Assignment Earth Video

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India's government has spent millions to clean up the Yamuna River, but it remains one of the world's most polluted waterways, flowing through the capital and past the Taj Mahal.

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In West Virginia, critics warn public health and safety are threatened by coal waste from processors that is stored in hundreds of slurry ponds or injected underground.

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In a major discovery for the survival of the species, researchers have found huge numbers of endangered leatherback turtles nesting along Gabon's Atlantic coastline.

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Greenery for floral displays can be bought from certified suppliers, protecting forests and local communities that depend on them.

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Certified "green tourism" protects natural and cultural resources and pays fair wages to workers.

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Buying coffee grown by certified farms guarantees environmental, social and economic sustainability.

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Buying certified wood products encourages regulated, sustainable logging that actually saves more trees than total protection.

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Levees are intended to keep straitjackets on rivers, but engineers now find that controlled breaches can avoid more widespread damage to occupied areas in flood-plains.

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Side-by-side in harsh conditions, scientists from 46 nations work together to understand what lies ahead for the "White Continent".

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Climate change threatens the natural balance in Antarctica - a rapid barometer of the global outlook.

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Adventure tourism is skyrocketing in Antarctica, creating serious risks in a fragile ecosystem.

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Off California's coastal wetlands, sea otters are catching a lethal land-borne disease from cats.

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Climate change is causing big storms in the American Midwest and other areas, and making water supplies in regions like the Southeast less certain.

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Some of the world's tallest trees and oldest forests face an uncertain future as the current recession worsens.

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New federal funding in the U.S. supports protection of private forest lands threatened by development.

In Guatemala, villagers get fair wages to harvest palm fronds sustainably, for export to U.S. churches.

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The U.S. Congress has passed a sweeping law that permanently establishes the protection of 26 million acres of public lands with special scenic, historic and ecological significance.

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With bits of evidence, researchers are convinced Ivory-billed woodpeckers are not extinct and will soon be found in the swamps of northern Florida.

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To guide habitat restoration in backwater lakes on the upper Mississippi, Iowa researchers track fish with radio transmitters.

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On the Mississippi between Illinois and Iowa, hundreds of bald eagles are now attracted each winter by plentiful fish in ice-free waters.

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New research shows how fragments of lead rifle bullets are poisoning eagles, bears and other wildlife that scavenge carcasses left by hunters.

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Off Alaska's coast, new research shows how entangling fishing gear and trash cause devastating consequences for Steller sea lions.

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Only a handful of the world's most endangered parrots still survive in the wild, but state and federal captive breeding programs are holding them back from extinction.

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In Appalachia, a last-minute change in mining rules by the Bush Administration affects how coal companies can dump debris in watersheds -- a major environmental impact from mountaintop-removal mining operations.

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Coal sludge spill in Tennessee threatens long-term toxic danger.

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For under a thousand dollars, a mechanic in Illinois has converted his pickup truck into a battery-powered vehicle.

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Like other big fish species worldwide, Mongolia's giant trout faces extinction.

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In the Yellowstone region, mountain lions face increasing threats from bears, wolves, and people.

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Winemakers in California's Napa Valley are switching to more sustainable, eco-friendly methods, and producing even better wines.

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In Tasmania, an infectious cancer is wiping out dwindling numbers of an iconic, feisty marsupial.

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Some U.S. lawmakers want to change regulations to allow loaded and concealed weapons in national parks.

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New Technology Saves Water

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In Mozambique, an American philanthropist has made an expensive 25-year commitment to bring a war-ravaged national park back to its former natural splendor.

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In the Northern Rockies, beetle infestation and invasive fungus are destroying ancient whitebark pine forests, with serious impacts on wildlife.

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The western United States is rich in renewable solar and wind energy, but delivering it to consumers will require huge investments in new transmission lines that could cause serious environmental impacts.

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There's wide support for giving federal protection to Snake River headwaters in Wyoming, but farmers downriver in Idaho worry this could mean less water for crops.

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Some scientists suspect that pesticides are the cause of plummeting bee populations, which could have serious consequences for pollination and production of food crops.

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Wildlife officers in Wyoming use sophisticated forensic tools to convict poachers.

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Building new bicycle pathways in Grand Teton National Park could have negative impacts on ground-nesting birds.

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With sage grouse declining across the western United States, researchers try to find out if predatory ravens are responsible.