ATLANTA, Feb. 28, 2022 — EcoSense for Living is back with a brand-new season of four episodes slated to premiere nationwide, during April for Earth Month about sharks and right whales, manatees staving from lack of sea grass, wildfires, alligators and the Okefenokee, bats, and toxic blooms on land and in the ocean. The new episodes will air on PBS stations nationwide – including in Atlanta (Georgia Public Broadcasting), South Bend, Ind. (WNIT-TV), Kentucky (KET), Las Vegas (KLVX-TV), Portland (Oregon Public Broadcasting), Indianapolis (WFYI-TV), Syracuse, N.Y. (WCNY-TV) and Reno, Nev. – and will feature research and fresh interviews with conservation scientists and innovators from New Mexico to South Georgia and from Zoo Miami to New England.
Through her ongoing work producing the Emmy-nominated PBS series, host and Atlanta-native Jennie Turner Garlington has been raising awareness, spurring discussion and offering tips for everyday ways to save the environment since EcoSense for Living launched in 2005.
“These four new episodes premiering for Earth Month delve into a wide variety of sustainability issues on the land, in our waters and in our very own backyards,” said Jennie Turner Garlington, EcoSense for Living series founder, producer and host. “Our programming reinforces the vital truth that there’s an action every single person can take to help our planet’s sustainability and education is up to all of us. From examining wildfires in New Mexico to the decline of the manatees’ ‘salad bar’ of sea grass, EcoSense offers information in interesting and manageable bites.”
The new season will begin airing coast to coast during April 2022, Earth Month. Atlanta’s GPB will broadcast the episodes in prime-time Wednesdays at 7 and 7:30 p.m. on April 13 and April 20. In South Bend, Ind. near Chicago, WNIT-TV will also air in prime-time Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. beginning April 7. Kentucky Educational Television (KET), an EcoSense for Living sponsor, will air episodes at 3 p.m. Sundays beginning April 3. KLVX-TV in Las Vegas will air the premieres Thursdays, April 14 and April 21 at 4 and 4:30 p.m., and Portland’s Oregon Public Broadcasting will begin showing the new episodes Fridays at 11:30 a.m. on April 8. KNPB-TV in Reno, Nev. will air the episodes at 8:30 a.m. beginning April 10. Beginning May 1, Indianapolis’ WFYI-TV will air the episodes Sundays at 9 a.m. and WCNY-TV in Syracuse, N.Y. will premiere Sundays at 10 a.m. More stations and public television networks subscribe each week, so check local listings for a complete schedule.
Episode 601, Marine Life Impact, contains three segments: a profile of the dangers faced by many North Atlantic right whales, now numbering less than 350, as these few females travel a treacherous journey to calve off the Georgia and Florida coasts; a trip to the Florida Oceanographic Center reveals how dying sea grass is causing a crisis for manatees; and report on the illegal practice of shark finning and how the U.S. may need to pass more laws to protect shark populations.
Episode 602, The Future of Fire, takes a thorough look at the history and future of wildfires. From Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M. to Tallahassee, Fla., high tech management, climatologists and computer experts are helping to not only restore land damaged from catastrophic wildfires but prevent other events from forever changing the landscape.
Episode 603, Okefenokee’s Destiny, looks at the largest intact blackwater wetland in an economically challenged region. Experts from the University of Georgia alligator research team share fascinating facts like the maternal instincts of alligators, how they decide where to nest, and how alligators are both predator and prey. In the third segment of 603, EcoSense for Living contrasts The Everglades, a UNESCO World Heritage site that has suffered enormous damage from manmade development with the Okefenokee, in hopes of learning from past mistakes to save the blackwater wetland before it’s too late.
The new series concludes with From Bats to Blooms, episode 604, containing perhaps the most diverse content of this season’s new topics. Opening with how the rare Bonnet Eared Bat has adapted to survival in the city with assistance from Zoo Miami biologists, the episode goes on to examine red tide and toxic, harmful algae blooms (HABs) along Florida’s coastline. From Bats to Blooms concludes with a look at bad actor intruder plants lurking in our backyards, crowding out native flora that nourish native butterflies, birds, and bees.
The four new episodes will be available in April streaming on PBS along with previous episodes of EcoSense for Living.
Additionally, since 2020, EcoSense for Living has been available on the PBS LearningMedia platform through a partnership with KET (Kentucky Educational Television). Just in time for pandemic remote learning, the environmental curriculum launched virtually, a welcome addition to the platform’s online resources for middle and high school students to explore science-based environmental challenges, solutions and conservation topics. The EcoSense for Living team worked with educational experts to design discussion questions, vocabulary guides, hands-on exercises and other materials for teachers that accompanied the full video content so students could access an environmental curriculum in a way that’s fresh, entertaining, and readily available.
About EcoSense for Living
As an environmental media champion, former CNN producer, mother and concerned citizen, Jennie fervently embraces the sustainability views of her father, Ted Turner. She developed a PSA series called EcoSense for Living in 2005 that received high acclaim and she quickly expanded it into a 30-minute episode of the same name. That first show, featuring Clark Howard, offered environmentally friendly ways to save money daily around the house and led to more than 30 half-hour episodes over the last 17 years. They are available for streaming on PBS. To date, the EcoSense for Living series has aired thousands of times in top markets nationwide including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Austin, Nashville, Seattle and many more. Each episode is produced by Picture Window Productions and made available to PBS stations across the United States via NETA, an internal network/satellite service.
This article was shared with Prittle Prattle News as a Press Release by PRNewswire
