About this season
The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on November 6, 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it. The program was one of the first to explore environmental issues, such as clear-cut logging. The series is named after an epic poem by Roman philosopher Lucretius: "Dē Rērum Nātūrā" — On the Nature of Things.
Episodes (5)
1. Up Close and Personal: The Ecology of David Suzuki
Aired 8 October 1998
The program is about the natural history of this invisible world: the things that float in the air around us, the microbes that live in the dish cloth on the kitchen counter, the fungi under our fingernails, and the visitors in the saucer under a house plant.
2. Reefer Madness 2
Aired 15 October 1998
There is a growing number of people who regard marijuana (cannabis) as a benign medicine, offering relief to people suffering from a variety of illnesses, including epilepsy, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma as well as lessening the side effects of medications and treatments given to cancer and HIV patients. CBC Television's THE NATURE OF THINGS with David Suzuki examines the medicinal uses of marijuana.
3. Grasslands
Aired 5 November 1998
4. Good Wood
Aired 26 November 1998
5. Look Who's Talking...How Animals Communicate
Aired 3 December 1998
It is only recently that humans have become aware that animal communication is often elegant, elaborate and subtle. Understanding how other species communicate tells us a great deal about the history and evolution of our species.