"Throughout the year, PBS is committed to airing thought-provoking programs, documentaries, and specials designed to elevate the conversation around climate change and sustainability. Beginning this April, Earth Month, and continuing through the fall, PBS will premiere programs that explore the lasting impacts of climate change on the natural world on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video app." (PBS Publicity)
We've compiled a list of shows and films premiering this month on WUCF:
NATURE: American Artic
Premiere – Wednesday, April 13 2022, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. on WUCF
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has long protected survivors of the Ice Age, but this once remote and frozen fortress is on the brink of change. Now, for the caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, and Arctic foxes, the ice age is slipping away.
FRONTLINE: The Power Of Big Oil
Premieres – Tuesday, April 19 2022, 10:00 – 11:30 p.m. on WUCF
FRONTLINE: The Power Of Big Oil Part 2
Premieres – Tuesday, April 26 2022, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. on WUCF
The fossil fuel industry’s history of casting doubt and delaying action on climate change. Part one of a three-part series tracing decades of casting doubt on the science, missed opportunities and the ongoing attempts to hold Big Oil to account.
CHANGING PLANET
Premieres – Wednesday, April 20 2022, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. on WUCF
Conservationist Dr. M. Sanjayan launches an unprecedented seven-year global storytelling effort to monitor climate change by highlighting seven iconic locations across the planet. Featuring the latest science and emphasizing local voices, the series will monitor climate change in six iconic locations around the world, every year over the next seven years. As locations are revisited each Earth Day, and as pressure on the natural world increases, we’ll meet the winners and losers; witness positive changes and reasons for hope.
EARTH EMERGENCY
Encore – Wednesday, April 20 2022, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. on WUCF
This revealing film examines how human activity is setting off dangerous warming loops that are pushing the climate to a point of no return - and what we need to do to stop them. With captivating illustrations, stunning footage and interviews with leading climate scientists as well as support from Greta Thunberg, "Earth Emergency" adds the missing piece of the climate puzzle.
THE TRICK
Premieres – Friday, April 22 2022, 10:00 – 11:30 p.m. on WUCF
Professor Phil Jones and his team at the University of East Anglia find themselves in the middle of a major investigation with their 30 years of research work being questioned in the first ‘fake news’ attack.
NATURE: Portugal: Wild Land On The Edge
Premiere – Wednesday, April 27 2022, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. on WUCF
Discover the wildlife and landscapes of Portugal, impacted by its history as a global trading hub. From forest to coast, witness the majesty of the country’s wild horses, storks, monk seals and more.
NOVA: Portugal: Can We Cool The Planet?
Encore – Wednesday, April 27 2022, 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. on WUCF
As global temperatures rise, scientists are exploring solutions, from planting trees to sucking carbon out of the air to geoengineering. But would they work? And what are the risks of engineering Earth's climate?
Climate Change: The Facts
Encore – Wednesday, April 27 2022, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. on WUCF
Scientists explore the impact of climate change and what could happen if global warming exceeds 1.5 degrees. Discover how the latest innovations and technology are posing potential solutions and what individuals can do to prevent further damage.
Streaming programs include:
FRONTLINE "Plastic Wars"
Did the plastic industry use recycling to sell more plastic? With the industry expanding like never before and the crisis of ocean pollution growing, FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the fight over the future of plastics.
THE AGE OF NATURE
Explore humanity's relationship with nature and wildlife, as scientists and conservationists from all over the world examine ways we can restore our planet. Narrated by Uma Thurman.
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
See the mechanics of disaster relief from the heroes responding on the ground. Government leaders, humanitarians, and survivors tell their extraordinary personal stories of determination and hope.
GRETA THUNBERG: A YEAR TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Travel with the world's best-known climate activist as she takes her fight to a global stage. With unique access, the series follows Greta over an extraordinary year as she embarks on a mission to ensure world leaders work to limit global warming.
LIFE AT THE WATERHOLE
Explore the daily drama as African wildlife flock to a man-made waterhole rigged with cameras. Dr. M. Sanjayan and his team uncover the complex dynamic of this bustling oasis where elephants, lions, leopards, and more meet and compete for water.
NOVA "Reef Rescue"
In the last 30 years, the climate crisis has wiped out roughly half of the planet's coral. But new science reveals that some corals — so called "super corals" — are unexpectedly surviving the world's worst bleaching. Weaving together underwater expeditions, a global reef mapping mission, cutting-edge genetic engineering, and evolution research in Australia, Hawaii, Florida, and the South Pacific, this program follows the story of an international team of scientists who are "assisting evolution" to develop corals that can survive in the oceans of our future. But can they unlock the secrets of survival before it's too late?
EXTINCTION: THE FACTS
With one million species at threat, Sir David Attenborough explores extinction and how this crisis has consequences for us all — including a greater risk of pandemic diseases.
PBS NEWSHOUR "The Plastic Problem"
With 40 percent of all plastic products used only once, plastic pollution is considered one of the largest environmental threats facing humans and animals globally. This program explores what's being done about our extensive appetite for damaging single-use plastic. Traveling from Boston to Seattle — and reporting from the Pacific shores of Costa Rica to the rocky beaches of Easter Island — PBS NewsHour uncovers not only the extensive environmental damage plastic has already caused, but also innovations and solutions in plastic management.
