Even as the science grew more certain, the oil industry continued to block action to tackle climate change in the new millennium. In a revelatory interview, Christine Todd Whitman, George W. Bush's former environment chief, tells the story of how the industry successfully lobbied President Bush to reverse course on his campaign promise to regulate carbon emissions. Tensions grew between two of the world's biggest oil companies, ExxonMobil and BP, after the latter publicly called for action to tackle climate change. The election of Barack Obama provided hope for supporters of climate action, but the billionaire Koch brothers made an effort to block the new president's attempts to pass climate change legislation, and climate denialism became the mainstream position of the Republican Party. A lawyer who worked for Koch brothers through this period speaks on camera for the first time.
The last chapter explains how the 2010s became another lost decade in the fight against climate change – as the move to natural gas delayed a transition to more renewable sources of energy. Engineer Tony Ingraffea, in the 1980s, helped develop a new technique for extracting gas and oil from shale rock, which ultimately became known as 'Fracking'. It was to unleash vast new reserves of fossil fuels and was promoted as a cleaner energy source. But Ingraffea explains how he later came to regret his work when he realized that gas could be even worse for climate change than coal and oil. Dar-Lon Chang, a former ExxonMobil engineer, speaks for the first time on camera alleging that as the company increased its natural gas operations, it was not sufficiently monitoring methane leaks that were contributing to climate change. Now, after a year of unprecedented wildfires, drought and other climate-related disasters, multiple lawsuits are being brought in US courts in efforts to hold Big Oil legally accountable for the climate crisis.
Produced by Steven Spielberg and narrated by Morgan Freeman, this captivating documentary series traces the extraordinary evolutionary journey of dinosaurs, revealing how these remarkable creatures rose from humble beginnings to dominate Earth for hundreds of millions of years. Through cutting-edge science, stunning visual reconstructions, and the latest fossil discoveries, it explores their origins, ecological importance, astonishing diversification, and the dramatic events that ultimately led to their extinction. From fragile early ancestors to the colossal giants that ruled prehistoric landscapes, the series unveils the epic story of the rise and fall of one of the most successful groups of animals in Earth’s history. In the first two episodes, the story begins with a small, fuzzy creature that emerges around 235 million years ago in a dangerous world filled with chaotic climates and deadly reptilian predators. Against overwhelming odds, its lineage survives and evolves into the first true dinosaurs. When a devastating mass extinction wipes out rival species, dinosaurs seize the opportunity to flourish, growing larger, developing longer necks, and evolving remarkable defenses such as body armor as they spread across the planet.
Tensions grew between two of the world's biggest oil companies, ExxonMobil and BP, after the latter publicly called for action to tackle climate change. The election of Barack Obama provided hope for supporters of climate action, but the billionaire Koch brothers made an effort to block the new president's attempts to pass climate change legislation, and climate denialism became the mainstream position of the Republican Party. A lawyer who worked for Koch brothers through this period speaks on camera for the first time.