Environmental Revolution

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Nature, Science Documentary published by CBC in 2007 - English narration

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ENVIRONMENTAL REVOLUTION: The new era of environmentalism and why it's now on the international agenda.

We feature this week Brian's conversation with writer Thomas Homer-Dixon about what he describes as the looming crisis facing our Fragile Planet, as well as reports from the CBC's Beijing based-correspondent Michel Cormier, and the CBC's Toronto-based Joan Leishman about how different countries are meeting the environmental challenge

There were times when the media paid little attention to environmental stories. Governments, for that matter, also gave the issue low priority. Those seem like ancient days, now. The state of the environment is of top interest among Canadians and the news media and governments are playing a frantic game of catch up as we watch our fragile planet change significantly within the span of our own lifetimes.

A sign of the change in viewpoint, certainly, was when "An Inconvenient Truth", a film about Al Gore's lonely crusade to educate people about the perils of global warming, won an academy award this year for best documentary. The former Vice President, long dismissed as a policy wonk on the environment, is now something of a folk hero, as he takes his message about green-thinking around the Globe. Even two decades ago, Gore was an early warning voice on environmental challenges, so what a vindication for him to see a kind of an environmental revolution catch on with increasing force.

The Canadian writer, Thomas Homer Dixon, based at the University of Toronto, is another former voice in the wilderness. He has been talking for years about a coming collapse caused by global warming, energy scarcity, widening gaps between rich nations and poor ones and the need for western societies to rethink their dependencies on oil and other limited resources, and become more resilient and innovative and , well, green. Brian recently sat down for a conversation with Thomas Homer Dixon and they talked about this new era in environmental consciousness and why it's a cause for hope.

Western societies are increasingly aware and vocal about global warming, in particular, but there is some hypocrisy to all of this, poorer nations say. Take, for instance China. Millions of people there hope to attain the lifestyle of the middle-class for the first time ever. That means cars, and modern appliances, and all the things we take for granted in the West and which contribute to global warming and pollution.The Chinese citizen has a right to aspire to an easier life, but the cost to the environment, just because of the enormous size of the population, is terrifying.We have a report from the CBC's Beijing-based correspondent Michel Cormier about China's looming environmental problem.

After that, so as to not leave you discouraged, we leave you with a report by CBC reporter Joan Leishman about how some Canadians are making a difference by shopping for clean energy sources.