Environment

Two cities, San Francisco and Freetown, brace for climate change using vastly different methodologies. San Francisco's developers are building expensive real estate on floodplains as officials try to heed expert projections on future sea levels. On the other side of the world, a deadly mudslide caused by torrential rains and deforestation in Sierra Leone shows the consequences of city planning that doesn't take climate change into account.

For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples have protected their sacred ancestral territories. Leila Salazar López, Executive Director of Amazon Watch, urges us to stand with them to protect and restore the bio-cultural integrity of the Amazon, because our collective future depends on it.

Explore takes us up-close and personal with brown bears living in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. Captured on live high-definition webcams over a year, the majestic bears catch salmon, mate, and rear their young. The occasional moose, wolves and owls appear, while the Aurora Borealis swirls overhead. Without narration or music, explore's “Pearls of the Planet” presents the natural sights and sounds of the far North. 

Anticipating future water needs, two regions on opposite sides of the world turn to technology for answers. Western Morocco, near the Sahara Desert, is currently facing unprecedented drought and groundwater mismanagement. But an ancient method of gathering moisture from fog is being taught to 13 villages, allowing people to have a level of local control over their most basic need. In Central Valley, California, the food basket of the world uses nearly 80 percent of the entire state's water supply.

David Orr, one of the nation’s most lucid and influential thought leaders, draws from his forthcoming book, "Democracy Unchained: Politics as if All People Matter," to consider what we must do to return to the better angels of our collective nature and turn the ship around. What happens next is up to us.

Mark Plotkin, groundbreaking ethnobotanist and author of seminal books including "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice," works closely with Indigenous peoples and uncontacted tribes in the northwest Amazon. As co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in 1995, he depicts ACT's work partnering with over 30 South American tribes, including the Kogi, to map, manage and protect over 70 million acres of ancestral forests.

This documentary about the Salem Witch Trials gives a stark portrayal of how prejudice and fear can destroy a deeply religious community.

Travel the world with Charlie and the explore.org Team as they embark on a philanthropic mission to experience different cultures through the eyes of their elders. From the Arctic to the Middle East, China and India, hear the words of wisdom that only age can inspire.

Communities and innovators all over the world are creating new sustainable food sources that are resilient to climate change and growing populations. In Madagascar, we see how villagers are closing off marine areas to allow the fish supply to replenish at a natural pace. In San Diego, California, aquaculturists are exploring open ocean farming as a more sustainable model for the fishing industry.

Heather McTeer Toney addresses how we must embrace climate action as the social justice issue of our time, and tear down old stereotypes so that we can build sustainable and resilient alliances to fight effectively together and affirm our common humanity.

Bren Smith, founder of GreenWave and winner of the 2015 Buckminster Fuller Challenge award, tells his personal story of ecological redemption. He dropped out of high school and became a commercial fisherman at age 14, but witnessed the destruction of the ocean firsthand. In a quest for a better way, he pioneered a revolutionary new model of harvesting bounty from the seas. He describes his innovative, practical design and future vision for "restorative 3-D ocean farming".

Follow Charlie and the explore.org team on a journey to seek out new adventure sports and talk to the heroes that rescue thrill seekers when the action goes awry. On their way, they explore what makes humans push the boundaries of physics in the never-ending pursuit of adrenaline.

How do we overcome the hyper-capitalist algorithm devouring the free press? Monika Bauerlein is the groundbreaking CEO and former Co-Editor of "Mother Jones," which since 1976 has stood among the world’s premier progressive investigative journalism news organizations.

Los Angeles is one of the biggest biodiversity hotspots in the world, despite its smog, urban sprawl and snarling freeways. At least 20,000 native and non-native plant and animal species are thriving despite human interference, and in some cases because of it. How can people help make urban habitats more welcoming to non-human urban dwellers?

Globally renowned playwright and activist Eve Ensler performs an act from her new "Fruit Trilogy," a mesmerizing and provocative edge-walking play that explores a woman's mystical journey into her body. Eve is the creator of "The Vagina Monologues," perhaps the most performed play in history, as well as the founder of the immensely impactful V-Day movement, which seeks to end violence against women and girls globally. As an author-artist-activist, she has fearlessly explored women's oppression, empowerment and emancipation with unparalleled intensity and influence.

explore.org is a philanthropic media organization and a multi-media division of the Annenberg Foundation. Created by filmmaker and philanthropist Charles Annenberg Weingarten to champion the selfless acts of others, inspire lifelong learning and help people fall in love with the world again, explore.org is home to more than 300 original films and a massive library of world-class photography from all over the globe.

“Is this the darkness of the tomb — or the darkness of the womb?" asks Valarie Kaur. Although we’ve mounted a powerful resistance to tyranny, injustice and violence during the Trump era, with 2020 in sight, we need more than resistance. We need to birth a new America. The extraordinarily passionate and effective civil rights attorney, faith leader and activist Valarie Kaur shares why she’s convinced that what our times demand is Revolutionary Love.

The global demand for oil and gas has long-lasting impacts on the communities that supply it. In Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, powerful native communities are at odds over an oil exploration and drilling plan that will boost their economy but have long-term consequences on native species and their environment. In California’s Kern County, the mayors of two neighboring towns face off on the economic benefits and health risks of oil production and their vastly different visions for the most sustainable path to the future.

According to journalist, blogger, “creative commons” advocate, Electronic Frontier Foundation Fellow, and award-winning science fiction author Cory Doctorow, the fight for a free, fair and open Internet isn’t the most important fight on the planet, but you can t win any of the other major battles without it.

"Explore" takes you to the Northern reaches of the planet, through live high definition webcams and expeditions deep into the Arctic. On the shores of Hudson Bay, polar bears wait for the ice to harden so they can move out miles from shore to hunt for the seals that feed them over the winter.  Beluga whales gather in large pods, while the Aurora Borealis swirls overhead. Without narration or music, Explore’s “Pearls of the Planet” presents the natural sights and sounds of the Arctic in a way never before presented on broadcast television.

In this episode of "Explore," Charlie and his team are on a fact-finding mission to learn about the obstacles and opportunities faced by those with disabilities. Meet the former mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, who survived a near fatal ski accident at the age of 19 leaving him almost completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. Overcoming his physical impairments, Sullivan has dedicated his life to working with the disabled and people struggling with addiction.