Continuing their trip through Nicaragua, Planas’ film crew stops in San Nicolás and discusses the lack of potable water. A group of Spaniards have offered to remedy the situation. Why does the problem still exist? Could the elected officials actually be standing in the way of progress?

Joan Planas’ documentary, Con ánimo de lucro (With Intent to Profit), launches with a list of the UN’s objectives for development in the new millennium. While the UN plan calls for cutting poverty in half by 2015, it’s off to a terrible start. So we’re off to explore what’s gone wrong in Nicaragua, one of the countries with the most NGOs and the highest levels of poverty in Latin America. 

Can a consumer-driven market be replaced by an informed system of mutual cooperation by a like-minded populace? Is the market always at odds with the well being of the planet? Is it true that otro mundo es possible? Let’s find out what some experts think…

Do those who control the wealth in a society also dictate its desires? In this segment we’re able to listen in on the discourse of Spanish intellectuals critical of the modern consumer culture, which they see as something of a Svengali-like oppressor and manipulator of the masses.

Can an educated public really create a kinder, gentler, consumer society? Do informed buyers make decisions more sensitive to their world? Can you have your cake and eat it too? Some activists think that voracioius consumers need not be subdued, but only that their desires be tweaked, redirected…

Comercio Justo, or “Fair Trade” products are often seen in “socially conscious” retailers like health and “whole” food shops. It presents a novel approach to doing business that takes into account social and environmental factors in its pricing to consumers and directly compensates commodity food producers, like coffee and cocoa farmers. Here proponents explain the philosophy from several different vantage points.

Transgenic, or genetically modified, crops are a marginal issue for most people in the United States. This is not the case in Europe, where the issue of transgénicos is very much in the forefront of the public's mind.

Reducir, reutilizar, y reciclar: most of us have heard it in English, and here we hear it in Spanish. These women explain to us the “three R's” to combat the excessive amount of waste that we generate.

Is organic farming still ecological when excessive resources are spent to ship goods halfway around the world? Why are ecologically-oriented producers more subject to government oversight than those using environmental contaminants?

De consumidor a persona means “From consumer to person,” and that’s a transformation of psyche the world may need to undertake if it’s going to survive peak ecological crises. Un Solo Mundo Produciones is a production company in Granada, Spain that produces engaging films revolving around social and environmental themes important to the planet as a whole.

¿Quién es Javier García? With his producer (and two-time Academy Award winner) Gustavo Santaolalla, Javier Garcia talks about his roots and influences. Also, we learn about some noted musicians who contributed to the album 13, including the great trumpet player, Arturo Sandoval.

We’ve all heard of the bolero, which has its modern roots in nineteenth century Santiago de Cuba (even though we might not be able to hum one on cue). But what about the cuartetazo? Born in Córdoba, Argentina, and derived from Spanish and Italian dances, the name is derived from the fact that the earliest players were invariably four-piece bands. The rhythm is similar to merengue.

Javier Garcia was born in Madrid to a Cuban father and spent his earliest years in Spain before heading to boarding school in Ireland (from whence his mother comes), finishing high school in Miami after the age of 16. So what kind of Spanish accent does he have? Well, by his own admission, something of a Cuban one when he sings, a kind of a Spanish one when he talks… (we called him and asked!)

María “La Mala” Rodríquez’ latest effort has taken Spain by storm. The record, says María, is called Alevosía because “Lo he hecho a tiro hecho, sobre seguro y no hay fallos. Lo he hecho queriendo.” YaTv.com calls her “the most courageous voice” of Spanish rap today.

Arume studies filmmaking in her native Spain. She talks about what life is like for her now that she has graduated from high school and is out on her own.