The Nature of Things - Specials (2008)

The revolutionary new understanding of the brain's functional and structural capacities.

The Suzuki Diaries is a road trip, a travelogue, an adventure. The legendary David Suzuki and his youngest daughter Sarika, a university student about to start her own career in the sciences, are full of hope as they travel to Europe to see what sustainability truly looks like. In Germany, Denmark, France and Spain, they set out to meet the people working to restore the equilibrium between human needs and planetary limits. They find a renewable energy expert, a biodynamic farmer and writer, a blogging bike enthusiast, two meticulous industrial designers, and a political powerhouse in the green movement. What they discover is that sustainability can be built into the fabric of contemporary life, not just by environmentalists but by anyone, across the full spectrum of society. The idea, innovations and inspiring individuals David and Sarika encounter prove that sustainability does not mean sacrificing quality of life. The Suzuki Diaries illustrates what is truly possible if humans have the will.

We’ve come a long way since the first “horseless carriages” began to transform not just how we get from one place to another, but also how we think about transportation, urbanization, city-planning and personal mobility in general. With rising fuel prices and growing environmental concerns, never before has it been so urgent to imagine what next year’s model might look like. But there is hope. All over the world there are people trying to figure out how to build an environmentally and socially sound version of the car. Join engineering professor Brian Fleck on a quest to meet the engineers, designers and even students working on new technologies to make this possible. From hydrogen-powered family sedans to high end fully-electric powered sports cars, and even cars that drive themselves, you'll find plenty of surprises. Perhaps the future is not so far off as we might think — the technology that will transform our societies tomorrow is being developed today. The question is, are we ready?

Despite Canada’s overwhelming urban demographic, Canadian cities struggle to provide the services expected of them, whether that means collecting garbage and fixing potholes or running schools and public transit systems. Award-winning urban affairs columnist Christopher Hume takes a cross-country journey from Halifax to Vancouver and gives the viewer a firsthand look at what’s wrong with Canada’s aging infrastructure and overall lack of political will.

Do you remember the children's tale, "Three Little Pigs?" Build a strong house made out of bricks and mortar, and you'll be safe from the big, bad wolf. Build Green is here to show audiences that a house built from sticks and straw is better protection from the elements, and it mitigates your personal impact on global climate change. In a refreshing hour, Build Green advises making the sun, wind and rain — along with dirt, straw and sewage — your friends. By building a house using innovative practices and materials, you'll not only do the earth a favour, but you could save big bucks too. In Build Green, Canada's best architects hype their green creations. From retro-fitting a hip, old Montreal housing complex with state-of-the-art sustainable energy systems, to pitching hay for strawbale houses, to building transportable "mini-homes" with their own small power plant, take a close look at the materials and means we can all adopt for building green homes.

Filmmaker Bill Lishman journeys around the world in search of earth’s renewable energy. He discovers Canada’s rich history of hydroelectric production, finds the world’s largest solar power plant in the Mojave Desert and makes the discovery that 25% of Denmark’s electricity is produced with wind turbines. Lishman explores North America’s wealth of renewable resources and looks at ways other countries are harnessing earth energy in clean, safe methods.

A Murder of Crows is a visually stunning one-hour documentary that offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the inner life of one of the most intelligent, playful and mischievous species on the planet - the common crow. It is also a film that explores a unique pairing of science and cinema as world-renowned scientists, including crow expert Professor John Marzluff, joins forces with an award-winning camera team to explore the secret world of crows. A scientific exploration with a compelling twist, the film is a visually stunning HD documentary that reveals new insights and understanding into this haunting and elusive species.

It was not until 1930 that the outside world knew that there were people living in the highlands of Papua, New Guinea. In 1950 the first contact was made with a group of 55,000 Mendi, part of a million inhabitants of the New Guinea highlands, formerly not known to exist. The Australians have since built an airstrip, a hospital, schools, a hotel and other permanent buildings there, but the Mendi have kept their culture intact. A CBC film crew directed by Nancy Archibald has recorded some of the ancient culture and lifestyle of the Mendi and the results are presented in this special one-hour documentary.