The Environment

Since pre-colonial times, Americans' relationship to the natural world has shaped politics, policy, commerce, entertainment and culture. In this collection, delve into our complicated history with the environment through American Experience films exploring wide-ranging topics, from our struggles to exert dominion over nature to our attempts to understand and protect it.

Now Streaming

Film
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal

In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY discovered their neighborhood had been built on a former chemical waste dump. Housewives activated to create a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill.
Film
The Sun Queen

Scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun. Though undercut and thwarted by her male colleagues, she persevered to design the first successfully solar-heated house in 1948 and held more than 20 patents.
Film
Flood in the Desert

Explore the 1928 dam collapse, the second deadliest disaster in California history. A colossal engineering failure, the dam was built by William Mulholland, who had ensured the growth of Los Angeles by bringing water to the city via aqueduct.
Film
Rachel Carson

An intimate portrait of the woman whose groundbreaking writings revolutionized our relationship to the natural world and launched the modern environmental movement.

Watch

The Sun Queen | Digital Short
The Dover Sun House

The first modern house to be heated by nothing but the sun was designed by Mária Telkes.
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal | Digital Short
Fighting Environmental Racism In L.A. County

Thousands of Superfund sites have been identified across the United States, many of them located in communities of color and low income communities that face barriers to relocation. We spoke with environmental scientist Lizette Ruiz, a resident of South Gate, California, to learn more about the impact of environmental racism and what it's like living around a Superfund site today.
Rachel Carson | Digital Short
Malaria and the Silent Spring

In this co-production with Retro Report, scientists and historians weigh in on Rachel Carson, and today’s battle against malaria.
Earth Days | Clip
The First Earth Day

The first national observation of Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, when an estimated 20 million people across the country took to the streets in protest against environmental pollution.
The Swamp | Digital Short
The Price of Feathers

The surprisingly violent history of women's hats — and the women who set a new, humane trend in fashion.
The Sun Queen | Digital Short
Off the Grid: New Mexico

Zani, Yaseen and Khari live on a 25-acre homestead in the New Mexico desert. Join us as we visit them to find out what modern off-grid living looks like.

Read

The Sun Queen | Article
Capturing the Sun Queen

How Mária Telkes and her radical design modeled a new future.
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal | Article
How a Group of Housewives Changed History

The women of Love Canal fought to free their families from toxic waste and created landmark environmental legislation in the process.
Rachel Carson | Article
Telling the Big Story: Science Writer Elizabeth Kolbert

In 1962, The New Yorker published Rachel Carson’s articles on the side effects of pesticides. Today the magazine publishes science journalism by Elizabeth Kolbert, who reports on climate change.
The Swamp | Article
A Place to Remember

Indigenous stories from the Everglades.
The Man Who Tried To Feed The World | Article
The Green Revolution: Norman Borlaug and the Race to Fight Global Hunger

Ray Offenheiser discusses the humble plant breeder’s audacious plan to feed the world and the fallout he didn’t foresee.
The Big Burn | Article
Fighting Wildfires

Though the policies and attitudes towards managing wildfires have evolved over the last century, the destructive power of fire remains constant.
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal | Article
'It Was Like Watching an Accident in Slow Motion'

What was it like to live through the Love Canal tragedy? Residents, reporters, and government administrators talk, 45 years later.
Flood in the Desert | Article
Damming the American West

Do ideas from the past offer new ways of thinking about the environment?
The Sun Queen | Article
The Marvelously Inventive Life of Mária Telkes

A look at the scientist’s breakthrough innovations, from the world’s first solar-heated home to an electricity-free Easy Bake Oven.

Explore

Earth Days | Timeline
The Modern Environmental Movement

Explore a timeline of the environmental movement from 1948 to 1990.
Earth Days | Image Gallery
Earth Day Across America

On April 22, 1970, more than 20 million Americans gathered on college campuses and in city squares to celebrate the first Earth Day.
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal | Article
Do You Live Near a Superfund Site?

Communities across the country are located around toxic waste sites. Here’s how you can find out what’s close to home.

Past Forward: Conversations with American Experience

Flood in the Desert | Clip
Water Wars

Environmental scientist Peter Gleick and CEO of the U.S. Water Alliance Mami Hara speak with historian Jessica Marie Johnson about access, availability and conflicts around clean water in the United States.
The Sun Queen | Clip
Running on Fumes

Professor of Architecture Daniel A. Barber and Vice President of Strategies at Communities First Stephanie Gidigbi Jenkins speak with energy reporter Ivan Penn about the history and future of sustainable energy policies in the U.S.
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal | Clip
House of Carcinogens

Historian Jennifer Thomson and scientist Bhavna Shamasunder speak with sociologist Tim Bartley about the harmful chemicals in the food, clothes, and other goods that Americans buy and use every day.