Television Review : A Look at the ‘Crisis’ With Our Environment

Stop me if you’ve heard this before . . . didja hear the one about the hole in the ozone layer? Oh, well, what about the one about the danger of global warming? Oh, that too? Well, maybe the one about the perils of air pollution?

“Crisis in the Atmosphere”--a comprehensive look at the major environmental threats our planet faces--covers all of these areas and more. But despite its overall excellence, the program seems a little flat, a victim of the I’ve-seen-this-somewhere-before syndrome.

That’s too bad, because this “Infinite Voyage” segment airing at 8 tonight on Channels 28 and 15, and at 9 on Channels 50 and 24, is definitely worth a look. Producer-writer Lionel Friedberg delivers a well-written, well-illustrated look at the ecological mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.

“Crisis” manages to avoid a strident tone, offering a neat balancing act focusing on what one scientist calls the “spectrum of opinion in between the extremes”--those who believe it is already too late and those who believe there is no problem in the first place. Segments include a look at a Swiss laboratory charting atmospheric carbon dioxide build-up, a Colorado lab where computers project global warming’s effect on the weather, and an overview of the work of the scientist who sounded the alarm about chlorofluorocarbons destroying the ozone layer.

Of particular interest is the segment on the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s 20-year plan to reduce the sources of what sadly has become Los Angeles’ most visible features: smog. “Crisis” graphically illustrates the problem and delineates the proposed solutions.

“Crisis” offers other solutions, ranging from reducing fossil fuel use to controlling population growth--issues that most politicians do their best to avoid. “Crisis’ ” reasonable approach and measured tone can do much to advance the environmental cause.