New Environmentalists - Season 1

Profiles 6 individuals: In Belgium a naturalist designed and runs his country's first national park. In Mexico a farm leader helps his people use ancient technology to grow their traditional crop, while preserving water and preventing erosion. In Siberia, a local biologist helps protect Baikal, the world's oldest and deepest lake. In Ecuador two men force a huge multi-national oil company to clean up 20 years of environmental damage; in Mozambique, a local musician teaches sustainable sanitation practices to the country's poor though his music; in Puerto Rico, a local housewife organized and galvanized her community to fight air pollution.

Profiles 6 individuals: In the USA an Appalachian native battles Mountaintop Removal coal mining. In Indonesia, a woman helped solve Bali's waste management crisis. In Suriname, two indigenous leaders organized their communities against logging on native lands. In Bangladesh; an environmental lawyer won a decisive victory against her country's powerful "ship breaking" industry; in Russia a scientist has created an educational network to help identify and eliminate toxic chemicals in the environment; in Gabon a crusader stood up to the government to help save a majestic waterfall and rainforest from an iron mine.

Profiles 6 individuals: In Michigan a family farmer boldly exposed the polluting practices of livestock factory farms, gaining the attention of the EPA; In Cuba a scientist has shifted from chemical dependence to organic practices of sustainable farming. In Costa Rica, an activist starts a movement to stop shark finning. In Cambodia, a visionary created solutions for protecting both the rural farmer's fields and the endangered Asian elephants who try to eat the crop. In Poland, a young activist successfully led the fight to stop a major highway that would have jeopardized the wildlife and vegetation in the pristine Rospuda Valley; in Swaziland the country's only environmental attorney, is spearheading a 20-year battle between private game park owners and the indigenous people who they have evicted.

Profiles 6 individuals: In Germany community activists respond to the Chernobyl nuclear accident by creating the country's first successful, cooperatively owned, renewable power company. In Texas, an entrepreneur returns home to his environmentally damaged coastal community to fight a major industrial polluter. In Zimbabwe when the rhino population in his homeland is threatened by heavily armed poachers, a visionary bush pilot moves the animals hundreds of miles to safety. In El Salvador courageous farmers are paying with their lives as they stand up against a transnational gold mining corporation to protect their fragile water resources; In Indonesia a charismatic teacher leads the cleanup of the Surabaya River from a flood of industrial chemicals and sewage that are causing severe health issues. In Russia on an island off the coast of Siberia, a dedicated activist fights to protect endangered wildlife and the region's biodiversity from oil and gas development.

Profiles 6 individuals: In Russia an activist is mobilizing her fellow Russian citizens to reroute a highway that would destroy Moscow's Khimki Forest. In Argentina a local women stops the indiscriminate spraying of toxic agrochemicals on the soy fields surrounding her barrio and across the region. In the Arctic Garden an Inupiat indigenous leader takes aim at the threat of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Sea which threatens her people and the region's biodiversity. In the Philippines, a Catholic priest on the Island of Mindoro leads a courageous hunger strike to try to halt construction of a dangerous nickel mine. In Kenya, an activist leads an effort to stop construction on a $60 billion dam that would seriously threaten Lake Turkana and the people whose survival depends on it. In China Ma Jun created a website to mobilize the Chinese citizens to challenge the corporate sources of some of the world's worst air and water pollution.

Profiles 6 individuals: In South Africa an activist is leading a campaign against fracking that threatens the Karoo, where sparse desert and majestic mountains converge to create an agriculture heartland and flourishing wildlife reserves. In Iraq Azzam Alwash has taken on the challenge of restoring the Mesopotamia Marshes to their original splendor. In Italy an elementary school teacher began a public education campaign about the dangers of incinerators in his small Tuscan town that grew into a national Zero Waste movement. In West Timor, when Indonesian marble mining companies began to exploit the pristine mountains surrounding her homeland, Mama Aleta Baun organized villagers in a peaceful weaving protest that halted the mining; in Chicago a mother of three led local residents in a successful campaign to shut down two of the country's oldest and dirtiest coal fired power plants. In Colombia Nohrah Padilla organized marginalized waste pickers to make recycling a legitimate part of Bogota's waste management system.

Profiles 6 individuals: In New York Attorney Helen Slottje helped towns across New York State protect themselves from fracking, when she utilized a clause in the state constitution that empowers municipalities to make local land use decisions. In India Ramesh Agrawal organized indigenous people to demand their right to information and succeeded in shutting down one of the largest proposed coalmines in Chhattisgarh. In Russia zoologist, Suren Gazaryan led protests and social networking campaigns exposing President Putin's illegal use of federally protected forests near the Black Sea; in Peru Ruth Buendía united the Asháninka people in a powerful campaign against large-scale dams that would have uprooted indigenous communities. In Indonesia Rudi Putra is protecting the habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino by dismantling illegal palm oil plantations that are destroying northern Sumatra's Leuser Ecosystem. In South Africa Desmond D'Sa rallied south Durban's diverse and disenfranchised communities to successfully shut down a toxic waste dump that exposed nearby residents to dangerous chemicals and violated their constitutionally protected right to a safe and clean environment.

Profiles 6 individuals: In Haiti – Jean Weiner is reviving his country's marine life by restoring the coral reefs and by planting over a million mangrove trees to combat deforestation and coastal degradation. In Myanmar Myint Zaw launched a series of art exhibits to halt construction of the Myitsone Dam on the treasured Irrawaddy River. In Honduras Bertha Cáceres rallied the indigenous Lenca people to wage a grassroots protest that successfully pressured the government and their corporate ally to withdraw from building the Agua Zarca Dam. In Kenya Phyllis Omido stood up to her employer when she learned that lead emissions from their smelting factory were contaminating the air, water and soil resulting in horrific illnesses and deaths. In Canada Marilyn Baptiste led her native community in defeating proposed gold and copper mines that would have destroyed Fish Lake. In Scotland Howard Wood put an end to destructive scallop dredging in order to restore the marine ecosystem by establishing the first community-developed Marine Protected Area in Scotland.

Profiles 6 individuals: In the United States Destiny Watford organized her classmates to prevent construction of the nation's largest incinerator in a Baltimore neighborhood less than one mile from their high school. In Cambodia Leng Ouch risked his life when he went undercover to expose illegal logging and government corruption. In Slovakia Zuzana Caputova spearheaded a campaign to shut down a toxic waste dump that was poisoning her community. In Peru Máxima Acuña stood up to the giant Newmont Mining Corporation over the development of a gold and copper mine on her property. In Tanzania Edward Loure organized his Masaai community and lobbied to claim land titles for Tanzania's indigenous tribes, thus securing their stewardship of more than 200,000 acres of traditional lands. In Puerto Rico Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera led a successful campaign to establish a nature reserve in Puerto Rico's Northeast Ecological Corridor, a critical nesting ground for the endangered leatherback sea turtle.