*******************************************************************************
                       CBC - Our World
                       Environmental Revolution
*******************************************************************************

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       General Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Type.................: documentary
More Information.....: (none)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Technical Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source...............: NTSC CABLE
AVI Size.............: 276,871,168 bytes
Duration.............: 00:22:37
FPS..................: 29.97

Video Codec..........: XviD
      Codec DCT......: H263
      QPel...........: No
Video Bitrate........: 2000 (ABR)
Video Resolution.....: 640x464
Video Aspect Ratio...: 1.379
      GMC............: No

Audio Format.........: 0x0055(MP3, ISO) MPEG-1 Layer 3
Audio Encoder........: LAME 3.92
Bitrate..............: 128kbits/sec (CBR)
Hz...................: 48000
Channels.............: Stereo
Captured by..........: festering leper

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.



--