Earth Focus Episode 23: Coastlines, Coal Controversy, and Climate Change Refugees

Earth Focus Episode 23: Coastlines, Coal Controversy, and Climate Change Refugees Synopsis

A new Indonesian law may open the world's largest coastline to commercial development -- at stake are fragile coastal ecosystems and the lives and livelihood of the people who depend on them. As demand for coal grows, mountaintop coal removal in the Appalachian Mountains becomes more controversial. "Battle for the Mountains" profiles the polarization of communities in West Virginia where coal extraction keeps people employed at great peril to the environment. Only two percent of rural Ethiopians have access to electricity, but solar energy is changing all that. In the rural Ethiopian village of Rema, solar power is helping promote health, education and economic growth. Filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn speaks about her new film "Sun Come Up," which tells the story of New Guinea's Carteret Islanders who are forced to move to Bougainville, a land torn by civil war, to escape the rising seas. The Islanders are among the world's first climate change refugees.