In this episode we visit Kawah Ijen´s active volcano in Indonesia to investigate the labour conditions that miners bear everyday in extracting its sulphur. In the mouth of the volcano labourers carry upon their backs over 70 kilos of sulphur blocks, double their own weight. We follow the trail of these men - suffering the worlds worse working conditions – in to ‘the gates of hell’.
Independent documentary that addresses the different environmental problems in the north of Quintana Roo region, located in the Mexican Caribbean, caused by the rapid tourism development and uncontrolled population growth.
Plastic pollution has become a global issue, and the sea is affected the most. Time to pull the emergency brake.
Food production has increasingly become a huge business for a handful of giant corporations. SOYALISM follows the industrial production chain of pork and the related soybean monoculture, from China to Brazil through the United States and Mozambique. This eye-opening documentary describes the enormous concentration of power in the hands of these Western and Chinese companies and the impact this is having on the food we consume.
The Dunedin Study has identified a fundamental developmental mechanism that completely rewrites the nature versus nurture argument. It is a genetic switch which is thrown by life events – nature loads the gun but nurture pulls the trigger. This episode tracks the hunt for the mechanism using three specific examples - violence in men, depression, & cannabis induced schizophrenia.
Plastic is both a marvel and hellish stuff. On the one hand, it can be used in a variety of ways and is inexpensive. However, it is responsible for a global environmental problem. Plastic is everywhere: as a trash vortex in the ocean and as a microplastics in our food chain. This documentary addresses the question of why mankind has not come up with a solution for this problem yet.
30 years after Chernobyl catastrophe, and 5 years after Fukushima, it is time to see what has been happening in the “exclusion zones”, where the radioactivity rate is far above normal. This film will offer a unique access to those territories, which gather millions of people within thousands of km2
Think insects are a pest? Think again. This visually stunning science documentary shows how these tiny geniuses can help us solve some of science’s biggest problems – from producing biofuel to killing drug-resistant bacteria and curing cancer. Insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, making up more than 90% of the animals on Earth. They can be found on all continents, in all climates. Nature has equipped them with an amazing range of tricks.
In this French film, uncover the world of the remaining forest elephants that live in the lush jungles of Gabon. Victims of poachers for their highly prized ivory, these reclusive creatures are enchanting. But can they be saved from those who prey on them?
An adventurous ski tour of two sisters, who follow the tracks of their father, across the pristine landscapes of New Zealand. 30 years ago, Gottlieb Braun-Elwert set out on an incredible expedition. He traversed the major glaciers of the Southern Alps, covering 40km and 4000 vertical meters, from the heart of the South Island to the West Coast in just 18 hours. A route of astonishing beauty, immense freedom, breathtaking vistas and dealing with the challenges of an untamed wilderness.
What happens when some extreme sports people enter into a dialogue with some jazz musicians on the face of a rock? Andreas Pichler documents a project from the South Tyrol Jazz Festival, Alto Adige, in which climbers and tightrope walkers find their own unique rhythm. If you are not fully concentrated, if you are not present, you have lost. This rule is valid for both musicians and climbers. In an extraordinary symbiosis, jazz musicians accompany climbers and slack liners on their tours.
We investigate the commercialization of the natural world. Protecting our planet has become big business with companies promoting new environmental markets. This involves species banking, where investors buy up vast swathes of land, full of endangered species, to enable them to sell 'nature credits'. Companies whose actions destroy the environment are now obliged to buy these credits and new financial centres have sprung up, specializing in this trade.
