Aral Sea documentary

A documentary from a reporter who traveled to Voz Island in the Aral Sea, former testing site for biological weapons of the Soviet Union. He followed the Kazakh water course across the desert, in order to reach the very place of one of the greatest ecological disasters. The Aral Sea has become totally toxic through mismanagement of the water supply and overuse of chemical pesticides. Learn more on the events that happened through this intriguing two part documentary.

Chernobyl nuclear disaster documentary

The documentary shows a sequence of events which resulted in a destruction of a nuclear reactor and a considerable amounts of radioactive material released to the environment at Chernobyl powerplant. The accident caused many deaths from radiation injuries over time. The authorities evacuated and subsequently relocated thousands of people from areas surrounding the reactor.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill - part II

As a result of oill spill over 6000 dead animals have been collected, mostly birds and sea turtles. Over 100 dolphins and other mammals were also found covered in oil. Experts and volunteers streamed to Louisiana eager to help wildlife in peril. They located live and dead oiled animals in the nearby area. Saved animals were given a full physical examination, after which they were warmed, fed, hydrated and rested. Depending on how severe effect the oill had on them, many were local species were saved and released bac into the wild. Read more about the effects of oill spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Easter Island deforestation

It seems hard to imagine that once upon a time the Easter Island was actually covered with trees, wildlife flourished and the inhabitants lived in harmony with nature. Today the giant stone heads are all that is left of the native society and a shocking reminder about the consequences of deforestation. The climate in ancient times included rich forests with the tall Easter Island Palm. This large palm was used for building homes, canoes and in the construction of statues. Around 1400 overharvesting the palm and other trees made the island vegetation scarce. In result there was significantly less rainfall and vital natural resource for construction was permanently lost. Rats ate the palm seeds and added to the problem considerably. Read more on how the ancient civilization destroyed itself...

Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 is widely regarded as the worst industrial disaster in human history. It has shown a concerning high level of vulnerability to industrial crises of developing countries. The disaster in India involved a massive chemical leak from a methyl isocyanate processing plant, resulting in a toxic cloud of dangerous chemicals flowing through the densely populated areas around the plant. Over four thousand people were killed and hundreds of thousands crippled with life-long symptoms. It all happened on the night of December 2, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Read more about the incident here. You can also watch a short documentary on Youtube.

Next: Bhopal disaster - part II

The Great Sparrow - part II

The scientists had autopsied the digestive systems of dead sparrows and found that most of the contents were harmful insects and just a tiny fraction was human food. All the evidence suggested a sparrow was actually a beneficial bird for humans. By April 1960, Chinese leaders realized that sparrows also ate a large amount of insects when rice yields after the campaign were substantially decreased due to the increase of insects. Chairman Mao ordered the end of the campaign against sparrows, replacing them with bedbugs. However, it was already too late. With no sparrows to eat the locust populations, the country was soon swarmed. During the crisis an estimated two billion sparrows throughout the China had fallen. Read more about the Great Sparrow campaign...

The Great Sparrow

Over fifty years ago China faced a cultural revolution, when Chairman Mao Zedongwith changed economy focus to heavy industry. A radical socialist campaign called the Great Leap Forward was designed to mobilize the country's vast rural peasantry. It included a massive series of plans designed to achieve rapid increases in China's industrial production. The main goal for China was to catch up with the United States and England. Before that time, China had been a mostly agrarian society. At the beginning the amount of crops and cotton was doubled. This initial success in 1958 led to ambitious goals for 1959 but the weather didn't cooperate. Fewer crops were harvested, rural officials overstated the amount of grain for fear of not meeting their quotas creating imbalance in the system. Result was Four Pests campaign in order to exterminate mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. Read more about the campaign here.