Christopher Monger/2010/30 min/Health & Environment

When pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, the backlash from her critics thrust her into the center of a political maelstrom. Despite her love of privacy, Carson's convictions about the risks posed by chemical pesticides forced her into a very public and controversial role. 

Lisa Merton and Alan Dater/2010/30 min/Health & Environment

Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.