As humanity’s appetite for energy grows exponentially, the extraction industry scrambles to the most remote regions on Earth to satisfy demand. In the underdeveloped Melanesian country of Papua New Guinea, America’s Exxon Mobil has staked its claim to a $19 billion liquid natural-gas project expected to start production in late 2014. While some see Exxon's mammoth presence as the catalyst that will usher the country into the 21st century, others predict the initiative could plunge its people into civil war. Vikram Gandhi heads to Papua New Guinea to investigate.
Over the past three years, Texas has experienced the worst drought in its recorded history, a calamity that devastated the state’s agriculture industry and cost it thousands of jobs. While 97% of the scientific community agrees that human activity has contributed to extreme weather patterns around the world, many Texans (legislators, community leaders and citizens) don’t, and have taken few if any initiatives to limit the state’s CO2 emissions, currently the highest in the country. Thomas Morton visits Texas to witness the climate catastrophe, and discover firsthand the local responses, which often involve reaching out for divine intervention.
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