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Cameras in space show that Earth is changing rapidly. Cities sprawl while forests and glaciers shrink. But in Tanzania locals have regenerated the landscape to ..
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00:07Satellite cameras can now look down on every part of our planet revolutionizing the view
00:19of our home by combining images taken over days weeks and years we can see planet Earth change
00:50from space we can watch cities grow Earth's natural resources shrink
01:08and the weather become more extreme
01:19as we alter the surface of the planet faster than at any time in human history
01:30this new perspective allows us to track the speed of this change
01:40to see the impact of our actions
01:47and inspire us to look after our fragile home
02:22humans now inhabit every landmass on the planet
02:28and the extent of our colonization is most obvious at night
02:39scientists have combined images to reveal a detailed view of the entire globe at night
02:56our cities and towns
03:00reaching out across its surface
03:18using images taken over years we can see just how fast these cities are growing
03:52mayors
03:53in the last 40 years
03:56Las Vegas has tripled in size.
04:03Its suburbs sprawling into the Nevada desert.
04:13Tokyo is now home to 38 million.
04:24More people than any other city on Earth.
04:34And in just 35 years, the small fishing village of Shenzhen in China
04:42has grown to a modern city of 10 million.
04:53It is joined with nine neighboring cities,
04:57creating one giant megatropolis.
05:04Home to more than 60 million people.
05:12Across more than 50,000 square kilometers.
05:28As new land is claimed each day,
05:32nature is being pushed out.
05:45From above,
05:47India's streets are a densely packed maze of gray concrete.
06:00But zoom in over Chennai,
06:04one of India's largest cities,
06:07and we can see a flash of bright green.
06:23Wild parakeets.
06:32In this ever-sprawling city,
06:35one man has made room for wildlife.
06:41Fifteen years ago,
06:43Joseph Sekar
06:43saw a pair of parakeets
06:46struggling to find food
06:48in the city streets.
06:55He put out rice for the birds.
07:03Others came.
07:05So each day,
07:07he put out even more.
07:17Every day,
07:18he and his granddaughters
07:20turn his rooftop
07:22into a giant bird table,
07:28awaiting the arrival
07:32of 4,000 birds.
07:35Quack!
07:39How many times do you own?
07:54Quack!
07:56Over there!
08:01Quack!
08:28Joseph spends nearly 50% of his income.
08:55They come twice a day, without fail.
09:05Joseph has not only given a lifeline to these birds when they needed it most, he has brought
09:14a little bit of nature back into the city streets.
09:21Joseph has not only given a lifeline to these birds, but he has not given a lifeline to these birds.
09:48In a world where nature is being pushed out, Joseph is supporting a whole population of animals.
10:03Showing that one person in five million can make a huge difference.
10:30As the planet's urban landscapes grow by the day, its most important wild spaces,
10:39are shrinking.
10:50In South America, trees are cleared for farming.
11:11In the Amazon, small patches of green, protected by local tribes,
11:20are all that remain of a once great forest.
11:31And on the island of Madagascar, images taken over 30 years, show it has lost almost 80% of its
11:41original forest.
11:47With so few trees left to hold the soil in place, the red earth now runs into the rivers and
11:55out into the ocean.
12:01It looks like Madagascar is bleeding.
12:19The islands of Indonesia.
12:23An area of thick rainforest.
12:30Home to thousands of plant and animal species.
12:36But the view from space shows it disappeared.
12:47All over Indonesia, swathes of forest are vanishing.
12:59And it's having a devastating impact on one species in particular.
13:28This young Sumatran orangutan lives with her mother in the forest canopy.
13:57But nearly three years old, she's still learning what's safe to eat and what isn't.
14:11There are over 300 different types of edible plants in the forest.
14:16But each fruit at different times.
14:21Finding food here isn't easy.
14:25She must rely on her mother's expert knowledge.
14:38The pear can travel for up to three kilometers a day foraging for food.
14:44Her mother knows the location of each and every tree in her territory.
14:51Durian fruit, full of fats and vitamins, are a favorite.
15:00Their smell tells her if they're ready to eat.
15:05Every day is a lesson.
15:24It will be three more years before this young female has learnt enough to go it alone.
15:29But with orangutan habitat under threat, finding enough food is becoming more difficult.
15:39She may not survive that long.
15:49This forest is home to the highest concentration of orangutans on the planet.
15:58But as the satellite moves across the landscape, the forest disappears.
16:13The last patches of the orangutan's habitat are surrounded by ordered fields.
16:25We know enough to live outside the Înh tweeted out of the intended牧
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16:43and the fuck is surining.
16:45Nuts from the trees are made into oil that's found in about half of all the products on our supermarket
16:54shelves.
16:56from toothpaste to biscuits, lipstick to soap.
17:18In the last 20 years, orangutans have lost 80% of their forest home.
17:27The scale and speed of deforestation here makes it almost impossible to control.
17:39But now satellites can help.
17:45They can monitor tree loss in real time, revolutionizing the fight against illegal activity.
17:55Allowing authorities to keep watch on remote forests and respond to protect them faster.
18:17It's not only forests that humans are exploiting.
18:25We've found ways to use natural resources across the planet.
18:39A mine fans out in Germany, producing 30 million tons of brown coal a year to fuel electric power stations.
18:55In Chile, islands of blue appear in a vast salt flat.
19:04These evaporation ponds concentrate lithium to be made into batteries for our mobile phones.
19:16In the deserts of Saudi Arabia, circles appear in the sand.
19:24Water, pumped from one kilometer below the Earth's surface, is used to feed crops.
19:38And as we use Earth's natural resources to fuel our industries, we leave our rubbish behind.
19:50Thousands of old aircraft litter the Arizona desert.
20:00Hundreds of ships line the coast of Bangladesh, waiting to be dismantled.
20:12And in Kuwait, a black patchwork in the sand.
20:19Millions of used car tires left discarded.
20:29The waste products of almost everything we make are gases.
20:41They rise into the atmosphere, where they become trapped, and absorb heat from the Earth below, making the planet hotter.
20:56In the last hundred years, our planet has warmed by almost one degree Celsius.
21:03Enough to dramatically affect some of our greatest natural landscapes.
21:13Glaciers.
21:17Huge bodies of ice.
21:24In Alaska, Bear Glacier runs for 20 kilometers down the valley.
21:31Before it breaks up, where it meets the water.
21:43In real time, glaciers can move so slowly, they almost appear static.
22:01But by combining satellite images taken over years, we can see the ice retreating.
22:14Over 30 years, 12 miles of ice is lost from Alaska's Columbia Glacier.
22:32Mountain glaciers are also under threat.
22:41In the center of Ecuador, South America, lies Chimborazo.
22:53At more than 6,000 meters, it is the country's highest mountain.
23:05For millennia, its peak has been covered in snow and ice.
23:17But in the past three decades, the view from space has started to change.
23:26Chimborazo is losing its ice.
23:38One man, living in its foothills, knows this only too well.
23:47It's a lot of good.
23:48In Tithadi.
23:59That is the land of Balthazar.
24:02The land of Balthazar is misplaced.
24:04It's all a hard-to-heart, it's all a hard-to-heart but still of the land of most.
24:10And while they have over 50 kilometers, I have a hard-to-heart of most of the land.
24:11Remember, the day of the land of Balthazar is a place where it is?
24:16For generations, his family have collected glacial ice from the mountain to sell to the
24:22towns and villages below.
24:54He used to be one of 40 working here.
25:05Now he's the very last one.
25:10As the glacier melts, he's had to climb higher and higher to find the ice.
25:40On the top of the mountain, scientists use drones to monitor the change in the depth of
25:45ice, to calculate just how fast Chimborazo's glaciers are retreating.
25:54But a drone can only go so high.
26:09Combining these images with satellite data reveals the whole picture.
26:18Since 1976, 21% of Chimborazo's surface ice has gone.
26:41Glaciers act as the world's water towers, feeding the streams and rivers which we rely on.
26:56If they dry up, the effect could be severe.
27:11For Balthazar, this could be the end of the only way of life he's ever known.
27:21In the old days, he delivered ice to towns all over the region.
27:29But now, he supplies just a handful of local cafes.
27:39Who, like him, believe that his ice is the best money combined?
27:44Who, like him?
27:45as we get into the sky.
28:12As the Earth's climate changes,
28:15Our weather becomes more unpredictable.
28:24Extremes of hot and cold are contributing to dramatic weather events.
28:36In Africa, snow falls in the Sahara Desert.
28:53In 2018, an unusually hot summer turned the UK brown.
29:12While in Bolivia, Lake Pupo has all but disappeared, partly due to severe drought.
29:30As global temperatures rise, water on the Earth's surface evaporates faster, creating more clouds and more storms.
29:50Look down over the ocean, and the clouds shift into shape.
30:03They begin to spiral and race, picking up energy as they spin across the ocean.
30:17Hurricanes.
30:25On average, one hurricane hits the Gulf Coast of the United States every year.
30:37But beachside property is still highly sought after.
30:49And not just by holidaymakers.
31:01The beach mouse makes its home here.
31:18These dunes have been hit by four hurricanes in the last 25 years.
31:24Just a few miles down the coast, an entire beach mouse population was wiped out.
31:34And had to be reintroduced.
31:37And had to be reintroduced.
31:45At three weeks old, every young mouse must leave the family nest.
31:49And establish their own territory.
31:57Starting with a burrow.
32:03There's little vegetation.
32:06Barely any cover.
32:08A bolt hole is essential.
32:22Like all real estate on this coastline, burrows are hot property.
32:39It might take several days to find a place of his own.
32:46Every moment spent out here alone, he's vulnerable.
32:51And not just to predators.
32:57Over the dunes, the skies are getting darker.
33:09Clouds are building.
33:14While cameras on the dunes follow the weather as it changes.
33:20At the same time, a satellite positioned out over the Gulf.
33:28Allows us to see what a mouse can't.
33:33Eight hundred kilometers away from the dunes.
33:36Eight hundred kilometers away from the dunes.
33:37A hurricane has formed.
33:45Like all major storms, it's given a name.
33:50Harvey.
33:56Three hundred kilometers across.
34:00And with winds of over a hundred miles per hour.
34:03It's predicted that Harvey will make land in just eight hours.
34:11To tell where it will hit, we can track its movement from satellite.
34:23As it reaches the coast, it spins away from the dunes.
34:36The beach mice are safe.
34:43But where Harvey makes landfall, images reveal the aftermath of devastating flooding.
34:53Caused by over 120 centimeters of rain.
35:01Harvey was the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. in 12 years.
35:13And the wettest in American history.
35:26But Harvey was just the beginning.
35:32Next came Ama, Jose, and Katia.
35:39In one of the worst hurricane seasons on record.
35:49It's predicted that an ever-warming planet will produce more powerful storms.
35:55But with satellites mapping the path of hurricanes, they can help us to prepare for when they hit.
36:11It's not only hurricanes that are increasing.
36:16Another weather event leaves indelible marks on our planet.
36:22California.
36:252018.
36:29A huge burn mark, covering more than 1,400 square kilometers.
36:40These scars are found across America, every summer.
36:52And the view from space gives us a brand new perspective on one of their causes.
37:05Look down on the planet at night.
37:10And the globe crackles and sparks.
37:19Each bright spot, a strike of lightning.
37:27Our world is struck up to 50 times every second.
37:42As the energy of each strike hits the Earth's surface, they create deadly sparks.
38:01In North America, more than 10,000 wildfires a year are caused by lightning.
38:14This number is increasing as the climate changes.
38:18Their conspiracies are altogetherστically vibrations.
38:19So these fires must be monitored.
38:46I'm not interested.
38:48Usually I get up about six o'clock in the morning.
38:53I get up, have a cup of coffee.
38:58And then I'm ready to go.
39:06Every day of each summer, 85-year-old Billy Ellis
39:12climbs the 143 steps to his office.
39:29I get to the radio about 925.
39:34Corporal Dispatch, this is Devilsale Tower in service.
39:39I'm a fire lookout, and I've been doing it now for 33 summers.
39:55After a long, hot summer, the forest is tinder-dry.
40:01Perfect conditions for a fire.
40:08I look about every 15 minutes, I take a look around.
40:14You can look for days and never see anything.
40:19And all of a sudden, there it is.
40:22We'll blow dispatch, this is Devilsale Tower.
40:25We have a smoke.
40:27We have a smoke.
40:37Within minutes, the smoke plume can stretch across the horizon.
40:44Now, the most effective way to track it is from space.
40:53Cameras can follow a fire's path in almost real time,
41:00observing the smoke to predict its direction, size, and speed,
41:09guiding those fighting it to the heart of the blaze.
41:32Using satellite positioning, smoke jumpers can be on the ground within seven minutes of a call.
41:45Wildfire can burn at 1,200 degrees Celsius.
41:55To stop it, they create breaks in the forest, taking away its fuel.
42:24As human actions continue to warm the planet, more wildfires tear across the Earth's surface.
42:36In 2018, California had one of the worst wildfire seasons in history.
42:46Satellites followed as more than 5,000 fires raged across the state,
42:55including the Mendocino Complex fire, one of California's largest ever wildfires.
43:09But even in the most devastated landscapes, lies opportunity.
43:28Billy isn't the only lookout in the forest.
43:33This wood-boring beetle is also searching for smoke.
43:43Special sensors in his body. Detect it from many kilometers away.
44:07This blackened branch is weaker, easier to bore into and feed on.
44:22And where insects go, birds follow.
44:29A black-backed woodpecker.
44:34Perfectly camouflaged in burned forests.
44:41Beetle grubs are full of fat.
44:50Food for hungry chicks.
45:04Within six months.
45:05Within six months of the fire, the woodpecker holds of new residents.
45:29The new trees take root.
45:41Infrared satellite images of this forest show it turned from brown to green in just three years.
45:56Wildfire is essential for healthy forest habitat.
46:02It has regenerated the trees and supported the species that live in them for millennia.
46:10But as we continue to warm our planet, increasing the size and severity of these fires, it becomes our responsibility
46:18to keep them under control.
46:34Cameras in space are a powerful tool with which to monitor our planet.
46:47Revealing landscapes under threat.
46:51But satellites also capture images in parts of the world where we are trying to restore the balance.
47:08Just off the east coast of England, white dots appear in the sea.
47:19One of the world's largest offshore wind farms.
47:24Generating enough power a year for half a million homes.
47:33In China, two giant pandas.
47:39Solar panels creating electricity as a greener alternative to burning coal.
47:50And in Tanzania, Africa.
48:05This land was cleared for farming.
48:15But now, the view has changed.
48:19Completely.
48:23Forest has regrown.
48:29A transformation helping one of our most iconic species.
48:48Gombe Stream National Park.
48:58Gombe Stream National Park.
48:59This is Salama.
49:04And her mother.
49:06And her mother, Shweeney.
49:09They're members of the Casa Kela community.
49:13A troop of over 90 chimpanzees.
49:19First studied by primatologist Jane Goodall back in 1960.
49:30The family have been followed almost every single day for 58 years.
49:41It's the longest running study of any animal on earth.
49:50They're protected forest.
49:52They're protected forest is near the village of Kigaliye.
50:00Here, local people cut down trees to make space for farmland.
50:06The mountain Seahugan Park.
50:12But without the trees holding the earth together, there were landslides.
50:22and flash floods
50:29threatening the village
50:32and their neighbors.
50:41To survive,
50:44female chimpanzees need to mix
50:47with other troops,
50:49moving territory to find a mate.
50:57The deforestation isolated the community.
51:03Their forest had become an island.
51:18With both people
51:20and chimps suffering,
51:23the Jane Goodall Institute
51:24began to work with the village
51:26to replant the trees
51:31and provide the locals
51:33with sustainable ways
51:35to use the land.
51:42Emmanuel Mtiti
51:44and Lillian Pintea
51:46have been working on the project
51:49for 18 years
51:52and they've had a little help
51:56from satellites.
52:05This is a recent image
52:07of the area.
52:12Even the finest details
52:14are visible.
52:31So let's go back to this.
52:36By comparing satellite images,
52:38the villagers can see
52:40what a difference they've made.
53:05The forests
53:08have been regenerated.
53:15Land that was infertile
53:17has been brought back to life.
53:26The landslides
53:27have stopped.
53:32And flash floods
53:33are no longer a problem.
53:43They're not going to die.
54:01And it's not just the people
54:03who have benefited for the first time in decades new chimpanzees have been seen
54:23using the surrounding forests to travel into the reserve potential new mates
54:41and a bright future for this iconic species
54:51here in this small corner of the planet
54:58conservationists and local people have shown just what a difference can be made when we work together
55:10a change so important and so dramatic
55:16that it can be seen from space
55:38this perspective allows us to see our home in a whole new way
55:49satellite cameras now help us to health check our planet
55:58see where it is thriving
56:05but crucially where we are upsetting its fragile balance
56:15we can find and follow our most vulnerable species
56:28and make new discoveries
56:34in extraordinary landscapes
56:43transforming our understanding of the way earth works
56:51and our place within it
56:58this powerful new tool helps us protect our unique and fragile planet
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57:37Transcription by CastingWords
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