Forests

Protecting Earth’s Lungs

Forests act as the planet’s terrestrial lungs. They provide us with fresh air, clean water, beautiful vistas and a sanctuary for countless wildlife.

But, today, more than ever, our forests are facing unprecedented threats from disease, climate change, mad-made destruction and harmful pests.

Join this documentary as it follows a group of professionals that developed, tested and formulated today’s forest health strategies to preserve the legacy of one of the planet’s most important resources – and to help us better understand and appreciate why we need to protect our forests.

This is a story that affects us all.

Reforesting the Planet, Restoring the Future

The preservation of the planet’s biodiversity relies entirely on how we manage and interact with the world’s forests.

Reforestation is a critical strategy for mitigating climate change because it increases the Earth’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂)—the main greenhouse gas driving global warming—while also enhancing ecosystem resilience.
In particular, we look at recent studies investigating the most cost-effective approaches to reforestation and the mitigation of climate change. For many years, forest managers have been asking which is best: allowing forests to naturally regenerate, on the one hand, or to plant new forests?

Our Broken Planet: How to heal our rainforests

Breathe in. Breathe out. The oxygen flowing through your body is the result of photosynthesis: the natural process through which living things convert sunlight into energy. About 30% of land-based photosynthesis happens in tropical rainforests. Rainforests are also great at sucking up excess carbon from the atmosphere – something we know we’ve got to do more of.

But in recent years, rainforests have been getting constricted: shrinking in size and choked up with smoke.

Listen to this podcast from the National History Museum to find out what’s going on and how we can help rainforests breathe deeply again.

Bryan David Griffith: Art Born from Fire, Fueled by Purpose

Bryan David Griffith tackles big questions with simple materials. His art examines the tension between nature and culture, chaos and control, and life and loss. His engineering background brings a problem-solver’s mindset to his creative process, often inventing new techniques to serve each concept.

Griffith didn’t take a typical path into the art world. While studying at the University of Michigan, he found a beat-up photo manual, built a darkroom, and started experimenting. Later, disillusioned with a consulting job and its environmental impact, he quit, bought a van, and hit the road to become an artist.

Dr. Mark Finney: Changing How We Fight (and live with) Fire

Dr. Mark Finney is a Senior Scientist and Research Forester with the U.S. Forest Service at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. With a Ph.D. in wildland fire science from UC Berkeley, Finney has spent decades exploring fire as both an ecological force and a physical process. His work has laid the foundation for many of the wildfire behavior models used today across the country.

Finney is a strong advocate for rethinking traditional fire suppression strategies. He emphasizes the need to let “good fire” play its role in the landscape, using tools like prescribed burns and targeted fuel treatments to prevent more extreme fires down the line. His research has revealed that long-held beliefs about how fires spread, such as the role of radiant heat, are often incorrect.

A New Kind of Urban Firestorm

Everything around Walker Savage was smoke. Smoke and embers and broken tree limbs and the relentless roar of the wind. Wearing a respirator and goggles from his woodworking studio, he sprayed his garden hose into the gale, hoping to wet the walls and porch of his 99-year-old adobe house enough to keep them from igniting.

But then he saw the flames come surging down the mountain above his home in east Altadena, California: “It was like an avalanche,” Savage said. “But not of snow — it was of fire.”

More than a week later, Savage is still trying to wrap his mind around the Eaton Fire, which killed at least 16 people, destroyed an estimated 7,000 structures and is still only 45 percent contained. The flames moved faster than firefighters could fight them, reaching deep into the suburb to scorch houses well outside the state-designated risk zone.

The Age of Firestorms

Dr. Roslyn Prinsley never imagined that stepping outside her home in Canberra would feel like walking into a smoke-filled abyss. But during Australia’s devastating bushfire season in 2019-2020, even in places untouched by flames, the air was so thick with smoke that breathing felt impossible.

“I asked myself, what are we doing here in the 21st century? We can’t actually go outside and breathe fresh air in one of the cleanest countries in the world,” she remembers thinking. “We can’t let this keep going.”

Dr. Roslyn Prinsley is the Head of Disaster Solutions at the Australian National University’s Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions (ICEDS). Finding innovative ways to fight wildfires is part of her daily work – a task that has become more urgent than ever as wildfires grow increasingly frequent in Australia and across the globe due to climate change.

Wildfires are projected to rise 30% by the end of 2050, according to a report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and its partner GRID-Arendal.

One of the recent wildfires in California became the most destructive in Los Angeles history, killing at least 29 people—a number expected to rise—and reducing over 10,000 homes to ash. A perfect set of environmental factors such as long-term drought, preceding heavy rainfall, and hurricane-force Santa Ana winds combined at the worst possible moment.

All of this turned the regular wildfire into what’s called a firestorm.

Inside the L.A. Firestorm

The 2025 LA Wildfires were among the most destructive and costly in U.S. history, driven by a combination of shifting climate patterns and growing development in fire-prone areas. As these types of fires become more common, it raises important questions about how we prepare for and respond to future risks. In this PBS video, experts explore the factors behind the firestorm and what can be done to reduce the impact of similar events going forward.

Andrew Carnie: Immersing Audiences in Science

Andrew Carnie is a notable contemporary visual artist with a global exhibition footprint, based in the UK.

An emeritus fellow at the Winchester School of Art, Southampton University, Carnie’s work focuses greatly on the intersection of art and science. In fact, he has a blog focused on just that.

While he frequently collaborates with scientists, his creative approach remains broad and unconstrained by specific media, adapting his methodologies to the context and themes of each project.

Patrick Dougherty: Rooted in Nature

Patrick Dougherty’s art career is rooted in his fascination with nature and primitive building techniques.

Born in Oklahoma in 1945 and raised in North Carolina, Dougherty first pursued traditional academics, earning degrees in English and Health Administration. However, his return to North Carolina to study art history and sculpture sparked a desire to create works of art utilizing natural materials, particularly tree saplings. Combining this desire with his carpentry skills, Dougherty began crafting unique, large-scale sculptures that organically blend into their environments.