place you're like me a homo sapiens a wise human life a miracle of the universe appeared around four billion years ago humans only two hundred thousand years ago yet we have succeeded in disrupting the balance that is so essential to life on earth was in carefully to this extraordinary story which is yours and decide what you want to do with it similar clusters in the universe yet this was where the miracle of life o full of carbon dioxide they ran toward the lowest places on the globe to form yearly four billion years later somewhere on earth can still be found these works of art left by the volcanoes ash mixed with water from iceland's glaciers time primitive life forms still exist in the globe's hot springs to give them their colors they're called argue back tyria alone have the capacity to turn to the sun to capture its energy they transformed its atmosphere what happened to the carbon that poisons the atmosphere it's still here imprisoned in the earth's crust you can read this chapter of the earth's history nowhere better than on the walls of colorado's grand canyon they reveal nearly two billion years of the earth's history once upon a time the grand canyon was just seen and have it by microorganisms they grew their shells by tapping into carbon from the atmosphere dissolved in the ocean when they died the shells sank and accumulated on the seabed the strata are the product of those billions and billions of sh thanks to them the carbon drained from the atmosphere and other life forms could  the earth's water cycle is a process of constant renewal water falls water vapor clouds rain springs rivers seas oceans glaciers the cycle is never broken there's always the same quantity of water on earth all the successive species on earth have drunk the same water matters and it was one of the most unstable of all it takes a liquid form is running water gashes as fate or or solid a 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 tint the surface of the ocean corals are born from the marriage of algae and shells the great barrier reef off the coast of australia stretches over three hundred fifty thousand square kilometers and is home to one thousand five hundred species of fish four thousand species of mollusks and four hundred species of coral the equilibrium with every ocean depends on these sino bacteria the power to capture light's energy they store and feed off and turn it into wood and leaves which then decompose some adapt to the nature of their pasture and their pasture adapts to them and both to the animals sates is hunger and the tree can blossom again despite your vulnerability you have taken possession of every habitat and conquered swaths of territory like no other species game and wild plants there where land water even today the majority of humankind lives on the continent's coastlines or the banks of rivers and lakes than six hundred years ago it was a considerable leap in human history why towns because they allowed to defend themselves more easily they became social beings meeting and sharing knowledge and crafts blending their similarities and differences in a word they became civilized but the only energy at their disposal was provided by nature and the strength of their bodies it was the story of humankind for thousands of years it still is for one person in over one and a half billion human beings more than the combined population of all the wealthy nation taking from the earth only need a strictly necessary for a long time the relationship between humans and the planet was evenly balanced for a long time the economy seemed like a natural and equitable  but life expectancy is short and hard labor takes its toll the uncertainties of nature wait 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 a subsist the earth feeds people clothes and provides for their daily needs everything comes from  towns change humanity's nature as well as his destiny the farmer becomes a craftsman trader a ped found in the animals they again but how can you conquer the world on an empty stomach the invention of agriculture transformed the future of the wild animals scavenging for food that were humankind agriculture turned their history on and agriculture was their first great revolution developed barely eight to ten thousand years ago it changed their it brought an end to the uncertainty of hunting and gathering it resulted in the first surpluses in gave birth to ci for their agriculture humans harness the energy of animal species and plant life from which they had blast extract of the profits the memory of thousands of years scrabbling for food stated they learned to the world's most widespread occupation half of humankind tills the soil over three quarters of them by hand agriculture is like a tradition handed down from generation to generation in sweat graft and toil because for humanity is a prerequisite of survival but after relying on muscle power for so long human mind found a way to tap into the faster and faster in the last sixty years the earth's population has almost tripled and over two billion people have moved to the cit unbridled power of oil electricity resulted in the invention of elevators which in turn permitted the invention of skyscrapers new york ranks as the sixteenth largest economy america it was the first to discover and exploit and harness the phenomenal revolutionary power of black gold with its help a country of farmers became a country of agricultural industr machines replacement a liter of oil generates as much energy as one hundred pairs of hands in twenty four hours the world wide only three percent of farmers have use of a tractor none the less their output dominates the planet in the united states only three million farmers are left they produce enough grain to feed two billion people 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 seventy percent of humanity's water consumption the bad harvests and famine became a distant memory the biggest headache now was what to do with the surpluses engendered by modern agriculture harmful to the humans that they released from hunger these farmers in their yellow protective suits probably have a good idea the new agriculture abolished the dependence on soil it's and season produced unprecedented results on plots of land thus far ignored crops adapted to soils and climates gave way to the most productive varieties and the easiest to transport is so in the last century three quarters of the varieties developed by farmers over thousands of years have been wiped out as far as the eye can see fertilizer below plastic on top the greenhouses  are europe's vegetable garden a city of uniformly sized vegetables waits every day for the hundreds of trucks that will take some to the cotton and supermarket the more a country develops the more meat its inhabitants consume how can grow in worldwide demand be satisfied without recourse to concentration camp style cattle farms faster and faster like the life cycle of livestock which may never see a fleet of trucks from every corner of the country brings in tons of grain soy milk in protein rich granules that will become tons of the result is that it takes one hundred liters of water to produce that it makes our way of life totally dependent on oil for many of us the american dream is embodied by a legendary name los angeles in this city that stretches over one hundred kilometers the number of cars is almost equal to the number the days seem to be no more than the pale reflection of nights that turn the city in the next twenty years more or will be extracted from the earth that in the whole of humanity's history 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 excessive mining military exhausted nearly all the planet's reserves faster and faster shipyards churn out oil tankers container ships and gas tankers to cater for the demands of globalized industrial production most consumer goods travel souses of kilometers from the country of production which is a country of consumption says thousand nine hundred fifty the volume of international trade has increased twenty times over ninety percent of trade goes by sea five hundred million containers are transported every year headed for the world's major hubs of consumption such as d dubai is one of the biggest construction sites in the world a country where the impossible becomes possible building artificial islands in the sea for example dubai has few natural resources but with the money from oil it can bring millions of tons of material and people from all over the world you can build forests of skyscrapers each one taller than the last or even a ski slope in the middle of the desert dubai has no farmland but it can import food device has no water but he can afford to expend immense amounts of energy to desalinate sea water and build the highest skyscrapers in the world divide has endless sun but no solar panels it is the city of moore is more where the wildest dreams become reality dubai is a sort of culmination of the western for all the world's money nothing seems further removed from nature's in dubai although nothing depends on nature more than to buy a city merely follows the model of wealthy nations we haven't understood that we're three quarters of fishing grounds are exhausted depleted are in danger of being so are getting smaller made vulnerable by urbanization of the coasts and pollution they now face and new threat fam in there are an equal battle against industrial fishing fleets they can't find enough fish to feed their young we're 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 search oil or shape it derives from the pipes that irrigate them around a central pivot there's a heavy price to pay also water is a nonrenewable resource real turn 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 and crates of fruit and vegetables  precious that they dedicated a palace the victory over famine has a downside in many parts of the country the drill has to sink ever deeper to hit water in western india thirty percent of the wells have been aband the underground aquifers are drying out in dry season women from local villages digs them with their bare hand these wetlands are crucial to all life on earth they represent six percent of the planet marshes are sponges to regulate the flow of water in the last century half of the world's marshes were drained we know neither their richness nor their role the forests provide the humidity that is necessary for life they are the mother and father of rain our farmers that step out onto the sea like coral reefs they are a nursery for the oceans their roots in twine and form a shelter for the fish and molluscs that come to breed protect the coasts from hurricanes tidal waves and erosion by the sea hold peoples depend on yet they were reduced by half during the twentieth century world's largest rain forest the amazon has already been reduced by twenty percent the forest gives way to cattle ranchers or soybean farms ninety five percent of the soybeans are used to feed livestock and poultry in europe and asia when they burn forests and their soils release huge quantities of carbon accounting for twenty percent of the greenhouse gases and negative cross the deforestation is one of the principal causes of global warming barely twenty years ago borneo the fourth largest island in the world was covered by a vast primary forest at the current rate of deforestation the will of totally disappeared within ten years living by a single species the oil palm monoculture is easy productive and ripe for local people it provides employment it is an agricultural soybeans com or oil eucalyptus trees deforestation destroys the essential to produce the superfluous but elsewhere deforestation is the last resort to survive over two billion people almost a third of the world's population still depend on char in haiti one of the world's poorest countries charcoal is one of the population's main consumables ones the pearl of the caribbean haiti can no longer feed its population without foreign aid some parts of madagascar  here's one theory of the story of the revenue of the inhabitants of easter island it could perhaps give us pause for thought living on the most isolated island in the world the revenue exploited their resources nigeria is the biggest oil exporter in africa and yet seventy percent of the population lives under the poverty line the wealth is there but the country's inhabitants don't have access to the richest two percent of the population 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 resource this is a radically new type of urban growth driven by the urge to survive rather than to pro every week over a million people swells of populations one human being in six now lives in a precarious unhealthy overpopulated environment without access to daily necessities such as water sanitation electricity all over the planet the poorest scrabble 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 in regions that are increasingly difficult to all 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 he no it would have been inconceivable for a boat to be here just a few years ago transport industry deforestation agriculture our activities release gigantic quantities of carbon dioxide without realizing it molecule by molecule we have upset the earth 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 asia via the pole is opening up the arctic ice cap is melting under the effect of global warming the ice cap has lost forty percent of its thickness in forty years its surface area in the summer shrinks year by year you could disappear for twenty thirty some predictions suggest twenty fifteen soon these waters will be free of ice several summer months a year ice contains the records of our planet the concentration of carbon dioxide hasn't been so high for several hundred thousand years humanity has never lives in an atmosphere like around the north pole the ice cap has lost thirty percent of its surface area in thirty years but is greenland rapidly becomes warmer the fresh water of the whole continent flows into the salt water of the oceans greenland's ice contains twenty percent of the fresh water of the whole planet if it melts sea levels will rise by nearly seven meters but there is no industry here greenland's ice sheet suffers from greenhouse gases emitted elsewhere on earth our ecosystem doesn't have borders wherever we are our actions have 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 are extremely sensitive to the slightest change in water temperature thirty percent a disappeared they are an essential link in the chain in the atmosphere the major wind streams are changing direction rain cycles are altered the geography of climates is modified the inhabitants of the low lying islands here in the mao d of sri example are on the frontline they are increasingly concerned some are already looking for a new more hospitable land if sea levels continue to rise faster and faster what will major cities like tokyo the world's most populous city do 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 a coastline a river as t salt will invade the water table depriving inhabitants of drinking water in africa mt kilimanjaro is unrecognisable eighty percent of his play shoes have disappeared in summer the rivers no longer flow local peoples are affected by the lack of water even on the world's highest peaks in the heart of the himalayas eternal snows and glaciers are receding the glaciers of the himalayas are the source of all the great asian r people depend on them for drinking water and to irrigate their crops as in bangladesh we are in the process of compromising the climactic balance that has allowed us to develop over twelve thousand years and more wildfires encroach on major cities to exacerbate global warming as the trees burn they release carbon dioxide the system that controls our climate has been the clock of climate change is to keen in these magnificent landscapes here in siberia and elsewhere across the globe it is so cold that the ground is constantly frozen it's known  under its surface lies the climactic time of methane a greenhouse gas twenty times more powerful than carbon dioxide if the permafrost melts the methane released could cause the greenhouse effect to race out of control with consequences no one can predict who 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  let's face the facts we must believe for we know all that we have just seen is a reflection of human behavior we have shaped the earth in our image we have very little time to change how can this century carries a 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 have seen refugee camps as biggest cities sprawling in the desert how many men women and children will be left by the wayside tomorrow 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 worldwide 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 a contribution the so how 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 prove that solidarity between peoples is stronger than the selfishness of nations in bangladesh a man thought the unthinkable and founded a bank that lends only to the poor in barely thirty years it has changed the lives of a hundred and fifty million people around the world 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 a major treasure shared by all humanity 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 continents 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 south korea the forests have been devastated by war thanks to a national reforestation program they once more than cover sixty five percent of the country more than seventy five percent 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 education eco tourism and the protection of its primary forest gump all as one of the world's leading for consumers and producers justice is an opportunity to be seized when trade is fair when both buyer and seller benefit everybody can prosper and earn a decent living how can there be justice and equity between people whose only to ghouls with their hands and those who harvest their crops with the machine state su is too late to be a pessimist i've seen i go culture on a human scale it can feed the whole planet if meat production doesn't take the food out of people's mouths i have seen fishermen who take care of what they catch and care for the the thousands to join air a solution for the future nobody knows yet i have seen in iceland electricity plant powered by the earth's heat geothermal i have seen a cease lying on the swell already created over two and a half million jobs where on  drilling the earth and start looking to the sky all we have to do is learn to cultivate the sun all these experiments are only examples but they testified to a new awareness they lay down markers for a in venture based on moderation intelligence and sharing