribe of hunter gatherers in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was the first time he had ever seen people living in perfect harmony with their environment. One photograph in particular that Chris took, a picture of a young tribal girl, has since become immensely important to him as a barometer of how we are treating our planet. In this real-life detective story, with no clues as to her identity or whereabouts other than his original photograph, Chris sets off to Sumatra 20 years on to try to find her; the girl in the picture. Chris's search is further complicated because her tribe is nomadic and often cover vast distances on foot, and since he was last there, millions of hectares of her rainforest habitat has been destroyed. Piecing together the clues, Chris discovers to his horror that the girl's close-knit group of Orang Rimba was attacked not long after he met them, and a number of them killed. But was the girl among them? Chris travels into the heart of Sumatra and tries to discover the girl's fate by meeting the men who pulled the murdered tribespeople's bodies out of the river. On his way, he discovers just how much of Sumatra's once pristine rainforests have been replaced by palm oil plantations, palm oil which is in around 50% of the products we buy in our supermarkets. Chris learns some uncomfortable truths about how we are all in some way connected to deforestation.

2018 • Environment

Episode 3

We all have a food footprint, but what foods create greenhouse gases? Craig Reucassel looks at different carbon footprints of the various foods we eat, and learns about the importance of where our food actually comes from.

S1E3 • Fight For Planet A: Our Climate Challenge • 2020 • Environment

The Chernobyl Disaster

The Chernobyl Disaster

Reveals the events that led to the 1986 nuclear accident. Ch1: Meltdown The events that led up to the nuclear disaster in 1986, hearing from those who were caught up in the tragedy, and those who risked their lives cleaning up afterwards. The series also details events in 2022, when Russian forces took over Chernobyl during its war against Ukraine, and the plant was once again set on a potentially catastrophic course. Narrated by Ben Fogle. Ch2: Firestorm With the reactor on fire and radiation spewing out into the atmosphere, firefighters battle to bring the blaze under control. A former Soviet helicopter pilot reveals what it was like flying over the core, while a historian who grew up in neighbouring Belarus reveals how her mother pulled her out of school and kept her inside when her father - a nuclear scientist - heard rumours of an explosion. Ch3: Fallout Reveals the huge sacrifice made by thousands to contain this devastating nuclear disaster. Contributors include those who risked persistent deadly radioactive levels to clean up the site.

2022 • Environment