Documentary maker Patrick Fries' latest project — a film about melting glaciers in the Himalayas is set to air on the TV network Discovery Asia in late spring — required lugging equipment to cliffs at 17,000 feet and interviews with characters such as the "Ice Man," an engineer in the north of India who has designed man-made glaciers.

In Don’t Cry, Three Gorges (2010) director Chen Fu documented the work and life of Liu Gujun, captain of Wanzhou River Cleaning Unit. In

2003, Liu Gujun stopped his fishing and transportation business, used his own savings and ships and started a river cleaning team, organizing fellow fishermen to collect floating garbage that covered some 10 miles of waters in the Yangtze River near Chongqing.

Alleyways and the courtyard houses, or hutongs and siheyuans, have been an integral part of the ancient capital. As Beijing grows and sprawls, skycrappers and high-rise buildings are encroaching on the old city structures.

The dynamics behind the demolitions of hutongs and couryard houses: an urbanization trend that is nation wide.

As hutongs get dismantled, cultural preservation is in danger and former residents' childhood memories are lost.

A virtual tour simulating a rickshaw ride through some of the alleyways.

As renowned author, environmentalist and 350.org founder Bill KcKibben puts it, "Nature doesn't meet us half way." As the human negotiations continue in Cancun and elsewhere, with results positive or not, we inevitably end up running against the most formidable challenge of all time, the laws of Nature whose rules are inflexible.

By empowering young populations with knowledge and passion, Dr. Jane Goodall's presence in China has helped fuel other NGOs to begin to flourish. Her message of peace has inspired young and old generations throughout the country. There are now over 600 individual Roots and Shoots groups in China working to improve social and environmental conditions.

Director Zhang Zhong documented the 2008 summer holiday of Yueming, a 15 year old school boy in Jiyang County, Shandong Province, who spent the entire summer dumpster-diving to earn money to buy his first cell phone.

Coal makes up 70% of China's primary energy consumption and has powered its economic engine for decades. But there are hidden costs behind this dirty fuel, both to human health and to the environment. At least a quarter million Chinese have died from coal mine accidents in China since 1949, according to official statistics. Those who do survive are hardly unscathed. Many suffer from occupational hazards like the fatal black lung disease and maimed limbs.