PBS will air Hotspots doc; DVD for sale online

Content Agenda

Hotspots, a documentary about the developing phenomenon of mass extinction, will concurrently air on PBS this month and be available for sale on DVD through various online outlets.

A two-hour tour of the world’s key conservation areas and the ongoing work to maintain the rich biodiversity that has been found there, Hotspots travels from Madagascar to Brazil and Southern California to provide instances of the mounting global crisis. Dr. Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, guides viewers through his visits over three years and the solutions being developed to hold on to the most threatened life forms.

The film also provides an overview of some of the contributing factors for the mass extinction that threatens as much as 60% of the planet’s species of plants and animals.

Hotspots is available on DVD through the PBS, Amazon and Barnes & Noble Web sites. “Keeping with the Internet age, our main retail will be online,” said a company spokesman.

In addition to its PBS run beginning this month, the film continues to be screened at such venues as International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Switzerland and natural history museums around the world.

Hotspots was produced by Dr. Michael Tobias and his wife, Jane Gray Morrison. Tobias and Morrison serve as president-CEO and executive VP, respectively, of Dancing Star Foundation, the California-based non-profit organization focused on international conservation issues. Dancing Star’s Web site also will sell the Hotspots DVD.