｜Length : 49min. ｜Year : 2001 ｜

New York is among the many cities battling mountains of waste. Numerous attempts have been made to recover resources, and New York's own efforts to recycle began decades ago. But garbage is a tough opponent. The situation has become especially serious since supermarkets and refrigerators spawned the universal wrapping of products and the use of cheap plastics became ubiquitous. It is no longer an easy task to find anywhere to dump household garbage or toxic waste.

｜Length : 49min. ｜Year : 2001 ｜

The massive amount of carbon dioxide released as a result of human activities is increasing each year, and is already expected to add two degrees Celsius to the average temperature of the planet before the end of the 21st century. We are bequeathing our children an unknown terror and the obligation to fight it. The key factors include our consumption of oil, which began to increase rapidly after the Second World War. Oil fuelled the industry of the advanced nations, lubricated economic expansion, sparked economic miracles, and ignited consumer booms.

｜Length : 49min. ｜Year : 2001 ｜

The mighty Amazon flows through a jungle that accounts for one third of all the rain forest on the planet. But the forest is disappearing fast and there are fears that the scale of destruction is even changing the weather. Brazil and the United States were the first to profit from the jungle's riches. Brazilian rubber supported the US auto industry and was essential to the war effort in the 1940s. Later, Brazil began to fell the forest to extract such mineral treasures as iron, manganese, and gold. The program looks into development and destruction of Amazon in the 20th century.

｜Length : 59min. ｜Year : 2001 ｜

The mustard gas used in the First World War was the starting point of a chemical weapons race whose consequences included industrial production of chlorine and a vast range of other chemicals that fuelled economic growth in the 20th century. DDT was sensationally effective in the fight against malaria and the protection of crops. PCBs were the lifeblood of countless items of electrical equipment. But the enthusiasm for such chemicals was tempered by anxiety that they might also cause cancer, disrupt ecosystems, and even function as environmental hormones threatening life itself.

｜Length : 59min. ｜Year : 2000 ｜

America concentrated all its energies on an increased yield of wheat in the 1930's. In the 20th Century, America established a new form of agriculture as a business, in which one particular crop was produced in large scale. Under an American initiative, India and Pakistan achieved a large increase of production of provisions. The American style agriculture soon reached its peak, but deterioration of soil has become a critical issue in the US once again, resulting in strenuous countermeasures for preservation and maintenance of soil. At the beginning of the century, desertification and draining of water resources are in progress on a global scale. Is it possible to further increase the production of provisions without destroying the environment in the 21st Century? How much longer can soil and water on our planet tolerate the use for increased production, and how much of "business agriculture" will our earth permit?

｜Length : 59min. ｜Year : 2000 ｜

In the past, cows only fed on grass. The circumstances changed with an appearance of Abadeen Angus which was developed in England for steak meat. It requires eight kilograms of corn for an Abadeen Angus to gain one kilogram, and man started to raise more corn to feed these cows. It was the USA that had a vast agricultural area to start a large scaled production of corn. To sell the corn, grain dealers, too, took part in a campaign to increase the consumption of beef, Its target was first Japan, and now China. The beef boom is now sweeping across China. If China decides on a massive import of grain, the international balance of demand would collapse in an instant, and may result in food crises. Grains, which were once man's food, have become livestock feed, and we are now witnessing a new crisis. How did Abadeen Angus change people's eating habit and situation of food in th 20th Century? And how will this affect the 21st Century, when further increase of population is expected?