Earth Focus

Take a look at America's toxic waters with veteran, award-winning journalist Hedrick Smith. Smith talks to Earth Focus correspondent Miles Benson about his new film, Poisoned Waters, in which six-legged and hermaphroditic frogs act as canaries in the mine, warning of the health risks associated with new emerging chemicals.

Learn more about water and sanitation issues and find out what you can do!

A new Indonesian law may open the world's largest coastline to commercial development -- at stake are fragile coastal ecosystems and the lives and livelihood of the people who depend on them. As demand for coal grows, mountaintop coal removal in the Appalachian Mountains becomes more controversial. "Battle for the Mountains" profiles the polarization of communities in West Virginia where coal extraction keeps people employed at great peril to the environment. Only two percent of rural Ethiopians have access to electricity, but solar energy is changing all that. In the rural Ethiopian village of Rema, solar power is helping promote health, education and economic growth. Filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn speaks about her new film "Sun Come Up," which tells the story of New Guinea's Carteret Islanders who are forced to move to Bougainville, a land torn by civil war, to escape the rising seas. The Islanders are among the world's first climate change refugees.

Learn more about climate change and find out what you can do.

A new Indonesian law may open the world's largest coastline to commercial development -- at stake are fragile coastal ecosystems and the lives and livelihood of the people who depend on them. As demand for coal grows, mountaintop coal removal in the Appalachian Mountains becomes more controversial. "Battle for the Mountains" profiles the polarization of communities in West Virginia where coal extraction keeps people employed at great peril to the environment. Only two percent of rural Ethiopians have access to electricity, but solar energy is changing all that. In the rural Ethiopian village of Rema, solar power is helping promote health, education and economic growth. Filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn speaks about her new film "Sun Come Up," which tells the story of New Guinea's Carteret Islanders who are forced to move to Bougainville, a land torn by civil war, to escape the rising seas. The Islanders are among the world's first climate change refugees.

Learn more about climate change and find out what you can do.

In Glenn Baker's new film, "Easy Like Water," Bangladeshis are adapting to climate change by keeping their children learning, despite rising waters, on solar-powered boats. Earth Focus correspondent Miles Benson interviews Baker, an award-winning filmmaker, about the subject of the film, an architect named Mohamed Rezwan who is following the biblical example of Noah and transcending the climate challenges facing his community.

Learn more about climate change and find out what you can do.

Marine author, journalist and advocate David Helvarg talks with Earth Focus correspondent Miles Benson about his new book, "Saved by the Sea." As founder of the ocean lobbying group, the Blue Frontier Campaign, Helvarg has a deep passion for marine life that roots back to his childhood. His motivation is knowing all that we get from the ocean, from recreation to trade to energy, and feeling it's only natural that we give back.

Learn more about the world's oceans and find out what you can do.

In this Earth Focus interview, filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn talks with correspondent Miles Benson about her new film, "Sun Come Up," which profiles some of the world's first climate change refugees, the people of New Guinea's Carteret Islands. In the film, we meet a group of young people tasked with traveling to Bougainville, 50 miles across the sea, to negotiate a new home for their fellow islanders, who are under threat from food and water shortages, decreasing land, and an ever-increasing population.

Learn more about climate change and find out what you can do.

This episode of Earth Focus takes you to the 2010 Environmental Film Festival in Washington, DC, with excerpts from exciting new feature films on environmental issues impacting our world. Veteran film producer Bill Benenson speaks about his new film "Dirt! The Movie", which looks at the importance of topsoil. Also, producer/director Ana Sofia Joanes tells us why we need new alternatives to our industrial food supply; her film "Fresh" profiles innovative new approaches to farming. And in the film "What's on Your Plate," two young New Yorkers discover what they didn't know about food.

Learn more about food issues and find out what you can do!

In this Earth Focus interview, filmmaker Ana Sofia Joanes speaks about her new film "Fresh," and points out why today's industrial agriculture is unsustainable. "Fresh" promotes a new way of food production, celebrating fresh, earth-friendly food.

Learn more about food issues, and find out what you can do!

In his latest award-winning production, "Dirt! The Movie", veteran filmmaker Bill Benenson examines one of the most taken for granted subjects. Inspired by writer Bill Logan, who said that dirt is the basis for all life on Earth, Benenson's film takes an intimate look at a dying resource -- one we can't live without -- and offers solutions to reverse the damage before it's too late.

Learn more about food issues, and find out what you can do!