Although much of its landscape is arid, Somalia normally has two rainy seasons a year. So for generations, Somalia’s pastoral community has survived by herding their animals to wherever the rain has collected into puddles and streams. Now, though, John Watkin of the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund says Somalia is suffering its worst drought in […]
Environmental Factors in the Somalia Drought
Lake Chad Shrinking
Water may be the world’s most precious resource. But in many parts of the world it is a dwindling resource. One of the most dramatic examples of this is in Africa, where Lake Chad is now a twentieth of what it once was. NASA has a bird’s-eye view – make that a satellite’s eye view […]
Man Against Mother Nature
I grew up less than a mile from the Mississippi River in New Orleans. You could walk to the levee, which we often did, and ride horses on the flat gravel road at its peak. On one side of the levee – the side that runs along the river – is a steep slide of […]
Behind the Series: Journey to Planet Earth
It’s been nearly 20 years since the first International Earth Summit and 20 years since Marilyn and Hal Weiner were called upon to produce the summit’s opening film. They’ve been documenting environmental issues ever since through their production company Screenscope. Relaxing together on a sofa in their den, the Weiners describe how they were approached […]