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A plea for saving the environment

Madhur Tankha

Six-hour programme on Discovery Channel today

"CHERUB OF THE MIST": The red panda

NEW DELHI: Sensitising people about the delicate balance that needs to be maintained between the process of development and the need to save the environment is a new six-hour programme on Discovery Channel this Tuesday to mark World Environment Day.

Travelling across the globe to highlight a range of issues and developments that have led to this ecological crisis, the programme follows the women of Garhwal who started the much talked about "Chipko" movement by hugging trees to prevent them from being cut.

Trained nuclear physicist Vandana Shiva has made the women famous for denouncing excessive exploitation of natural resources. "Daughter of the Earth: Vandana Shiva" at 12 noon travels from the mountains in the North to the temples and seashores of the South with Vandana as the guide and presents the cultural and biological diversity and the impending challenges.

"India's Wild Dogs: The Wild Bunch" at 12-30 p.m. makes an attempt to showcase why India's wild dogs have an image problem and a reputation that needs a serious overhaul.

In "Menziwa's Children: The Elephants of Zimbabwe", Menziwa, a young African ranger given the charge of one of the world's largest families, the elephants of Zimbabwe, finds the political crisis taking a toll on his elephant family.

Climate change represents one of the biggest environmental challenges facing India today.

"Climate Change: An Untold Story" at 2 p.m. captures diverse environmental issues impacting the country. Four young Indian filmmakers have produced it.

With exceptional footage from the red panda's life, "Cherub of the Mist" at 3 p.m. unravels the mystery behind the secretive life of the little "cherub of the treetops". It also highlights the irresistible charms of the red panda. Animal lovers can catch the red pandas in the wild in all their glory, courting, mating, nest-building and rearing newborn cubs.

The thorny forests of Gir in Gujarat are the last and only stronghold of the Asiatic lions, a species that once stretched from Asia to as far as Greece. The episode "The Last Lions of India" at 4 p.m. presents a rare conservation success story as the lions are spreading out beyond the protection of the national park.

Volcano

April 10 in 1815, Mount Tambora in Eastern Indonesia became a merciless killer. It unleashed the most deadly volcanic eruption in human history, wiping out at least over a lakh people and destroying an entire ethnic group in a matter of seconds. The episode "The Year Without Summer" at 5 p.m. unravels why the most violent volcanic eruption could have triggered an extraordinary climate change.

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