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(upbeat music)

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The first thing I think of when you say Amazon

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is blue tape and too much bubble wrap.

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You say Amazon, I think Prime.

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Tall, beautiful women,

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then Jeff Bezos, then the forest.

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Long before Jeff Bezos,

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bubble wrap and porch pirates,

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there was, and is, another Amazon.

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The real Amazon.

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The Amazon is a place of statistics

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that are so extraordinary that they're scarcely believable.

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There are obviously other rainforests,

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but this is by far the largest.

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It's larger than the next two rainforests combined.

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There are something like 400 billion trees there.

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It's also a place of legendary riches.

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It's about finding the golden city, the golden king.

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And innumberable dangers.

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It's just millions of years of evolution

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where everything either wants to be a predator

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or doesn't want to be prey.

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For centuries, it has attracted fortune seekers

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and adventurers from all over the world.

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From gold hungry Spanish conquerors,

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to audacious ex presidents,

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to wine guzzling long distance swimmers.

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This is the extraordinary story of the Amazon,

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revealed through numbers.

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How we've used it, how we've abused it

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and 200 billion reasons why we have to save it.

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Understanding the Amazon is key

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to understanding our survival as a species.

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(upbeat music)

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(upbeat music)

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It's nearly impossible

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to exaggerate the sheer size of the Amazon rainforest.

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{\an8}You can fly over it hour after hour

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{\an8}and see nothing but rain forest from the horizon on.

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It's just stunning.

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The Amazon is the greatest expanse

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{\an8}of tropical forest on the planet.

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{\an8}It's a universe unto itself.

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But the forest

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isn't the only number one around.

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It also happens to have the world's

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most powerful river running through it.

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{\an8}It's the second largest river in the world,

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second only to the Nile,

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and, in terms of volume, it's the largest.

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The mighty Amazon River

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is more than 4,000 miles long

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and channels 20% of the world's total fresh water.

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Starting from the Andes mountains

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and ending in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Wowza!

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The surrounding Amazon rainforest

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is a whopping 3.2 million square miles.

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{\an8}It's this immense physical space

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{\an8}in which you could put pretty much all of the United States.

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If the Amazon River began in California,

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it would come out in New York.

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It's that big.

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(gentle music)

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But, for all its size and strength,

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the Amazon is shrinking fast.

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In the last 50 years, we've lost about 18%

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of the Amazon to deforestation.

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(chainsaw buzzing)
Timber!

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An area larger than France.

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Sacre Bleu!

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In 2020 alone,

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some five million acres were cut down.

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That's an area the size of Israel.

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Oy vey!

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As we see accelerating deforestation in the Amazon,

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{\an8}that's a huge loss for the ecology of the planet.

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If you clear too much forest,

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you can get an ecological collapse.

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And we're closer to that tipping point than we would like.

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(upbeat music)

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How did the Amazon become so important?

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Let's start with the powerhouse Amazon River,

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fed by more than 1100 tributaries.

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Every second, the river blasts more than 700,000 cubic feet

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of water into the Atlantic Ocean.

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That's over three million gallons every minute,

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or the equivalent of 5,500 Olympic sized swimming pools.

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(whistle blowing)
That's a lot of laps.

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The amount of water that flows into the Atlantic

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every second would allow about 500 people

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{\an8}to have a bath a week for 325 million years.

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The immense outflow

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blossoms into the Amazon plume,

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a massive expanse of the Atlantic

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dominated by the river's freshwater discharge.

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Water flowing into the Atlantic from the mouth

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{\an8}of the Amazon can be drunk 150 kilometers off shore.

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The Amazon rainforest

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has been around for about 10 million years.

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The forest straddles the equator.

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{\an8}Here, the sun hits the Earth from directly above

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{\an8}at a 90 degree angle.

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The intense solar energy evaporates moisture

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trapped in the lush jungle growth,

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which falls again as rain,

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{\an8}as much as 10 feet per year.

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The native soil in the Amazon isn't all that fertile.

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The soil in rainforests actually tends to be fairly poor.

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It's a very thin soil, most of the nutrients

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are leaching out of it continuously

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from the movements of water.

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But the forest has a secret weapon.

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Each year, Atlantic winds blow

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182 million tons of dust from here, the Sahara Desert,

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towards South America.

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27.7 million tons of it settle over the Amazon,

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{\an8}enough to fill two million dump trucks.

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The dust delivers 22,000 tons

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of fertilizing phosphorus to the Amazon soil.

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And the result is an explosion of life

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unlike anywhere else on Earth.

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(gentle music)

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There's just a thousand shades of green,

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a kind of infinitude of form, shape and texture.

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10% Of the over 1.7 million known species

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live here, making it the most biodiverse region on Earth.

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It's almost as if you have to close your eyes

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and just listen to the hum of biological activity.

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The wonder of the Amazon

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wasn't lost on its first inhabitants,

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who tagged an eight mile stretch of cliffs in Columbia

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depicting the rich life around them.

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A little more red.

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The cliff murals date back

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from about 12,500 BCE.

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We're able to date this rock art

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because of what's being depicted in it.

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We see paintings of mastodons and giant sloth,

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species that went extinct before the end of the Pleistocene.

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It's an astonishing history

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of the prehistoric Amazon in red pigment.

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This area of cliffs has been called

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the Sistine Chapel of the Amazon.

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I've never heard of this Michelangelo.

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(upbeat music)

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Today, in the Brazilian Amazon alone,

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scientists discover about one new species every other day.

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The diversity of plant, animal, insect,

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fungi, and birds is what is so extraordinary.

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There's been expedition after expedition

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to try to document stuff, but it remains,

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still, a place of enigmas and ciphers.

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{\an8}Insects are the undisputed kings here,

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{\an8}making up 90% of all species in the Amazon.

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Just one square mile can have

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more than 50,000 insect species.

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It's estimated the Amazon region is home

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to around 2.5 million in total,

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although only around 8,000 have been identified.

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You lie down and your body practically is lifted up

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and carried away by ants.

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Are you saying that I could lay down in the Amazon

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and not have to walk?

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Cause that's not bad.

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The ant thing?

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Oh.

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The thoughts of being covered in bugs,

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unless I'm winning $50,000 on "Fear Factor",

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it makes absolutely no sense to me.

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The Amazon River is also brimming with life.

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Some of it can give people nightmares.

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{\an8}The black caiman can grow to as big as 16.5 feet long.

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From 2000 to 2016, 23 fatal attacks

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{\an8}by the black caiman were recorded in the Amazon.

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The electric eel can generate a pulse of 860 volts,

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enough to cause cardiac arrest in humans.

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The toothy red bellied piranha packs a powerful bite.

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(yelping)

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Strong enough to cut through a human finger bone

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like a pair of bolt cutters.

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And then there's the candiru.

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It's one of only two species on Earth

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that survive solely on blood,

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the other being the vampire bat.

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Usually what it does is it swims through

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the gill chamber of a fish,

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gets what it needs and then it swims on out.

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On rare occasions, it can swim inside of a human.

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It goes into any orifice.

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What?

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(upbeat music)

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In 1897, George Boulenger, a Belgian zoologist,

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presents a candiru to the Zoological Society of London.

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Here you go.

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Oh what a cute little fishy.

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He also describes the extreme lengths

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some Amazon men will go to rid themselves of a candiru.

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They believe that the only way to stop it

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from reaching the bladder, where it causes inflammation

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and ultimately death, is to immediately amputate the penis.

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(screaming)
Not my willy.

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Did you just tell me a fish can fly up someone's pee-hole?

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Would I go swimming in the Amazon River?

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Hell no.

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There's piranhas, weird things, you can't see the bottom.

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No.

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That stuff only thrills white people.

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Why am I inside a piranha's living room?

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(upbeat music)

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The Amazon River

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is filled with scary creatures

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but that doesn't stop people from swimming in it.

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In 2007, one man decides to swim the whole thing.

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His name is Martin Strel, an eccentric Slovenian swimmer

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who rose to fame after completing massive distances

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on some of the world's longest rivers.

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In 2000, Strel swam the Danube in central Europe.

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Two years later, he conquered the much longer Mississippi.

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Two years after that, he upped the ante once again

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by swimming the Yangtze River in China.

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Phew, that's a lot of swimming.

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(upbeat music)

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But the Amazon is unlike

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anything Strel has attempted before.

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I'm gonna guess Martin Strel is the kind of person that,

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{\an8}once he sets his mind to something,

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{\an8}he could not be dissuaded

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{\an8}because there are many, many reasons

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why he should not have attempted to swim the entire Amazon.

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Besides things like sharks and piranha,

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there's a whole universe of microbial life

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that can enter the body and do serious harm.

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{\an8}Oh my God he's crazy.

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{\an8}To protect himself, Strel wears a wet suit

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{\an8}coated with lanolin and gasoline.

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{\an8}Lube me up fellas.

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On February 1st, 2007,

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(upbeat music)
52 year old Strel

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plunges into the Amazon's headwaters in Peru

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and begins front crawling his way towards the Atlantic.

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He had his teammates pouring blood

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on other sides of the river-

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Ew.

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To try to lure away piranhas.

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Here fishy, fishy.

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And yet still ended up getting bitten.

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The gasoline, it does nothing.

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Strel swims an exhausting 10 hours a day,

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burning 10,000 to 12,000 calories in that time.

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The average man burns 2,500 daily.

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Alcohol is not generally considered

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a performance enhancer, but Strel says

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that he was drinking his local Slovenian wine

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and that was a magic elixir for him.

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Bottoms up.

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{\an8}Up to two bottles a day to help him going forward.

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Despite the extra fortification,

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he ends up sick and delirious

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from the microbes he also swallows.

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(retching)

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{\an8}66 days and 3,273 miles later,

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Martin Strel enters the Atlantic Ocean.

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He's conquered the Amazon, but at a heavy price.

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00:12:03,270 --> 00:12:04,880
By the time Strel reached the finish line,

266
00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:06,750
he was not in good condition.

267
00:12:06,750 --> 00:12:07,870
I'm so tired.

268
00:12:07,870 --> 00:12:11,010
He was dehydrated and famished, he was bitten up,

269
00:12:11,010 --> 00:12:13,610
he was infected with parasites.

270
00:12:13,610 --> 00:12:15,800
He needed to go to the hospital.

271
00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,278
Thankfully he does recover.

272
00:12:18,278 --> 00:12:19,762
(crowd cheering)

273
00:12:19,762 --> 00:12:20,652
(gentle music)

274
00:12:20,652 --> 00:12:22,790
Martin Strel had a rough ride through the Amazon.

275
00:12:22,790 --> 00:12:25,840
Compared to others though, he got off easy.

276
00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:27,830
Case in point, Teddy Roosevelt.

277
00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:29,319
Bison hunter.

278
00:12:29,319 --> 00:12:30,180
(gun firing)

279
00:12:30,180 --> 00:12:31,610
War hero.

280
00:12:31,610 --> 00:12:33,520
{\an8}26th President of the United States

281
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,420
who took a bullet in the chest and lived to tell the tale.

282
00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,720
{\an8}December, 1913, Roosevelt has just lost

283
00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:43,920
{\an8}the 1912 presidential election.

284
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,930
{\an8}So, like any 55 year old in a midlife crisis,

285
00:12:46,930 --> 00:12:51,430
he decides to do something really, really reckless.

286
00:12:51,430 --> 00:12:53,200
{\an8}Theodore Roosevelt had a pattern in his life.

287
00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,130
{\an8}So again and again, when he would face tragedy or loss,

288
00:12:57,130 --> 00:12:58,710
he would throw himself into these

289
00:12:58,710 --> 00:13:01,503
very, very difficult and dangerous situations.

290
00:13:02,780 --> 00:13:05,750
Accompanied by his 23 year old son Kermit

291
00:13:05,750 --> 00:13:07,410
and a veteran Brazilian explorer

292
00:13:07,410 --> 00:13:11,070
named Colonel Candido Rondon, Roosevelt sets out to map

293
00:13:11,070 --> 00:13:13,630
a newly discovered Amazon tributary

294
00:13:13,630 --> 00:13:14,993
and name it after himself.

295
00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,270
Easy enough, right?

296
00:13:18,270 --> 00:13:22,140
Well, the problems start with their dugout canoes.

297
00:13:22,140 --> 00:13:26,600
They're going down basically class four rapids

298
00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:28,799
in these hollowed out tree trunks.

299
00:13:28,799 --> 00:13:31,603
(screaming)
Oh my god!

300
00:13:31,603 --> 00:13:34,680
Help!
<v ->These canoes suck.

301
00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,570
They would get to points where

302
00:13:36,570 --> 00:13:38,610
it was impossible to get them through

303
00:13:38,610 --> 00:13:40,160
and so then, then they would have to

304
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,880
haul them through the rainforest.

305
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:44,430
It's early honey.

306
00:13:44,430 --> 00:13:46,970
The delays put a huge strain on their supplies.

307
00:13:46,970 --> 00:13:48,810
My my that's a big gun.

308
00:13:48,810 --> 00:13:51,920
And forced them to hunt and forage for food.

309
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:53,600
I'll take mine medium rare.

310
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,019
But this is just a taste of what's to come.

311
00:13:56,019 --> 00:13:57,210
(dramatic music)
One night, as they're clearing

312
00:13:57,210 --> 00:13:59,130
a spot on the riverbank to camp,

313
00:13:59,130 --> 00:14:02,490
Roosevelt comes face to face, or toe to toe,

314
00:14:02,490 --> 00:14:05,404
with one of the deadliest creatures in the Amazon.

315
00:14:05,404 --> 00:14:06,362
(hissing)

316
00:14:06,362 --> 00:14:07,680
He steps on a coral snake

317
00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:10,830
that reaches out and bites him.

318
00:14:10,830 --> 00:14:14,050
And there was no cure for a bite from a coral snake.

319
00:14:14,050 --> 00:14:16,080
If someone were poisoned by one,

320
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,320
they would just wait for them to die.

321
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,940
And it was a really terrible death.

322
00:14:20,940 --> 00:14:22,210
Roosevelt was very, very lucky

323
00:14:22,210 --> 00:14:24,840
because he was wearing thick leather boots

324
00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,150
and the venom went into the heel of the boot

325
00:14:27,150 --> 00:14:28,523
instead of into him.

326
00:14:29,490 --> 00:14:31,270
As they continue down river,

327
00:14:31,270 --> 00:14:34,710
Roosevelt and his team are pursued by the Cinta Larga,

328
00:14:34,710 --> 00:14:36,320
a local indigenous tribe.

329
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,500
Anyone get the feeling we're being watched?

330
00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:39,440
At one point,

331
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,370
Rondon and his dog were walking ahead.

332
00:14:43,370 --> 00:14:44,203
Come on boy.

333
00:14:44,203 --> 00:14:46,850
And Rondon's dog went in front of him

334
00:14:47,730 --> 00:14:49,740
and they killed the dog.

335
00:14:49,740 --> 00:14:52,210
And Rondon realized that it could have been him.

336
00:14:52,210 --> 00:14:54,960
The Conta Larga had every reason to kill them,

337
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,620
they were obviously a potential threat,

338
00:14:57,620 --> 00:14:59,720
and, if they had decided to attack,

339
00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,850
it's very, very, very likely that Roosevelt

340
00:15:02,850 --> 00:15:04,980
and all of his men, everyone on the expedition

341
00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:06,940
would have been killed.

342
00:15:06,940 --> 00:15:07,910
As the expedition

343
00:15:07,910 --> 00:15:10,170
inches its way toward the finish line,

344
00:15:10,170 --> 00:15:12,623
Teddy Roosevelt is nearly at death's door.

345
00:15:14,190 --> 00:15:17,250
One day, Roosevelt cuts his leg on a rock,

346
00:15:17,250 --> 00:15:20,176
this gash and you're in the Amazon,

347
00:15:20,176 --> 00:15:22,980
there are all kinds of ways that it can get infected

348
00:15:22,980 --> 00:15:25,670
and it did and he got horribly, horribly sick

349
00:15:25,670 --> 00:15:29,110
and he was delirious and he was mumbling.

350
00:15:29,110 --> 00:15:29,960
Roosevelt had brought

351
00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,380
a lethal dose of morphine just in case.

352
00:15:33,380 --> 00:15:35,730
And he decides it's time to take it.

353
00:15:35,730 --> 00:15:38,710
He doesn't want to be a danger to other men on the trip.

354
00:15:38,710 --> 00:15:42,560
Only reason he didn't take that lethal dose of morphine

355
00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,390
was because his son was with him

356
00:15:44,390 --> 00:15:48,670
and he realized that the best way to save his son

357
00:15:48,670 --> 00:15:51,000
was to let his son save him.

358
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,260
Let his son find a way to get him,

359
00:15:54,260 --> 00:15:57,520
Theodore Roosevelt, out of the Amazon alive.

360
00:15:57,520 --> 00:15:58,870
Let's go home boy.

361
00:16:00,100 --> 00:16:02,680
On April 26th, 1914,

362
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,950
the battered expedition finally emerges from the jungle.

363
00:16:05,950 --> 00:16:09,530
{\an8}Of the 22 men who started the journey, 19 survive,

364
00:16:09,530 --> 00:16:11,430
{\an8}including Teddy Roosevelt.

365
00:16:11,430 --> 00:16:13,723
{\an8}But the Amazon isn't finished with him yet.

366
00:16:15,150 --> 00:16:18,950
By the time Roosevelt emerged from the Amazon rainforest,

367
00:16:18,950 --> 00:16:22,150
he was just a shell of his former self.

368
00:16:22,150 --> 00:16:25,880
{\an8}He had lost 50 pounds and he was incredibly weak

369
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,390
and he never would fully recover.

370
00:16:28,390 --> 00:16:30,293
{\an8}And he lived only another five years.

371
00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:33,960
{\an8}But hey, at least he got his river.

372
00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:39,080
Roosevelt wasn't the first outsider

373
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,720
to slap a name tag on an unmarked river.

374
00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,160
{\an8}Let's rewind the tape four centuries

375
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:46,100
{\an8}to see how the Amazon got its name.

376
00:16:47,490 --> 00:16:48,910
{\an8}The man responsible?

377
00:16:48,910 --> 00:16:52,040
{\an8}Spanish conquistador, Francisco de Orellana

378
00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,000
We'll just call him Frank.

379
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,720
He was actually a cousin of Pizarro,

380
00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,060
{\an8}who was the conqueror of Peru

381
00:16:59,060 --> 00:17:04,060
{\an8}and the Pizarro family were frantic conquistadors,

382
00:17:04,130 --> 00:17:06,113
bloodthirsty and goldthirsty.

383
00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,320
{\an8}In 1541, he leads a massive expedition

384
00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,040
to find and conquer the mythical city of gold, El Dorado.

385
00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,610
De Orellana didn't go into the Amazon

386
00:17:16,610 --> 00:17:18,630
with the intention of having

387
00:17:18,630 --> 00:17:21,010
any positive interactions with local peoples.

388
00:17:21,010 --> 00:17:23,373
He was there to extract resources.

389
00:17:24,370 --> 00:17:26,710
{\an8}The 243 man expedition

390
00:17:26,710 --> 00:17:28,760
{\an8}doesn't exactly pack light.

391
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:30,683
{\an8}They take over 200 horses,

392
00:17:32,070 --> 00:17:33,503
{\an8}over 2000 pigs,

393
00:17:34,790 --> 00:17:36,930
{\an8}2000 dogs,

394
00:17:36,930 --> 00:17:39,170
{\an8}and more than 4,000 indigenous people

395
00:17:39,170 --> 00:17:40,783
{\an8}as porters and servants.

396
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,660
Along the way, Frank stumbles upon indigenous villages.

397
00:17:45,660 --> 00:17:49,870
They are not made of gold but he is not picky.

398
00:17:49,870 --> 00:17:52,730
The Conquistadores gotta conquer apparently.

399
00:17:52,730 --> 00:17:55,350
The locals have other ideas,

400
00:17:55,350 --> 00:17:57,333
they fight back hard.

401
00:17:58,470 --> 00:18:01,670
In a particular conflict with local villagers,

402
00:18:01,670 --> 00:18:04,390
he came across some female warriors

403
00:18:04,390 --> 00:18:07,660
who were particularly ferocious and,

404
00:18:07,660 --> 00:18:10,400
understandably, didn't want him there.

405
00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,130
Outmatched, Frank calls the retreat.

406
00:18:13,130 --> 00:18:15,440
They left enough of a mark on him

407
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:20,000
to remind him of the Amazonian warriors of Greek mythology

408
00:18:21,180 --> 00:18:22,993
and he named the area after them.

409
00:18:24,170 --> 00:18:26,920
That's how the Amazon got its name.

410
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:28,680
But, as bizarre as the Amazon women

411
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:30,560
must have looked to Frank,

412
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,943
imagine how weird he looked to them.

413
00:18:35,130 --> 00:18:38,010
Seeing people in armor probably made them think

414
00:18:38,010 --> 00:18:41,283
that these strange people look kind of like insects.

415
00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:45,060
(upbeat music)

416
00:18:45,060 --> 00:18:46,740
Big Frank scuttles away,

417
00:18:46,740 --> 00:18:50,330
heading east along the newly christened Amazon River.

418
00:18:50,330 --> 00:18:53,720
It's the beginning of a 3,100 mile odyssey

419
00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:55,010
that will carry him through the heart

420
00:18:55,010 --> 00:18:57,303
of an ancient rainforest civilization.

421
00:18:59,756 --> 00:19:02,230
(upbeat music)

422
00:19:02,230 --> 00:19:05,110
What they describe is an inhabited world.

423
00:19:05,110 --> 00:19:07,420
{\an8}He didn't see a sort of forest primeval.

424
00:19:07,420 --> 00:19:10,630
It was very heavily populated.

425
00:19:10,630 --> 00:19:12,450
Massive cities along the riverbank

426
00:19:12,450 --> 00:19:15,320
stretching as far as 15 miles.

427
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:17,540
{\an8}Inhabited areas that take a full two days

428
00:19:17,540 --> 00:19:19,830
{\an8}and two nights to pass through.

429
00:19:19,830 --> 00:19:23,780
{\an8}We have an idea that the Amazon is this pristine jungle

430
00:19:23,780 --> 00:19:26,650
{\an8}and that there's very few human touches to it,

431
00:19:26,650 --> 00:19:28,300
{\an8}but that's not accurate at all.

432
00:19:28,300 --> 00:19:31,100
{\an8}There's been a million plus people living in the area

433
00:19:31,100 --> 00:19:33,420
for thousands of years.

434
00:19:33,420 --> 00:19:34,970
When Frank passes through,

435
00:19:34,970 --> 00:19:37,450
there are anywhere between six and 20 million

436
00:19:37,450 --> 00:19:39,740
indigenous people living in the region.

437
00:19:39,740 --> 00:19:42,960
{\an8}Incredibly, more than 100 of these ancient cultures

438
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:44,310
still exist today.

439
00:19:44,310 --> 00:19:47,770
Pretty much unchanged for hundreds of years.

440
00:19:47,770 --> 00:19:50,560
{\an8}The Amazon is one of just two places on Earth,

441
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:52,380
{\an8}where there are still groups of people

442
00:19:52,380 --> 00:19:54,730
{\an8}who have had no contact with the outside world.

443
00:19:55,740 --> 00:19:57,520
I think it's actually cool that there are people

444
00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,580
in the Amazon who have never used Amazon.

445
00:20:00,580 --> 00:20:02,910
I can't go a day without my cell phone.

446
00:20:02,910 --> 00:20:04,950
It'd be such a bummer to be cut off

447
00:20:04,950 --> 00:20:06,100
from the outside world.

448
00:20:06,100 --> 00:20:08,660
And then it's like, hey, we're happy to meet you.

449
00:20:08,660 --> 00:20:09,970
We're burning the planet to the ground,

450
00:20:09,970 --> 00:20:11,070
you got 10 years left.

451
00:20:12,030 --> 00:20:14,260
The vast cultural gulf with outsiders

452
00:20:14,260 --> 00:20:17,451
often makes contact more than a little awkward.

453
00:20:17,451 --> 00:20:18,540
(gentle music)

454
00:20:18,540 --> 00:20:21,750
{\an8}In 1955, five American missionaries.

455
00:20:21,750 --> 00:20:24,440
Hey fellas, let's go save us some souls.

456
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,070
Set out to spread Christianity

457
00:20:26,070 --> 00:20:29,300
to the Huaorani people of the jungles of Ecuador.

458
00:20:29,300 --> 00:20:33,270
This story, in its essence, it's repeated so many times,

459
00:20:33,270 --> 00:20:35,670
essentially it involves evangelicals

460
00:20:35,670 --> 00:20:37,680
who see an indigenous group,

461
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:39,910
want to save them from the hell

462
00:20:39,910 --> 00:20:42,524
they feel like they would inevitably face.

463
00:20:42,524 --> 00:20:43,664
(screaming)

464
00:20:43,664 --> 00:20:46,450
(chuckling)

465
00:20:46,450 --> 00:20:48,750
So they set up camp near Huaorani territory

466
00:20:48,750 --> 00:20:51,120
and start airdropping gifts for them.

467
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:52,490
Who wants presents?

468
00:20:52,490 --> 00:20:54,770
They fly around in tight circles with the gifts

469
00:20:54,770 --> 00:20:59,040
{\an8}in a canvas bucket at the end of a 1,500 foot rope.

470
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:00,870
The first drop contains a kettle,

471
00:21:00,870 --> 00:21:02,843
some buttons and rock salt.

472
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:05,440
They drop this stuff down,

473
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,720
the indigenous population takes it and you know,

474
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,053
doesn't seem to be particularly aggressive.

475
00:21:12,050 --> 00:21:15,290
Then they start expecting to have gifts given back to them

476
00:21:15,290 --> 00:21:16,540
and they think it's a good sign

477
00:21:16,540 --> 00:21:18,800
when other things are left in exchange.

478
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,040
They like us, praise the Lord.

479
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:22,270
The missionaries want to meet

480
00:21:22,270 --> 00:21:25,150
the Huaorani face-to-face and come up with a plan

481
00:21:25,150 --> 00:21:27,960
that they think will ease everybody into it.

482
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:29,610
Got to get my good side.

483
00:21:31,230 --> 00:21:32,400
They drop eight by 10

484
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:34,680
glossy photos of themselves,

485
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:37,530
hoping the Huaorani people will recognize them in person

486
00:21:37,530 --> 00:21:40,040
and go, ah, these must be the nice guys

487
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:41,690
that are sending us the presents.

488
00:21:42,867 --> 00:21:44,453
But it doesn't go as planned.

489
00:21:45,890 --> 00:21:48,540
{\an8}Two Huaorani, a young man and a young woman,

490
00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:50,930
pluck up the courage to visit the missionaries.

491
00:21:50,930 --> 00:21:52,400
They tried to be friendly,

492
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,320
they take the young man on an airplane ride

493
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,736
to show him his village from above.

494
00:21:57,736 --> 00:21:59,860
That's where you live.

495
00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:02,470
It's also a bit of showing off I imagine.

496
00:22:02,470 --> 00:22:04,780
And they hope that this is going to put them

497
00:22:04,780 --> 00:22:06,980
on a positive standing to make

498
00:22:06,980 --> 00:22:09,053
further contact with the community.

499
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:11,503
What the missionaries don't know

500
00:22:11,503 --> 00:22:13,250
is that the young woman's family

501
00:22:13,250 --> 00:22:15,680
is furious she visited them.

502
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,660
To deflect attention, the young man

503
00:22:17,660 --> 00:22:19,760
claims the missionaries had attacked them.

504
00:22:20,630 --> 00:22:23,430
Two days later, a pair of Huaorani women appear

505
00:22:23,430 --> 00:22:24,753
near the missionary camp.

506
00:22:25,690 --> 00:22:27,890
The evangelicals think wow, it's so great,

507
00:22:27,890 --> 00:22:30,430
they're coming out, they're going to talk to us.

508
00:22:30,430 --> 00:22:33,770
And then someone says, "Hello, it's so nice to see you."

509
00:22:33,770 --> 00:22:36,020
That's when the Huaorani spring their trap

510
00:22:36,020 --> 00:22:38,416
and spear the five men to death.

511
00:22:38,416 --> 00:22:39,400
(dramatic music)

512
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,410
It may seem like the missionaries are the victims here

513
00:22:41,410 --> 00:22:43,490
because they're the ones that ended up murdered.

514
00:22:43,490 --> 00:22:45,390
But we have to question why they were there

515
00:22:45,390 --> 00:22:46,720
in the first place.

516
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,367
They went into this community to try to convert them

517
00:22:49,367 --> 00:22:52,310
and to say that your religious experience is wrong,

518
00:22:52,310 --> 00:22:54,053
let us show you the right way.

519
00:22:54,900 --> 00:22:56,510
Historically indigenous people

520
00:22:56,510 --> 00:22:58,100
have had by far the most to fear

521
00:22:58,100 --> 00:22:59,683
from contact with outsiders.

522
00:23:00,690 --> 00:23:02,330
Today, the Amazon region is home

523
00:23:02,330 --> 00:23:04,160
to more than 30 million people,

524
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:05,630
but only about nine percent,

525
00:23:05,630 --> 00:23:09,430
or 2.7 million of the population, is indigenous.

526
00:23:09,430 --> 00:23:12,210
It's important to realize that the interaction

527
00:23:12,210 --> 00:23:15,330
between white people and indigenous populations

528
00:23:15,330 --> 00:23:18,540
has a deep history of, not only loss of life,

529
00:23:18,540 --> 00:23:20,870
but loss of worlds.

530
00:23:20,870 --> 00:23:22,230
The Spanish and Portuguese

531
00:23:22,230 --> 00:23:25,540
first arrived in the region around the year 1500.

532
00:23:25,540 --> 00:23:26,430
Land ho!

533
00:23:26,430 --> 00:23:28,600
They brought guns

534
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,513
and other weapons used to kill many indigenous people.

535
00:23:32,370 --> 00:23:34,990
But they brought something even more dangerous.

536
00:23:34,990 --> 00:23:37,360
The disease was much more deadly.

537
00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:40,540
Largely smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza.

538
00:23:40,540 --> 00:23:44,690
They certainly died in vast numbers over a period of years.

539
00:23:44,690 --> 00:23:47,550
Less than 100 years after Europeans arrived,

540
00:23:47,550 --> 00:23:51,591
the Amazon's indigenous population was reduced by 90%.

541
00:23:51,591 --> 00:23:52,640
(gentle music)

542
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,043
Many of these dangers still exist today.

543
00:23:55,956 --> 00:23:59,706
{\an8}(speaking foreign language)

544
00:24:02,875 --> 00:24:06,280
Almir Surui is Chief of the Paiter Surui tribe,

545
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:10,330
who have traditionally occupied a 957 square mile tract

546
00:24:10,330 --> 00:24:13,157
of Amazonian rainforest in Western Brazil.

547
00:24:14,018 --> 00:24:17,768
{\an8}(speaking foreign language)

548
00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:33,500
Losing indigenous lives

549
00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:37,320
also means losing the incredible cultures and innovations

550
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,123
they have refined over millennia.

551
00:24:41,106 --> 00:24:44,260
(upbeat music)

552
00:24:44,260 --> 00:24:46,120
Most of us think of the Amazon jungle

553
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,860
as wild and overgrown, the opposite of farmland,

554
00:24:49,860 --> 00:24:53,319
but recent studies have found that that's not the case.

555
00:24:53,319 --> 00:24:54,710
Really?

556
00:24:54,710 --> 00:24:56,715
What's interesting in the Amazon,

557
00:24:56,715 --> 00:24:58,460
we've actually discovered areas that have

558
00:24:58,460 --> 00:25:02,860
very good fertile soil and that's unusual in a rainforest.

559
00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:04,540
And we now recognize that this was

560
00:25:04,540 --> 00:25:06,570
intentional human terraforming.

561
00:25:06,570 --> 00:25:08,790
They were actively managing the soil there

562
00:25:08,790 --> 00:25:10,663
to make it better for agriculture.

563
00:25:12,030 --> 00:25:13,720
{\an8}It turns out that about 12%

564
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,270
{\an8}of the Amazon's dry forests have been farmed

565
00:25:16,270 --> 00:25:19,850
{\an8}by indigenous communities for 5,000 years.

566
00:25:19,850 --> 00:25:21,650
{\an8}Well that's a long time.

567
00:25:21,650 --> 00:25:23,120
And their approach to agriculture

568
00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:24,680
is radically different from what

569
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,020
most of the world practices today.

570
00:25:27,020 --> 00:25:30,530
Modern agriculture is a monocultural agriculture.

571
00:25:30,530 --> 00:25:32,600
You basically take this complex world

572
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,440
and reduce it to a couple of species.

573
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,410
Indigenous agriculture is rooted

574
00:25:37,410 --> 00:25:40,170
in poly culture and agroforestry.

575
00:25:40,170 --> 00:25:44,460
So you don't just have one of your trees growing

576
00:25:44,460 --> 00:25:47,810
and one of your root crops, but that you have both

577
00:25:47,810 --> 00:25:51,469
the mixturing of the wild and the tame.

578
00:25:51,469 --> 00:25:55,219
{\an8}(speaking foreign language)

579
00:26:06,112 --> 00:26:07,570
Conventional agriculture plants crops

580
00:26:07,570 --> 00:26:10,010
that are harvested every one to three years

581
00:26:10,010 --> 00:26:13,010
and requires huge swaths of forest to be cut down.

582
00:26:13,010 --> 00:26:14,590
Like, that's bad, right?

583
00:26:14,590 --> 00:26:16,460
Indigenous Amazonians plant crops

584
00:26:16,460 --> 00:26:19,070
that can keep producing for 20 years

585
00:26:19,070 --> 00:26:21,303
and grow in harmony with the forest.

586
00:26:22,372 --> 00:26:26,122
{\an8}(speaking foreign language)

587
00:26:30,730 --> 00:26:32,770
But, over the years, outsiders have been

588
00:26:32,770 --> 00:26:37,193
more than happy to tear the Amazon apart to make big bucks.

589
00:26:39,795 --> 00:26:40,660
(upbeat music)

590
00:26:40,660 --> 00:26:44,260
The Amazon is incredibly rich in natural resources,

591
00:26:44,260 --> 00:26:46,973
which has been both a blessing and a curse.

592
00:26:48,740 --> 00:26:52,470
There's just an unbelievable variety.

593
00:26:52,470 --> 00:26:54,420
{\an8}But, wherever there's an opportunity,

594
00:26:54,420 --> 00:26:56,083
{\an8}it's immediately exploited.

595
00:26:57,250 --> 00:26:58,710
One of the first resources

596
00:26:58,710 --> 00:27:00,700
to attract greedy outsiders?

597
00:27:00,700 --> 00:27:04,800
Number 79 on the periodic table of elements,

598
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:05,633
gold.

599
00:27:05,633 --> 00:27:06,952
Ooh shiny.

600
00:27:06,952 --> 00:27:07,785
(gentle music)

601
00:27:07,785 --> 00:27:09,370
Myths about gold in the Amazon

602
00:27:09,370 --> 00:27:12,960
{\an8}have been around for as long as we've had contact

603
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:14,553
{\an8}with people in the Amazon.

604
00:27:15,670 --> 00:27:18,420
The Amazon gold rush is the longest in history.

605
00:27:18,420 --> 00:27:21,660
It lasts two centuries from the late 1600s

606
00:27:21,660 --> 00:27:23,450
to the late 1800s.

607
00:27:23,450 --> 00:27:28,130
{\an8}In Brazil, you have one of the largest extractions of gold

608
00:27:28,130 --> 00:27:30,823
{\an8}that occurs until the late 20th century.

609
00:27:32,550 --> 00:27:35,620
Today, demand for Amazon gold is on the rebound

610
00:27:35,620 --> 00:27:39,050
and has been rising steadily since the early 2000s.

611
00:27:39,050 --> 00:27:40,070
The result?

612
00:27:40,070 --> 00:27:44,333
Some 500,000 small, mostly illegal, mining operations.

613
00:27:46,010 --> 00:27:48,210
They are responsible for up to 10%

614
00:27:48,210 --> 00:27:49,913
of deforestation in the region.

615
00:27:51,150 --> 00:27:54,480
It's terrible for the local environment and people.

616
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,070
This environmental exploitation

617
00:27:56,070 --> 00:27:59,640
is not something in the past, it's happening right now.

618
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,800
The idea that we're doing this for gold,

619
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:04,510
{\an8}what do we do with gold?

620
00:28:04,510 --> 00:28:08,140
{\an8}We take gold out of the ground to smelt it into blocks

621
00:28:08,140 --> 00:28:10,950
{\an8}that we then put back into the ground in bank vaults.

622
00:28:10,950 --> 00:28:14,093
That's something indigenous people just do not understand.

623
00:28:15,370 --> 00:28:16,850
Gold isn't the only resource

624
00:28:16,850 --> 00:28:20,230
to ignite a global frenzy for a piece of the Amazon.

625
00:28:20,230 --> 00:28:22,380
For one of the most coveted of all,

626
00:28:22,380 --> 00:28:25,147
look no further than these trees.

627
00:28:25,147 --> 00:28:25,980
(upbeat music)

628
00:28:25,980 --> 00:28:29,890
There are three species of trees that yield a white latex

629
00:28:29,890 --> 00:28:33,810
that became the source of caucho, of rubber.

630
00:28:33,810 --> 00:28:36,760
Rubber is kind of an amazing material.

631
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:38,750
Though it's something that we get from plants,

632
00:28:38,750 --> 00:28:41,070
it's elastic, it's flexible,

633
00:28:41,070 --> 00:28:43,320
you can do so many things with it.

634
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,210
So when rubber as a compound was discovered in the Amazon,

635
00:28:47,210 --> 00:28:48,973
it was very high value.

636
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,540
The arrival of the automobile

637
00:28:51,540 --> 00:28:54,986
sends the Amazon rubber industry into overdrive.

638
00:28:54,986 --> 00:28:56,170
(upbeat music)

639
00:28:56,170 --> 00:28:59,100
{\an8}1908, Henry Ford would be making

640
00:28:59,100 --> 00:29:02,060
{\an8}the first of 15 million Model T's

641
00:29:02,060 --> 00:29:04,230
and every one of them needed rubber.

642
00:29:04,230 --> 00:29:07,740
And the only source was in the Amazon.

643
00:29:07,740 --> 00:29:10,020
{\an8}By 1910, rubber makes up

644
00:29:10,020 --> 00:29:13,070
{\an8}over 40% of all Brazil's exports.

645
00:29:13,070 --> 00:29:15,480
Harvesting it is a massive undertaking.

646
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,980
In order to get to the trees worth tapping,

647
00:29:17,980 --> 00:29:21,970
{\an8}you had to mobilize labor by the thousands.

648
00:29:21,970 --> 00:29:23,840
The vast majority of those tappers

649
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,010
are the indigenous people who know where the best trees are.

650
00:29:27,010 --> 00:29:28,000
Over here!

651
00:29:28,850 --> 00:29:33,850
The horrific, barbaric treatment of rubber tappers

652
00:29:34,030 --> 00:29:37,890
unleashed by barons defies imagining.

653
00:29:37,890 --> 00:29:40,050
A priest once said that, "The best that could be said

654
00:29:40,050 --> 00:29:43,677
of a white man is he didn't kill his Indians for sport."

655
00:29:44,570 --> 00:29:46,020
By the end of the boom,

656
00:29:46,020 --> 00:29:48,230
for every ton of rubber produced,

657
00:29:48,230 --> 00:29:50,950
10 indigenous people would die.

658
00:29:50,950 --> 00:29:53,330
To speed up production, Amazon rubber barons

659
00:29:53,330 --> 00:29:55,690
start growing trees in plantations.

660
00:29:55,690 --> 00:29:57,430
But the seeds of the boom's destruction

661
00:29:57,430 --> 00:29:59,540
have already been sown.

662
00:29:59,540 --> 00:30:02,563
Let's wind the clock back to the 1870s.

663
00:30:04,177 --> 00:30:05,250
The Brazilian government worked very hard

664
00:30:05,250 --> 00:30:10,070
to maintain control over the supply chain of rubber.

665
00:30:10,070 --> 00:30:13,530
But the British worked quite hard to get control of it.

666
00:30:13,530 --> 00:30:17,830
It had been trying to get seeds out of Brazil for ever,

667
00:30:17,830 --> 00:30:20,520
but the rubber seed has a lot of oil

668
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:22,173
and it rots very quickly.

669
00:30:23,150 --> 00:30:25,820
That all changes in 1876,

670
00:30:25,820 --> 00:30:27,960
when a man named Henry Wickham pulls off

671
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:29,313
the heist of the century.

672
00:30:30,170 --> 00:30:32,520
Wickham was able to actually smuggle

673
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,587
rubber seeds out of Brazil,

674
00:30:34,587 --> 00:30:38,460
the Brazilian government had an embargo on exporting them,

675
00:30:38,460 --> 00:30:41,170
but he found a way to sneak

676
00:30:41,170 --> 00:30:43,040
some of these out of the country

677
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,960
quick enough for the seeds to survive.

678
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:47,920
Wickham smuggles 70,000 seeds

679
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,030
from Brazil to the U.K.

680
00:30:50,030 --> 00:30:52,720
They get planted inside the hot houses of Kew Gardens,

681
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,033
where 2,700 of them sprout.

682
00:30:56,250 --> 00:30:58,470
Once the seedlings were established,

683
00:30:58,470 --> 00:31:01,053
they were shipped, destined for Singapore.

684
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,360
Because of this act of industrial espionage,

685
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,980
Britain was able to become a huge player

686
00:31:07,980 --> 00:31:10,460
in the world rubber market.

687
00:31:10,460 --> 00:31:11,790
It's a devastating blow

688
00:31:11,790 --> 00:31:13,450
to the Brazilian producers,

689
00:31:13,450 --> 00:31:17,200
{\an8}whose fate is all but sealed in 1933,

690
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,080
{\an8}when the Amazon's rubber plantations

691
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,270
{\an8}are consumed by a leaf blight.

692
00:31:21,270 --> 00:31:23,990
It was as if God had a blowtorch.

693
00:31:23,990 --> 00:31:25,940
The south American leaf blight

694
00:31:25,940 --> 00:31:28,770
just ravaged the entire investment.

695
00:31:28,770 --> 00:31:32,470
By 1940, 95% of the world's rubber supply

696
00:31:32,470 --> 00:31:34,010
is being grown in British owned

697
00:31:34,010 --> 00:31:36,250
plantations in Southeast Asia.

698
00:31:36,250 --> 00:31:39,330
But in 1941, one seismic event

699
00:31:39,330 --> 00:31:40,810
will bounce the rubber industry

700
00:31:40,810 --> 00:31:42,863
right back into the Amazon court.

701
00:31:44,970 --> 00:31:48,140
{\an8}On December 7th, 1941,

702
00:31:48,140 --> 00:31:50,650
when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,

703
00:31:50,650 --> 00:31:54,243
and within six weeks, the Japanese had taken control

704
00:31:54,243 --> 00:31:58,360
{\an8}of 97% of the world's rubber supply.

705
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,653
It was the biggest crisis of World War II.

706
00:32:02,610 --> 00:32:03,890
A single Sherman tank

707
00:32:03,890 --> 00:32:06,070
requires a half ton of rubber,

708
00:32:06,070 --> 00:32:07,973
a heavy bomber, a full ton.

709
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:16,150
Some warships contain as many as 20,000 rubber parts.

710
00:32:16,150 --> 00:32:17,470
Don't want any leaks.

711
00:32:17,470 --> 00:32:19,080
It was an extraordinary crisis

712
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,930
upon almost the entire fate of the Allied cause

713
00:32:21,930 --> 00:32:25,833
and, indeed, the fate of civilization literally hinged.

714
00:32:27,050 --> 00:32:29,400
The Allies desperately need rubber.

715
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:31,870
They have no choice but to turn to the original source.

716
00:32:31,870 --> 00:32:33,270
Hey guys, no hard feelings?

717
00:32:33,270 --> 00:32:36,330
{\an8}The U.S. offers Brazil $100 per tapper

718
00:32:36,330 --> 00:32:39,550
{\an8}in return for restarting the Amazon's rubber industry.

719
00:32:39,550 --> 00:32:42,650
{\an8}Brazil quickly recruits more than 55,000 people

720
00:32:42,650 --> 00:32:44,960
{\an8}to tap rubber trees deep in the jungle.

721
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,653
{\an8}They become known as the rubber soldiers.

722
00:32:48,590 --> 00:32:51,410
We see a lot of child labor at this time.

723
00:32:51,410 --> 00:32:53,260
Children, as young as five being sent

724
00:32:53,260 --> 00:32:55,113
into the forest to gather rubber.

725
00:32:56,620 --> 00:32:57,540
The average tapper's

726
00:32:57,540 --> 00:32:59,253
workday starts before dawn.

727
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,730
They're given only a kerosene lamp for the gloom

728
00:33:03,730 --> 00:33:05,760
and a machete for bushwhacking.

729
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,203
Lucky recruits get a rifle for protection.

730
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,620
The rubber tappers would be working

731
00:33:11,620 --> 00:33:13,533
for the Allied and the war effort.

732
00:33:16,060 --> 00:33:20,350
And it was seen, not as the oppression of young men,

733
00:33:20,350 --> 00:33:23,930
but rather about young patriotic men saving the country

734
00:33:23,930 --> 00:33:27,250
through their labors in the tropical forest.

735
00:33:27,250 --> 00:33:29,863
The day to day was not nearly as illustrious.

736
00:33:30,700 --> 00:33:31,840
Tappers spend their morning

737
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,350
scouring the forest for rubber trees to tap.

738
00:33:34,350 --> 00:33:35,230
There's one.

739
00:33:35,230 --> 00:33:36,390
In the afternoon,

740
00:33:36,390 --> 00:33:38,580
they retrace their steps to collect the sap

741
00:33:38,580 --> 00:33:41,160
and haul it back to camp in the dark.

742
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,693
Even then, the fun is only getting started.

743
00:33:44,700 --> 00:33:47,420
Back at the camp, they have to cure the day's rubber haul

744
00:33:47,420 --> 00:33:49,640
on a paddle over a smokey fire.

745
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,090
Once that's done, it's finally time to eat.

746
00:33:52,090 --> 00:33:53,240
I'm so hungry!

747
00:33:54,100 --> 00:33:55,900
However, the Brazilian government

748
00:33:55,900 --> 00:33:57,750
isn't serving up any rations.

749
00:33:57,750 --> 00:33:59,720
So dinner is whatever they managed to bag

750
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,313
in between tapping trees,

751
00:34:02,350 --> 00:34:03,833
no matter how unappetizing.

752
00:34:05,006 --> 00:34:05,839
(gentle music)

753
00:34:05,839 --> 00:34:09,300
People were worked so hard and in dangerous conditions

754
00:34:09,300 --> 00:34:11,673
that they were heavily exploited.

755
00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:16,310
25,000 Brazilian troops serve on the front lines

756
00:34:16,310 --> 00:34:18,350
in the Second World War.

757
00:34:18,350 --> 00:34:21,140
457 lose their lives.

758
00:34:21,140 --> 00:34:23,710
But vastly more Brazilians die on the homefront

759
00:34:23,710 --> 00:34:25,910
thanks to the demand for rubber.

760
00:34:25,910 --> 00:34:29,800
{\an8}30,000 rubber soldiers make the supreme sacrifice,

761
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,763
{\an8}a staggering 55% of those recruited.

762
00:34:34,478 --> 00:34:35,730
(upbeat music)

763
00:34:35,730 --> 00:34:38,420
The Amazon rainforest helped save the free world

764
00:34:38,420 --> 00:34:41,020
from fascism in the 1940s.

765
00:34:41,020 --> 00:34:43,130
Now we need it again to save

766
00:34:43,130 --> 00:34:46,060
the entire human race from extinction.

767
00:34:46,060 --> 00:34:49,683
By means of a 200 gigaton secret locked in its leaves.

768
00:34:53,220 --> 00:34:55,600
(upbeat music)

769
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,070
Is the Amazon dangerous?

770
00:34:57,070 --> 00:34:57,980
Yes.

771
00:34:57,980 --> 00:34:59,320
So-so dangerous yes.

772
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:01,200
Everything, everything is dangerous.

773
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:02,120
Anywhere where there is something

774
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:05,033
that is trying to eat me is immediately a problem.

775
00:35:06,030 --> 00:35:07,590
It's no secret that the Amazon

776
00:35:07,590 --> 00:35:09,680
has many ways to kill us.

777
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:11,330
What's less known is that it may have

778
00:35:11,330 --> 00:35:14,170
infinitely more ways to save us.

779
00:35:14,170 --> 00:35:15,420
It's a story that starts

780
00:35:15,420 --> 00:35:18,350
with the Amazon's most dangerous creature.

781
00:35:18,350 --> 00:35:21,270
The most dangerous creature in the Amazon.

782
00:35:21,270 --> 00:35:23,630
There are so many options to choose from.

783
00:35:23,630 --> 00:35:26,530
Well, aside from the penis fish, maybe an anaconda.

784
00:35:26,530 --> 00:35:29,930
It's probably some mushroom that you accidentally step on

785
00:35:29,930 --> 00:35:31,863
and then you just explode.

786
00:35:32,870 --> 00:35:34,530
Or your skin falls off.

787
00:35:34,530 --> 00:35:35,363
Or both.

788
00:35:36,371 --> 00:35:37,809
(gentle music)
(hissing)

789
00:35:37,809 --> 00:35:39,730
There's lots of scary and dangerous animals in the Amazon

790
00:35:39,730 --> 00:35:42,800
but probably the most deadly is the mosquito.

791
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:44,450
You wanna piece of me?

792
00:35:44,450 --> 00:35:46,470
How dangerous is the mosquito?

793
00:35:46,470 --> 00:35:49,970
{\an8}Well, sharks kill around six people every year.

794
00:35:49,970 --> 00:35:53,940
Venomous snakes, they kill an estimated 50,000.

795
00:35:53,940 --> 00:35:57,770
But even they are nothing compared to the deadly mosquito.

796
00:35:57,770 --> 00:36:01,430
According to the World Health Organization, in 2019,

797
00:36:01,430 --> 00:36:05,570
there were 229 million cases of malaria worldwide,

798
00:36:05,570 --> 00:36:08,603
resulting in 409,000 deaths.

799
00:36:09,490 --> 00:36:12,980
Malaria is a parasite carried inside mosquitoes,

800
00:36:12,980 --> 00:36:14,720
and it's still one of the major causes

801
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:17,240
of death in the world today.

802
00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:20,060
Most of the mortality occurs in children.

803
00:36:20,060 --> 00:36:22,990
So control of this is very important.

804
00:36:22,990 --> 00:36:25,330
It's also preventable and treatable.

805
00:36:25,330 --> 00:36:26,163
Where did the first

806
00:36:26,163 --> 00:36:28,140
malaria treatment come from?

807
00:36:28,140 --> 00:36:30,009
The Amazon of course.

808
00:36:30,009 --> 00:36:30,842
(upbeat music)

809
00:36:30,842 --> 00:36:32,750
The story goes that, in 1631,

810
00:36:32,750 --> 00:36:34,870
the Spanish Countess of Cinchona,

811
00:36:34,870 --> 00:36:37,280
who was married to the Viceroy of Peru,

812
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,590
got sick with terrible chills.

813
00:36:39,590 --> 00:36:40,970
Oh so cold.

814
00:36:40,970 --> 00:36:42,950
And a dangerously high fever,

815
00:36:42,950 --> 00:36:44,873
textbook malaria symptoms.

816
00:36:45,850 --> 00:36:47,410
The count turns to his doctors,

817
00:36:47,410 --> 00:36:49,060
who are Jesuit priests, for help.

818
00:36:49,060 --> 00:36:51,295
What're we gonna do?

819
00:36:51,295 --> 00:36:53,380
The Jesuits acted as if they just had

820
00:36:53,380 --> 00:36:55,780
some brilliant inside information.

821
00:36:55,780 --> 00:36:58,263
Don't worry, we've got just the thing.

822
00:36:59,470 --> 00:37:02,980
Jesuits, in general, were very interested in medicine.

823
00:37:02,980 --> 00:37:05,880
They kept medicinal gardens in Europe.

824
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:06,990
The Jesuits rush off

825
00:37:06,990 --> 00:37:08,420
and get a cinnamon colored bark,

826
00:37:08,420 --> 00:37:10,740
which they grind up into a fine powder.

827
00:37:10,740 --> 00:37:12,380
That'll do just fine.

828
00:37:12,380 --> 00:37:13,810
They mix that into a drink

829
00:37:13,810 --> 00:37:15,510
and then hurry back to the countess.

830
00:37:15,510 --> 00:37:16,780
Down the hatch.

831
00:37:16,780 --> 00:37:19,843
It was a very bitter, disgusting thing to drink.

832
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:22,410
But it does the trick.

833
00:37:22,410 --> 00:37:24,470
The countess is cured of malaria.

834
00:37:24,470 --> 00:37:25,410
Well, that's a relief.

835
00:37:25,410 --> 00:37:27,640
And the Jesuits look like geniuses.

836
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:29,840
Except it might not have happened that way.

837
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:31,480
What they didn't reveal was

838
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,670
where they got that information, which rather unsurprisingly

839
00:37:34,670 --> 00:37:36,620
came from local indigenous people

840
00:37:36,620 --> 00:37:41,300
{\an8}who have known for hundreds of years how to treat malaria.

841
00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:44,290
Today, the tree that grows that miraculous bark

842
00:37:44,290 --> 00:37:47,700
is known as the Cinchona tree, after the countess.

843
00:37:47,700 --> 00:37:49,620
Cinchona is in the Rubiaceae family,

844
00:37:49,620 --> 00:37:52,560
the coffee family, and the bark yields quinine,

845
00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:56,940
which is a naturally occurring antimalarial agent.

846
00:37:56,940 --> 00:37:58,160
By the 1640s,

847
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,710
the Jesuits are exporting Cinchona from Peru back to Europe,

848
00:38:01,710 --> 00:38:03,660
where it becomes known as Jesuit's Powder,

849
00:38:03,660 --> 00:38:05,570
the wonder cure for malaria.

850
00:38:05,570 --> 00:38:06,840
Step right up, step right up.

851
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,440
Get your malaria cure here.

852
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,270
But the Jesuits knew where it really came from.

853
00:38:12,270 --> 00:38:15,400
It's the first recorded treatment for the deadly illness

854
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,923
and its importance can't be overstated.

855
00:38:18,770 --> 00:38:22,190
Quinine was one of the major medical discoveries.

856
00:38:22,190 --> 00:38:24,460
You can kind of think of it as equal to

857
00:38:24,460 --> 00:38:27,780
the discovery of penicillin in that it really handled

858
00:38:27,780 --> 00:38:30,390
a global scourge extremely well

859
00:38:30,390 --> 00:38:32,063
when nothing else seemed to work.

860
00:38:33,260 --> 00:38:36,010
The Amazon is the largest natural pharmacy

861
00:38:36,010 --> 00:38:38,090
and much of the flora has yielded

862
00:38:38,090 --> 00:38:39,993
some of our more important drugs.

863
00:38:41,650 --> 00:38:44,400
In the 1940s, one man's efforts

864
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,540
will unlock the Amazon's enormous curative potential,

865
00:38:47,540 --> 00:38:48,373
(upbeat music)

866
00:38:48,373 --> 00:38:51,200
Harvard biologist Richard Evans Schultes.

867
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,330
In fact, it's the World War II rubber crisis

868
00:38:54,330 --> 00:38:56,483
{\an8}that lands Schultes a ticket to the jungle.

869
00:38:57,460 --> 00:39:00,120
{\an8}Schultes was sent into the Amazon

870
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,610
to find a way to break the Asian monopoly,

871
00:39:02,610 --> 00:39:07,280
to find a way to grow rubber in plantations in the Americas.

872
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:08,113
While looking for

873
00:39:08,113 --> 00:39:10,150
disease resistant rubber trees,

874
00:39:10,150 --> 00:39:12,960
Schultes collects and catalogs as many different

875
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:14,700
plant species as he can find.

876
00:39:14,700 --> 00:39:17,350
I'll take one of those and one of those.

877
00:39:17,350 --> 00:39:18,890
Oh this one is good too.

878
00:39:18,890 --> 00:39:21,560
But, of course he doesn't do it on his own.

879
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:24,020
Schultes comes to these societies

880
00:39:24,020 --> 00:39:27,360
who have never seen an outsider coming to them humbly,

881
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,390
not as a master, but as a student,

882
00:39:30,390 --> 00:39:33,113
revering them as the teacher.

883
00:39:34,170 --> 00:39:37,150
He was the first to draw attention

884
00:39:37,150 --> 00:39:39,700
to the extraordinary knowledge of those

885
00:39:39,700 --> 00:39:42,460
who know the forest best, the indigenous people.

886
00:39:42,460 --> 00:39:46,243
He showed that they were true natural philosophers.

887
00:39:47,590 --> 00:39:49,270
Guided by indigenous people,

888
00:39:49,270 --> 00:39:52,800
Schultes then puts his own extraordinary skills to work.

889
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,600
Most of us, when we see a tropical forest,

890
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,210
we see a series of shades of green,

891
00:39:58,210 --> 00:40:00,630
but Schultes could detect diversity

892
00:40:00,630 --> 00:40:03,613
just by holding a blossom to the light.

893
00:40:05,980 --> 00:40:10,409
Schultes collected roughly 30,000 individual collections.

894
00:40:10,409 --> 00:40:11,748
That's also a lot.

895
00:40:11,748 --> 00:40:12,700
But with each collection,

896
00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:14,097
there could have been as many as

897
00:40:14,097 --> 00:40:16,330
a hundred individual specimens.

898
00:40:16,330 --> 00:40:18,890
Each thought to be a new species.

899
00:40:18,890 --> 00:40:21,110
{\an8}During his 12 years in the Amazon,

900
00:40:21,110 --> 00:40:23,620
Schultes collects 2000 plants.

901
00:40:23,620 --> 00:40:24,640
Which later turned out to have

902
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,913
previously unknown medicinal properties.

903
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,580
Today, 25% of all medicinal drugs

904
00:40:31,580 --> 00:40:33,653
are derived from rainforest plants.

905
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,700
The U.S. National Cancer Institute

906
00:40:36,700 --> 00:40:38,850
has identified about 3000 plants

907
00:40:38,850 --> 00:40:40,423
with anti-cancer properties.

908
00:40:41,410 --> 00:40:43,813
70% of them are found in the rainforest.

909
00:40:45,660 --> 00:40:48,450
But a growing worldwide obsession with one animal

910
00:40:48,450 --> 00:40:50,823
threatens to destroy this vital resource.

911
00:40:51,890 --> 00:40:54,723
The cow or, more specifically, its meat.

912
00:40:56,500 --> 00:40:58,500
{\an8}The world loves beef.

913
00:40:58,500 --> 00:41:01,950
{\an8}Each year, we produce about 67 million tons of it.

914
00:41:01,950 --> 00:41:03,360
But all that tasty meat

915
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,853
comes at a steep environmental cost.

916
00:41:06,730 --> 00:41:09,240
If you look at the carbon footprint of cattle,

917
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:12,140
it's one of the worst things you could grow.

918
00:41:12,140 --> 00:41:15,470
It requires so much forest to be cut down

919
00:41:15,470 --> 00:41:18,690
in order to produce so little beef.

920
00:41:18,690 --> 00:41:19,950
{\an8}Brazil is the number two

921
00:41:19,950 --> 00:41:21,800
{\an8}beef producing nation in the world,

922
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,760
{\an8}raising about 215 million head of cattle per year.

923
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,123
And that production has hit the Amazon hard.

924
00:41:29,630 --> 00:41:31,050
You might assume it's logging,

925
00:41:31,050 --> 00:41:33,960
{\an8}but actually 80% of deforestation in the Amazon

926
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:36,130
{\an8}is because of cattle production.

927
00:41:36,130 --> 00:41:38,770
To increase the amount of grazing land,

928
00:41:38,770 --> 00:41:43,470
they have to burn down the Amazon forest to create space.

929
00:41:43,470 --> 00:41:44,730
By some estimates,

930
00:41:44,730 --> 00:41:47,620
200 square feet of rainforest is destroyed

931
00:41:47,620 --> 00:41:49,803
for every pound of beef produced.

932
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,263
That's the size of an extra large parking space.

933
00:41:54,490 --> 00:41:58,760
The average head of cattle produces 490 pounds of beef.

934
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:00,590
Holy cow.

935
00:42:00,590 --> 00:42:03,290
That's about one Manhattan block per cow.

936
00:42:06,410 --> 00:42:08,810
By burning down these trees, you're immediately

937
00:42:08,810 --> 00:42:11,180
introducing carbon dioxide into the environment

938
00:42:11,180 --> 00:42:12,610
and then the cattle moving in

939
00:42:12,610 --> 00:42:15,430
are a major contributor to methane production.

940
00:42:15,430 --> 00:42:17,660
So we're seeing multiple greenhouse gases

941
00:42:17,660 --> 00:42:20,500
being produced through cattle raising.

942
00:42:20,500 --> 00:42:22,980
Remember the miracle cure for malaria?

943
00:42:22,980 --> 00:42:25,380
Our insatiable appetite for beef is robbing us

944
00:42:25,380 --> 00:42:27,870
of an untold number of future medicines.

945
00:42:27,870 --> 00:42:30,016
Maybe I'll stick with tofu.

946
00:42:30,016 --> 00:42:30,890
(gentle music)

947
00:42:30,890 --> 00:42:33,830
Every time you destroy an acre of forest,

948
00:42:33,830 --> 00:42:37,570
the level of biological knowledge that is put at risk,

949
00:42:37,570 --> 00:42:39,393
it's like burning down a library.

950
00:42:40,330 --> 00:42:43,110
It's not just that we're transforming

951
00:42:43,110 --> 00:42:46,830
this priceless treasure of nature.

952
00:42:46,830 --> 00:42:50,030
We cut it down to create meat.

953
00:42:50,030 --> 00:42:52,610
Do we really need more meat?

954
00:42:52,610 --> 00:42:54,730
Stop eating beef, find a cure for cancer.

955
00:42:54,730 --> 00:42:56,160
I would stop, it'd be hard.

956
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:57,070
I love meat.

957
00:42:57,070 --> 00:42:59,240
I really like steak.

958
00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:01,930
Can we like figure out the whole cancer cure thing

959
00:43:01,930 --> 00:43:05,500
and then go back to the steak or is it one or the other?

960
00:43:05,500 --> 00:43:06,840
If that isn't enough,

961
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,930
the rainforest contains 200 billion other reasons

962
00:43:09,930 --> 00:43:12,010
to stop cutting it down now.

963
00:43:12,010 --> 00:43:14,400
The Amazon represents about 54%

964
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:16,760
of the total rain forest on Earth,

965
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:20,620
and it plays a vital role in maintaining a stable climate.

966
00:43:20,620 --> 00:43:24,580
The Amazon is often described as the lungs of the planet.

967
00:43:24,580 --> 00:43:27,750
So, as we see accelerating deforestation in the Amazon,

968
00:43:27,750 --> 00:43:31,480
that's fewer trees to uptake carbon dioxide.

969
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,200
In its trees and soils, the Amazon stores

970
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:36,550
the equivalent of four to five years worth

971
00:43:36,550 --> 00:43:38,630
of human made carbon emissions,

972
00:43:38,630 --> 00:43:43,090
up to 200 gigatons or 200 billion tons of carbon.

973
00:43:43,090 --> 00:43:45,566
That sure is a whole lot of zeros.

974
00:43:45,566 --> 00:43:49,316
{\an8}(speaking foreign language)

975
00:43:56,579 --> 00:43:57,890
The Amazon is the unique product

976
00:43:57,890 --> 00:44:00,410
of millions of years of Earth's evolution

977
00:44:00,410 --> 00:44:02,690
and it's irreplaceable.

978
00:44:02,690 --> 00:44:06,780
It's something that's absolutely unique to our world.

979
00:44:06,780 --> 00:44:11,300
And the idea that we would just let it burn up

980
00:44:11,300 --> 00:44:15,620
or dismiss it in any way is just a tragedy.

981
00:44:15,620 --> 00:44:18,820
If we can't figure out how to save the Amazon,

982
00:44:18,820 --> 00:44:23,340
we don't have much hope for the future of humanity.

983
00:44:23,340 --> 00:44:24,173
But there's still time

984
00:44:24,173 --> 00:44:25,693
for us to flip the script.

985
00:44:26,957 --> 00:44:27,956
(gentle music)

986
00:44:27,956 --> 00:44:28,789
I think it's easy to get really

987
00:44:28,789 --> 00:44:31,180
discouraged about the future of the Amazon

988
00:44:31,180 --> 00:44:33,840
but there also are positive stories too.

989
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:35,100
There are a number of species

990
00:44:35,100 --> 00:44:36,730
that were on the brink of extinction that,

991
00:44:36,730 --> 00:44:39,220
through active interventions, have been saved.

992
00:44:39,220 --> 00:44:41,633
Like the golden lion tamarins for instance.

993
00:44:42,730 --> 00:44:46,440
Mercifully, the Amazon remains a big place.

994
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:48,490
We have an initiative right now

995
00:44:48,490 --> 00:44:51,210
called the Path of the Anaconda where we're trying to

996
00:44:51,210 --> 00:44:53,430
create a single protected area that will go

997
00:44:53,430 --> 00:44:55,420
from the Andes to the Atlantic

998
00:44:55,420 --> 00:44:59,093
across the entire northern reaches of the Amazon.

999
00:44:59,930 --> 00:45:03,680
{\an8}(speaking foreign language)

1000
00:45:20,350 --> 00:45:22,250
There are reasons to be hopeful.

1001
00:45:22,250 --> 00:45:24,830
We just really need to be actively involved

1002
00:45:24,830 --> 00:45:27,073
in protecting this part of the world.

1003
00:45:33,110 --> 00:45:34,680
I honestly didn't realize that the Amazon

1004
00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:36,160
was so important to our planet.

1005
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:40,400
But, if it goes, I'm guessing we're going to be next.

1006
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,700
I'm pretty positive we'll be screwed.

1007
00:45:42,700 --> 00:45:43,760
Completely screwed.

1008
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:44,960
It's not even like a question,

1009
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:46,660
we would die without the Amazon

1010
00:45:46,660 --> 00:45:49,060
and so now I'm getting super nervous.

1011
00:45:49,060 --> 00:45:50,830
It's the end of the movie, credits are rolling,

1012
00:45:50,830 --> 00:45:51,670
we're all going home.

1013
00:45:51,670 --> 00:45:52,960
To our maker.

1014
00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:54,010
We don't want that.

1015
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:55,913
Give a damn.