Weather & Natural Disasters

A Brief History of the National Weather Service

American Experience

Since 1938, advances in radar, satellite imagery and a better understanding of the forces of nature have allowed meteorologists at the National Weather Bureau, now known as the National Weather Service, to forecast storms with increasing accuracy. Continue

Tavis Smiley Reports | New Orleans: Tavis' Reflections

Tavis Smiley

Tavis shares his thoughts on New Orleans native and Hurricane Katrina survivor Herreast Harrison. Tavis and Jonathan Demme have chronicled Harrison's struggle to rebuild her home since 2007. Continue

Can Animals Predict Disaster?

Nature

In interviews with scientists and eyewitnesses, NATURE probes the evidence that some animals may have senses that allow them to predict impending natural disasters long before we can. Continue

New Orleans: Been in the Storm Too Long

Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley Reports teams with Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme to revisit New Orleans and capture the mood and spirit of the city and some of its most resilient residents five years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee breech. Continue

How 'Twilight' Stardom Helped the Quileute's Land Struggle

PBS NewsHour

For more on this story go to http://www.pbs.org/newshour/topic/climate-change/The tiny, northwestern Quileute tribe gained notoriety as the clan of shapeshifting werewolves in the popular "Twilight" book and movie series. Tribal members say it has brought many tourists and media attention to their reservation in La Push, Wash., which has helped them galvanize support for their land struggle. Continue

The Journal: Marta Pelaez and Mike Davis

Bill Moyers

"Old-school socialist" Mike Davis gives his critique of the government's response to the economic crisis and how he thinks it compares to Roosevelt's New Deal. And, Marta Pelaez, president of Family Violence Prevention Services, Inc., with perspective on the human face of the economic downturn and how it may be pushing some families over the edge. Continue

The Journal: Mass Media and Katrina Hero

Bill Moyers

Media consolidation isn't widely covered by the mainstream press, but potential changes being considered to the rules governing the nation's big media companies could have far reaching effects on democracy. A report on the disappearance of local news and community radio and in-depth interviews with journalist Rick Karr, media activist Hannah Sassaman, and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. Continue

The Journal: Obama's First Year

Bill Moyers

The JOURNAL assesses Obama's first year as President in the wake of Democrats' defeat in Massachusetts' special election for Senate with Princeton politics and African American studies professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell and journalist Eric Alterman. And, Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson on America's energy crisis. Continue

The Journal: U.S. Torture and Consequences?

Bill Moyers

Bill Moyers sits down with Bruce Fein, former deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the American Freedom Agenda, and Mark Danner, who has been reporting on the US treatment and interrogation of detainees. Also on the program, the Journal profiles Steve Meacham, a Massachusetts community organizer fighting to keep working people in their homes. Continue

Sun Catcher Craft

PBS Parents

Have some homemade fun in the sun with this craft made of recycled plastic water bottles. Continue

Unnatural disaster

Need To Know

Harry Shearer, the writer comic Simpsons voice actor/radio host and longtime resident of New Orleans, wants to puncture the myths and misperceptions about Hurricane Katrina on its five-year anniversary. Continue

Extreme Ice

NOVA

An acclaimed photographer joins scientists to document the runaway melting of glaciers. Continue

Violent Hawaii

Nature

The Hawaiian chain of islands, made up of six main islands plus two smaller ones, stretches for more than 1,500 miles through the heart of the Pacific Ocean. It is a place of idyllic beauty. But it is also a land of volcanic fury, raging mountaintop blizzards, dangerous rockslides, monster waves, and even tsunamis. Continue

The Asteroid That Hit L.A.

NOVA scienceNOW

Use a catastrophe calculator to try out some "what-if" scenarios regarding an asteroid potentially striking Los Angeles. Continue

The Journal: Katrina Recovery Woes

Bill Moyers

Two years after Katrina, casinos, hotels and condos are coming back strong in the hardest hit areas of Mississippi, but tens of thousands of people are still displaced. Bill Moyers Journal profiles a group known as The Steps Coalition, which is fighting on behalf of families who are still in need of housing. Also on the program, a different take on immigration from author Manuel A. Vasquez. Continue

The Journal: Reforming American Health Care

Bill Moyers

Advocate Donna Smith on how our broken system is hurting ordinary Americans. Then, policy analysts and physicians Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen and David Himmelstein of Physicians for a National Health Program join Bill Moyers for a frank discussion about the political and logistical feasibility of a single-payer system amidst the troubled economy and a government dominated by lobbyists. Continue

Bill Moyers Journal: Expectations of the Obama...

Bill Moyers

Columbia law professor and Nation columnist Patricia Williams and Princeton politics and African American studies professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell about the significance of this election milestone . Political columnist and blogger David Sirota and Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank what must be accomplished for Obama to be considered a progressive President. Continue

The Journal: Katrina Revisited

Bill Moyers

Professor Melissa Harris Lacewell and environmental activist Mike Tidwell discuss what we've learned and what we still haven't learned from the Katrina disaster. Continue

Crash of Flight 447 - Preview