Earth from Space (2019) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Satellite cameras can now look
down on every part of our planet
..revolutionising the
view of our home.
By combining images
taken over days
..weeks
..and years
..we can see Planet Earth change.
From space, we can watch
cities grow
..Earth's natural resources
shrink
..and the weather
become more extreme.
As we alter the surface
of the planet
faster than at any time
in human history
..this new perspective allows us to
track the speed of this change
..to see the impact
of our actions
..and inspire us
to look after our fragile home.
Humans now inhabit every
landmass on the planet.
And the extent of our colonisation
is most obvious at night.
Scientists have combined images
to reveal a detailed view
of the entire globe at night.
Our cities and towns
..reaching out across its surface.
Using images taken over years,
we can see just how fast
these cities are growing.
In the last 40 years,
Las Vegas has tripled in size
..its suburbs sprawling
into the Nevada desert.
Tokyo is now home to 38 million.
More people than any other
city on Earth.
And, in just 35 years
..the small fishing village
of Shenzhen in China
..has grown to a modern city
..of ten million.
It has joined with
nine neighbouring cities,
creating one giant megatropolis
..home to more than
60 million people
..across more than 50,000
square kilometres.
As new land is claimed each day
..nature is being pushed out.
From above
..India's streets are a
densely packed maze
of grey concrete.
But zoom in over Chennai,
one of India's largest cities
..and we can see
a flash of bright green.
Wild parakeets.
In this ever-sprawling city,
one man
has made room for wildlife.
15 years ago, Joseph Sekar saw a
pair of parakeets
struggling to find food
in the city streets.
He put out rice for the birds.
Others came,
so each day he put out even more.
Every day, he and his granddaughters
turn his rooftop
into a giant bird table
..awaiting the arrival
..of 4,000 birds.
Joseph spends nearly 50% of his
income on feeding the parakeets.
They come twice a day, without fail.
Joseph has not only given
a lifeline to these birds
when they needed it most
..he has brought a little bit of
nature back into the city streets.
In a world where nature
is being pushed out
..Joseph is supporting
a whole population of animals
..showing that one person
in five million
can make a huge difference.
As the planet's urban landscapes
grow by the day
..its most important
wild spaces are shrinking.
In South America,
trees are cleared for farming.
In the Amazon, small patches of
green, protected by local tribes
..are all that remain
of a once-great forest.
And on the island of Madagascar,
images taken over 30 years
show it has lost almost 80%
of its original forest.
With so few trees left
to hold the soil in place,
the red earth now runs into the
rivers and out into the ocean.
It looks like Madagascar
is bleeding.
The islands of Indonesia.
An area of thick rainforest
..home to thousands
of plant and animal species.
But the view from space
shows it disappear.
All over Indonesia,
swathes of forest are vanishing.
And it's having a devastating impact
on one species in particular.
ORANGUTAN HOOTS
This young Sumatran orangutan
lives with her mother
in the forest canopy.
At nearly three years old,
she's still learning
what's safe to eat and what isn't.
There are over 300 different types
of edible plants in the forest
..but each fruit at different times.
Finding food here isn't easy.
She must rely on
her mother's expert knowledge.
The pair can travel for up to 3km a
day foraging for food.
Her mother knows the location of
each and every tree
in her territory.
Durian fruit, full of fats and
vitamins, are a favourite.
Their smell tells her
if they're ready to eat.
Every day is a lesson.
It will be three more years
before this young female
has learned enough to go it alone.
But with orangutan habitat
under threat,
finding enough food
is becoming more difficult.
She may not survive that long.
This forest is home to the
highest concentration
of orangutans on the planet.
But as the satellite
moves across the landscape
..the forest disappears.
The last patches
of the orangutans' habitat
..are surrounded by ordered fields.
Row after row
..of palm oil trees.
Nuts from the trees
are made into oil
that's found in about half
of all the products
on our supermarket shelves.
From toothpaste to biscuits
..lipstick to soap.
In the last 20 years,
orangutans have lost 80%
of their forest home.
The scale and speed
of deforestation here
makes it almost
impossible to control.
But now satellites can help.
They can monitor tree loss
in real time
..revolutionising the fight
against illegal activity
..allowing authorities to keep
watch on remote forests
and respond to
protect them faster.
It's not only forests
the humans are exploiting.
We've found ways to use natural
resources across the planet.
A mine fans out in Germany
..producing 30 million tonnes
of brown coal a year
to fuel electric power stations.
In Chile, islands of blue
appear in a vast salt flat.
These evaporation ponds
concentrate lithium
to be made into batteries
for our mobile phones.
In the deserts of Saudi Arabia,
circles appear in the sand.
Water pumped from 1km
below the Earth's surface
is used to feed crops.
And as we use Earth's natural
resources to fuel our industries
..we leave our rubbish behind.
Thousands of old aircraft
litter the Arizona desert.
Hundreds of ships
line the coast of Bangladesh
..waiting to be dismantled.
And in Kuwait, a black patchwork
in the sand.
Millions of used car tyres
left discarded.
The waste products
of almost everything we make
..are gases.
They rise into the atmosphere,
where they become trapped,
and absorb heat
from the Earth below,
making the planet hotter.
In the last hundred years,
our planet has warmed
by almost one degree Celsius
..enough to dramatically affect
some of our greatest
natural landscapes.
Glaciers.
Huge bodies of ice.
In Alaska, Bear Glacier runs for
20km down the valley
..before it breaks up
where it meets the water.
In real time,
glaciers can move so slowly
they almost appear static.
But by combining satellite images
taken over years,
we can see the ice retreating.
Over 30 years
..12 miles of ice is lost
from Alaska's Columbia Glacier.
Mountain glaciers
are also under threat.
In the centre of Ecuador,
South America, lies Chimborazo.
At more than 6,000 metres, it is
the country's highest mountain.
For millennia, its peak has been
covered in snow and ice.
But in the past three decades,
the view from space
has started to change.
Chimborazo is losing its ice.
One man living in its foothills
knows this only too well.
Balthazar is an ice harvester.
For generations, his family have
collected glacial ice
from the mountain to sell to
the towns and villages below.
He used to be one of 40
working here.
Now he's the very last one.
As the glacier melts,
he's had to climb higher and higher
to find the ice.
On the top of the mountain,
scientists use drones to monitor
the change in the depth of ice
to calculate just how fast
Chimborazo's glaciers
are retreating.
But a drone can only go so high.
Combining these images
with satellite data
..reveals the whole picture.
Since 1976,
21% of Chimborazo's surface ice
has gone.
Glaciers act as
the world's water towers
..feeding the streams
and rivers which we rely on.
If they dry up,
the effect could be severe.
For Balthazar,
this could be the end of the only
way of life he's ever known.
In the old days,
he delivered ice to towns
all over the region.
But now he supplies
just a handful of local cafes
THEY EXCHANGE GREETINGS
..who, like him, believe that his
ice is the best money can buy.
As the Earth's climate changes,
our weather becomes
more unpredictable.
Extremes of hot and cold
are contributing
to dramatic weather events.
In Africa
..snow falls
..in the Sahara Desert.
In 2018, an unusually hot summer
..turned the UK brown.
While in Bolivia,
Lake Poopo has all but disappeared,
partly due to severe drought.
As global temperatures rise,
water on the Earth's surface
evaporates faster
..creating more clouds
..and more storms.
Look down over the ocean
..and the clouds shift into shape.
THUNDER RUMBLES
They begin to spiral
..and race
..picking up energy
as they spin across the ocean.
Hurricanes.
On average,
one hurricane hits the Gulf Coast
of the United States every year.
But beach-side property
is still highly sought after.
And not just by holiday-makers.
These dunes have been hit by four
hurricanes in the last 25 years.
Just a few miles down the coast,
an entire beach mouse population
was wiped out
..and had to be reintroduced.
At three weeks old, every young
mouse must leave the family nest
..and establish their own territory.
Starting with a burrow.
There's little vegetation,
barely any cover.
A bolthole is essential.
MOUSE SQUEAKS
Like all real estate
on this coastline,
burrows are hot property.
It might take several days
to find a place of his own.
Every moment spent out here alone,
he's vulnerable.
And not just to predators.
Over the dunes,
the skies are getting darker.
THUNDER RUMBLES
Clouds are building.
While cameras on the dunes
follow the weather as it changes
..at the same time
a satellite positioned
out over the Gulf
..allows us to see
what a mouse can't.
800km away from the dunes,
a hurricane has formed.
Like all major storms,
it's given a name.
Harvey.
300km across
..and with winds of
over 100mph,
it's predicted that Harvey
will make land in just eight hours.
To tell where it will hit,
we can track its movement
from satellite.
As it reaches the coast,
it spins away from the dunes.
The beach mice are safe.
But where Harvey makes landfall
..images reveal the aftermath
of devastating flooding
..caused by over
120 centimetres of rain.
Harvey was the most powerful storm
to hit the US in 12 years.
And the wettest in American history.
But Harvey was just the beginning.
Next came Irma,
Jose
and Katia
..in one of the worst
hurricane seasons on record.
It's predicted that
an ever-warming planet
will produce more powerful storms.
But with satellites mapping
the path of hurricanes,
they can help us to prepare
for when they hit.
It's not only hurricanes
that are increasing.
Another weather event leaves
indelible marks on our planet.
California, 2018.
A huge burn mark covering
more than 1,400 square kilometres.
These scars are found across America
every summer.
And the view from space
gives us a brand-new perspective
on one of their causes.
THUNDER RUMBLES
Look down on the planet at night
..and the globe
crackles and sparks
..each bright spot
a strike of lightning.
Our world is struck
up to 50 times every second.
As the energy of each strike
hits the Earth's surface
..they create deadly sparks.
THUNDER CRASHING
In North America,
more than 10,000 wildfires a year
are caused by lightning.
SIRENS BLARE
This number is increasing
as the climate changes,
so these fires must be monitored.
HE BREATHES HEAVILY
Usually, I get up at about
six o'clock in the morning.
I get up, have a cup of coffee
..and then I'm ready to go.
Every day of each summer,
85-year-old Billy Ellis
climbs the 143 steps to his office.
I get to the radio about 9.25.
Hello, Dispatch, this is
Devil's Head Tower, in service.
MUFFLED REPLY
I'm a fire lookout, and I've been
doing it now for 33 summers.
After a long, hot summer,
the forest is tinder dry.
Perfect conditions for a fire.
I look about every 15 minutes,
I take a look around.
You can look for days
and never see anything.
Then, all of a sudden, there it is.
THUNDER RUMBLES
Hello, Dispatch, this is
Devil's Head Tower. We have a smoke.
Within minutes, a smoke plume
can stretch across the horizon.
Now the most effective way
to track it
..is from space.
Cameras can follow a fire's path
in almost real time
..observing the smoke to predict
its direction, size and speed
..guiding those fighting it
to the heart of the blaze.
ROLL CALL
Using satellite positioning,
smoke jumpers can be on the ground
within seven minutes of a call.
Wildfire can burn
at 1,200 degrees Celsius.
To stop it, they create
breaks in the forest
..taking away its fuel.
As human actions
continue to warm the planet
..more wildfires tear
across the Earth's surface.
In 2018, California had one of the
worst wildfire seasons in history.
Satellites followed
as more than 5,000 fires
raged across the state
..including the
Mendocino Complex Fire
..one of California's
largest-ever wildfires.
But even in the most
devastated landscapes
..lies opportunity.
Billy isn't the only lookout
in the forest.
This wood-boring beetle
is also searching for smoke.
Special sensors in his body detect
it from many kilometres away.
This blackened branch is weaker -
easier to bore into and feed on.
And where insects go
..birds follow.
A black-backed woodpecker.
Perfectly camouflaged
in burned forests.
Beetle grubs are full of fat.
CHIRPING
Food for hungry chicks.
Within six months of the fire,
the woodpecker holes
have new residents.
And new trees take root.
Infrared satellite images of this
forest show it turn from brown
..to green
..in just three years.
Wildfire is essential
for healthy forest habitat.
It has regenerated the trees
and supported the species
that live in them for millennia.
But as we continue
to warm our planet,
increasing the size
and severity of these fires,
it becomes our responsibility
to keep them under control.
Cameras in space are a powerful tool
with which to monitor our planet
..revealing landscapes under threat.
But satellites also capture images
in parts of the world where we are
trying to restore the balance.
Just off the east coast
of England
..white dots appear in the sea.
One of the world's largest
offshore wind-farms,
generating enough power a year
for half a million homes.
In China
..two giant pandas.
Solar panels creating electricity
as a greener alternative
to burning coal.
And in Tanzania, Africa
..this land was cleared for farming.
But now the view has changed.
Completely.
Forest has regrown
..a transformation helping
one of our most iconic species.
Gombe Stream National Park.
This is Salama
..and her mother, Schweini.
They're members of
the Kasakela community -
a troop of over 90 chimpanzees
..first studied by primatologist
Jane Goodall back in 1960.
The family have been followed almost
every single day for 58 years.
CHIMPANZEES CALL
It's the longest-running study
of any animal on Earth.
Their protected forest
is near the village of Kigalye.
Here, local people cut down trees
to make space for farmland.
But without the trees
holding the earth together,
there were landslides
..and flash floods
..threatening the village
and their neighbours.
CHIMPANZEES CALL
To survive, female chimpanzees
need to mix with other troops,
moving territory to find a mate.
But deforestation
isolated the community.
Their forest had become an island.
With both people
and chimps suffering,
the Jane Goodall Institute
began to work with the village
to replant the trees
..and provide the locals with
sustainable ways to use the land.
Emmanuel Mtiti and Lilian Pintea
have been working on the project
for 18 years.
And they've had a little help
..from satellites.
This is a recent image of the area.
Even the finest details are visible.
So let's go back to this.
By comparing satellite images,
the villagers can see
what a difference they've made.
The forests have been regenerated.
Land that was infertile
has been brought back to life.
The landslides have stopped
..and flash floods
are no longer a problem.
And it's not just the people
who have benefitted.
CHIMPANZEES CALL
For the first time in decades
..new chimpanzees have been seen
using the surrounding forests
..to travel into the reserve.
Potential new mates
..and a bright future
for this iconic species.
Here in this small corner
of the planet
..conservationists and local people
have shown just what a difference
can be made
when we work together.
A change so important
and so dramatic
..that it can be seen from space.
This perspective allows us
to see our home in a whole new way.
Satellite cameras now help us
to health-check our planet
..see where it is thriving
..but, crucially, where we are
upsetting its fragile balance.
We can find and follow
our most vulnerable species
ELEPHANTS TRUMPE
..and make new discoveries
..in extraordinary landscapes
..transforming our understanding
of the way Earth works
..and our place within it.
RHYTHMIC SHOUTING
This powerful new tool
helps us protect our unique
and fragile planet.
The Open University has produced a
poster exploring Earth From Space.
To order your free copy,
call 0300 303 3821
or go to bbc.co.uk/earthfromspace
and follow the links to
The Open University.