BIRDSONG
BIRDS CALL
There's something about mountains that draws you in
Perhaps it's the challenge of the climb -
a peak to conquer an achievement to relish
Maybe it's the view from the top
We so rarely get the chance to stop and take in the world around us
It's good for our minds to focus on the distant horizon
But it's also surely the air up here
It's fresh it feels clean
A lungful of mountain air makes you feel alive
It's a sad indication of the state of the air
that surrounds so many of us in our everyday lives
that it doesn't feel like this
We routinely talk about healthy food and clean water
WH ISTLE BLOWS
But how often do we spare a thought for what enters our lungs?
We fill our lungs with six litres of air every minute on average
Yet as a result of our activities today
our atmosphere especially for those living in cities
is carrying all sorts of unhealthy particles
The World Health Organization calls air pollution the silent killer
Globally 0 of us breathe unclear air every day
Air pollution is proven to shorten our lifetimes
and it hits the vulnerable -
children the sick and the elderly -
hardest of all
That's why one of the five goals of the Earthshot Prize
is to clean our air
Every year until 200
the prize will award 1 million
to a project that will help us to achieve this goal
I n this film we will explore the causes of air pollution
and the toll it's taking on our health
We meet people around the world
working on innovative solutions
And I 'll introduce you to the three finalists
shortlisted for this year's Earthshot Prize
Here to tell the story of how we can clean our air
are Sir David Attenborough
and the only member of our Earthshot Prize council
to travel beyond the atmosphere we all share
Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki
Yeah lke ths comng here.
And just st. Lke ths.
The air in Earth's atmosphere is fundamental to life
Our life-sustaining air is a product of billions of years of evolution
THU N DER RUMBLES
Before life evolved the atmosphere was a toxic mix of methane hydrogen
and high levels of carbon dioxide
But as plants developed and started to photosynthesise
they began to remove the toxins and flood the atmosphere with oxygen
allowing the evolution of animals with high oxygen demands
like ourselves
and even turning the sky blue
For much of Earth's history the gases in our atmosphere
have remained broadly stable
But over the last 200 years
as humankind entered the I ndustrial Age
our polluting activities
have threatened the stability of our air quality
Every year we emit up to 100 times the amount of carbon dioxide
of all the volcanoes on Earth
Our activities have been dirtying and poisoning the Earth's
life-giving air to the point that we are choking ourselves
and the natural world that helps to sustain us
We're not unaware of this We do so in plain sight
The main causes of air pollution are easy to identify
And one is the reliance on polluting fuels to heat our homes
I N DISTI NCT CHATTER I NSI DE
Ulaanbaatar has regularly ranked
as one of the world's most polluted cities
I n recent years the migration of nomadic people from the countryside
to the city has increased
with many setting up residence in traditional homes called gers
on the outskirts
I n winter temperatures drop below -0 degrees centigrade
And coal is one of the few affordable fuels
for the people to heat their homes at these brutally cold times
Coal is a fossil fuel, and it's one of the dirtiest
When coal is burned it releases harmful airborne pollutants
such as sulphur dioxide - a toxic gas -
and particulates or tiny particles
which are commonly associated with soot
These pollutants lead to smog in the air
and when breathed in
can cause inflammation in the body
and health issues that range from lung damage
to heart disorders to cancer
I n Ulaanbaatar around 00000 tonnes of coal is burned each winter
inside homes across the city
whilst huge power plants add to the already toxic air
And for some the only option of employment
is in the very industry that so greatly affects their lives
DOG BARS
Efforts have been made to replace raw coal
with less polluting but more expensive refined coal briquettes
But even at a subsidised price
low- income families struggle to heat their homes safely
Studies have shown that coal
and other cheap polluting fuels like charcoal
are used as a domestic fuel
by more than two billion people around the world
But such dense pollution is rarely seen in wealthier countries
where coal burning is now mostly kept out of cities
Here societies are changing to cleaner domestic fuels
like natural gas and electricity
Yet unclean air is here too
due primarily to one thing
o many chldren n my year had asthma.
They would be comparng ther pumps
they would be talkng about ther pumps.
It was almost part of the culture to have asthma.
I was aware that Ella had asthma
but I wasnt aware of how serous t was.
Ella Adoo- issi - Debrah
died in 201 at the age of just nine
An inquest into Ella's death
revealed a pattern linking spikes in illegal levels of air pollution
and the severity of her asthma attacks
The inquest which took seven years to resolve
made a landmark ruling in 2020 -
for the first time in the U
air pollution was recorded as a cause of death
We were all part of the same communty.
It was defntely a loss that we all collectvely felt
when she passed away.
Thnkng about t now ts honestly so shockng.
How s ths not a red flag for everyone n our communty
that so many chldren had asthma and ths ssue was very much lnked
to the area that we lved n whch was hghly polluted?
Because you cant always see ar polluton
the dangers of t often feel hdden or less severe.
As with the burning of coal,
the combustion of fossil fuels such as diesel and petroleum
that power our transport
also release dangerous gases and particulates into our air
Nitrogen dioxide one of the pollutants emitted from vehicles
can damage our lungs when breathed in
and worsen pre-existing health problems such as asthma
Particulate pollution from vehicles
not only comes from the combustion of fossil fuels
but from the wear and tear of brakes and tyres
Emerging research shows that U FPs or ultrafine particles
are especially dangerous to our health
Measuring at less than 01 microns in diameter
which is smaller than many airborne viruses
the tiny size of these particulates makes them extremely inhalable
Whether emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels
or the wear and tear of brakes and tyres
these particulates not only enter our lungs
but are small enough to enter the bloodstream
and can travel to different organs in the body
the result of which can cause tissue damage inflammation of organs
and lead to chronic health issues such as heart disease and strokes
I m constantly thnkng about what s enterng my lungs
when I m walkng down busy roads.
How could my commute to school actually be harmng me?
I wonder f my lungs capacty s reduced.
I wonder f I m gong to have a shorter lve expectancy
smply because of the ar that I m breathng rght now.
There are so many ssues that come from ar polluton
that mpact the development of chldren.
Ar polluton s even found n placentas.
It s affectng us before we are even born.
My generaton has nherted a polluted and drty planet
that t s now our role to fx and clean up.
Because ts our lves that depend on t.
The battle has begun in London to reduce polluting transport
with an Ultra Low Emission one in the centre
and support for a new generation of greener public transport
BI E BELL RI NGS
But children in cities around the world
are still faced with harmful levels of airborne pollutants
Children's developing bodies are particularly vulnerable
to the impacts of air pollution
The World Health Organization states that every day
more than 0 of the world's children breathe air
that is so polluted it puts their health and development at risk
But it's not only the health of children
nor the air quality in our cities that is a cause for concern
The air around us has travelled for thousands of miles
and on its journey across the planet
it picks up particulates and toxic gases
emitted from our polluting activities
carrying them far from source
The interconnectivity of our global air currents
means that air pollution doesn't recognise borders
so it doesn't matter where you live on Earth -
in the city or far from it -
air pollution will affect your life as the Sami reindeer herders
from northern Scandinavia have experienced
CATTLE BELL JANGLES
Chernobyl was perhaps one of the worst single air pollution events
in modern history
On April the 2th 18
the nuclear power plant exploded
casting radioactive particles into the atmosphere
BEEPI NG
The plumes of deadly radioactive material
spread hundreds of miles across Europe
with devastating effects to communities and the natural world
H ELICOPTER BUES
Chernobyl was a unique event
Yet data have shown that toxic gases like sulphur dioxide
and particulates from industry and power generation
are also carried in air currents around Europe
The movement of air about the globe means that ultimately
we share our air pollution with each other
and with the natural world
With each passing year we continue to emit particulates
and toxic gases into our air
Air pollution both indoors and outdoors
is now a leading risk factor for death and disability worldwide
Nine out of ten of us live our lives in an environment of unhealthy air
The full effect of our air pollution on the natural world
is still being assessed
but studies have shown that the particulates we're adding to the air
are making the atmosphere less transparent
lowering the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface
and causing an effect known as global dimming
The dimmer sunlight at the surface can reduce evaporation
impeding nature's water cycle and potentially lowering rainfall
in some parts of the world
Our dirtying of the air comes back to affect us all
It causes premature deaths and by changing the patterns of rainfall,
it may lead to droughts and failed harvests
The next few decades are expected to bring a growth in cities
of heavy industry and of vehicle use around the world
How can we ensure that this can happen
without making the air we share dirtier still?
What the world needs
s real bult examples
of how to do thngs dfferently.
My name s Bjarke I ngels. I m an archtect.
Archtecture essentally s the art and scence
of turnng fcton nto fact or turnng fantasy nto realty.
O you can magne you know
a power plant wth a sk slope on the roof
and ten years later thats just how t s.
Normally when you thnk about power plants
or waste management facltes you thnk about gant eyesores
but n ths case we could actually turn t nto a man made mountan
a metre tall landscape
as a way to change peoples mnds about what can a power plant be?
When you take the elevator up to the top of the mountan
you are actually lookng nto the belly of the beast
or the nsde of the mountan.
Half of the volume nsde the mountan s not the machnery
that turns the waste nto energy
ts actually the machnery that extracts and flters.
A normal chmney represents the falures of our technology
or our socety that ts essentally all the ar polluton
that we sort of just leak out
and f we buld the chmney hgh enough we hope t sort of goes away
and dsappears and weve learned that t doesnt.
Whereas n ths case the Copenhageners can now
actually alpne sk n the mddle of a country that has no mountans
because the power plant that turns our waste nto electrcty
and dstrct heatng s so clean that you almost have
fresh mountan ar on top of t.
I m not sayng that all power plants should be skable
but the technologes that are nsde CopenHll
of course are scalable.
Ustanable buldngs clean technology
allows you to magne a much more exctng and nvtng cty
than one where you really have to stay far away
from all the sort of drty ndustry.
Ustanablty should not only be a knd of moral mperatve
or lets say call t necessary sacrfce.
I love that dea that ts almost radcally changng the expectaton
for what the future mght hold.
N EI L ARMSTRONG Houston the Eagle has landed
That's one small step for man
One giant leap for mankind
If you ever stop and look at a tyre...
Its somethng that s so ordnary that I thnk a lot of us
dont really take the tme to look at
but lke theyre a huge lke object
lke rollng around our ctes all the tme wearng down.
I m obhan Anderson.
I m one of the four cofounders of The Tyre Collectve.
We all decded to work together to focus on polluton
because we felt lke t was somethng where we could ntervene
and really make a tangble mpact.
I n ctes weve become really focused on ar polluton
from talppe emssons.
But we know that vehcles
when they drve accelerate brake and corner...
...they produce these thngs called nonexhaust emssons
whch s very fne partcles that can become arborne
and tyre wear contrbutes to that.
To try and vsualse how much dfferent vehcles produce
we were actually able to track the longest bus route n London.
And then we calculated the total amount of tyre wear
that was produced n hours from that
and t produced a cube that was about the se of a grapefrut.
It was really bg. and t completely shocked us.
I thnk about every car that you see on the road
and magnng that thats whats comng off of that car
gong nto our ar and nto our water.
That was one of the startng ponts
that convnced us that we needed to do somethng about ths.
We wanted to make an mpact now
before more could be added to the envronment.
When these partcles are created
f you magne a spnnng wheel
as they come off rght at the ground at the contact patch
theyre actually charged due to the frcton of the road.
And what ths s means s as theyre flyng through the ar
we can actually use electrostatcs...
...to capture and attract them.
Rght now were creatng a retrofttable devce
so ths would be able to go on any vehcle.
Omethng lke a box behnd the wheel.
From there we are actually able to store them
n a dfferent storage tank n our devce
where they can be removed and collected.
Rght now s the perfect tme
to try and create systemc change thats needed.
As were shftng towards electrc vehcles
we defntely need to make sure that we really are consderng
every source of polluton n that transton.
I really hope that the technology that were developng wll be
on every vehcle out there that has a wheel or a tyre
to make sure that ths polluton s really stopped.
My name is Esther An
I 'm the Chief Sustainability Officer at City Developments Limited
Sustainability has always been at the heart of the way we design
I will say that I am passionate about all things sustainability
It's kind of like an addiction
Building our cities sustainably with nature in mind
can make a huge impact
especially on our air quality
But sadly many urban cities have become concrete jungles
with buildings towering all over
We all know that plants absorb carbon and help to filter toxins
They are nature's greatest air purifier
We need to really appreciate nature and tap into the energy
and positivity that nature can provide us
We must adopt biophilic design
in the way we design and build our infrastructure
If you can adopt biophilic design in your infrastructure
and in your building it's definitely you know
benefitting users and making everyone happier healthier
and even more productive
Biophilia literally means a love of nature
It is about living in harmony with
and also embracing nature - not fighting it
Today Singapore has gone one step further
to set its sight on becoming a city in nature
This is the world we want for our future generations
a world that you know you have clean air blue sky
and happiness and health for everyone
Our shared air could be made far cleaner and healthier
if we put our collective energies and minds to the task
The Earthshot Prize is here to recognise those efforts
by rewarding and supporting the most innovative ideas
to bring this inspiring ambition to pass
And here are the finalists of the first-ever Earthshot Prize
to clean our air
We head to I ndia to meet the young designer of an ironing cart
that uses solar panels instead of polluting fuel
I ndia is currently grappling
with significant air pollution in its cities
The bad air quality has a long list of causes
One is the burning of polluting fuels like charcoal on the streets
by the country's estimated ten million ironing vendors
At just 1 years old Vinisha Umashankar
a student from Tamil Nadu
has come up with the beginnings of a clean solution
The story started when I was years old
and I was just comng back home from school
and I notced the ronng vendors n my street usng charcoal.
I knew there was somethng wrong about t
so I dd a bt of research and I fgured out
that charcoal causes ar polluton respratory dseases
and all of ths s lnked to clmate change.
I n 201 with a lot of homework as well as the attention and support
of I ndia's National I nnovation Foundation
Vinisha came up with her winning design for a solar ironing cart
The cart has solar panels forming its roof
and these are connected to a battery
It takes around five hours of bright sunshine to fully charge
And this powers the iron for six hours
It even has a mobile phone charging point
meaning street vendors can gain extra income
by selling their stored solar energy
The benefts of the cart beng moble s that the ronng vendors
dont need to stay statonary n one place.
I nstead they can move across town and cover a larger area
thus expandng ther customer base.
Vinisha's idea represents one specific application
but its significance is that it proves a point -
wherever we use polluting fuels we can swap them for clean energy
With more funding she wants to mass- produce the carts cheaply
so that street vendors using charcoal in I ndia
the rest of Asia and Africa can also benefit
Vinisha deserves her place on this list because she's an inspiration
Proof that you're never too young to see a problem take action
and innovate
Now theres just one last feature
a very loud horn to let you know that the ronng vendor
s now n your street.
HORN HON S
Our next finalist
has helped transform China's air quality in recent years
with an app that enables the naming and shaming of the worst polluters
For many years China has been the world's biggest manufacturer
with a reputation for exceptionally high levels of air pollution
The people of China desperately needed to get their blue skies back
and a former journalist Ma J un
decided to use an app to let them do so
urng the smoggy season
checkng the ar qualty s lke checkng the weather.
Our users can fnd out
whether they should wear a mask open the wndow
or whether ts safe to send ther chldren outsde to play.
Or f ts not they can fgure out who s pollutng and tweet t.
When China began to release the emissions data
for thousands of factories
Ma J un placed it all on a map in an app
revealing to everyone when and where the air was dirty
and who was making it dirty
Its a way for us to tap nto transparency
and nformaton technologes
to empower mllons of people to jon the clean up efforts.
Ordinary citizens can use the app to call out polluters
and major brands are using the app to monitor
and improve the environmental performance of their suppliers
The app is making the polluters change their ways
I n just one case
a major lsted steel plant spent more than bllon
to make a very deep cut of ts emsson.
With more than ten million downloads
the app has already had a huge impact
To date it has led to reduced pollution at more than 10000
of China's most seriously polluting factories
So now the blue skies are coming back to China
But Ma J un doesn't want to stop there
He now has plans to develop the app
for other polluted parts of the world
I hope more people n the world can see the value of the combnaton of
technology transparency and publc partcpaton and be more hopeful
to jon the efforts to brng back those blue skes.
Blue Map App shows the potential impact of new technology
and the online community and teaches the world a lesson -
that clever innovation combined with public participation
is a recipe for progress
For our final idea we head back to I ndia
to learn about the Takachar machine
a portable device that can safely burn crop waste
to deal with a key source of air pollution in I ndia
Each year huge amounts of crop residues are burnt by rural farmers
in I ndia leading to urban smog in nearby cities
A young engineer decided to take action
I ve been experencng
poor qualty of ar snce chldhood.
Open burnng of crop resdues
contrbute about of the smog
and they take the already bad qualty of ar
to an extremely poor level.
What we have found s that farmers do not want to burn
ths agrcultural waste
and also are aware of the smoke problem
as t affects ther famles as well.
But due to lack of alternatves
they have no other choce but to burn them n the open.
Vidyut co-developed the Takachar machine
which uses a low-oxygen burning technique
to not only reduce pollution
but also convert the farmers' waste into valuable fertiliser and fuels
And because it's portable it can do so right in the fields
We feed n agrcultural waste lke rce straw coconut shells
nto the machne.
The agrculture waste then undergo torrefacton
whch s essentally roastng the bomass
between degrees Celsus.
This process superheats the residues while starving them of oxygen
producing much less smoke and emissions
It then gets converted to a carbon rch materal
and gets collected n a box ready to be stored and packaged.
The carbon- rich product is used by the farmers as fuel,
fertiliser or sold to industry for factory
and domestic water filtration
It can consume up to kg per hour of agrcultural and forest waste
so f you run t for ten hours a day ts capacty s two tonnes.
Takachar are providing a meaningful solution
that benefits both farmers and the planet
If scaled up they believe they have the potential to increase
the income of rural communities
while improving the air quality of 200 million people
These incredible solutions
could ultimately improve the lives of so many of us
One of these projects will soon win the Earthshot Prize
and get the support platform and resources it needs
to take the initiative to scale
Humans can achieve remarkable things when we set our minds to it
HORN HON S
I n the next episode
we will learn how we may achieve the fourth Earthshot
and revive our oceans
We'll discover a fishing community in Mexico
that has quadrupled its marine life in 15 years
meet sniffer dogs helping us to understand and halt
our poisoning of the seas
and find people all over the world who are demonstrating
just how quickly and spectacularly the oceans can recover -
if we let them