This first film in the four-part series is an Emmy award winning documentary exposing the declining health of the 6th largest lake in the United States, and the future of watershed communities of Vermont, New York, and Quebec. The worsening blue-green algae blooms of Lake Champlain are the most visible symptom of a lake in decline, and the end point of a failing dairy industry, ill-planned development, and aging wastewater treatment systems. 

"How do we grow crops quickly enough to feed the Earth's billions? It's called the Haber process, which turns the nitrogen in the air into ammonia, easily converted in soil to the nitrate plants need to survive. Though it has increased food supply worldwide, the Haber process has also taken an unforeseen toll on the environment. Daniel D. Dulek delves into the chemistry and consequences." View the complete lesson at TED-Ed.

Discusses how ammonia can be formed by sparking a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen. The Haber Process is diagrammatically described and there is film of a modern plant in action. Conditions such as temperature and pressure and the reversibility of the reaction are discussed.

Hank Green introduces us to the brilliant and heartless Fritz Haber, a great mind who is considered "the father chemical warfare," but who also made discoveries and innovations that helped lead to the Green Revolution which is credited with preventing the starvation of over a billion people.