When it comes to examining American history, philanthropist and author David Rubenstein takes a close look at iconic national symbols. This could be anything from the Hollywood sign to Fenway Park.

His probing of these indelible artifacts, places and archetypes makes up the new PBS series “Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein.” It is scheduled to debut at 10 p.m. April 26 on Valley PBS.

“I thought it’d be a good idea to put a TV series together to explain certain iconic symbols of our country, and how you don’t really know as much as you think you know about them, and why you should learn more about them,” Rubenstein says. “The theory of history that we all study is that we would learn about the past to correct the mistakes we’ve made [in] the past. Don’t make them in the future and do the things we did well in the past, and do them better in the future.

“What we’re trying to do in this, and what PBS does in a lot of its programs, and WETA as well, particularly with what they’ve done with Ken Burns, is to kind of explain what history is all about, hopefully educating people and making them more informed citizens. That’s all we can really try to do.”

The eight-episode series will look at Fenway Park, the Hollywood Sign, the Gadsden Flag, the Statue of Liberty, the American Bald Eagle, Stone Mountain, the Golden Gate Bridge and the American Cowboy. The series looks at how these icons were created and how the perception of them changed over the years. These manifestations of cultural history are often adapted when different groups give them their own meanings. The symbols reflect what a society values and how people see themselves and help to summarize a nation’s shared past in the present moment. 

Rubenstein – the co-founder of The Carlyle Group and lifelong student of history – invites historical experts and community members such as David “Big Papi” Ortiz (former Red Sox player), Michael Boulware Moore (chief executive officer of the International African American Museum), Melissa Rivers (writer, host, and producer) among others to examine ways Americans engage with these subjects.

The focus for each show is something that Rubenstein wants to give more attention to in an effort to help educate – and entertain – the viewers.

“Right now, in this country, we don’t teach civics very much. And we don’t teach American history very much. You can graduate from almost any college in this country without having to take an American history course,” Rubenstein says. “I think if you don’t know much about history, you’re not really going to have very informed citizenry and your government won’t be as good.

“So, if this meets a market task, which people say this is pretty good and it’s useful, then we would consider doing it again.  But if people say it’s terrible, then probably there wouldn’t be a great demand.”

“NOVA: Chasing Carbon Zero,” 9 p.m. April 26

The U.S. recently set an ambitious climate change goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and slash emissions in half by 2030. The new PBS production, “Chasing Carbon Zero” looks at whether or not this is a feasible plan.

It offers a hard look at the problem and identifies real-world technologies that could be up to the task of expanding the availability of renewable energy options, designing more energy-efficient buildings and revolutionizing the transportation sector.

Melissa C. Lott, Director of Research, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, knows the change won’t be easy or will come quickly.

“There’s a number of different things that we’re balancing. So this idea of we’re going to stop emitting as much greenhouse gases as we can as quickly as possible, we have to balance that with meeting our energy needs today,” Lott says. “Some of the things that you’ll see in this is how do we make existing oil and gas production as clean as possible.

“We can produce oil and gas with much less methane going into the atmosphere.  And methane is an extremely potent type of greenhouse gas.  So, within this, it’s about a balance.  We need energy today to keep the lights on, to keep our cars moving, but we need all of those things to transition as quickly as possible to net zero.”

The ideas discussed don’t all deal with what big business can do. Those behind the show stress that getting to net zero will take everybody. That means looking at simple changes that can be made in the home.

“Chasing Carbon Zero” will be available for streaming at pbs.org/nova, NOVA on YouTube, and the PBS App. PBS station members can view it via PBS Passport.