What's On UEN-TV
In The Americas with David Yetman
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Brazil's Land of SandThursday, April 18
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1Vast sand dunes, some of them the size of small mountains, line long stretches of Brazil's northeast coast. Their color, shape, and composition, and their relationship with wind, provide a striking variety of landscapes, each with its own ecological character. -
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park: Wilderness of Ice, Salmon, and Human HistoryMonday, April 15
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1It's our largest national park larger than New England and one-third of it is ice. One glacier is 137 miles long. The park contains active volcanoes. Its rivers of icemelt are home to salmon runs that have supported native peoples for thousands of years. Yet the glaciers are melting, and forests are drying. The park has become an enormously important natural laboratory. -
Sierra Nevada and the Making of CaliforniaSunday, April 14
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1The product of earthquakes, the mighty Sierra Nevada mountain range influences much of California's weather and produces most if its water. Tectonic geologist Eldridge Moores helps host David Yetman decipher the mysteries of the range's origins and describes the Sierras' importance. -
Sierra Nevada and the Making of CaliforniaThursday, April 11
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1The product of earthquakes, the mighty Sierra Nevada mountain range influences much of California's weather and produces most if its water. Tectonic geologist Eldridge Moores helps host David Yetman decipher the mysteries of the range's origins and describes the Sierras' importance. -
The Lower Colorado River: Dwindling Lifeblood of the SouthwestMonday, April 8
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Forty million people rely on water released from Lake Mead, on the Colorado River not far from Las Vegas. That booming city, renowned for vice, is also a world leader in water conservation. Far downstream huge canals de-water the river, as farmers look to technology to maintain their productivity, Californians deliver water to their vast population and farmland, and Mexico receives its entitlement. The once-great river and vast wetlands face a dried-out channel. -
Colombia: Capital & CoffeeSunday, April 7
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Bogota serves as Colombia's capital and its social, cultural and economic center. To help decrease traffic congestion and air pollution, Bogotans created an extremely effective mass transit system called Cyclovia: each Sunday they cordon off their downtown and turn it over to bicyclists and pedestrians. While traveling to Zona Cafetera, the source of most Colombian coffee, David explores the history of the world's most popular beverage. -
Colombia: Capital & CoffeeThursday, April 4
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1Bogota serves as Colombia's capital and its social, cultural and economic center. To help decrease traffic congestion and air pollution, Bogotans created an extremely effective mass transit system called Cyclovia: each Sunday they cordon off their downtown and turn it over to bicyclists and pedestrians. While traveling to Zona Cafetera, the source of most Colombian coffee, David explores the history of the world's most popular beverage. -
The Depths of the Canyon and Its OffspringMonday, April 1
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Phantom Ranch, midway through the Grand Canyon and accessible only by trail, is the sole permanent settlement within the canyon. From there west, the canyon narrows and darkens as the Colorado River relentlessly carves its way through rock that is the oldest in the Southwest. From the north and south sides, canyons so narrow they are known as "slots" reach the churning river. Finally, the canyon the world's greatest geological wonder ends and the tamed river meets the placid waters beyond. Water experts give their take on the river and what it and its waters mean. -
Bahian Reconcavo of Brazil: Quilombos, Candomble, and the Mata AtlanticaSunday, March 31
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1The region known as Reconcavo supports a distinct culture and heritage. Over the centuries, slaves escaped their owners and founded their own towns. They, along with other colonists, shaped the local society and exploited its tropical riches. Recently, a local company took on the challenge of preserving and restoring the once-great Atlantic Forest, the Mata Atlantica. -
Bahian Reconcavo of Brazil: Quilombos, Candomble, and the Mata AtlanticaThursday, March 28
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1The region known as Reconcavo supports a distinct culture and heritage. Over the centuries, slaves escaped their owners and founded their own towns. They, along with other colonists, shaped the local society and exploited its tropical riches. Recently, a local company took on the challenge of preserving and restoring the once-great Atlantic Forest, the Mata Atlantica. -
Lee's Ferry and into the depths of the Grand CanyonMonday, March 25
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Boating through the Grand Canyon with a group of water experts provides a setting for reflection on the Colorado River its power, its accomplishments, and its vulnerabilities. We put in at Lee's Ferry and immediately are introduced to rapids and the evolution of the world's greatest geological spectacle. -
Abc Islands: The Dutch Legacy in the CaribbeanSunday, March 24
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1The last vestiges of the once-mighty Dutch empire live on in the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. David visits Curacao, now independent, and wanders the streets of Willemstad, its capital city. In its colonial buildings, he finds hints of a past glory made possible by the slave trade. In Bonaire, still a colony, he dons Scuba gear to mingle with its incomparable marine life. Then, he witnesses the extraction of tons of salt from Bonaire's tidal flats. Finally, David treks into a national park home to dense groves of tall cacti, hordes of lizards and tranquil flamingos. -
Abc Islands: The Dutch Legacy in the CaribbeanThursday, March 21
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1The last vestiges of the once-mighty Dutch empire live on in the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. David visits Curacao, now independent, and wanders the streets of Willemstad, its capital city. In its colonial buildings, he finds hints of a past glory made possible by the slave trade. In Bonaire, still a colony, he dons Scuba gear to mingle with its incomparable marine life. Then, he witnesses the extraction of tons of salt from Bonaire's tidal flats. Finally, David treks into a national park home to dense groves of tall cacti, hordes of lizards and tranquil flamingos. -
Colombia's Guardians of the HomelandsMonday, March 18
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Homelands of the Arhuaco and the Wayuu people of northern Columbia offer sharp contrasts. Arhuaco occupy the southern slopes of the gigantic and isolated Sierra Marta, while the Wayuus live in the semiarid Guajira Peninsula in the Sierra's rain shadow. Both suffer from relentless incursions of outsiders, each responding with its own brand of resistance. -
1492: Americans Discover EuropeSunday, March 17
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Americans, perhaps thirty million strong, did not submissively accept the rule of Europeans. Their resistance and reception of the foreigners varied greatly. We visit Dominican Republic, where Columbus established a beachhead and then to the Mexican port of Veracruz where Hernan Cortes landed 28 years later. We follow his route across lofty mountain chains to Tenochtitlan of the Aztecs, today's Mexico City, where the final showdown took place. Along the way we show some of what Cortes encountered. -
1492: Americans Discover EuropeThursday, March 14
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1Americans, perhaps thirty million strong, did not submissively accept the rule of Europeans. Their resistance and reception of the foreigners varied greatly. We visit Dominican Republic, where Columbus established a beachhead and then to the Mexican port of Veracruz where Hernan Cortes landed 28 years later. We follow his route across lofty mountain chains to Tenochtitlan of the Aztecs, today's Mexico City, where the final showdown took place. Along the way we show some of what Cortes encountered. -
Drought and New Realities in the SouthwestMonday, March 11
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1The Southwestern United States has suffered under lingering drought more than any other region. We track the dwindling Colorado River from its source through the once brimming reservoirs that generated electricity and stored water for millions of users. Now the realities of drought and dwindling water confront forty million users. We follow the river and speak with those affected by the changes in climate and water supply. -
Christopher Columbus, His Time and His PlansSunday, March 10
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Columbus spent nearly a decade in Spain lobbying for his expedition. More than anywhere else, he remained in Huelva, a port on Spain's southwestern coast. With him on his voyages he brought the heritage of his surroundings and their many assumptions. His quest shaped his mission and the sailors he chose were of critical importance to the success or failure of his mission. Understanding them and their times helps clarify the influence- and the destruction they would heap on the Americas. -
Christopher Columbus, His Time and His PlansThursday, March 7
3:30 am on UEN-TV 9.1Columbus spent nearly a decade in Spain lobbying for his expedition. More than anywhere else, he remained in Huelva, a port on Spain's southwestern coast. With him on his voyages he brought the heritage of his surroundings and their many assumptions. His quest shaped his mission and the sailors he chose were of critical importance to the success or failure of his mission. Understanding them and their times helps clarify the influence- and the destruction they would heap on the Americas. -
Under The Shadow of the VolcanoesMonday, March 4
9:00 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Guatemala has more active volcanoes than any other country in North America. This portion of the famed "Rim of Fire" has left an indelible imprint on the landscape and on the cultures of the nation. With volcanoes come earthquakes and no city illustrates a greater heritage of both than Antigua. And no volcano has left a finer landscape than Lake Atitlan. Volcanoes destroy, however, and we visit a town recently overwhelmed by a nearby volcano. -
Colon's Spain and the Quest for Western LandsSunday, March 3
12:30 pm on UEN-TV 9.1Christopher Columbus set out from Huelva, on Spain's southwest coast, in 1492 in a quest to chart unknown lands with hoped-for riches. With him he brought three ships and a cultural impact that changed the world forever in the space of thirty years. Huelva and its surrounding area reveal a wealth of cultural and historical influences, from Romans through Moors to Spaniards, from technology to disease, through Italians and (perhaps) Portuguese ancestry that Columbus and subsequent would-be conquerors carried with them. They would transform the Americas into a European province.