1 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,280 In this series, we have explored the Earth's frozen frontiers. 2 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,800 We have celebrated the astonishing variety of animals 3 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:19,520 that are found there. 4 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:33,280 And revealed the extraordinary ways by which they manage to survive. 5 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,720 At a time when our icecaps are melting faster than ever before, 6 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,240 we will meet the scientists and people who are dedicating 7 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,440 their lives to protecting our frozen planet. 8 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,960 And striving to turn things around while there is still time 9 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,760 to do so. 10 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,200 It won't be easy, but it's doable. 11 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:12,680 It's crucial... 12 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,920 ..that we try to understand what the impact will be, 13 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:20,160 not just for the wildlife and the people that live there, 14 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,040 but for you and for me. 15 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,680 We start our journey in the high Arctic and the vast frozen 16 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:44,720 expanse of Greenland. 17 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:52,200 This huge island is blanketed by the largest store of ice 18 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,200 in the northern hemisphere. 19 00:02:56,920 --> 00:02:58,640 But now it's shrinking. 20 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,120 Professor Alun Hubbard is a glaciologist, and he's spent 21 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:12,360 over 30 years studying the movement of ice along Greenland's coastline. 22 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:19,280 It is a beast of a glacier, that it's just growling constantly. 23 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,520 Thundering in the background. 24 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,320 Oh, there we go, bit of activity. 25 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:42,680 Carving icebergs is a natural process, 26 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:44,840 but what we've seen in the last 20 years is there's 27 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:46,280 been much more melt. 28 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,760 And much more ice carving off, producing huge icebergs. 29 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,000 So it's quite an intimidating place to be hanging out. 30 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:13,080 One thing in particular has caused this increase 31 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:14,880 in melting and carving... 32 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:23,960 We put this weather station here in 2010. 33 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,320 And the hottest temperature was two days ago. 34 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:35,240 At 22.37 degrees centigrade. 35 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:40,400 That is very, very hot for Greenland. 36 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,680 As the ice falls into the ocean, it raises sea levels globally. 37 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:00,640 These are now rising by an average of four millimetres a year. 38 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,480 A quarter of that comes from the Greenland ice sheet. 39 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:12,040 And scientists fear that this figure could increase rapidly. 40 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:19,960 To investigate, Alun has travelled 70 miles inland 41 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,160 to the top of the ice sheet, where the glaciers 42 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,840 start their lives as compacted snow more than a mile thick. 43 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,640 Here, the effects of a warming climate are only too clear. 44 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,720 There are thousands of these beautiful azure blue lakes, 45 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,800 littered across the surface of the ice sheet. 46 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,600 The surface has always melted in the summer, but not on this scale. 47 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,320 And Alun wants to know what effect the increase in meltwater 48 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,920 is having on the ice sheet as a whole. 49 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,600 The sheer quantity of water... 50 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,720 ..shifting through the system is crazy. 51 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,520 Powerful torrents of meltwater are boring shafts 52 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,320 known as moulins into the ice sheet. 53 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,000 This is nuts, this a moulin actively being formed. 54 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,640 A moulin in Genesis. 55 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,920 As we speak, that water is finding the path of least resistance, 56 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,200 sculpting this shaft that's going deep into the ice. 57 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:55,440 And here it is. 58 00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:01,480 Just toppling over a waterfall edge and dropping into the ice sheet. 59 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,640 But where is all this meltwater going and what impact 60 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,880 is it having on the structure of the ice sheet? 61 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:18,440 To find out, Alun decides to climb inside a dried up moulin. 62 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000 Think it must be 15, 20 metres down here? 63 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:27,240 I'm going to go down a bit further. 64 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,480 It's a very narrow shaft here. 65 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,040 It's always been assumed that the meltwater drains straight 66 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,080 down and out of the bottom of the ice sheet. 67 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,320 But what Alun discovers is very different. 68 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:46,960 I can hear a big amount of water moving in this system. 69 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,800 And the water's starting to spread sideways, laterally. 70 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,840 So the drainage system is obviously complex. 71 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,360 It's interlinked. 72 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:05,240 These observations suggest that the meltwater is branching out 73 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,640 in every direction, causing this once rigid 74 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,960 structure to destabilise. 75 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,600 Whoa, it's a bit rotten. 76 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:18,240 Everything is rotten here. 77 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,240 The implications of this are frightening. 78 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,480 Alun believes that as the ice sheet begins to thaw, it's sliding 79 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,400 towards the ocean at a much faster rate. 80 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,480 And he's now confirmed that using time lapse photography. 81 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:49,680 The ice at the front can be moving in excess of 20 metres a day. 82 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:52,200 Which is fast. 83 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,560 That is a huge quantity of ice straight into the ocean. 84 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:03,760 Some of Greenland's glaciers are moving three times faster today 85 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:05,840 than they were 30 years ago. 86 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,920 As the climate's warming, the rate at which this ice sheet flows 87 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,560 is absolutely critical. 88 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:17,280 So whereas at the moment we're thinking this thing 89 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,840 is going to take thousands of years to melt and disintegrate. 90 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:26,600 If it does move faster and accelerate, it means centuries. 91 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,120 That is a really contentious and very important question 92 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,520 because this ice sheet has enough water in it to raise global sea 93 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,360 level by over seven metres. 94 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,200 And that's a total disaster for humanity. 95 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:55,000 Calculations predict that nearly half a billion people living 96 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,240 in coastal communities around the world will be displaced 97 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,000 by flooding by the end of the century. 98 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,720 But if the Greenland ice sheet slips into the ocean more rapidly, 99 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,200 this could all happen far sooner. 100 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:18,640 Greenland isn't the only large body of ice in the Arctic. 101 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:23,240 In winter, the ocean here freezes over, creating a cover of ice 102 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:25,960 larger than the entire United States. 103 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:34,800 This sea ice has always got smaller in summer, but today 104 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,040 it's rapidly disappearing. 105 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:44,080 Hotter temperatures are melting it at an unprecedented rate. 106 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,920 With worrying consequences for the wildlife 107 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:51,240 that depends on it. 108 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,920 For harp seals, the sea ice is an excellent place 109 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,560 for giving birth out of the water. 110 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:23,480 It provides the defenceless newborn pups with a safe space 111 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,200 for their first six weeks until they're big enough 112 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,000 to swim proficiently. 113 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,760 But with the sea ice disappearing increasingly fast... 114 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,040 ..will they be able to adapt? 115 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,560 Coastguard 432... 116 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,240 Coastguard radio, coastguard 432. 117 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:59,880 In Canada's Gulf of St Lawrence, a group of seal biologists 118 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:01,600 are trying to find out. 119 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,200 It's a pretty dangerous, pretty inhospitable place. 120 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:08,880 But it's the perfect environment for these seals to spend the first 121 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,000 few weeks of their lives. 122 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,160 There's a group just down here to the right, now. 123 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,200 But the fragile sea ice is a challenging place 124 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:20,760 in which to work. 125 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,320 Here, let's go a little further out. 126 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:31,440 To support a two tonne helicopter, the ice must be at least 127 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:33,840 30 centimetres thick. 128 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:38,040 And the only way to find out if that's so, is with a drill. 129 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,280 It's just unsafe here. 130 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,240 There's a couple just down here below us now. 131 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,400 We've got a pretty short window here. 132 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,960 The team are trying to discover where the seals go 133 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,040 when they become independent. 134 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:35,280 This is a juvenile harp seal. 135 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,400 This is exactly what we've been out on the ice trying to find. 136 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:39,720 Hey, little guy. 137 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,280 They're absolutely beautiful. 138 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,760 We'll be putting a satellite transmitter on the top 139 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,520 of this animal's head so that every time the animal comes 140 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,040 to the surface, we can get a location estimate 141 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:54,920 for where he is at sea. 142 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,040 It won't harm them in any way, and in return, 143 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,000 the amount of information we get from them is invaluable. 144 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,800 We're really interested to see where these animals go, 145 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,320 as the ice starts to break up over the coming months. 146 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:18,040 The results from the study so far do not look encouraging. 147 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:24,080 Despite migrating huge distances, when the time comes to have pups 148 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:28,600 of their own, harp seals almost always return to the area where 149 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:30,600 they themselves were born. 150 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,800 But as the sea ice shrinks, so does its Suitability as a nursery. 151 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,640 The problem really comes about if the only ice available 152 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,320 in the traditional areas is very thin. 153 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:53,760 They'll still use that ice and then you get an increased mortality. 154 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:01,720 In short, the pups risk drowning if the ice isn't thick enough. 155 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,960 And the bigger question is will the ice continue 156 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:08,640 to exist at all? 157 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,640 In my lifetime, we've lost about two thirds of the summer 158 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:18,360 sea ice in the Arctic. 159 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,640 And it's likely that in the next 30 years we're going to end 160 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,520 up with an ice free Arctic in the summer. 161 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,200 I think one of the issues with climate change 162 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,840 is that it's really difficult to see. 163 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:43,240 But in the case of harp seals, it's really quite simple. 164 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:49,600 If we lose the sea ice in the Arctic, we lose the harp seals. 165 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,080 For harp seals, their future, it has to be said, 166 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,320 appears uncertain. 167 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,600 But what about the most famous face of climate change... 168 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:13,200 ..the polar bear? 169 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:29,200 Can this keenly intelligent animal adapt to a rapidly changing world? 170 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:38,200 As the summer sea ice melts away, many polar bears 171 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:40,760 are forced to head for dry land. 172 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,640 Some swim up to 400 miles to get there. 173 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,520 This is Wrangel... 174 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,720 A remote island in Arctic Russia. 175 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,480 HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN 176 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:50,920 Without the sea ice, the hungry bears cannot hunt seals and feed 177 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:55,000 on their calorie rich flesh, but find other sources of food, 178 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,400 including human food supplies. 179 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,360 Each summer, Gennadiy is joined by polar bear expert 180 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:25,640 Dr Eric Regehr. 181 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,040 We need to cross that ridge. OK. 182 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:39,040 Eric wants to find out just how many bears are ending up here. 183 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:46,600 In 20 years of studying polar bears, I've never been anywhere 184 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:48,800 like Wrangel Island. 185 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:53,480 The density of bears is unlike anything I've ever seen before. 186 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,720 This past two years, we've seen about 500 bears. 187 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,800 My sense is that's just a fraction of how many are here. 188 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:01,920 BEARS GROWL 189 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:07,240 But with so many hungry animals in one place... 190 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,680 ..is there enough food to go round? 191 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,200 Gennadiy, if you can keep an eye out for us, please, 192 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,840 like, up on the hill or just wherever you've got a good view. 193 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:25,480 All right. Thank you. 194 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:30,040 This is a hair trap. 195 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:32,880 So bears like anything that smells strong, 196 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,200 and so this has a little bit of spoiled cheese, 197 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:37,560 milk and fish in it. 198 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:43,240 So the goal here is to get a polar bear to come in 199 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,200 and put his hand or its head inside this box. 200 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,560 And when that happens, these little wire brushes will pull out a few 201 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,520 pieces of hair that we can use for scientific analyses. 202 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,840 You can learn a lot about polar bears just from 203 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,120 a piece of their hair. 204 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:03,160 We can figure out which individual it is, or you can get 205 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:04,960 information on what they're eating. 206 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:08,640 There we go. 207 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:10,080 Hair collected. 208 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,840 Eric's molecular studies of the polar bears' hair shows 209 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:22,840 that the bears on Wrangel appear to be finding enough food. 210 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,280 But with more and more bears coming here, 211 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,960 will there still be enough food to go round? 212 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,560 One of the main things we expect to happen with sea ice loss 213 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,120 is changes in the movements and the distribution of polar bears. 214 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:44,200 So polar bears are going to appear in places they never were before, 215 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,800 and they're going to disappear from places that they were. 216 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,160 Some coastal towns in Siberia have been overrun with up to 217 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,440 50 bears at a time. 218 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,880 BEARS GROWL 219 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,160 They're desperate to eat whatever they can. 220 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,120 And in the city of Norilsk, 221 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:20,480 one female was found an incredible 250 miles away from the coast. 222 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:28,840 Lost and starving, 223 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:30,880 she was eventually rescued. 224 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:35,760 But many are not so lucky. 225 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:43,280 They are intelligent animals, but there's simply no food on land 226 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,400 that could compare to the seals that the bears eat on the sea ice. 227 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,280 A future without polar bears would be very sad. 228 00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:09,080 But the sea ice is not just essential for animals. 229 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:14,240 It's a lifeline for many of the four million people 230 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,320 who call the Arctic their home. 231 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:40,240 Aleqatsiaq Peary lives in Qaanaaq on Greenland's west coast, 232 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,600 the most northerly Inuit town in the world. 233 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:51,320 For centuries, life here has depended on the sea ice. 234 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,480 Not only are dog sleds a way to reach neighbouring communities, 235 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,840 which can be over 100 miles away, 236 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,200 but in a land where no crops can grow travelling over the sea ice 237 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:28,520 is a vital route to food, fur and livelihood. 238 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:07,520 But the dwindling of the sea ice is making this way of life 239 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,360 not only difficult, but increasingly dangerous. 240 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,440 Today, they must turn back. 241 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,200 For Qaanaaq's 650 residents 242 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:35,680 the loss of sea ice is the loss of an entire way of life, 243 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,040 and it is creating an uncertain future. 244 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,320 And there's a reason for this accelerating rate of change. 245 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:24,840 In the last 30 years, over 14 trillion tons of ice 246 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:29,720 have been lost from the Arctic, creating a vicious cycle 247 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,080 of ever-increasing temperatures. 248 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:39,480 Normally, large areas of snow and ice would act as a mirror, 249 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,640 reflecting up to 85% of the sun's rays back into space. 250 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:51,400 But as the ice melts, the great white mirror is being replaced 251 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,840 by the darkness of the ice-free ocean. 252 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:01,120 The dark ocean absorbs the sun's rays, so causing 253 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:05,800 even more ice to melt, creating a feedback loop that contributes 254 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:07,880 to further warming. 255 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:17,000 Because of this, the Arctic is now warming more than twice as fast 256 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:18,960 as the Earth as a whole. 257 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:27,840 That has far-reaching consequences not just for the Arctic Ocean, 258 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,960 but for the vast frozen lands that surround it - 259 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,840 the tundra. 260 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,800 In summer, the open tundra provides refuge for 261 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,920 great concentrations of life. 262 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:58,280 But today its thick surface soil that has been deeply frozen 263 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,720 for thousands of years is thawing. 264 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,520 And the pooling water is creating millions of new lakes. 265 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:16,520 Here in Alaska, we've seen a 40% increase in the lake area 266 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,000 since the '80s. 267 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,560 Professor Katy Walter Anthony has worked across Alaska 268 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,200 and Siberia studying their lakes. 269 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,800 She is interested not so much in the lakes themselves, 270 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,040 but in what is seeping out of them. 271 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,240 We are seeing a bright spot in the satellite image 272 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:40,520 that we suspect is gas bubbling. 273 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,680 To identify the gas in these bubbles, 274 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,160 Katy must collect some of it. 275 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,960 I'm surrounded by tiny bubbles that are rising. 276 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,400 Methane appears to be the dominant gas. 277 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,720 Methane is produced by the decaying remains of prehistoric 278 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,120 plants and animals. 279 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,800 As the frozen soil beneath the lake starts to thaw, 280 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,480 it releases stores of this potent greenhouse gas, 281 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:21,160 which is up to 30 times more effective than carbon dioxide 282 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,400 when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere and 283 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,640 accelerating global warming. 284 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,800 45 parts per million for these tiny bubbles. 285 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,720 It's rising higher and higher. 286 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,720 Now it's going above 70. 287 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,440 This is a huge amount of methane. 288 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,520 It could be a mega-seep. 289 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,800 We are discovering more and more of these methane mega-seeps. 290 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,480 It's just streaming out and entering into the atmosphere. 291 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,360 Methane can be seen escaping from lakes. 292 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,080 But it also rises from the land wherever the frozen soil, known as 293 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,680 the permafrost, begins to thaw. 294 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:28,120 And the Arctic tundra is thawing and collapsing 295 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,040 at an unprecedented rate. 296 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:37,360 It's concerning because permafrost, or frozen ground, 297 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:42,560 occupies about a quarter of the northern hemisphere land surface. 298 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,120 As permafrost thaws, if even a small fraction 299 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,280 if that trapped methane escapes, 300 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:55,280 it will accelerate climate warming 301 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:56,800 and you cannot reverse it. 302 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:09,440 It's clear that in the Arctic changes to permafrost on the land 303 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,840 and floating ice on the sea will have far-reaching consequences 304 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,080 to the planet as a whole. 305 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,080 And there is nowhere better to see the extent of 306 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:22,600 these global changes... 307 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:26,840 ..than from space. 308 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:34,560 All of my life, I've thought about how this would feel to gaze 309 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,160 back on the planet with my own eyes. 310 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,960 Nasa scientist Jessica Meir has spent six months in orbit. 311 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:49,160 From the space station, you have the planet spinning beneath you. 312 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:53,080 And you're passing over it at 17,500 miles per hour. 313 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:59,200 We are going around the entire planet every 90 minutes, 314 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,080 so you can begin to see larger-scale phenomenon 315 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,560 in ways that you just can't experience on the ground. 316 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,600 And we can see the change in these systems over time. 317 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,080 We cannot deny that we are having an incredible effect on 318 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:16,840 the fate of our planet. 319 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,720 And the effect that we have as humans on our planet... 320 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:26,560 Right there, actually, I'm looking down at several fires. 321 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,640 I'm not sure where those are. 322 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,120 Let's take a quick peek. 323 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,360 So right now we're flying over Europe and I can see 324 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,800 some fires over in that direction. 325 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,400 And that is, of course, something that we have to contend 326 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,360 more and more with as our climate changes. 327 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:57,160 As the Arctic warms, wildfires are not only getting more intense 328 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,320 but they're breaking out in parts of the northern hemisphere 329 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,720 where they have never occurred before. 330 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,640 FIRE BLAZES 331 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,280 SIRENS WAIL 332 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,760 Some scientists believe that unusually warm air rising in 333 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,320 the Arctic is disturbing high-altitude wind currents 334 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,480 like the polar jet stream. 335 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,640 Once disturbed, the jet stream produces hotter and drier 336 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,920 conditions much further south. 337 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:40,760 All of these factors that contribute to wildfires - the temperature, 338 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,840 the soil moisture, the presence of trees and shrubs and other fuel - 339 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:49,200 have either strong, direct or indirect ties to climate change. 340 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,960 A warming Arctic may not only be responsible 341 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,160 for the outbreak of wildfires. 342 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,520 But it may also be leading to extreme weather conditions 343 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,560 across the whole of the northern hemisphere. 344 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,440 I've always cared so much about the environment and known 345 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,760 that we all need to do our part in protecting it. 346 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:22,000 But after seeing this view with my own eyes, after seeing 347 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,120 all of those ecosystems from up here, it really makes it 348 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,240 resonate even more loudly. 349 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:42,040 Outside the Arctic, there's another frozen realm that stretches 350 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,680 across the world's continents. 351 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:46,440 Our high mountains. 352 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,960 Home to an extraordinary array of species. 353 00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:33,280 But here, too, there's a problem. 354 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:43,240 Across the world, mountain glaciers, which have existed for 355 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:47,280 tens of thousands of years, are shrinking and vanishing. 356 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,320 By the end of this century, some ranges may have 357 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,760 no ice remaining at all. 358 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,800 And this will affect not just animals, but people too. 359 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:20,000 Ice lost from the mountain glaciers from the great ranges of the world 360 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,600 has a huge a consequence for the populations downstream, 361 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:27,000 and that consequence is their water supply. 362 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,920 Glaciers in the Himalayas are the source of ten of the largest 363 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:39,640 rivers in Asia, which together provide reliable, fresh water 364 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:42,400 for around a billion people downstream. 365 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:49,200 If the glaciers disappear, so too will the water they supply. 366 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,080 We know that these glaciers are losing about a half a metre 367 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,560 of ice a year. 368 00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:00,600 What we don't know is how much ice is left. 369 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,280 So if we know how many metres of ice are left, we can work out how long 370 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,240 they'll last, how long this water supply will keep going. 371 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,880 Dr Hamish Pritchard is part of a team of scientists 372 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:19,080 who have devised a new instrument to measure one of 373 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,680 the largest Himalayan glaciers. 374 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,400 What we're putting together here is a long frame structure, 375 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:31,000 and it's designed to hang underneath a helicopter. 376 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:35,760 We're going to put a radar on it and the radar will send out 377 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,600 the radio waves and then they'll bounce back off the bottom 378 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:43,800 of the glacier, and we'll be able to measure how thick the ice is. 379 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:48,120 Once his team know how thick the ice is, they can start to work out 380 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:49,760 how long it will last. 381 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:54,480 Yeah, it's a nervous moment. 382 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,120 We're just waiting for it to get lifted off up for the first time. 383 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,480 But hopefully it's going to be nice, steady, stable, 384 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:00,920 a nice easy lift-off. 385 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:02,800 But we're about to find out. 386 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:09,880 That line is clear. 387 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,240 The load is lifting. 388 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,200 OK, it's north of the... 389 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:32,280 ..to the Khumjung area. 390 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,680 Hi. It's Hamish here. How was your flying? 391 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,240 Yeah, when the wind picks up it's a little more squirrelly, 392 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:41,080 but no problems otherwise. 393 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,440 Yeah, you might want to gain a little bit of height there. 394 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:45,840 Yeah, no problem. 395 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,080 OK, we'll fly out and then head towards Everest. 396 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:05,480 After hours of scanning, the projection for this particular 397 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:07,520 glacier is finally revealed. 398 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:13,880 Yeah, that's pretty nice and clear. 399 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,080 I can see exactly how thick that ice is. 400 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,080 That's about 150 metres. 401 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:23,320 So at the current rate of melting, 402 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,080 this section would last maybe 200 to 300 years. 403 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,440 But we know that the melt rates are increasing. 404 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:35,600 And this is one of the biggest glaciers, 405 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,240 so there are many, many glaciers which are much smaller than this 406 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:40,640 with much thinner ice. 407 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,880 And they're going to be disappearing much, much earlier than that. 408 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:52,240 Water is already scarce in parts of Asia. 409 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:56,720 And as glacial water supplies dry up, there will be 410 00:39:56,720 --> 00:39:58,280 even less to go round. 411 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,920 So what happens if these glaciers disappear... 412 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,080 ..is that, in dry summers, the rivers dry up. 413 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:15,360 Tensions rise, especially between nations that 414 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,400 share water across borders. 415 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,880 So one of the big risks of losing this ice is that it raises 416 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:26,600 the risk of conflict. 417 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,680 And that's a frightening prospect. 418 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,600 If I have a one-year-old son. 419 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,880 Children born at the same time as him will see this happen. 420 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,880 We need to act now to turn those trajectories around. 421 00:40:56,120 --> 00:41:00,480 There's no doubt that large tracts of our frozen wilderness 422 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,440 are undergoing dramatic changes. 423 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:07,400 But what about the largest body of ice of all, 424 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:08,680 Antarctica? 425 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:18,280 We have already seen how even here animals living around the fringes 426 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:21,960 are starting to be affected by climate change, 427 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,080 including chinstrap penguins. 428 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:28,840 PENGUINS SQUAWK 429 00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:37,240 But for another penguin, the Adelie, the consequences 430 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:38,920 are even more extreme. 431 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:52,360 I arrived here for the first time in 1974. 432 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:02,040 This part of the world was just incomprehensibly wild. 433 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:06,920 It was filled with life. 434 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,280 Antarctica absolutely captured me. 435 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:26,400 Professor Bill Fraser has dedicated his entire 45-year career 436 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:28,640 to studying the Adelie penguin. 437 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,760 What really fascinated me was the incredible 438 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,960 hardiness of these penguins. 439 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,840 Feisty, determined, 440 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:42,720 beautiful little animal. 441 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:52,080 But this environment is changing. 442 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:59,880 In the last 45 years, the tremendous warming that has 443 00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:03,760 occurred has had an incredible impact. 444 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:09,400 The changes have been very rapid, more rapid than anyone anticipated. 445 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:22,680 Bill has witnessed first-hand how these changes have affected 446 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:26,360 one of the largest colonies of Adelies on the western side 447 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,360 of the Antarctic Peninsula. 448 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:35,680 Four decades ago, this area contained 20,000 adults. 449 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:42,440 Currently, we only have somewhere in the order of 400 breeding pairs. 450 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:47,640 One of the issues that Adelies are clearly experiencing right now 451 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:49,920 is just the increasing rainfall. 452 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:56,400 Adelies are a creature of the high Antarctic. 453 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,080 They evolve in a dry, cold polar system. 454 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:06,120 They simply cannot tolerate being continuously wet. 455 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:13,240 The chicks are soaking. 456 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,840 The rain is penetrating their down, 457 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,840 breaking down their ability to insulate themselves. 458 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,400 That's why you see they're shivering, because they're just 459 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:32,280 trying to maintain their body temperature and they can't. 460 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:35,840 It's sad. 461 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:53,880 This tiny chick at this point has zero chances of surviving. 462 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,160 They can't even react to the presence of a predator. 463 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,440 We are standing, 464 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:21,040 looking at climate change actually killing off these Adelie penguins, 465 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:22,320 one at a time. 466 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:45,960 Before he leaves Antarctica for the last time, Bill is visiting 467 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,080 an island that was once an Adelie paradise. 468 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,880 When we used to walk onto this island, 469 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,680 you could immediately hear the Adelies. 470 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,160 They were everywhere. 471 00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:09,840 In 1974, the populations here were somewhere in the order 472 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,520 of over 1,000 breeding pairs. 473 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:18,200 All that remains are these little pebbles scattered throughout 474 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:23,000 the area, stones that were used in former nest sites. 475 00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:26,160 The pebbles are still visible. 476 00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,160 They're very abundant. 477 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,360 But the birds are gone. 478 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:38,320 This is where we recorded the first island-wide extinction 479 00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:39,760 of Adelie penguins. 480 00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:47,840 And now the silence that exists here is pretty overbearing. 481 00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:07,280 Um... 482 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:14,720 There's no... There's no words that can really describe 483 00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:17,800 what I'm feeling at the moment. 484 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:29,280 We're working with canaries in the coal mine. 485 00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:34,160 Adelie penguins are without a doubt indicator species that are telling 486 00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:39,640 us that the globe is changing, the globe is getting warmer. 487 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,560 It's happening. 488 00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:44,320 And we need to do something about it. 489 00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:56,800 The disappearance of Adelie penguins along the Antarctic Peninsula 490 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,960 is just one example of how record-warming temperatures are 491 00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:02,920 affecting life here. 492 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:12,800 But warming temperatures are also affecting the very coastline itself 493 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,480 with serious implications for global sea levels. 494 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:27,400 Across the glaciological community, we've identified that sea level rise 495 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,240 from Antarctica is the most pressing question for 496 00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:32,280 the next 50 to 100 years. 497 00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,120 And we as a collaborative group 498 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:38,760 have come together to try and understand it, 499 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:42,360 and governments have come together to try and understand it 500 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:44,760 because it's important. 501 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:50,760 Professor Sridhar Anandakrishnan has been working in the polar 502 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:52,760 regions for over three decades. 503 00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:59,200 He's part of a team of scientists undertaking the largest Antarctic 504 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:01,680 expedition for more than 70 years. 505 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:08,720 Their destination is a remote part of western Antarctica called 506 00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:10,360 the Thwaites Ice Shelf. 507 00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:18,160 Without getting out on the ice, you can't measure things 508 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:19,760 underneath the ice. 509 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:22,400 Going to take-off. 510 00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:27,920 Those kinds of things can't be done from space. 511 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:32,000 They can't be done by drones or aircraft flying over it. 512 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,240 You actually have to go and put your instruments on the ice. 513 00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:47,040 The interior of Antarctica is covered in a giant sheet of ice. 514 00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:54,480 Which for millennia has been slowly flowing to the coast. 515 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:04,840 But because it's so cold here, rather than carve into the sea 516 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:09,760 the ice continues to flow out into the ocean, forming a floating 517 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:11,960 platform known as an ice shelf. 518 00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:24,200 As an ice shelf grows, it begins to act as a dam, preventing 519 00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:28,440 more of the ice sheet behind it from slipping into the sea. 520 00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:34,720 And the Thwaites Ice Shelf holds back a body of ice 521 00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:36,560 the size of Florida. 522 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:42,880 But scientists are concerned that the ice shelf itself is now 523 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:44,680 at risk of melting. 524 00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,960 We're going down through 600 metres of ice. 525 00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:52,200 And once we drill the hole, 526 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,200 I'm going to put the explosive charge down. 527 00:50:58,080 --> 00:50:59,760 Small seismic surveys... 528 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:01,960 OK, fire in the hole. 529 00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:09,520 ..help establish exactly where to sink their robotic underwater probe, 530 00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:13,920 which the team hope will record the temperature of the sea water 531 00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,160 directly beneath the ice shelf. 532 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:19,000 OK, Andy, ready to descend. 533 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:21,600 Try to go a little slower. 534 00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:22,680 OK. 535 00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:25,880 Coming up on 75 metres. 75 metres now. 536 00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:36,800 425 metres. 537 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,720 We've arrived at the ice-ocean interface. 538 00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:48,120 Early results are not encouraging. 539 00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:51,040 Have we noticed a huge change in the temperature? 540 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:52,360 Ah, yeah. 541 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:53,920 It is warm water. 542 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:56,600 Can you see it melt? Yes. Like, what's going on there? 543 00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:01,920 Because of climate change, 544 00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:06,800 warmer seas directly beneath the ice shelf are melting it from below. 545 00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:14,080 So it's no longer a question of IF this giant dam will disappear, 546 00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:15,480 but when. 547 00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:21,960 When the vast ice sheet behind it spills into the ocean, 548 00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:26,240 it could have catastrophic consequences for global sea levels 549 00:52:26,240 --> 00:52:28,080 over the coming centuries. 550 00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:35,960 The amount of water that Antarctica contains that could 551 00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,040 go into the ocean is so huge. 552 00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,640 This is a global problem. 553 00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:47,400 The oceans are all connected together, 554 00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:52,480 so as soon as a glacier puts water into the ocean 555 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:54,800 it rises all over the world. 556 00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:05,000 If sea levels rise, as predicted, by the year 2050 150 million people 557 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,240 could be displaced from coastal areas. 558 00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:19,400 And by 2070 cities, including Miami, New York, Shanghai and Mumbai 559 00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,320 will be at risk of serious flooding. 560 00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:30,520 How much water will Antarctica contribute to sea level rise? 561 00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:35,400 The biggest wild card in all of that is how we as humans 562 00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:38,160 affect climate. 563 00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:10,080 Recently, at COP26, 120 nations came together in an effort to limit 564 00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:12,480 global warming to 1.5 degrees. 565 00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:20,080 Well, a 1.5 degree rise will still bring significant 566 00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:22,040 changes with it. 567 00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,520 To stand any chance of saving what remains of our frozen planet 568 00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:28,960 and saving ourselves from the devastating consequences 569 00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:34,160 of its loss, we must stick to this commitment and honour it 570 00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:36,800 no matter how challenging it might be. 571 00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:42,240 We know that climate change is happening. 572 00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:44,960 We know the main driver of climate change 573 00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:46,640 is human activities. 574 00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:48,120 It's human emissions. 575 00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:51,920 As a whole human species, 576 00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:55,160 we are not recognising the impact that we're having and the fact 577 00:54:55,160 --> 00:54:57,400 that we do need to do something. 578 00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:00,640 But the important thing is that I believe 579 00:55:00,640 --> 00:55:03,440 all of these processes are reversible. 580 00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:08,080 If everybody can make the effort of doing just one thing, 581 00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:10,200 reducing their carbon footprint. 582 00:55:10,200 --> 00:55:14,560 Consume less. Think about what we need, what we really want. 583 00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:17,360 Think more sensibly about the journeys we take, 584 00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:19,600 about the food we eat, 585 00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:21,560 how that's produced. 586 00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:24,680 Figure out a lifestyle that is sustainable. 587 00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:32,960 And we're right at the point where we can 588 00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:38,960 generate all the power that we need from renewable sources 589 00:55:38,960 --> 00:55:41,240 like solar and wind. 590 00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:47,560 To do that, you need to really transform society as a whole. 591 00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:52,440 We can speak to our representatives to try and 592 00:55:52,440 --> 00:55:54,200 reconsider energy policies. 593 00:55:56,120 --> 00:56:02,200 If enough of us are educated about the effects of carbon in 594 00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:06,760 the atmosphere, even the most poorly educated politician 595 00:56:06,760 --> 00:56:09,800 will respond to what their citizenry wants. 596 00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:16,320 The awareness and the concern is greater now than it ever has been. 597 00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:19,000 So that gives us some hope. 598 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,440 It won't be easy. 599 00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:24,120 But it's doable. 600 00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:28,320 If you can do something about it then do it, 601 00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:30,840 instead of just thinking about it. 602 00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:33,880 If you can do something about it, then do it. 603 00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:43,000 We can do it. 604 00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:47,760 It's within our power to do it. 605 00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:50,360 We can do it. 606 00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,080 We must do it. 607 00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:04,120 Then there will be a future for the planet. 608 00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:29,040 The Open University has produced a poster exploring how animals adapt 609 00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:31,760 to life in the world's coldest environments. 610 00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:37,640 To order your free copy, please call 0300 303 0553 611 00:57:37,640 --> 00:57:42,320 or go to bbc.co.uk/frozenplanet2 612 00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:45,560 and follow the links to the Open University.