GLOBAL WARMING: THE SIGNS AND THE SCIENCE, a documentary that explores what is arguably the most significant environmental phenomenon of the last 10,000 years, airwd on PBS Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET. International recording artist Alanis Morissette hosts and narrates this cautionary look at the forces of climate change.

Filmed in the United States, Asia and South America, this wide-ranging, compelling and accessible program brings the reality of climate change to life and offers viewers inspiring examples of people who are making a difference in their own communities.

The program features numerous science experts who review a growing body of evidence of the grave consequences of a changing climate, and explores how individuals, communities and organizations across America are creating new approaches to safeguard future generations.

The documentary also looks at evidence that human activities are provoking an unprecedented era of atmospheric warming and climatic events: more drought, wildfires and flooding; polar melting; more powerful storms; and more variable weather. Tropical diseases are moving north; childhood respiratory illnesses are skyrocketing; and in the last three decades more than 30 diseases new to science have emerged.

GLOBAL WARMING: THE SIGNS AND THE SCIENCE takes viewers across America to meet people from every walk of life: Nebraska farmers, Colorado cattle ranchers, small-town doctors, Louisiana oilmen, Maryland school kids, New Hampshire townsfolk, Detroit inner-city teenagers, New York City bike couriers and Florida policemen. Their words and stories uncover both the reality of climate change and their responses to its various manifestations.

Also featured are respected and renowned scientists on the leading edge of climate science. Their latest findings are indisputable and unsettling, as it becomes increasingly clear that global warming is much more than just the heat.

But as people across the United States and around the world start to face their vulnerability to a changing climate, many have decided to do something. They are determined to be part of a solution, and have launched numerous initiatives aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change.

Is it possible to avert disaster? Can a paradigm of progress built on fossil fuels be altered significantly in time? Will changing the way things are done mean economic ruin or new opportunities? These are some of the questions the documentary poses.

According to co-executive producer Karen Coshof, as research for the program progressed, "It became increasingly clear that what I, my colleagues and most people know about climate change is just the tip of the iceberg - a meltingly perfect analogy!"

South Carolina ETV programming vice president Polly Kosko, also co-executive producer of the program, expressed a belief that "PBS is the right venue for this important and enlightening program because it presents both the challenges we face and a variety of positive things people can do to make a difference."

GLOBAL WARMING: THE SIGNS AND THE SCIENCE presents a clear, easy-to-understand, factual overview of climate change, and gives a "human face" to this complex phenomenon.