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Arts & Culture

Journey To Planet Earth: Plan B: Mobilizing To Save Civilization

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, photographed in an underwater vehicle, in the "Journey To Planet Earth" series.
Courtesy of ScreenScope/SCETV
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, photographed in an underwater vehicle, in the "Journey To Planet Earth" series.

Airs Monday, April 18, 2011 at 10:30 p.m. on KPBS TV

"Journey To Planet Earth," is public television's longest-running environmental series.

The Economic Truth: What we have now is a situation in which the most pressing problems of the world, which are environmental and ecological, are ones that the market has no incentive to deal with. Basically if I pump CO2 or other more intense greenhouse gases into the world I pay no price for doing that. — Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate in Economics

Reducing CO2 Emissions: Unless you price gasoline at the cost of the troops protecting the oil company from the Persian Gulf, the cost of the pollution we are putting in the atmosphere that turns into childhood asthma — unless you truly price the cost of these dirty fuels you’ll never get people to switch to the cleaner fuels. — Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize Author

Stories Of Hope

Select a location in this interactive map to experience stories of hope from ecosystems in danger around the globe, and examine the positive changes already taking place.

Hosted by Matt Damon and produced by Emmy-Award winning filmmakers Marilyn and Hal Weiner, "Plan B: Mobilizing To Save Civilization" is a PBS documentary based on the book by environmental visionary Lester Brown.

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Featuring some of the world's most original and influential thinkers, Lester Brown's message is clear and unflinching — either confront the realities of climate change or suffer the consequences of lost civilizations and failed states.

Ultimately "Plan B" provides audiences with a glimpse into a new and emerging economy based upon renewable sources plus realistic strategies to avoid the growing threat of global warming.

Appearing with Lester Brown are Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman, former Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, along with other scholars and scientists. Locations include: China, Japan, Korea, India, Italy, Turkey, Bangladesh, Zambia, Haiti, and the United States.

What makes "Plan B" significant and timely is that it provides audiences with hopeful solutions — a road map that will help eradicate poverty, stabilize population, stabilize climate, and protect and restore the earth’s forests, soils and fisheries. It includes ways of protecting and restoring soils, forests, rangelands, and oceanic fisheries, plus conserving the earth’s biological diversity. It also features case studies that clearly show signs of a new energy economy emerging.

In the end, "Plan B" will make a strong case for choosing new economic and environmental priorities and developing new responses to the challenges associated with growing populations. It will talk directly to political leaders who need to understand the relationship between the economy and its environmental support systems. It will explain to economists why they must begin to think like ecologists. And it will motivate community leaders and the general public to become part of a solution that seeks to restructure the economy so that it can sustain economic progress.

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"Journey To Planet Earth" is on Facebook, and you can follow @J2PlanetEarth on Twitter.

Preview: Journey To Planet Earth: Plan B
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Journey To Planet Earth: Plan B: Failing States
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