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Earth's Great Rivers Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
3 Episodes 2019 - 2019
Episode 1
Amazon
Wed, Jun 19, 201954 mins
The mighty Amazon basin covers over half of South America, form Andes to Atlantic and Caribbean, with countless tributaries and world-class falls, sometimes spanning miles, part of a huge, but now greenhouse-fragile climatic system including glaciers, jungle and wetlands and irrigating human homes, tribal mostly in harmony with or modern intruding ever deeper into nature. Its wildlife is as varied, starring giant otters, jaguars, caimans, piranhas, anacondas and unique riverine pink dolphins, but also exposed to floods and droughts, determining the fate of cities like Manaus, reflected also culturally.
Episode 2
Nile
Wed, Jun 26, 201954 mins
Many aspects of life in and along the Amazon River are shown. This presentation also shows the extremes of the river, as well as its many superlatives, such as capturing the most fresh water of any river basin, one-fifth of the world's amount. Several species of wildlife unique to the basin and their distinctive characteristics are featured, including giant river otters, a recently discovered variety of cichlid, green-winged macaws, the pink river dolphin (arguably the most revered water creature in the Amazon), and the hoatzin. Human life along the river is shown, including an indigenous tribe in the upper basin, they who have learned to combine the unique aspects of their habitat for their own health, the residents of and surrounding the metropolis of Manaus whose economy is largely centered on aspects of river life, and the residents of river beach resorts in the lower basin. Peoples long having lived along the river have made accommodations for the extreme weather changes of the seasons, but climate change, which has made the dry season dryer and the rainy season wetter, is making life more difficult. The final chapter of the river is it emptying out into the Atlantic. The Pororoca, the tidal bore during the full moon, is as revered as it can be destructive. And the effects of the vast amounts of extremely fertile fresh water emptying out into the ocean - that amount covering the size of Texas - on the ocean itself is yet not fully known.
Episode 3
Mississippi
Wed, Jul 3, 201954 mins
Life along the Mississippi River is presented, it, covering thirty-one states, arguably the most storied waterway in the US. Much of life along the river ebbs and flows with the seasons. Covering a fifteen hundred mile wide expanse through the north of the country, most of the river's headwaters and that of its tributaries are frozen over in the winter. While it offers some recreational opportunities for humans, it creates a challenge for much wildlife who must try to fish for food in locating holes through the ice. An exception in that latter case is in the vicinity of Yellowstone Park, where hot springs keep the river surface in a liquid state regardless of how cold the air temperature is. For most wildlife who call the upper basin home, the spring thaw signals literal rebirth. While beavers build dams especially in the quieter sections of the waterway, human-built dams also dot the river, the resulting reservoirs which provide opportunities for other wildlife to thrive. While the mid-basin from Minneapolis to St. Louis is generally the section with the largest grade change, man has manipulated it to allow for transportation, with many cities, most significantly St. Louis, built to take advantage of such transportation opportunities. Other opportunities include agriculture, where ninety-two percent of the nation's agricultural exports are grown within what is considered the river basin, this area colloquially referred to as America's farming heartland. The much slower flowing lower basin in the American deep south is located on a floodplain, the water overflowing its banks which has created nutrient rich swamps. While humans have tried to mitigate the floods in part to protect settlements, most notably New Orleans, the last major city on the river before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, it has also created the issue of the loss of land in islands no longer being created in the river's vast delta.
