humans only two hundred thousand years ago yet we have succeeded in disrupting the balance that is so essential to life listen carefully to this extraordinary story which is yours and decide what you want to do with it these are traces of our arijit at the beginning of our plant was no more than a chaos of fire and a cloud of a good natured dust particles similar just so many similar  today life our life is just a link in a chain of a new ripple living beings that have succeeded one another on earth over nearly four billion years and even today new volcanoes continue to sculpt our landscapes they offer a glimpse of what our earth was like at its birth most in rock surging from the depths solidifying cracking blistering or spreading in a sin crust before falling dormant for a time what happened to the carbon that poisons the atmosphere it's still here imprisoned in the here there once was see it have it had by microorganisms they grew their shells by tapping into carbon from the atmosphere dissolved in the ocean the strata of the accumulated shells of those thanks to them the carbon trained from the atmosphere and other life forms could develop rain spring rivers seas oceans glaciers the cycle is never broken there's always the same quantity of water on earth all the successes aboard one of the most unstable of all it takes a liquid form is running water gashes is fake or something the green expanse peeking through the clouds is the source of oxygen in the air seventy percent of this gas without which our lungs cannot function comes from the algae that to the surface of the ocean are born from the marriage of algae and shells coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor but they provide a habitat for thousands of species of fish mollusks and al took more than four billion years for it to make a mixture of water mineral vegetable and living families of animals form united by customs and rituals are handed down to the generation even today the majority of humankind lives on the continents coastlines or the banks of rivers and lakes across the planet one person in four lives as humankind did six thousand years ago their only energy that which nature provides season after season is the way of life of one and a half billion people more than the combined a population of all of the wealthy nations life expectancy is short and hard labor takes its toll the uncertainties of nature weigh on daily life education is a rare privilege children ar family's only asset as long as every extra pair of hands is a necessary contribution to it but how can you conquer the world on an empty stomach the invention of agriculture turned our history on and it was less than ten thousand years ago agriculture was our first great revolution agriculture is like a tradition handed down from generation to generation unbridled power o america was the first to harness the phenomenal revolutionary power of black in the fields machines replaced men a leader of the oil generates as much energy as one hundred pairs of heads in twenty four hours in the united states only three million farmers are left they produce enough grain to feed two billion people but most of their grain is not used to feed people here and in all other industrialized the pocket of sunshines energy chased away the specter of drought that stalks farm life no spring escapes the demands of agriculture which accounts for seven the percent of humanity's water  in nature everything is linked to the expansion of cultivated land in single crop farming encourage the development of parasites pesticides another gift at the petrochemical revolution exterminated soil plants animals reversed notions they penetrated the heart of cells similar to the mother cells that is shared by all forms of life are they harmful to the humans that they released from hunger these then came fertilizers another petrochemical discovery they produced unprecedented results on plots of land thus far ignored quarters at the variety is developed by farmers over thousands of years have been wiped out the more a country develops the more meat its inhabitants consume how can growing worldwide demand be satisfied without recourse to concentration camp style cattle farms faster and faster like the a fleet of trucks from every corner of the country brings in tons of grain soil meal and protein rich granules that will become tons of money agriculture has become boiled powered it feeds twice as many humans on earth that has replaced diversity or standardize ation it has offered many of us comforts we could only dream that it makes our way of life totally dependent on oil this is the new measure of our world's clock now beats to the resume of these into the teachable machines tapping into the pocket of sunlight as a privilege of power eighty percent of this mineral wealth is consumed by twenty percent of the world's population before the end of this century excess of mining will have exhausted nearly all the planet's reserves ninety percent of trade goes i see five hundred million containers are transported every year headed for the world's major hubs of consumption such as d dubai is a sort of claim a nation of the western model a country where the impossible becomes possible building artificial islands in the sea for example to buy has few natural resources but with the money from oil it can bring millions of tons of material and workers from all over the planet to buy has no farmland but it can food device has no water but it can afford to expend immense amounts of energy to desalinate sea water and build the highest skyscrapers in the world to buy has endless s nothing seems further removed from nature and to buy other nothing depends on nature more than to buy to buy is a sort of culmination of the western model we haven't understood that we're  three quarters of fishing grounds are exhausted depleted are in danger of being most large fish have been fished out of existence since they have no time to reproduce we are destroying the cycles of life we have forgotten that resources are scarce five hundred million humans live in the world's desert lands more than the combined population of europe they know the value of water they know how to use it sparingly here they depend on wells replenished by fossil water which accumulated underground in the days when it rained on these deserts twenty five thousand years ago fossil water also enables crops to be grown in the desert to provide food for local populations the fields of search will are shaped derives from the pipes that irrigate them around a central bit of it but there's a israel turned the desert into arable land even though these hot houses are now irrigated drop by drop water consumption continues to increase along with exports the once mighty river jordan is now just a trickle its water has flown to supermarkets all over the world in crates of fruit and vegetables the jordan's fate is not unique across the planet as one major river in ten no longer flows into the sea for several months of the year  deprived of the jordans water the level of the dead sea goes down by over one metre per year india risks being the country that suffers most from the lack of water in the coming century massive irrigation has fed the growing population and in the last fifty years twenty one  in many parts of the country to drill has to sink ever deeper to hit water in western india thirty percent of the world's been abandoned the underground aquifers are drying out month the inhabitants of las vegas are among the biggest consumers of water in the world  palm springs is another desert city was tropical vegetation and lush golf courses the earth cannot keep up with the colorado river which brings water to the city this is one of those rivers that no longer reaches the sea water levels in the catchment lakes along its course wetlands represent six percent of the surface of the planet under their calm water lies a veritable factory where plants and microorganisms patiently filter the water and digest all the pollution these marshes are indispensable environments for the regeneration and purification of water they are sponges the regulate the flow of water they absorb it in the wet season and release it in the dry season in our race to conquer more land we have reclaimed a missed pasture for our livestock or is land for agriculture or building in the last century half of the world's mar this catastrophe was provoked by the decision to produce palm oil one of the most productive and consumed oils in the world on borneo palm oil not only caters to our growing demand for food but also cosmetics detergents and increasingly alternative fuels the forest diversity was replaced by a single species for local people it provides employment it is an agricultural in but elsewhere deforestation is a last resort to survive over two billion people almost a third of the world's population still depend on charcoal in haiti one of the world's poorest countries charcoal is one of the population on the hills of haiti only two percent of the forests are left stripped bare nothing holds the soils back the rain water washes them down the hillsides as far as  left is increasingly unsuitable for was nothing left their civilization did not survive on these lands to the highest palm trees in the world they have disappeared the revenue it chopped them all down for  the raptor knew it could no longer go fishing there were no trees to build experienced social unrest revolts and famine many did not survive nigeria is the biggest oil exporters in africa and yet seventy percent of the population lives under the poverty the wealth is there but the country's inhabitants don't have access to it the same is true all over the globe half the world's poor live in resource rich countr two percent of the population that will rise to sixteen million by twenty twenty five lagos is one of the fastest growing megalopolises in the world the new arrivals are mostly foreigners forced off the land for economic or demographic reasons or because of diminishing resources this is a radically new type of urban growth driven by the urge to survive rather than to pro every week over a newly and people swell the populations of the world's cities hunger is spreading once more it affects nearly one million people all over the planet's the poorest scrabbled to survive on scraps but we continue to dig for resources that we can no longer live without we look farther and farther afield in previously unspoiled territory and in regions that are increasingly difficult to  pick every pocket our oil tankers are getting bigger and bigger our energy requirements are constantly increasing we try to power grows like a bottomless off and the demands more and more  it's all about carbon in a few decades the carbon that made our atmosphere a furnace and that nature captured over millions of years allowing life to develop will have largely been pumped back out the atmosphere is heating up it would have been inconceivable for a boat to be here just a few years ago transport industry forestation agriculture our activities released gigantic quantities of carbon dioxide without realizing it molecule by molecule we have upset the earth's climatic balance all eyes are on the poles where the effects of global warming are most visible it's happening fast very fast the northwest passage that connects america europe and by twenty thirty some say twenty fifty the sunbeams of the ice sheet previously reflected back now penetrate the dark water heating it up the warming process gather humanity has never lives in an atmosphere like around the north pole the ice cap has lost thirty percent of its surface area in certain years but is greenland rapidly becomes warmer the fresh water of the whole continent flows into the salt water  there is no industry in greenland ice sheet suffers from greenhouse gases emitted elsewhere on earth the freshwater of greenland's ice sheet gradually seeps into the salt water the oceans low lying lands around the globe are threaten sea levels are rising water expanding as it gets warmer caused in the twentieth century alone a rise of twenty centimeters everything becomes unstable coral reefs for example leaves for example are on the frontline they are increasingly concerned some are already looking for new if sea levels continue to rise faster and faster what will major cities like tokyo the world's most populous city to every year scientists predictions become more and more alarming seventy percent of the world's population lives on coastal plains eleven of the fifteen biggest cities stand on the coastline a river as to where as the seas rise salt will invade the water table depriving inhabitants of drinking water migratory phenomenon are inevitable the only uncertainty concerns their scale in africa mount kilimanjaro is an recognisable eighty percent of its glaciers disappear in summer the rivers no longer slow local peoples are affected by the lack of water even on the world's highest peaks in the heart of the himalayas eternal snows wealthy countries will not be spared droughts are occurring all over the in australia half of farmland is already affected more and more was fires encroach on major cities in turn may exacerbate global warming as the trees burn they release carbon dioxide the system that controls our the clock of climate change is ticking in these magnificent landscapes here in siberia and elsewhere across the globe it is so cold to the ground is constantly frozen it's known as perma t under its surface lies the climactic time of methane a greenhouse gas twenty times more powerful than carbon dioxide the methane released would cause the greenhouse effect to race out of control has consequences no one can predict we would literally be an unknown territory we have created phenomenon we cannot control since our origins water air and forms of life are intimately linked but recently we have broken those links let's face the facts we must believe what we know all that we have just seen is a reflection of human behavior we have shapes the earth in our image we have very little time to change how can this century carr burden of nine billion human beings if we refused to be called to account for everything the cost of our actions is high others pay the price without having been actively involved i've seen refugee camps as biggest cities sprawling in the desert how many men and women in chile dran will be left by the wayside tomorrow must we always build walls to break the chain of human solidarity separate peoples and protect the happiness of some from the misery of others it's too late to be a pessimist i know that a single human cannot down every wall is too late to be a pessimist world wide for children out of five attend school never has the learning been given to so many human beings everyone from richest to poorest can make  contribution the sotto one of the world's poorest countries is proportionally the one that invests most in its people's education qatar one of the world's richest states has opened its doors to the best universities culture education research and innovation are inexhaustible resources in the face of misery and suffering millions of n g o s proves that solidarity between peoples is stronger than the selfishness of nations bangladesh a man thought the unthinkable and founded a bank that lends only to the poor in thirty years it has changed the lives of one hundred fifty million people an article is a continent with immense natural resources the no country can claim for itself a natural reserve devoted to peace and science a treaty signed by forty nine states is made as a treasure shared by all humanity is too late to be a pessimist governments have acted to protect nearly two percent of the world's territorial waters is not much but is two times more than ten years ago the first national parks were created just over a century ago they cover over thirteen percent of the continent's they create spaces where human activity is in step with the preservation of species soils and landscapes this harmony between humans and nature can become the rule no longer the exception in the united states new york has realized that nature does for a these forests and lakes supply all the drinking water the city needs in south korea the forests have been devastated by a war thanks to a national reforestation program they once more cover sixty five percent of the country more than seventy five percent of paper is recycled costa rica has made a choice between military spending and the conservation of its lands the country no longer has an army it prefers to devote its resources to important economic resources but they have to time to regenerate programs exist to guarantee sustainable forest management they must become mandatory for consumers and producers justice is an opportunity and those who harvest their crops with the machine s let's be responsible consumers think about what we  it's too late to be a pessimist i've seen agriculture on a human scale it can feed the whole planet if meat production doesn't take the food out of people's mouths i've seen fishermen take care of what they catch and care for the riches of the ocean i've seen houses produce in their own energy five thousand people live in the world's first ever eco friendly district in freiburg germany other cit thousands to join the governments of new zealand iceland austria sweden and other nations have made the development of renewable energy sources a top priority i know that eighty percent swell to absorb the energy of the waves and produced electricity i have seen wind farms off the coast of denmark that produce twenty percent of the country's legislature the usa china india germany spain are the biggest investors in renewable energy they have already created over two and a half million jobs where on earth doesn't the wind i have seen desert expans is that consumed by all humanity in one year as long as the earth exists sun's energy will be inexhaustible all we have to do is stop trolling the earth and start looking to the sky all we have to do is learn to sun all these experiments are only examples but they testify to a new way they lay down markers for a new human adventure based on moderation intelligence and sharing