April is Earth Month! Join us as we celebrate our incredible planet this month and all year long. Below we’ve gathered a list of educational and enlightening programs that highlight diverse ecosystems and wildlife airing this month on PBS KVIE, available to stream for free on the PBS app, or available to stream with PBS KVIE Passport. Discover stories of sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change, and explore natural wonders in our region and all over the world.
Programs Airing on PBS KVIE
River’s End: California’s Latest Water War
April 1 at 10PM
Investigate California’s complex struggle over who gets fresh water and how moneyed interests game the system. Constant battling over uncertain water supplies heralds an impending crisis – not just in California, but around the world.
NOVA: Great American Eclipse
April 3 at 8PM
Explore the spectacular cosmic phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. In April 2024, the Moon’s shadow is sweeping from Texas to Maine as the United States witnesses its last total eclipse until 2044, and scientists scramble to unlock the secrets of our Sun.
Nature: Raptors: A Fistful of Daggers – Meet the Raptors
April 10 at 8PM
From giant eagles to miniature falconets, meet the many species of raptors. Explore how they survive bitter winters, learn to hunt, and undergo epic migrations. Their superpowers of flight, sight, hearing, and smell give them dominance over the skies.
Planet California: Rivers of Gold
April 15 at 10PM
California is a land of extremes – tallest, deepest, highest, hottest. But in a rapidly changing and thirsty world, drought, dams, and fire pose dire threats to an ecosystem connected by rivers on land, in the air, and in the sea.
Nature: Raptors: A Fistful of Daggers – Extreme Lives
April 17 at 8PM
See the extreme ways in which raptors conquer the toughest habitats on Earth. From snowy owls in the high Arctic to honey buzzards raiding hornet nests in Taiwan, raptors can hunt prey in any climate.
NOVA: Marking North America – Origins
April 17 at 10PM
Dig into the epic 3-billion-year story of how our continent came to be. From palm trees that once flourished in Alaska to huge eruptions that nearly tore the Midwest in two, discover how forces of almost unimaginable power gave birth to North America.
American Experience: Poisoned Ground – The Tragedy at Love Canal
April 22 at 9PM
Revisit the story of the 1970s Love Canal disaster, one of the most notorious environmental and public health disasters in U.S. history. The battle for justice, led mostly by women, created the basis for the landmark federal Superfund program.
Independent Lens: One With the Whale
April 23 at 10PM
Hunting whales is a matter of survival for Alaska Native residents of St. Lawrence. When a shy Alaska Native teen becomes the youngest person ever to harpoon a whale for his village, his family is blindsided by thousands of activists attacking him online – without full perspective on the importance of the hunt to his community’s well-being. Exploring the field of “climate psychology,” this is a candid and comedic self-portrait in which the filmmaker turns the camera on herself and goes in search of a cure for her crippling climate anxiety.
Changing Planet: Coral Special
April 24 at 8PM
Join conservation scientist Dr. M. Sanjayan for a global environmental health check of seven of Earth’s bellwether biomes. From the Arctic to the Amazon, these vulnerable habitats are changing, revealing surprising animal behaviors as species adapt.
NOVA: Making North America – Life
April 24 at 10PM
Discover the surprising, intertwined story of life and the landscape in North America – from its origins to iconic dinosaurs to giant marine reptiles swimming in an ancient sea that once split the continent in two.
Programs Available to Stream on the PBS App
Craft in America: Nature
Discover artists who explore the beauty and wonder of the natural world. Featuring sculptor Patrick Dougherty, fiber artist Mary Merkel-Hess, woodworker Michelle Holzapfel, glass artist Preston Singletary, and book artist Catherine Alice Michaelis.
Nature: Flyways
Follow a conservation movement of bird-loving experts and citizen scientists as they mobilize to the challenge of understanding and saving shorebirds.
NOVA: Weathering the Future
As extreme weather in the U.S. impacts more people – with longer heat waves, more intense rainstorms, megafires, and droughts – discover how Americans are fighting back by marshaling ancient wisdom and innovating new solutions.
Rob on the Road: A Decade of Destinations – Best of Nature
Join Rob Stewart for some incredible outdoor excursions, including a behind-the-scenes look at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, the Effie Yeaw Nature Center, and the fantastic florals at Peace Pond.
ViewFinder: Saving Species Together
Discover positive stories of collaboration between resource agencies, private landowners, nonprofit organizations, and the public to protect threatened and endangered species.
Programs Available to Stream on the PBS App with PBS KVIE Passport
PBS KVIE Passport is a benefit of station membership. Members gain extended access to more videos available to stream on the PBS app.
American Experience: Rachel Carson
Explore the life of Rachel Carson, the woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship with the natural world. When “Silent Spring” was published in September 1962 it became an instant bestseller and would go on to spark dramatic changes in the way the government regulated pesticides.
Local, USA: In Their Element
Follow Indigenous leaders rising to meet the challenge of the climate crisis. The film features four communities across the United States, each working to protect a different natural resource: earth, air, fire, and water. For people whose existence is inseparable from their native land, climate change is not a tale of the future – it is the present.
Nature: Attenborough’s World of Song
Join David Attenborough for an exploration of seven of the most remarkable animal songs found in nature and discover the significance of these songs in the lives of their species.
POV: Delikado
Palawan is a tropical island paradise and one of Asia’s tourist hotspots. But for a tiny network of environmental crusaders struggling to protect its spectacular forests and seas, it is a battlefield. Delikado follows three land defenders as they brave violence, death threats, and murder while trying to stop politicians and people in business from destroying the Philippines’ last ecological frontier.
The Green Planet
Travel the globe and uncover the secret lives of plants. Using pioneering camera techniques, The Green Planet takes viewers on a magical journey inside the hidden world of plants, where all animals – including humans – are dependent.