-By Michelle Moran

With the launch of  "The Green" on April 17, 2007, Sundance Channel becomes the first television network in the United States to establish a major regularly scheduled programming destination dedicated entirely to the environment.

Season two of the award-winning original eco-series "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" begins April 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. The 13-part series airs as part of  "The Green," and will have an episode focused on food debuting on April 29.

Green Diners
Each episode revolves around a different green theme as it spotlights three specific innovators or innovations that have the potential to transform our everyday lives. The individuals profiled range from scientists to fashion and product designers, and from entrepreneurs to first-time inventors. Season one of  "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" received the 2007 Environmental Media Award for Best Documentary.

"Big Ideas for a Small Planet" (April 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT) covers the issues of loss of biodiversity, water depletion, topsoil erosion, carbon emissions: when it comes to conventional farming and industrial food production. This episode explores the different ways professionals and ordinary people are trying to nourish us with environmentally friendly food and wine.

Transporting foods across the country and from outside the U.S. has become the norm, consuming massive amounts of fuel and energy. Adding it all up, industrial farms cause $34.7 billion worth of environmental damage in the U.S. each year.

In response, organic food production, sustainable farming practices and an attention to eating locally is becoming more popular. The episode visits a variety of people who are taking the phrase "you are what you eat" to heart, and trying to change the food landscape.

The episode focuses on three movements in action from Amy's Kitchen to Zuni, New Mexico, students to Benziger Family Vineyard. When their daughter Amy was born in 1987, Rachel and Andy Berliner were struck by how hard it was to find easy-to-prepare food that was also healthy and organic. As a solution, they started a food business out of their own home. Today, Amy's Kitchen is an all-organic, all-vegetarian, frozen and canned food company with over 130 products in stores nationwide and 200 million dollars in sales.

The show visits Amy's as they are developing a new quesadilla for their Kids Meal product line. First Andy, Rachel and Amy (now 19, and a student at Stanford University) are off to Michael Halperin's organic farm where they check out his sustainable practices including the use of ladybugs as a natural pesticide. Amy is given the opportunity to release the ladybugs in the field and set them about their work.

The group checks out the red peppers and onions, key ingredients for the quesadilla Kids Meal. Back at their factory, Andy and Rachel take you to the test kitchen, where the head chefs are working on the quesadilla recipe. Andy and Rachel taste and give feedback, then give you a tour of the factory. Finally, the first test run of the quesadilla Kids Meal rolls down the conveyor belt.

The students at Twin Buttes High School have taken a stand against their processed, Styrofoam-packaged school lunches. As Zuni tribe members, they come from a strong tradition of organic gardening and decided to find a way to grow their own fresh produce. Spearheaded by 17-year-old student Alex Jamon and supported by his science teacher Alicia Fitzpatrick, the students got a $10,000 grant and Zuni Organic Produce (ZOP) was born, a combination Zuni organic garden and greenhouse project built right on the Twin Buttes schoolyard.

Benziger Family Winery has been farming biodynamically on their 85-acre Sonoma home vineyard for two decades. When Mike and Mary Benziger started the winery, it was important to them that their children be protected from the toxic chemicals used in traditional farming, so they explored and implemented biodynamics -- a holistic farming method developed in the 1920s. It uses no chemicals or pesticides, instead relying on soil management and naturally predatory birds and insects for pest control. Because the soil "flavor" is preserved, biodynamic wine has a regionally unique flavor. This green way of producing grapes and wine has "leaked" into every element of their business. For example, every year, the winery reclaims over a million gallons of wastewater from its winemaking process, using it for irrigation.

Season lineup:

April 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Power"
This episode explores the booming field of alternative energy as it introduces several individuals who are working to develop clean, renewable energy from resources like the sun, wind and even cow dung.

April 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Decorate"
Traditional furniture, carpets and paint can exact a heavy environmental toll, be it in the depletion of virgin forests, the use of petroleum products or toxic emissions from paints and adhesives. But it is possible to have stylish furnishings without messing up the planet, and this episode will introduce three designers who know how to beautifully and conscientiously feather a nest.

April 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Water"
Water is likely to be a flash point in the 21st century, as population growth collides with droughts and dwindling reserves. This episode introduces three people who are embracing creative solutions to the looming shortage of drinking water -- be it desalinating the ocean, catching rainwater or cleaning up our rivers.

April 22 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Gen Y"
Generation Y -- the children of baby boomers, now in their late teens to early 20s -- came of age to ever-louder warnings of climate change, resource depletion and species extinction. It's an eco-aware group, but also one inclined toward buying, eating, traveling and consuming more than any generation before. By blending environmentalism with consumerism, the life choices Gen Y are making right now -- how they party, where they go to college, even how they get married -- open a fascinating window onto how future generations will care for the earth.

April 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Food"
Loss of biodiversity, water depletion, topsoil erosion, carbon emissions: when it comes to conventional farming and industrial food production, the cost goes beyond the supermarket bill. This episode explores the different ways professionals and ordinary people are trying to nourish us with environmentally friendly food and wine.

May 6 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Fashion"
Environmental consciousness has hit the fashion world in a big way; from T-shirts and jeans to haute couture, style is coming to mean sustainable fabric and earth-friendly manufacturing practices. In this episode, we'll meet several men and women who are bringing green to fashion, clothing stores and to the dry cleaners, too.

May 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Recycle"
Recycling efforts have come a long way since the bottle bills of the 1970s -- a good thing, since the U.S. produces 400 tons of garbage per year. Individuals and organizations are taking on the challenge of recycling everything from computers to medicine bottles to handbags. The methods can be as simple as reuse, or as technologically sophisticated as chemically transforming one discarded material to create another.

May 20 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Grow"
Green spaces are essential to the health and welfare of cities and suburbs alike. As urban populations swell, creative environmentalists are scouting surprising spots for vegetation amidst the cement and concrete. Suburbanites lucky enough to have green space are introducing a new level of environmental consciousness to their lawns and gardens.

May 27 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Transport"
The automobile is still king in America, and it's the single greatest polluter in most cities. This episode will show how city governments, private organizations and university scientists are working to get commuters to leave their cars behind for cleaner, more efficient modes of transportation.

June 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Live"
The recent building boom -- one of the biggest in history -- used enormous quantities of resources and generated millions of tons of garbage through the demolition of older structures. This episode surveys some fresh ideas for eco-conscious construction and deconstruction.

June 10 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Business"
Corporations have begun embracing green business practices as beneficial to their bottom lines, productivity and image with consumers. This episode visits companies, large and small, in the eco-vanguard: businesses that are doing well by doing good for the earth.

June 17 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Gadgets"
It's hard to resist the siren call of cutting-edge consumer gadgets, but it certainly mitigates guilt if the shiny new toy in question helps repair the planet. This episode will preview the technology, the products and the innovators that may rewrite our future, whether through batteries powered by sugar or shopping malls powered by the shoppers themselves.

June 24 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Animals"
Animals don't generate carbon emissions, but having furry friends living among us is not without ecological impact. From zoos to shelters to pampered pets, this episode will explore how animals' diets and living environments are increasingly reflecting the "green-ness" of their human guardians.

"Big Ideas for a Small Planet" is executive produced by Michael Williams, David Collins and David Metzler from Scout Productions, and is overseen for Sundance Channel by senior vice president, original programming and development, Lynne Kirby and director, original programming and development, Samuel J. Paul.

Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, shorts and original programs, all unedited and commercial-free. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture of NBC Universal, CBS and Robert Redford. Sundance Channel operates independently of the nonprofit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression. To find out more, visit Sundance Channel's Web site, www.sundancechannel.com.

Comments? mmoran@gourmetretailer.com