Library

Race to Save the Planet Series - video, VHS format, one hour each (9th grade - adult)

Join host Meryl Streep and narrator Roy Scheider for television's first comprehensive, global examination of the major environmental questions facing the world today:  from population growth to soil erosion, from the destruction of forests to climate changes induced by human activity.  Filmed on every continent, the programs focus on solutions, constructive ideas, and new approaches from leading scientists, economists, politicians, and environmental activists from all over the world.  This series will inspire viewers to examine their own activities and take positive action.

Program 1:  THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVOLUTION - The series begins with a hard look at the tenuous relationship of humans to their environment and attempts to understand the changes, through time, from coexistence to domination.

Program 2:  ONLY ONE ATMOSPHERE - This program explores the global commons of the atmosphere.  The worldwide impact of global warming demands an international response that may be the biggest environmental challenge society has ever faced.

Program 3:  DO WE REALLY WANT TO LIVE THIS WAY? - The price of progress - smog, toxic wastes, and contamination of once pristine waters - is examined as this program investigates the byproducts of Western industrial lifestyles.

Program 4:  IN THE NAME OF PROGRESS - Are environmental protection and economic development inherently in conflict?  Well intentioned development projects, and the environmental disasters that resulted, are examined.

Program 5:  REMNANTS OF EDEN - This generation may preside over the mass extinction of half the species on earth today.  This program addresses the delicate balance between protecting the world's diversity of species while managing the needs of growing human populations.

Program 6:  MORE FOR LESS - Weaning ourselves from a fossil fuel diet can help to forestall a global climatic warming trend.  Interviews with innovative individuals reveal ways to harness and use energy more efficiently while continuing to provide needed economic and environmental benefits to society.

Program 7:  SAVE THE EARTH - FREE THE WORLD - With global populations continuing to climb, alternatives to chemical dependent farming are needed to feed the earth's inhabitants.  This segment shows how farmers are rediscovering traditional farming practices - using science and technology to work with nature, not conquer it.

Program 8:  WASTE NOT, WANT NOT - Garbage barges, toxic waste dumping, overflowing landfills, and pollution of coastal waters by sewage are prompting exploration of alternatives to disposal, such as source reduction and recycling.

Program 9:  IT NEEDS POLITICAL DECISIONS - This segment examines the power of politics in protecting the environment.  Three nations in varying stages of economic development - Zimbabwe, Thailand, and Sweden - offer three different strategies for conserving the environmental future.

 Program 10:  NOW OR NEVER - The final program profiles individuals who are moving the world to make choices that will determine the environmental quality of life in the 21st century.  It asks of every person on earth today:  What will be your role in the earth's future?