Acid Mine Drainage and Precipitates

In this video, environmental scientists measure the pH of water to detect acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine and then demonstrate how metals present in acid drainage fall out of solution as precipitates when a basic substance is added to the water.

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Controlling Water Run-off

This video shows how the environmentally friendly design of the Visitor Center at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville slows down water run-off and helps to control non-point-source water pollution, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion

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Environmental Impact of Acid Mine Drainage

This video shows how acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine has affected Wildcat Branch in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Because the creek has a very acidic pH of 2.9, most organisms cannot survive there, and Wildcat Branch is essentially dead.

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Reusing Wastewater

This video demonstrates how peat filtration beds at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky purify and conserve wastewater and eliminate one cause of non-point-source water pollution.

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The Geology of Coal

In this video, a geologist describes how coal, a sedimentary rock, was formed when organic materials piled up in swamps millions of years ago. Over time, heat and pressure transformed the buried materials into forms of coal that cause acid mine drainage when exposed to oxygen.

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Recycling and Restoration

This video explains how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky used recycled cypress from pickle vats to build its visitor center and then “paid back” nature by creating a cypress-tupelo swamp at one end of a lake on the park grounds.

High-Sulfur Coal and Acidic Water

In this video, a geologist measures the pH of water after high-sulfur coal from a Kentucky coal mine has been added to it. This test demonstrates that the sulfate salts found on the coal’s surface cause the water to become much more acidic.

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Rain Gardens

This video shows how a rain garden at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky slows down the flow of water from the forest’s parking lot and helps prevent soil erosion.

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Mycoremediation

This video explores the process of mycoremediation: planting fungi such as oyster mushrooms to mitigate non-point-source water pollution caused by oil, gasoline, and other toxic substances.

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Restoring Lower Rock Creek

This brief video describes how Lower Rock Creek’s location between two National Wild and Scenic Rivers caused Kentucky environmentalists to choose the creek as a target for acid mine drainage remediation.

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Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

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Applying the Scientific Method

This video provides a real-life example of the scientific method: testing hypotheses about which plants will grow most successfully on a green roof in Kentucky.

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Results of Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, a biologist visits Rock Creek in Pulaski County, Kentucky to show how acid mine drainage remediation has increased the stream’s pH from acidic levels to almost neutral. Although the ecosystem has not been completely restored, many species have returned to Rock Creek.

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Stream Restoration

This video explores how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky has restored a channelized or straightened stream to its original meandering path, thereby improving the stream’s water quality and creating a better habitat for wildlife.

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Aquatic Insects

In this brief video, a biologist talks about the macroinvertebrates (typically aquatic insects) that form the basis of food webs in healthy Kentucky streams.

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Detached Wetlands

This video depicts a detached wetland, a small pool that forms beside a shallow meandering stream when it overflows its banks. These wetlands are important breeding grounds for the invertebrates that live in and beside streams

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1964 Alaska Earthquake

This video adapted from the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, explores what happened during the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 through original footage, first-person accounts, and animations illustrating plate tectonics.

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Aging Diamonds?

In this video from Nature, geological detectives use ancient diamonds to learn more about Earth's inner layers.

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Alaska Tsunami

In this video adapted from Alaska Sea Grant, discover why multiple tsunamis resulted from the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964.

An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals

This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

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Antarctica: A Challenging Work Day

What happens when the ground under your feet is ice and it's moving? This video segment adapted from NOVA features some of the dangers faced by scientists conducting research in Antarctica.

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Arctic Haze

In this video segment adapted from KUAC, find out why the horizon in Alaska is sometimes shrouded in pollution and what it means for climate change in the Arctic.

Avalanche Town

The impact of natural disasters is made vivid in this video segment adapted from NOVA. A small town in Iceland, prepared for recurrent avalanches, is devastated when one takes a new and damaging path.

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Building a Dam Like a Beaver

In this video segment from PEEP and the Big Wide World, children make a dam with dirt, sticks, and stones to try to stop the flow of water.

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Building the Alaska Oil Pipeline

This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE tells the story of how environmentalists, Alaska Native peoples, and engineers concerned about the effects of permafrost challenged plans for the Alaska oil pipeline.

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Capturing Carbon

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, a scientist, inspired by his daughter's science fair project, develops a synthetic "tree" to remove excess carbon dioxide from the air.

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Carbon Cycle Diagram

This diagram from NASA Earth Science Enterprise illustrates Earth's carbon cycle.

Cave Formation: Kane Cave

This video segment adapted from NOVA describes a simple experiment that confirmed the idea that microbes can accelerate the biogeochemical process of cave formation.

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Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life

This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.

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Changes in the Ozone Layer

This video segment produced by ThinkTV demonstrates how ozone is created in the upper atmosphere, explains its beneficial role, and explores the problem of ozone depletion.

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Changing Arctic Landscape

In this video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council, learn how warmer temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the landscape, triggering a host of effects such as permafrost thawing and insect infestations.

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City Farm

In this interactive game from WGBH, players learn about sustainable practices by growing crops, protecting them against unforeseen problems, and determining how best to conserve resources.

Clean Coal?

Explore the challenges facing the deployment of clean coal technology in this video segment adapted from FRONTLINE: "Heat."

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Clean Water Systems in Mexico

The push to modernize Mexico's water and sanitation systems not only saved human lives, it also spurred economic growth, as illustrated in this video segment adapted from Rx for Survival.

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Climate Change Affects Glacial Water Source

Mountain glaciers are an important source of fresh water for the people of Peru. In this video segment produced by ThinkTV, learn how climate change is affecting the quantity and quality of available fresh water produced by glaciers in the Andes.

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Climate Change Impacts Alaska Glaciers

This video adapted from KTOO takes a look at Earth's warming and cooling cycles and the current atypical trend of warming that is impacting the glaciers in Alaska's Inside Passage.

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Climate Change Threatens Pacific Paradise

Learn how climate change has impacted food and freshwater resources on the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea, in these two videos adapted from UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative and Pacific Black Box, Inc.

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Climate Models

In this video by ThinkTV, explore the many uses of climate models and see a visualization of a global climate model. Models are tools scientists use to see patterns and trends.

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Climate Wisconsin: Forestry

Learn how a family farm in Wisconsin functions and how it is impacted by climate change in this multimedia video produced by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

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Clues from Past Climates

In this interactive produced by ThinkTV, learn how scientists discover clues to past climates that lie hidden in the natural environment, as well as in some surprising historical documents.

Coastal Geological Processes

This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service describes the many forces that affect shorelines, including tides, weathering, erosion, and deposition.

Collecting Data Below the Earth's Surface

This video segment adapted from Discovering Women demonstrates how scientists use sound waves to collect data about the structure of Earth's crust.

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Comets Bombard the Early Earth

Visualize how comets carrying chemicals necessary for life could have made their way to Earth billions of years ago in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

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Comets Deliver Amino Acids to Earth

Amino acids, essential ingredients for life, may have been delivered to Earth by comets billions of years ago, as visualized in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

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Compost Office

This interactive activity from Keep America Beautiful, Inc. uses illustrated text and a game to explain why it is important to compost, the science involved, and the perfect recipe for decomposition.

Conserving a Unique Ecosystem in Micronesia

Learn about the steps that the people of Kosrae, Micronesia, are taking to protect their natural resources, in this video adapted from the Micronesia Conservation Trust.

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Contaminating the Rockies

Learn how abandoned mines have been contaminating water supplies in the Rocky Mountains for decades in this video segment adapted from NOVA: "Poison in the Rockies."

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Continental Divide: The Breakup of Pangaea

Examine geological evidence found in fossils, rock deposits, and ancient mountains that supports the theory of continental drift in this interactive activity adapted from the Exploratorium.

Converting to Biodiesel

Meet a college student whose class project to turn cooking grease into diesel fuel resulted in converting bus fleets to biodiesel, in this video from Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative.

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Coral Kid

In this video segment, ZOOM guest Cassie takes us on a tour of the coral reef near her home in Key Largo, Florida, and points out some of its unique features.

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