April is Earth Month, and Peralta TV is here with a selection of programming focusing on the environment, its beauty, and the efforts of a select few to preserve it.
Peralta TV can be seen on
Channel 27: Alameda, Berkeley
Channel 28: Emeryville, Piedmont, Oakland
AT&T U-Verse Channel 99
1000 DAYS FOR THE PLANET
4/02 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/04 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/06 (Thur) @ 7:30pm - Episode 1: GLOBAL CLIMATE DISRUPTION
4/09 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/11 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/13 (Thur) @ 7:30pm - Episode 2: CYANIDE-LACED FISH AND OTHER TASTY HAZARDS
4/16 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/18 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/20 (Thur) @ 7:30pm - Episode 3: THE VICTIMS OF PALM OIL
4/23 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/25 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/27 (Thur) @ 7:30pm - Episode 4: ANUTA: HIDDEN PARADISE
4/30 (Sun) @ 1pm, 5/02 (Tue) @ 12pm & 5/04 (Thur) @ 7:30pm - Episode 5: KOMODO DRAGONS
1000 DAYS FOR THE PLANET is the latest project from world-renowned scientist and UN Ambassador for the Environment, Jean Lemire. Lemire explores the world from his 50-foot sailboat, the Sedna IV, stopping everywhere from Alaska to the Philippines. Along the way, the series reveals the extraordinary beauty of the planet whilst helping us understand how our living environments function, and ultimately ponder the great challenges we all face.
Exploring life from ocean depths to mountain peaks, and from vast savannahs to the heart of the jungle, this series is beautiful and challenging. 1000 DAYS FOR THE PLANET is a journey around our vast planet to discover life’s extraordinary diversity and to bear witness to its fragile balance.
Episode 1: GLOBAL CLIMATE DISRUPTION
4/02 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/04 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/06 (Thur) @ 7:30pm
The Galapagos Archipelago is a model of conservation in the Pacific Ocean. Its remarkable diversity of marine species is explained by the upwelling of cold ocean currents. But an increasingly common climatic anomaly occurring far out to sea is killing life. It's El Niño. Scientists believe that climate change could cause the frequency and severity of this climatic phenomenon to double threatening native species that are unique in the world. In French Polynesia, biologists are studying corals and working to predict the impact of climate change on the future of our oceans and on global food security.
Episode 2: CYANIDE-LACED FISH AND OTHER TASTY HAZARDS
4/09 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/11 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/13 (Thur) @ 7:30pm
The waters of Indonesia teem with a huge variety of fish but the rapid degradation of coral reefs is threatening many species that are unique in the world. Illegal practices such as blast fishing and cyanide fishing are enormously destructive. The demand for live capture of exotic fish is a real threat to the future of many species. Exported for aquariums and for human consumption, fish caught using cyanide represent more than 40% of Indonesia's exports. Fortunately, a few fishermen have adopted methods that respect the environment but they are in a very small minority.
Episode 3: THE VICTIMS OF PALM OIL
4/16 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/18 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/20 (Thur) @ 7:30pm
Large-scale deforestation of tropical forests for palm oil production is a growing problem that threatens the survival of huge numbers of animals and plants, many already on the verge of extinction. In Indonesia, almost two million hectares of forest disappear every year. That's equivalent to six football fields being flattened every minute. Oil from palm trees is currently found in over half of all processed foods. At the current rate, nearly 98% of Indonesia's rainforests will be gone in 20 years. For orangutans, elephants, and gibbons, the future is increasingly uncertain.
Episode 4: ANUTA: HIDDEN PARADISE
4/23 (Sun) @ 1pm, 4/25 (Tue) @ 12pm & 4/27 (Thur) @ 7:30pm
Far off in the South Pacific is a tiny island: Anuta. It may be the most remote inhabited island on the planet. To survive, islanders have had to make careful use of any and every resource in their environment. The crew of Sedna IV is offered the rare privilege of sharing the daily lives of this unique community, welcomed into the heart of ancestral traditions and rituals that exist nowhere else on earth. This exceptional encounter of two groups with vastly different ways of being and points of view creates a bond of friendship, unshakeable and profound. It is a historic encounter, astonishing and deeply moving that makes a lasting impression on the heart of the adventurers. And it is a powerful demonstration of what is possible for the future of the planet
Episode 5: KOMODO DRAGONS
4/30 (Sun) @ 1pm, 5/02 (Tue) @ 12pm & 5/04 (Thur) @ 7:30pm
The island of Komodo in Indonesia looks like a lost paradise. But watch your step! A strange animal that can dispatch a goat or a person in two seconds flat is the dominant predator: the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on earth. Incredibly, they live in close proximity to the islanders who subscribe to an ancient legend that says the dragons share family ties with people and are, in fact, members of the community. The crew of Sedna IV shares daily life with these islanders who have learned to live with one of the fiercest predators on the planet— one that has already claimed its share of victims.
FIXING FOOD
4/08 (Sat) @ 8:30pm
4/17 (Mon) @ 3pm
4/23 (Sun) @ 8pm
Written, Produced, and Directed by Sue Williams
To many of us, climate change is remote, abstract, too grim to consider, too far removed from our daily lives. But we now know that one of the biggest triggers for global warming is something all of us do every day: Eating.
Growing and processing food, and packaging and bringing it to us—all use enormous amounts of energy, water, and chemicals, creating an overwhelming burden on our planet's resources. And, remarkably, Americans throw out nearly half of the food we produce. More than 62 million tons of food every year ends up rotting in landfills, releasing poisonous methane into the air and further fueling the increases in global warming. Fortunately, across the country, intrepid innovators are recognizing and exploring solutions to the problems of growing our nation's food while responding to climate change.
FIXING FOOD tells stories of people who are working to lower our carbon footprint with impactful new ways to gather and prepare the food we need. The series looks at five important areas where we can make changes—farming in the ocean and the air, finding new food sources, learning from Indigenous agriculture, and rescuing the food we already have.
Their stories challenge us all: If we change the way we eat, can we save our planet?
THE 3 CRICKETEERS
The story of a Minnesota farm family working on the frontier of urban agriculture, trying to do their part in the climate crisis by raising environmentally-friendly, protein-rich crickets and turning them into cookies, treats, and tortillas.
FIXING FOOD: NATIVE TABLE
At their Minneapolis restaurant Chef Sean Sherman and business partner Dana Thomson are exploring their native cultural heritages by re-creating pre-Colonial menus, combining the past with the best in modern farming practices to create more sustainable and ethical food systems.
FARMING THE SKY
Traditional industrial-scale agriculture might never be replaced, but architect Nona Yehia was sure it could be improved. She designed a new kind of greenhouse: a building that would pack a perfectly controlled growing environment into a space built up vertically on a sliver of urban real estate.
HARVESTING THE SEA
How can we keep Maine's lobster fishing communities employed and producing food for the rest of us when the oceans they depend on are warming so fast that fish stocks are declining? The answer, says the economist, Brianna Warner, is seaweed farming.
THE RESCUE BRIGADE
More than 38 million people in America are food insecure. When Leah Lizarondo learned that over 40% of America's surplus food is wasted every year, she founded a food rescue mission with a small army of volunteers to bring that food to the people who need it most.
FROZEN OBSESSION
4/10 (Mon) @ 7pm
4/21 (Fri) @ 1pm
Directed by David Clark and Bob Elfstrom
Produced by David Clark
Climate change is a critical scientific and social issue that confronts today's world. Nowhere are the consequences of a warming climate more pronounced and observable than in the Polar Regions.
FROZEN OBSESSION follows the 18-day, 2,000-mile Northwest Passage Project expedition through the stunningly beautiful and extreme Canadian Arctic aboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden. During the expedition, the NPP team studies water chemistry, microbiology, birds, mammals, and physical oceanography - all in radical transition due to a changing Arctic climate. As FROZEN OBSESSION bears witness to a dramatically changing Arctic and the urgent efforts of science to understand the consequences, we gain a sobering assessment of what's at stake. But in a hopeful turn, the film also witnesses the exhilarating life-changing experiences of the students on this expedition, who represent the next generation of scientists and decision-makers who will surely make a difference in the world.
WE ARE TUVALU
4/13 (Thur) @ 2pm
4/22 (Sat) @ 8:30pm
4/30 (Sun) @ 8pm
Directed by John C.P. Goheen
Executive Produced by Kaitlin McMurry, Jacob Pieczynski, and Annie Kate Raglow
WE ARE TUVALU explores life in one of the most remote places on earth. Tuvalu is at risk of disappearing due to climate impact. This unique film was shot and produced by a group of local youth, ages 17 to 29 who had never picked up a video camera prior to this film.
PLAYAS: THE LAND OF LITTLE LAKES
4/19 (Wed) @ 6pm
4/24 (Mon) @ 8:30pm
4/28 (Fri) @ 1pm
Produced by Basin PBS
This half-hour documentary is about playa lakes and their vital role as a recharge feature of the Ogallala aquifer. An examination of these treasured wetlands reveals the diverse community leading the efforts in restoration and conservation.
