Global Footprints

Do you know where your food comes from? Head behind the scenes with organic farmers and the urban farming organization, “Not Far From the Tree” to find out where your food comes from. Urban people take a field trip and ‘go country’ to better understand the origins of their food. Find out what community share agriculture is and discover a garden of hope which teaches city dwellers the importance of good food. The food we choose impacts the environment in many ways. The food production industry has undertaken radical changes in recent years. Everything from what we grow, to how we grow it, to biological engineering has forever altered the food production business. Learn about soil management, how to run an organic operation, where our food comes from and just how simple healthy eating can be.

This program explores the earth’s forests, from the effects of deforestation and palm oil production, to forestry gardening and sustainable business practices. Trees are the lungs of our planet but we keep cutting them down? Find out the effects of deforestation. Did you know that a chocolate bar is responsible for the near extinction of the Orangutan? Find out why. We’ll also teach you how to garden the forest, introduce you to a cosmetic company who are washing their hands of palm oil and an urban tree salvage company that saves trees. 50 years ago about 15% of the planets land surface was covered by a rain forest. Today, more than half of that has gone up in smoke. 12-15 million hectares of forest are lost every year. That’s the equivalent of 36 football fields per minute. If that trend continues the Amazon will be gone in 50 years. So what is deforestation and why should we care?

Smaller, greener & more flexible homes are popping up everywhere. Find out what the mini home is. We’ll make you seasick with shipping containers, get a tour of the “Now House Project”, a War time home that is now a mean, green, energy producing machine. When it comes to building our homes bigger is no longer better. New homes after doubling in size in the 1960’s are shrinking. Smaller, greener, more flexible homes are the new norm. After transport and agriculture, housing is the most resource intensive industry in the Western World. A smaller home leaves a smaller footprint on the Earth in every measureable way. Fewer trees cut down, less earth bulldozed, less petroleum burned, less steel mined and less use of every natural resource. As sustainability becomes more prevalent in our society, so too are eco-friendly living and working spaces. This program explores the rise of smaller, more flexible and – most importantly - greener homes and shows you how to get the most out of your household water by reusing it.

This program explores the automotive industry’s move towards greener cars and the need for cities to balance cycling, public transport and cars within their overall infrastructure. So let’s take a look at the transportation industry. Find out how to build a city around public transportation & the importance of the bicycle. Is there such a thing as a Green car? Have you heard cars can run on veggie oil, we’ll show you how and take a look at biodiesel fuel. Increased levels of Carbon Dioxide are being expelled into the air from our tail pipes. Designing more sustainable transportation systems and being more thoughtful of how we design our cities is key by integrating walkability, bikeability and public transit. Building a city based on reduced carbon dependency by finding ways of redesigning or retro fitting neighbourhoods and designing cities less dependent on fossil fuels is the way of the future.

For the first time in history, more than half the population lives in cities. Because of urbanization every year we destroy untold amounts of plants and fertile soil. With this in mind, how can we make cities more sustainable? This program takes a special look at green roof gardening, the expansion of solar panels and thinking ‘inside the box’ with food container gardening. Big cities leave big trouble for the natural world. The good news is we have the ability to change. There are currently innovative technologies in place that will help combat climate change in big cities.