[music playing]
Narrator: The forces of nature have shaped
Planet earth over billions of years.
Fire, water, and wind have sculpted its surface
In spectacular ways.
It's a life-giving planet, the only one in the universe,
As far as we know.
Extravagant in bounty and beauty, this is our home.
And in making it our home,
Humans have harnessed the natural gifts of the planet.
As a species, we've literally changed the world.
Across the earth and stretching to sea and sky
Is a geological era that some people call the age of humans.
As humanity advances in strength and knowledge,
How much change can our planet survive?
What will the legacy be of the age of humans?
[music playing]
The effects of humanity's achievements
Can be seen in the farthest corners of the world.
We transform forests into arable land.
And technology is allowing us to spread further and further.
Megacities grow at breathtaking speed.
The world we've created today is marked by constant development.
The world's population is constantly growing too,
Yet the land we have is finite.
Matthias glaubrecht: [non-english speech]
Interpreter: By now, we use 2/3 of the surface of the earth
For human habitations, for traffic,
For agriculture, which means that we have
Become the dominant factor.
Since the middle of the 20th century,
We have filled our planet with the products
Of our daily life--
Concrete, aluminum, plastic-- and created
A kind of technosphere.
The plastic layer, the changes in carbon isotopes,
The disruption to the ecosystems, sedimentation,
Nitrogen perturbations, nuclear radiation and fallout,
And all of those things that are creating
A layer in the geology.
And it will be visible there for hundreds of millions of years.
And people will be able to--
The people, somebody, entities will be able to drill down
Through the crust of the earth.
We may be long gone, but they will see our fingerprint still.
[music playing]
Narrator: Already, more than half
Of humanity lives in cities.
And trends indicate that cities will continue to grow.
Each new house, each new road, everything we build
Requires land.
All around the world, cities are displacing
Fertile ground, which is a precious natural resource
In itself.
[music playing]
Soil takes centuries to develop from bedrock.
As water and acids corrode the rock,
Microorganisms such as bacteria transform dead plants
Into humus, which is worked into the soil
By earthworms to create the nutrient-rich mixture that
Can grow food.
[chatter]
Scientists believe that our ancestors discovered
The life-giving properties of fertile soil
Some 10,000 years ago,
A revelation that transformed them from hunter gatherers
Into farmers.
[music playing]
It begins in the middle east and gradually spreads from there.
Farming is one of the greatest revolutions
In the age of humans.
An area which once fed five people now
Provides food for 35.
Farming makes possible the growth
Of settlements into large-scale societies,
Like that of ancient egypt.
[music playing]
The nile valley is one of the most fertile
Regions in all of antiquity--
Made possible by the rich soil carried down
Each year from the ethiopian highlands
During the rainy season.
The soil makes the valley a giant blossoming oasis
And feeds the most advanced civilization of its day.
[music playing]
It's the first time that state officials are charged
With the administration of fertile land,
Regulating farming, livestock, and distribution
Of the harvest.
Agriculture becomes the driving force of state building,
Because only if a community succeeds in producing
A surplus of food can it release people to work on other tasks--
Erecting monuments, contemplating religion,
Discovering math and science.
For thousands of years, egypt is the preeminent civilization
In the mediterranean world.
But they're not the only ones discovering state building.
By 10,000 bc, humans are simultaneously
Starting to farm and build cities on other continents--
In asia, the americas, europe, and elsewhere in africa.
[music playing]
Around 2000 years ago, our planet was inhabited
By about 300 million people.
More than 50 million of them are subjects of the roman empire,
Which is transforming not only human life but the land
As well.
The capital city of rome houses a million people.
They live in a kind of luxury most of the world
Can't even imagine.
[non-english speech]
Interpreter: The roman empire is, of course,
Held together by its military power
And the organizational central force.
Both factors allow the romans not only
To control an immense territory, which encompassed almost all
The known world back then from rome,
But which also offered its citizens an enormously
High standard of living.
[non-english speech]
Narrator: When farming first began,
People lived strictly on local products.
Now, wealthy romans are able to feast on imports,
Exotic plants and animals brought
Home from their provinces.
The range of choices is immense.
[non-english speech]
Interpreter: This, I'm almost inclined to say,
Strategy of colonization enabled rome
To bring in food and luxury goods
From even the remotest regions.
All this by creating a highly efficient infrastructure.
[non-english speech]
Narrator: It's made possible in part by the famous roman roads.
For the first time, paved roads crossed vast distances.
They connect villages and towns together like never before,
Enabling trade and commerce.
The roads are marvels of engineering.
Right, perfect.
Narrator: They're constructed mostly in straight lines--
Faster to travel on than curved roads.
And they're ingeniously designed to resist flooding.
It's a feat of engineering that creates more than 12,000 miles
Of surfaced roads, reaching into the farthest
Corners of the empire.
A map from late roman times shows the network of roads
Stretching from the british isles
Across the mediterranean world and finally to asia.
At the easternmost margin of the map, it says sera major.
According to some historians, this may mean
China, which suggests that human civilization is
Now a net that spans the globe.
Here, too, humans have long been changing the landscape.
These meticulously terraced fields
In the northwest part of the country
Are today home to 50 million people.
The loess plateau is named for a mineral-rich sediment
Called loess, which is carried by the winds.
The plateau stretches across 250,000 square miles
And has been feeding the people here
For at least thousand years.
[music playing]
But what the wind brings in can also be swept away.
The loess plateau has been called one of the most highly
Erodable places on earth, needing constant management
To preserve.
All over the world, the land has stories to tell.
In western australia, rock layers
Provide evidence of dramatic changes to the landscape.
The reddish color of the canyons of the karijini national park
Contain high contents of iron.
The mineral is often produced by volcanoes,
Yet here, the rocks reveal that the iron was created
By different forces altogether.
Where the river has cut deep gorges,
Scientists believe there was once a vast ocean.
Hans-rudolf bork: [non-english speech]
Interpreter: About 2 and 1/2 billion years ago,
There was more and more oxygen in the atmosphere
And, therefore, also in the oceans,
Causing the iron to oxidize.
The iron then sink to the bottom of the sea,
Forming ever thicker layers,
Measuring hundreds and thousands of feet,
Which we now can mine as iron ore.
Hans-rudolf bork: [non-english speech]
Narrator: Under the pressure of the layers above,
The lower strata compacted into solid rock.
This region was shaped long before
We appeared on the scene, thus the gorges
Contain no evidence of humans.
In the future, the layers we leave behind
Will tell a different story.
[music playing]
Humans have certainly made marks on the planet.
And we've done it with breathtaking efficiency.
Earth is 4.6 billion years old.
And humans have been part of it
For a tiny fraction of that time.
If we imagine that the planet were one day old,
Then humans have only been here for a mere three seconds.
Yet, in that tiny sliver of time,
We've transformed our planet.
Viewed from the sky, it's easy to see
Large-scale transformation of the land.
Artificial shapes and geometric forms are another mark
Of the age of humans.
This is land that's been dramatically
Altered to meet our needs--
A confluence of wealth, innovation,
Science, and hard work.
Modern humans may have perfected large-scale transformation,
But it was our ancestors who first
Started it many centuries ago.
This is the world of the vikings,
A place of harsh weather and dramatic fjords.
Many centuries ago, humans answered the urge
To explore new worlds, setting out
On daring sea journeys that became
The stuff of myth and legend.
They are hunters, fishermen, farmers,
And boat builders, who are also fearless warriors and pirates.
In the late 800s, vikings discover an uninhabited island
In the atlantic, a paradise teeming with life
That today we call iceland.
Vikings create permanent settlements here
And, at the same time, disrupt the environment.
[non-english speech]
Interpreter: The vikings or, to be more precise,
Settlers from norway,
Came into a more or less uninhabited country.
There may have been some irish monks,
But they were soon expelled.
The land as such was near perfect.
About a quarter of it was covered by forests.
There was enormous space for grazing cattle.
And all of this was for free.
Yet humans destroyed it within a mere 100 years.
[non-english speech]
Narrator: These settlers introduced
Cattle onto the land, which helped them clear the forests.
Wood is essential to their survival
To cook and build shelter.
It allows them to stay alive through frigid nights
And winters.
The clearing's become grazing grounds for animals.
But the vegetation is unable to regenerate this far north.
During the short summers, settlers stockpile their food.
Food and wood become precious commodities,
Even as the population grows and human survival instincts
Kick in with violent results.
The famous iceland sagas tell of quarrels
Over land that often escalate,
Ending in murder among rival clans.
What do you want?
They say you started upon my lands.
[groaning]
So beat it, you rascal.
Let me be.
I'll show you.
[music playing]
[sword slicing]
Narrator: Early court proceedings record disputes
Where perpetrators were expelled and become
Enemies of the tribe.
What is your verdict?
And all of his kin.
Three years greenland.
That shall be your punishment. Be gone!
Narrator: The iceland sagas are proof that humans have been
Arguing about how best to exploit the earth
For a very long time.
Some 400 years later, the middle ages are dawning.
The world's population has increased
To 400 million people, most of them living in asia.
In europe, the population is growing quickly.
And people are working the earth harder than ever to survive.
[non-english speech]
Interpreter: Between 1000 and 1300 ad,
The population in germany increased from 4 to 11 million.
So it almost tripled.
Today, the rate is even faster.
But back then, given a time span of three centuries,
It was enormous.
Narrator: New settlements in germany
Are giving way to ever larger cities.
30% of the forests are cut down to create
Buildings and grow food.
By about 1300 ad, an astonishing 85% of forests
Have been cleared, which is, in fact,
Considerably less than what exists in germany today.
New farms are being created all the time.
And on what was once hard soil, iron plowshares
Make it possible to farm.
Yet the new plow merely turns the soil onto its side
Rather than turning it completely over,
Which is a later innovation.
This leaves the earth loose and susceptible to runoff.
In July of the year 1342, a natural disaster
Makes history and becomes known as the magdalene flood.
After an extremely dry period, the fields become waterlogged
And yet the rain keeps coming.
People back then see it as a divine punishment,
The return of the great flood.
One story says that the locks of heaven were open,
And rain fell upon the earth as in the 600th year
Of noah's life.
Some 13 billion tons of fertile soil
Are washed away in a matter of days.
It's the equivalent of normal soil loss
Over a 2000-year period, leaving some villages unable to farm
For centuries to come.
150 years later, it's 1500 ad, and another important chapter
Of the age of humans is about to begin in the americas.
Civilizations here have cultivated crops
That are unknown elsewhere in the world--
Avocados and green beans, papayas and peanuts.
Plants and seeds are about to travel to other countries
And civilizations.
Interpreter: The natural resources
Of the americas changed the whole world,
Not only the americas and europe but the whole planet.
[non-english speech]
Narrator: One south american plant in particular
Will become popular like no other--
Maize.
Native americans cultivate it from a mexican wild grass,
Called teosinte, into the plant we now call corn.
Today, with an annual yield of more than a billion tons,
Corn is one of the world's largest
And most valuable crops.
Corn today is raised in immense fields.
This facilitates both cultivation
And harvesting, which are done with heavy machinery.
This spectacular operation is the outgrowth of innovations
That started with ancient humans
And were refined over millennia.
[music playing]
One contributor to that process is an englishman
By the name of jethro tull.
Around the year 1700, he invents a machine
To sow seeds that allows planting with never
Before seen precision.
It fits.
Wonderful.
Narrator: It punches holes in the ground,
Inserts a single seed, and then covers it with soil.
This way, the plants grow in perfectly regular
Distance from each other, allowing
For maximum use of the field.
300 years later, agriculture is practiced
With a precision and scale
Jethro tull could never have dreamed.
California's central valley is one of
The most productive agricultural regions
In the world.
More than 200 crops are grown here,
From almonds, artichokes, and asparagus
To cotton, garlic, and olives.
Much of the work is done from the air using infrared cameras
To survey the area.
The central valley is vast, about 50 miles wide,
And 450 miles long.
It's the world's largest patch of class 1 soil,
The best there is, providing more than a third
Of all the produce grown in the united states.
Images from the air tell the farmer on the ground
Precisely where pest control and fertilizers are needed.
It's called precision agriculture, which saves money
And benefits the environment.
That farming is even possible here
Is the result of large-scale human engineering.
Gigantic irrigation channels bring water to the fields
From hundreds of miles away.
It all makes the central valley one
Of the biggest consumers of water and energy
In the country.
[music playing]
Where humans once sweated to work the soil by hand,
Machines now do the job with cool precision.
Remote controlled tractors allow for greater efficiency
And a smaller workforce.
Farmers around here are more likely to run
A computer than a combine.
This is the future of the agriculture industry,
Providing higher yields through maximum efficiency.
In many areas, harvests yield four times as much
As they did just 100 years ago.
And that's not just because of the increased use of machinery.
It's mostly due to the invention of fertilizer,
An invention that will do good but at a very high price.
[music playing]
The invention of fertilizer at the beginning
Of the 20th century is one of the groundbreaking inventions
Of the age of humans.
German scientists fritz haber and carl bosch
Develop a procedure that allows nitrogen from the air
To be converted into ammonia.
Since nitrogen is the driving force of plant growth,
Ammonia becomes the basis for artificial fertilizers,
Though at a cost its makers don't anticipate.
Will steffen: The key, the breakthrough was
The industrialization, where we could take nitrogen
From the air using chemical processes
And convert it into reactive nitrogen.
Well, there are a couple of things there.
That takes a lot of energy in the first place.
But second of all, it's pouring an enormous amount
Of new reactive nitrogen.
Now, we use that to grow food.
But there's a very high fraction of that
That actually then spills out into the environment.
It nutrifies the water systems.
It pollutes land and so on.
So now we've seen an enormous increase
In reactive nitrogen cycling through the earth system.
Narrator: In addition to nitrogen,
Fertilizers typically contain phosphate
And potassium, both of which cause
Environmental problems to mine.
It's the trade-off humans have made
To feed an ever-growing population and an example
Of the domino effect that occurs when one change is introduced
Into a complex system.
As the age of humans advances and the world's population
Continues to grow, in 1804, it surpasses a billion.
A little more than a century later, it doubles to 2 billion.
And from there, the curve only gets steeper.
The agricultural revolution is followed
By its industrial counterpart.
Artificial fertilizers are joined by high-tech machinery.
Today, a single harvesting machine
Is more efficient than 100 pickers of the past.
[music playing]
As agriculture requires fewer human hands to work the farms,
People migrate to cities to make a living.
From new york to mexico city and mumbai,
Building explodes to accommodate them.
And entire skylines change in the course
Of a few generations.
In 2008, for the first time in the history of humanity,
The world's urban population outnumbers rural areas.
Today, earth contains 30 megacities
Of more than 10 million people.
And that number is increasing.
The explosive growth of cities since world war 2
Is one of the most distinctive features of the age of humans.
[music playing]
And migration isn't limited to humans.
Plants started to travel the globe too,
In the hands of explorers, scientists, and traders.
The royal botanical gardens in london
Houses seven million specimens, making it the largest
Plant collection on earth.
Their seeds exist in a dry state because hundreds of years ago
When humans crossed the oceans,
There was no way to preserve plants in the salt air
For months at sea.
[music playing]
Then enterprising thinkers came up with novel solutions.
One of them is a london physician and gardener
Named nathaniel ward.
It's 1829, and ward is frustrated
That the polluted london air is giving his plants a hard time.
[music playing]
He has the idea for an artificial miniature biosphere,
Something like what we'd call a terrarium today.
All it takes are some strips of wood
And a couple panes of glass.
The wardian case is a success.
The plants inside the case remain fresh for weeks,
Without having to be watered.
[music playing]
In 1848, tea seedlings are brought from china
To india in wardian cases.
Later, gum trees are shipped from south america to asia.
By using these miniature greenhouses,
Humans around the world begin to redesign entire landscapes
And ecosystems.
[music playing]
The figure that I have seen is that before the 19th century
Around about 500 garden species were introduced to britain
In the previous 500 years.
In the 19th century, around about 15,000 garden species
Were introduced to britain.
Narrator: Once people start to transport plants,
It's not long before they trade in animals too.
It's the first period of real globalization,
Which is not without its downsides.
Australia holds the record for building
The longest fence in the world,
Running for more than 900 miles.
It separates the westernmost regions
From the rest of the continent.
And its function is to help control
One species in particular.
[music playing]
In 1859, settlers bring rabbits to the continent
And keep them in stables until a farmer releases 24 of them
For hunting, an act with disastrous consequences.
Without any natural enemies, the rabbits multiply
And strip the land bare.
The authorities offer bounties.
And the fence is erected.
[music playing]
But as a protective measure, it's less than perfect.
Wooden stakes rot and break, and the wire corrodes,
Despite ongoing maintenance.
[music playing]
Even today, the devastation caused by rabbits
To the environment and agriculture
Is estimated to be in the region of one billion
Australian dollars every year.
Animals and plants continue to travel the world today,
Usually by sea.
Between 200 and 300 million containers
Are in transit at any given moment,
Giving humans an unprecedented number of choices.
[music playing]
Our world has become interconnected as never before.
And the risks continue.
The much loved banana, for instance,
Hails from a single plant produced around 1830
In an english greenhouse.
Without genetic diversity, individual crops can become
Targets of insects and disease.
Even as widespread as bananas are,
This makes them vulnerable to destruction.
Hans-rudolf bork: [non-english speech]
Interpreter: The globalization of field crops,
Meaning cultivated plants, has led to us having ever fewer
Varieties at our disposal.
That's why pests of all sorts can spread widely
Among certain species and remove them from the market
So that specific fruits and vegetables
Are no longer available.
[non-english speech]
Narrator: To counter this threat, humans around the globe
Are going to great lengths to protect
The genetic material of plants.
In an uncertain future, seed banks
Are one way to ensure that we'll have
Plants to feed a hungry planet.
[music playing]
Global biodiversity is being protected by organizations
Such as the millennium seed bank, south of london,
Which contains seeds from all known british plants and others
From around the world.
If a species goes missing in the wild,
These seeds ensure that cultivation can begin again.
The extinction of plant species caused by humans
Is occurring 500 times faster than it
Would under natural conditions.
As it currently stands, we're losing countless plant species
Every year.
The main purpose of the millennium seed bank
Is as a conservation activity, a plant conservation activity.
So we store seeds here for hopefully long periods,
Many tens, if not hundreds of years.
Dry and cold.
[music playing]
Narrator: In ethiopia, the approach is a little different.
The seed bank in addis ababa was founded in 1976
And is one of the oldest and largest in all of africa.
They house an astonishing 62,000 plant varieties here.
But they don't keep their seeds under lock and key.
They want their farmers to use them.
Teaching the farmers for conservation
It doesn't work enough.
They should get some sort of benefits.
There is a saying in genetic research conservation,
They call if you are-- if you are not going to use it,
We are going to lose it.
So some sort of utilization should
Be connected with conservation.
Otherwise, the farmers may not be interested to conserve it.
Narrator: The approach has been highly successful,
As ethiopia has maintained its biodiversity
Over the years.
Since the country has a variety of terrain,
From mountains to deserts and tropical forests,
Farmers make good use of the different seeds available.
[music playing]
Back at the millennium seed bank,
They're focused on the seeds of wild plants.
They've got more than two billion seeds here
From some 38,000 species.
So we have the backup mechanism here
Against extinction.
And we encourage, as far as is possible,
That our collections are used now and not
Just when the emergency arises.
Narrator: To keep the seeds in the best state possible,
They're examined on arrival and then regularly checked
For their ability to germinate.
Yet, as much as seed banks are helping to preserve life
In the age of humans, all living things relate
To each other in complex ways.
Take insects, for example, they pollinate
Most of the world's plants, both in the wild and on farms.
If insect pollination were a man-made service,
Some estimate that it would be valued
At up to $500 billion a year.
Yet, modern farming methods have shaped
Landscapes where insects are finding it
Harder and harder to survive.
[music playing]
Volunteers of the entomologic society of krefeld, germany
Have been closely monitoring the presence of insects
In parts of the country for decades.
In 2017, one of their studies makes
Headlines all over the world.
Their research indicates that the number of flying insects
In parts of germany has diminished more than 75%
In the last 30 years.
[music playing]
Of the 28 species of bumblebees once observed
Around the city of krefeld, a staggering 19 of those species
Are now extinct.
In fact, bees are in decline all around the world,
Caused by a variety of factors, including pesticides,
Habitat loss, and climate change.
In china, vanishing insects have long had dramatic consequences.
These days, fruit-bearing trees are
Actually pollinated by hand.
Locals hope the insects that used to live here
Will return one day.
But there is no way of telling when or if
That will ever happen.
[music playing]
The insect crisis is, in fact, so dire
That labs like those at mit in boston
Are imagining how technology might help.
Their idea-- tiny robot bees.
It's all theoretical at the moment.
And it won't solve the problem,
But it might provide useful insight for future solutions.
[music playing]
Elizabeth farell helbing: We're thinking about, you know,
Putting power on board, giving them
Some level of intelligence.
Then you're thinking about any type of application
Where you want to send a lot of them
Out into the world at the same time.
So they would be really good at, you know,
Distributed sensor networks or environmental monitoring,
Crop pollination, things like that.
Narrator: Manufacturing mini drones, less than an inch long
And weighing a tiny fraction of an ounce,
Is definitely a challenge.
[wings flapping]
Elizabeth farell helbing: We were really inspired
By children's pop-up books.
And so what happens is you have individual sheets that are
Cut and patterned individually.
And then we laminate them all together into a structure.
And so this allows us to get a lot of the hinges and joints
That we need to put them all together.
And then you can create a 3d structure from a 2d sheet.
Narrator: The mini robot may soon be ready to fly.
Yet we're still a long way from robot bees
Capable of pollinating entire fields.
[elephants grunting]
Insects aren't the only beings that are fighting for survival
In the age of humans.
[birds quacking]
Changes on earth are threatening creatures great and small.
[music playing]
Robert watson: We are currently losing a significant number
Of species.
And populations of species are already going down.
Some people would argue in the sixth mass extinction,
The first one ever to be caused by human activity.
Narrator: About 25% of all species that have been studied
Are seriously threatened with extinction.
Meanwhile, the world's population
Is expected to increase by two billion people
In the next 30 years, according to the united nations,
From 7.7 to 9.7 billion.
Feeding humanity will be a challenge in the years to come.
And experts believe our best hope lies in africa.
[music playing]
As the human population is expected to grow
By two billion people in the next three decades,
Some think that africa will become the breadbasket
Of the planet since it's one of the few regions left
With lots of land and water.
The greatest challenge for the world in the decades ahead
Lies in advancing the economic development
Of a growing population while conserving the biodiversity
Needed to keep plant and animal species healthy.
Interpreter: Climate change is the word
Of the hour these days.
But the losses in biodiversity are a much graver problem.
Species develop over hundreds of thousands
Or even over millions of years.
So there won't be enough time for new species
To grow to replace those we lose today.
We may hope to get a grip on climate change
And turn back the clock during the next years or decades.
As for biodiversity, however,
Once a species has become extinct, it's lost forever.
[non-english speech]
Narrator: That means innovation will be important
To our future, not just for survival but for the quality
Of life we're able to maintain.
Some intriguing new models are already beginning to grow.
[music playing]
In a former steel factory near new york city,
So-called vertical farms grow arugula, kale,
And other greens in a computer-controlled
Environment, all without soil.
It's called aerofarms.
And it boasts 20 to 30 harvests every year,
Using 95% less water than traditional farming,
All close to the consumers who eat it.
Our mission is to build farms in cities all over the world
So everyone has access to fresh, healthy, safe food.
And in doing so is to take an understanding of plant science
To new levels, be better farmers--
So understanding how to deliver
What a plant wants, understanding what a plant wants
And then how to deliver it.
Narrator: In this computer-controlled environment,
Water, light, and fertilizer are given
In just the right amounts.
Yet, as much as we need innovations like this,
They do come with trade-offs.
Some operations use more fossil fuels
To produce each unit of food.
And this kind of produce can also be
More expensive for consumers.
But 30 harvests a year with 95% less water consumption
Is a promising beginning.
Human innovation will need to continue
To address farming in all the diverse areas of the planet.
According to experts, earth is capable of feeding up
To 12 billion people.
But that can only happen if countries cooperate
With each other and humans continue to conserve and find
New ways of growing food.
[music playing]
Will steffen: We are still ultimately
Dependent on the biosphere.
That's where our food comes from.
That's where we go when we die and so on.
We're part of the great cycle of life.
Our job is to be stewards.
That's what human life should be all about, rather than trying
To extract so much wealth, so much resources out that we're
Not very happy ourselves.
You know, most happiness indexes say our happiness
Is actually going down.
At the same time, we're disrupting the biosphere.
[music playing]
Narrator: Planet earth and its creatures
Are truly things of beauty.
And today, we're able to see the planet more completely
Than humans ever have--
From the sky and even from space.
These magnificent views can actually change
Our perception of the world.
They call it the overview effect.
Ben grant: Ultimately, what lies underneath the project
Is this psychological idea of awe.
And awe is when you're exposed to something
Perceptually vast, when you see something
Complex or large in size.
And that's often what you're seeing in one of our images.
When you experience awe on a regular basis,
You are more likely to be prosocial,
More willing to collaborate, and more
Likely to protect the planet.
[music playing]
Narrator: The age of humans has definitely changed
The landscape of planet earth.
Our ingenuity has served us well so far.
We figured out how to feed billions
And how to power healthy, productive lives.
But we're also facing serious questions.
How should we respond to signs that earth
Is sending us that we may be taking too much from the land?
Is there a time in the future
When the land becomes incapable of supporting all our needs?
How it ends may be up to us and what we do in the years to come.
[music playing]