My City, Your City: A Senegalese Mayor Fights Sea Level Rise
During the annual rainy season in Saint-Louis, one of Senegal’s largest cities, thousands of people face upheaval from flood devastation linked to rising sea levels. There are no funds to build a cement sea wall, so the city dumps garbage along its waterfront in an attempt to shield itself. As mayor, Cheikh Bamba Dièye took on the responsibility of protecting his constituents from flooding, but with a severe lack of financial and infrastructural resources, the world stage became his principal weapon. Filmed prior to his appointment as minister of regional planning in Senegal’s national government, this program follows Mayor Dièye as he visits the imperiled streets, structures, and beaches of his city and as he travels to Mexico City to address the World Mayors Summit on Climate Change, hoping to focus global attention on the local impact of global warming. A meeting with host mayor Marcelo Ebrard brings out comparisons and contrasts in the ways that urban areas around the world face environmental challenges. (26 minutes)
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The “Floating City” is sinking under rising seas and the weight of mass tourism. Now Venice’s residents are fighting to reclaim it, as Samantha Hawley reports.
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When it comes to regulating global temperatures, forget the Amazon rainforest. It’s the oceans that really deserve the title of 'lungs of the planet'. Their plankton provides us with oxygen. Their currents transport heat from the tropical regions to the poles, acting as an air conditioner. They absorb almost a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted annually. But so much of what they do and exactly how they do it is still unknown. To gain a deeper understanding of the importance of oceans in regulating our climate, we bring you four stories from four different corners of the world. From the seaborne lives of the Bajaus of Asia to the scientific crew of the Tara in Greenland. From the meteorological station in Siberia to the fishermen of the Gulf Stream. Four people, four seasons, four stories told in parallel over 24 hours that reveal the sometimes invisible ties between man and the sea.
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