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What to Stream this Month

Daniel Hautzinger
A critically endangered Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) at Lemuria Land in Madagascar. Photo: Joel Sartore Photography Inc.
A critically endangered Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) at Lemuria Land in Madagascar. Photo: Joel Sartore Photography Inc.

Find our streaming recommendations for the previous and following months.

Do you ever wish you could binge-watch your favorite PBS programs? If you’re a member you already can; if not, it’s easy to join. With WTTW Passport, members can watch a huge library of PBS and WTTW programming on-demand on any streaming device. To learn more about WTTW Passport, check out our dedicated site. You can activate or sign up for Passport here.

Each month we’ll bring you a few Passport picks. This April, take Earth Day (April 22) to heart and learn about the imperiled natural world with some documentaries about endangered species, climate change, and alternative energy. Plus, watch a new series at your own pace instead of waiting for each new episode every week.

RARE – Creatures of the Photo Ark

National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore decided 25 years ago to photograph all 12,000-odd animal species in human care, from crickets to condors, iguanas to ibexes, for his Photo Ark project. Some species have only a few representatives left; some are as common as pigeons or mice. Watch Sartore travel the world, meeting and photographing rare animals, in three episodes of RARE, and find our interview with this modern-day Noah here.


NOVA: The Nuclear Option

Nuclear energy is a powerful and important carbon-free energy source, but it also inspires fear as a result of disasters like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Explore the devastating Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe and its aftermath as well as the future of nuclear energy in a world affected by climate change. Additionally, explore the important role of Chicago and Illinois in nuclear history and a University of Chicago physicist’s perspective on nuclear energy here.


NOVA: Lethal Seas

Earth’s oceans absorb around a quarter of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. As carbon emissions increase around the world, the oceans are gaining more and more carbon, making them more acidic – and deadly to delicate ecosystems like coral reefs. NOVA examines one such ecosystem in Papua New Guinea and investigates what, if anything, can be done.


Nature: The Last Rhino

In late March, Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros in the world, died. Only two northern white rhinos remain, the species driven nearly to extinction by conflict, changing habitats, and poaching – rhinoceros horns are worth their weight in gold on the black market. Learn about Sudan in this Nature film, available until April 22. Additionally, look back on conservation efforts to save rhinos in Nature: Rhinoceros.


Civilizations

This magisterial series doesn’t fit the theme of Earth Day – except that it is global, magnificently covering the history of art and civilizations around the world in nine episodes, in an update of the landmark 1969 BBC series Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation. It premieres on Tuesday, April 17 and airs in the weeks following, but Passport members can stream the entire series beginning on the premiere date, indulging in the beautiful photography and outstanding masterpieces at their own pace. Check back on the 17th for an interview with an executive producer of the series.