All language subtitles for A.Perfect.Planet.S01E05.iP.WEBRip.x264-ION10.Hi

Life flourishes on planet Earth...

..thanks to powerful natural forces.

The weather gives us
predictable patterns of rainfall.

Sunlight delivers energy to all
parts of planet Earth's surface.

Ocean currents carry nutrients
around the globe.

Volcanoes create
and fertilise the land.

Together, these forces
have helped shape our living planet.

But it's a fragile system.

All right, come on,
let's get him in.

This baby elephant
is dying of thirst.

Big swallow.

The latest casualty
of our changing world.

ELEPHANT SCREAMS

Luckily, rescuers have found him,
so he has a chance.

This young animal
is likely a victim of a new force...

..one so powerful, it threatens
the future of life on Earth.

SIRENS AND FAINT CHATTER

For over 60 years,
I've been privileged

to witness the natural world
in all its wonder.

But the planet I saw as a young man
has changed beyond recognition.

Human activity is now so dominant,
it's disrupting the forces of nature

and the vital habitats
that life needs to survive on Earth.

This is the most important story
of our time.

So I've asked three world
authorities from the front line

to join me in telling it.

Humans used to be a species,
just like any other on Earth.

But we've now become so populous

and so destructive

that we are the single most
influential creature on Earth.

Everything around us is collapsing.

This is the planet that we're
handing over to future generations,

and the worst part, I'll tell you
the worst part, to me,

is that they're going to
turn around and be, like,

"Why did you not do something
when you had the chance?"

We are likely to lose over half
the species of life on Earth

over the next eight decades.

The last time we had an extinction
event of this magnitude

was 65 million years ago.

We are asleep.

We are not taking a look
at the enormity of this event.

If you want evidence
of how life is struggling to cope

in our rapidly changing world...

..you need to look no further
than here in Africa.

As we warm the planet, we create
more extreme droughts and floods,

making it increasingly difficult
for many animals to survive.

One of our planet's most magnificent
creatures is no exception.

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

Adult elephants drink
around 200 litres of water a day.

When rains fail,
as they did recently here in Kenya,

watering holes quickly run dry...

FLIES BUZZ

..killing hundreds of them.

GRUNTING AND SQUEALING

You can see the scale
of the problem...

..by the dozens of
orphaned baby elephants left behind.

These are the lucky survivors.

They owe their lives
to Angela Sheldrick

and her team,

who rescue these young orphans.

Come on! Come on, little boy.

The orphans, when we find them,
tend to be in a pretty sorry state.

They are not only physically damaged
but psychologically, too.

Hey. Hello.

They have suffered such a loss,
losing their elephant family,

their mothers.

Angela's team do their best
to soothe that loss.

Come on.

The keepers replace
a lost elephant family.

They provide the tender loving care
and the nurturing

that is so important
for them to heal.

The keepers are there 24/7.

It is a very, very special
relationship

that actually does last a lifetime.

Despite the elephants becoming wild,

they do never forget
that love and kindness.

The orphans have to be
bottle-fed eight times a day.

We raise these orphaned
elephants to ultimately

go back to their birthright...

..a wild and happy life.

SHE LAUGHS

You're such a clown!

Hey!

LAUGHTER

Come with me.

Go on. Go on.

So far, Angela's organisation

has released
more than 150 orphaned elephants

back into the wild.

But, to survive, they now need
to live in managed reserves,

where people top up water supplies
when droughts return.

Over the years,
we've seen an enormous change
in the weather patterns.

Greater unpredictability.

The drier seasons
are drier and longer.

It is the 11th hour now.

We have just one home,

and we, as the dominant species,
should take care of it...

..must take care of it.

It is our responsibility.

What I need to say to people is,
this is not going to get better.

We are on a curve that's moving us
with a series of events

that's taking us into
a new geological era in history.

To understand how humans are
destabilising our perfect planet,

we need to look into the deep past.

In Earth's long history,
it's been through at least
five mass extinction events.

Most were caused
by cataclysmic volcanic eruptions.

It's not the lava or ash
that wiped out life...

..but an invisible gas
released by volcanoes

called carbon dioxide...

..CO2.

The single greatest extinction event
on the planet so far was caused

by the superheating of the world.

Masses of volcanic activity
pumped huge amounts of carbon
into the atmosphere,

massively raised
the global temperature,

and saw the destruction
of around 90% of all life on Earth.

Humanity is now acting
like a super-volcano.

We're releasing carbon dioxide
at an even greater rate

than the prehistoric mega-eruptions
that extinguished life in the past.

Here's the problem.

Over the last two centuries,

we dug up the burial grounds
of a previous geological era
in history...

..the Carboniferous era.

And we took those dead remains,
in the form of oil,

gas and coal, and we made

the entire industrial civilisation
based on these fossil fuels.

Almost every part of modern life
depends on energy generated

by burning these fossil fuels.

And that produces CO2
in huge amounts.

Globally, we now release
100 times more carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere

than all Earth's volcanoes combined.

And by burning more fossil fuels,
releasing more carbon dioxide,

heating up the world around us,

we have become one of
the most powerful, destructive
forces on the planet.

Carbon dioxide acts like a blanket,

trapping the sun's heat.

This raises the temperature

and so destabilises one of the
most important forces on Earth -

the weather.

Many animals rely on
predictable patterns of rainfall.

But, as our world warms,
our weather is changing.

For every one degree
that the temperature

goes up on this planet
because of CO2 emissions...

..the atmosphere is sucking up
7% more water.

So we're getting more concentrated
precipitation in the clouds...

THUNDER RUMBLES

..and more radical,

extreme, unpredictable,
out-of-control weather events.

NEWSREADER: Millions are bracing

for a hurricane the likes of

which we've never seen.

We're getting hurricanes

that are devastating our ecosystems
and killing human beings every year.

They're now over and over
and over again every season.

This planet is more powerful

than we thought.

More fires, more droughts,
more floods.

And so this perfect planet
of ours is now

being thrown into a system of flux.

These extreme conditions
are making it

increasingly difficult
for animals to survive.

And that is not just
affecting wildlife.

WIND GUSTS

New research suggests that,

for every one-degree rise
in global temperatures,

a billion people will be pushed
into near unliveable extremes.

And this could trigger one
of the greatest human
migrations in history.

We're about to have
climate refugees,

forced out of uninhabitable
areas of the world,

pushed up into Europe.

We are on the cusp

of the biggest migratory pattern

in human history.

We're going to see millions,
tens of millions

and, unfortunately,
hundreds of millions of people

migrating from areas
that are no longer liveable

in the next 20, 30, 40,
50 and 60 years.

And people are frightened

because this is outside
of our frame of reference.

But there is hope.

In Africa, the Sahara Desert
is advancing southwards.

But a remarkable project
is aiming to stop it in its tracks.

PEOPLE CHATTER

The ambitious goal

is to plant over one billion
drought-resistant trees,

like acacias.

Known as the Great Green Wall,

once complete, a band of trees
will stretch nearly 5,000 miles

right across Africa...

..one of the largest
living structures on the planet.

These trees stop topsoil
blowing away,

and their roots
penetrate the ground,

creating a network of channels

that store water
whenever rain falls.

Ten-year-old Korka is one of
the first children to benefit.

12 million trees have already
been planted here in Senegal,

and with dramatic results.

Wells are filling again,
allowing crops to grow.

So far, only 15% of
the Green Wall is complete,

but it's already breathing life
back into the land,

stemming the exodus of people

and keeping communities together.

And the trees do something else
for our children's future.

As they grow,

they remove carbon dioxide
from the air.

ANIMALS CALL

Carbon is the very
foundation of life.

Every plant absorbs it
from the air...

..using it to grow.

When animals eat these plants,

some of this carbon is locked away
in the fabric of their bodies.

Together, these wild places,

and the animals
that allow them to thrive,

take up over a third of
the carbon dioxide we release.

All of these systems,
and the life within it,

are so important to protect us

from a warming planet.

Some of the Earth's
most important carbon stores

are those rich in plant
and animal species -

the tropical jungles.

Forests are sponges.

They absorb enormous amounts of CO2

from the atmosphere,
and they trap that inside.

Forests are about
much more than just trees.

In order to thrive, a jungle needs
bustling animal communities.

It needs insects to pollinate.

It needs mammals to spread the seeds

from one part of the forest
to another.

It needs this massive,
tangled web of species interactions.

A jungle rich in animals

stores so much more carbon
than a forest with little life.

WHOOPING

But many of the world's
tropical jungles are under threat.

And none more so than the greatest
of them all - the Amazon rainforest.

It's essential for the health of
our planet, storing as much carbon

as 25 years' worth
of current emissions from
all the cars in the world.

The Amazon rainforest is one
of the keystones of our climate.

If we lose enough of the Amazon
that it stops to function like that,

then it's going to be
an absolute disaster for
civilisation, it really will.

But urban expansion, cattle ranching

and mining
means that the forests of the Amazon

are being lost at
a frightening rate.

It's not beyond the realms
of possibility that we could

deforest a rainforest,
like the Amazon,

so that trees cannot grow there

and it turns into a savanna.

Every minute, an area the size
of about two football pitches

is destroyed by humans.

These amazing ecosystems
around us - the oceans,
the jungles, the forests,

the mangroves -
these are our greatest hope

and our greatest buffers
against a warming planet.

On the front line
in the heart of the Amazon

stands of the city of Manaus.

Here, urban expansion
is eating into the jungle.

Celina Pinage works for IPAAM,

the Amazonas Environmental
Protection Unit.

Their mission is to save animals
trapped in the city

and to return them to the wild.

Today, Celina is rescuing a sloth.

It's the world's slowest mammal.

Many become trapped as
trees are cut down

to make way for houses.

SHOUTED WARNINGS

Over 3,000 animals have been rescued
in the past five years.

Each one of these creatures
is needed by the forest -

to disperse seeds, pollinate plants

or, like this jaguar,
to keep herbivores in check.

Whenever possible,
Celina releases animals

back into the protected areas
of jungle.

We don't just want to protect
animals because they're interesting

and they're beautiful.

They're an integral part of
a functioning planet, and we
need to keep them around.

So, how do we protect
our remaining forests?

Calculating their true environmental
value could hold the key.

And a new cutting-edge technology
is beginning to do just that.

It's led by a team from
the Global Airborne Observatory.

They've developed a way to quantify

exactly how much carbon
the forest stores.

By firing high-powered lasers
across the canopy,

they can map the amount of carbon
within each tree.

The trees showing up as red and
yellow are the most carbon-rich.

These maps allow countries to see
how valuable their forests are.

I truly hope
that we aren't too far away

from realising the intrinsic value
of wildlife, of forests,

but we're not there yet
and, for the time being,

governments need to be
financially incentivised
to keep forests standing

and to not cut them down.

But what about areas of forest
that have already been destroyed?

In the Amazon, a revolutionary
project is under way.

The aim is to plant a new jungle

of 73 million trees.

PEOPLE CHATTER

But regrowing a species-rich forest
has always proved difficult.

So the project has turned to the
indigenous peoples of the Amazon,

and young women like Milene Alves.

Milene's community
has a unique knowledge of seeds.

It's enabled them to collect
over 200

of the most important tree species

from across the Amazon.

By mixing the seeds together,

it allows them to create
a super-recipe known as a muvuca.

In this mixture,
there is enough tree variety

to jump-start a new jungle.

Every year,
around 20 tonnes of seeds

are scattered over acres
of burnt and degraded land.

After six years,

they will have restored
an area of forest

the size of 30,000
football fields...

..the largest tropical
restoration project in the world.

The best thing we can possibly do

to mitigate the effects of a warming
planet is to plant more trees

and protect those trees
that we have.

We can do this.

If we put them back, we are creating

that stable climate
that we need to survive,

and it's such an easy thing to do.

Planting trees and saving wildlife
is a vital solution on land,

but it's only part of the story.

The carbon dioxide we produce

is damaging another crucial part
of our planet -

the oceans.

Life cannot survive without them.

The reason we can walk out and live

and breathe oxygen is because
it's generated in the oceans.

The oceans produce
up to 70% of the oxygen we breathe

and feed over three billion people.

Just like our forests,

the plants and animals here

absorb vast amounts of carbon
from the atmosphere.

And, when they die,
it sinks down to the ocean floor.

The ocean is what we call
a carbon sink.

Basically, it's a giant sponge

that has forever been absorbing

all the excess carbon
from the atmosphere,

taking it down to the depths
and keeping it there.

The most vital life forms
that allow the ocean to do this

are some of the tiniest,

microscopic plant-like organisms -

phytoplankton.

Now, we don't pay much attention
to the little teeny plankton,

but plankton are the most important
organisms for taking carbon dioxide

and transforming it into oxygen
for the planet.

Phytoplankton are the base
of the food chain

on top of which everything
else survives.

The krill eats the phytoplankton,

whales eat the krill,

sharks eat the fish,
and so on and so forth.

We need phytoplankton for everything
else in the oceans to survive,

to trap that carbon
and keep our climate cool.

But some of these crucial
phytoplankton are under attack.

Since the start
of the Industrial Revolution,

the oceans have absorbed almost half
of all our CO2 emissions.

But that has come at a cost.

When water absorbs carbon dioxide,
it becomes more acidic.

But the problem
when you have this acidification

is that shells are made
of calcium carbonate,

and, as you have this increased
acidity in the oceans,

it starts to dissolve
these structures.

That threatens anything
with a shell.

Our increasingly warm, acidic waters

are not only destroying coral reefs

but decimating some phytoplankton,

the amount of which has fallen
by as much as 40% in recent years.

250 million years ago, the ocean
also warmed and became more acidic,

contributing to the mass extinction
of around 96% of all marine life.

If we have less phytoplankton,
the base of every food web,

you lose so much more
of everything else.

It is serious.
If we have less phytoplankton,

we have less oxygen,
which is what we need to survive.

And the oceans are being damaged

in another way.

Research suggests that overfishing

has removed as much as 90%
of all large predatory fish.

And fewer fish means
a marine system that stores

less carbon.

Ocean species are dying
at a rate that's so fast

that, if it were human beings,
we would absolutely be terrified.

But there is hope here, too.

MUFFLED RADIO MESSAGES

When areas of ocean are protected,

marine life can recover.

Here, off the coast of Gabon,

they've created one of Earth's
most ambitious networks

of marine protected areas.

It's a hot spot for breeding
whales and dolphins...

..and one of the most important
of all marine predators...

..sharks.

Sharks prevent the species they feed
on from becoming overabundant -

an essential factor in maintaining
our oceans' rich diversity.

When people think
about poaching in Africa,

they think about elephants
and rhinos and hippos

and these great, majestic
creatures on land.

But there is poaching
that's taking place at sea.

The reason that I call
these fishermen poachers

is that they are taking wildlife
without licence.

Captain Peter Hammarstedt,

who works for the conservation group
Sea Shepherd,

is patrolling the 20,000-square-mile
marine park.

HORN BLARES

Prepare boats for launch,
prepare boats for launch. Thank you.

They've spotted a commercial
fishing boat on the edge of the park

which needs investigating.

The Gabonese government has joined
forces with Peter's team

to carry out boat inspections.

The vessel may have a licence
to fish here,

but it could be taking
more than its quota

and catching protected species,

like dolphins and sharks.

MUFFLED RADIO MESSAGES

When fighting a war
to stop illegal fishing,

the odds can seem insurmountable.

This boat's fishing nets
have pulled up

threatened silky and blue sharks.

Catching and keeping
these creatures is illegal,

so the fishermen must
throw them back.

But many are already
so badly injured,

they will not survive the ordeal.

It saddens me greatly
to see these incredible creatures

being brutally manhandled
as they're dragged across the deck,

their fingers in their gills
as they pull them.

Globally, each year,
millions of sharks

and over 300,000 whales
and dolphins

are accidentally killed
by fishing nets,

seriously injuring
the health of the oceans.

It's the efficiency of these vessels
that shocks me to the core...

..this sheer killing power of them.

And you can really see

why the oceans are being
sucked dry of life.

But the patrols are working.

In the past three years,
they have arrested 50 vessels

and inspected hundreds more.

Last year,
we assisted the coastguard

to arrest a vessel
that was poaching sharks.

And, by arresting this
one single ship,

we were able to save the lives
of 250,000 sharks.

Marine life here now has a chance.

Currently, around 5%
of the oceans are protected,

but there's a global campaign
to raise that to 30%.

If we can do that, many of the
planet's most vulnerable species

could recover.

And a healthier ocean has the power
to absorb more CO2.

We thought the ocean is

this infinite space that
is full of infinite resources...

..and this infinite capacity to

withstand and tolerate everything
that we throw at it.

And I think we do need to...

..stop and reconsider our strategies
if we want to move forward.

Humans aren't just damaging
life in the sea.

We're also disturbing
one of its most important forces...

..ocean currents.

These transport essential nutrients
to almost all marine creatures.

We're dependent on

these large circulation patterns
that go on in our oceans.

There's this continuous movement

of beautiful cold water
coming from the depths.

It's chock-full of nutrients,

it's chock-full of productivity.

These currents begin at the poles.

Here, cold, salty water,

which is more dense,
sinks to the depths...

..and flows towards the tropics

and beyond.

In the hotter parts of the Earth,
warmer water rises and flows

back towards the poles.

This creates a global conveyor belt

that circulates nutrients, oxygen
and heat around our planet,

regulating Earth's
climate and weather.

But it's now feared that our warming
planet is destabilising the system.

As you have an increase
in ocean temperatures,

it has impacts on everything.

We have glaciers across
the world and, as they melt,

you have more of this fresh water
just pushing into the oceans.

And this fresh water is
less saline, it's less salty,

and that tends to float
at the surface.

And it's not moving.
You don't have this circulation.

It's causing a breakdown.

Many animals depend on
reliable ocean currents,

so, as they change,

the effect can be disastrous.

This can be witnessed

off the north-east coast
of the United States,

where it's thought to be triggering

mass casualties of
a critically endangered species.

The fact that they're even here
just stuns so many people.

Bob Prescott heads up
the emergency response team.

We have about 250 people
that walk beaches.

They're looking
for turtles in trouble.

NEWSREADER: This week's
frigid conditions

have stunned sea turtles
and left them

stranded on beaches
throughout the north-east.

If you spot one, move the turtle
above the high-tide line

until a trained responder arrives.

Timing is everything.

If we can get to them within an hour

of them washing up onto the beach,

then we're going to be able to save

90-95% of them.

Here, off the coast of Boston,

waters are warming faster
than almost anywhere on Earth.

It's thought to be causing turtles
from the tropics to swim

further north than ever before
for summer feeding.

But, when the cold autumn waters
suddenly close in,

the turtles go into shock.

These are very young turtles.

They're anywhere from one-and-a-half
to six years old.

When we find them,
they're hypothermic,

their heart is beating
at one to five beats a minute.

The blood is barely circulating.

For all intents and purposes,
look dead.

The critically ill animals

are rushed to the
New England Aquarium near Boston.

It has a state-of-the-art
ER unit for turtles.

We don't want to stress them
any further,

so we now treat the whole episode

as sort of entering an ICU unit
of a hospital.

This is critical care
for some turtles.

He's pretty stiff. I can't get
his mouth open much more.

See, it's right there.

Oh, there we are, there we are.

When a turtle arrives,
its condition is rapidly assessed.

How are you doing?

The animals are given

stabilising drugs and fluids,

their lungs are cleared of water

and sand washed out
of their scratched eyes.

Got emergency meds.

The veterinary team

must ventilate turtles

that are close to death

to help them breathe.
No response at all.

But it's worth it for an animal
that might live another 50 years.

You want to save as many as you can.

And it is depressing at times,

cos a lot of them don't make it.

You know, last year at Thanksgiving,
we had 200 dead turtles.

When you're looking into its eyes,
it's looking back at you.

There is a connection there.

And it gets stronger and stronger
as they start to recover.

It can take months
for the turtles to recuperate.

But, once they do,

they'll make the first plane flight
of their lives.

We have a big transport
this morning -

44 ridleys and one loggerhead.

So we're going to start in 15B.

All right, let's get to work!

They are part of the planet.

They're part of our very delicate
web of life, if you will.

38, 41, 44...

The bottom line for all of
these turtles

is to get them back out
into the water.

We're doing great on timing,
everybody.

A very exciting day,
cos it just brings that turtle

one step closer to being released
back into the wild.

These mass casualties
of our changing oceans

are to be flown south
to Florida and beyond.

The future of this species
depends on these young turtles...

Ready. All right!

..which will be released

into the warmer-water currents
that they need to survive.

It's a very emotional day
for everybody.

These are turtles that staff
and volunteers at the aquarium

have worked so hard
to get them to that point.

Changes in the ocean currents
won't just harm turtles.

With heat, oxygen and nutrients
moving more slowly around the globe,

the impact on all life
could be dramatic.

I mean, we live in a world where

just one domino
in a large game of dominoes...

So you flick one piece,
and you know what happens -

everything starts to collapse.

And that's exactly what
we start to see over time

as these conveyor belts slow down.

Human activity is destroying
the balance of our perfect planet...

..disturbing our oceans
and disrupting our weather.

But can we prevent
the damage we're doing?

Now the human population's
at 7 billion.

It's moving to 9 billion.

And the problem is
we're already using

the equivalent of
one-and-a-half Earths.

It's not sustainable.

Around 80% of the energy we use

still comes from
burning fossil fuels.

It's what makes us so dangerous.

We can reduce CO2 emissions
by consuming less

or reusing some of our resources.

But the biggest saving we could make

would be to stop using
fossil fuels for our energy.

And there are many people who think

that we could exploit
the natural forces of the planet

to enable us to do that.

The sun has not sent us a bill.

The wind has not invoiced us.

Coal, oil, gas, uranium -
they're expensive.

The sun and the wind is free.

We live in a planet
that's incredibly dynamic.

We all live in environments

where there is some source of energy
that we can tap into.

There's energy,
there's power all around us.

And we need to start looking at

these natural sources of energy

that don't have that
negative impact.

We have more energy than
we'll ever know what to do with.

We can power the whole world

with just a fraction of the solar
and wind that we get every year -

a fraction of it!

We're not going to start
needing less power any time soon.

We're just going to have to shift
how we generate that power

from non-renewables to renewables.

Volcanic heat.

So far, we've only tapped

some 7% of its global potential.

Or the wind in our skies.

That could provide

30% of our energy by 2050.

And the power of the sun,

which is virtually unlimited.

In areas where most life
struggles to survive...

..there is plenty of space
to gather the maximum solar energy.

The northern Sahara,
home to the world's largest

concentrated solar power plant.

Here, innovative technology

is using mirrors
to superheat a special liquid

to around 400 degrees Celsius.

This heat is then stored
in molten salt,

allowing something
not possible before -

the ability to power steam turbines

with the sun's energy
during the night.

It creates green electricity
24 hours a day,

feeding Morocco's
growing energy needs.

And it has plans to supply Europe.

We need to make
enormous shifts in our society.

This is starting,

but it's happening just
in small places.

It needs to happen everywhere,

and it needs to happen
much, much faster.

There's really no excuse.

The Earth has
all of the power we need.

BIRDSONG

Our mission is not
growth, growth, growth,

but sustainability,

and that our responsibility
is to steward this planet.

That's the mission at hand.

But is this transition
to a low-carbon society

happening fast enough?

In 2015, 195 of the world's nations

pledged to reduce
their carbon dioxide emissions.

To avoid planetary disaster,

the goal was to limit
the warming of the Earth

to well below two degrees.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

JOHN KERRY: Together,
citizens of the world,

we will work to save our planet
from ourselves.

BARACK OBAMA: Today's a historic day

in the fight to protect our planet.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: You'll either be
lauded by future generations...

..or vilified by them.

To get an accurate reading

of CO2 levels in
the Earth's atmosphere,

you must be far away from
the pollution of the cities.

So, in the heart of the Amazon,

they built a 325-metre tower
to do just that.

It's one of a number
of towers around the planet

collecting vital data,

and the news is not good.

This year, CO2 levels
in the atmosphere

went up yet again,
hitting another record high.

I think we are in a crisis.
I'm not going to mince my words.

We are in a crisis right now.

We are pushing the equilibrium
that the planet used to be in

in a way that may be unrecoverable.

And what the scientists
are telling us is

we will face a runaway cascade
of environmental events

feeding off each other,
taking us into an unknown abyss

that could lead to
a very quick mass extinction

of much of life on this Earth

in a very, very short
period of time.

Species are becoming extinct

around 100 times faster
than the normal rate.

So rapid is the loss

that zoos around the world
are taking drastic action.

They're collecting DNA
from endangered species

to build a genetic store of life
before they go extinct.

At Edinburgh Zoo, a health check
on a Diana monkey

presents a valuable opportunity

to collect a sample for
the European network of biobanks.

We really feel the pressure to bank
as many species as we can

as fast as we can
before it's too late.

Marlys Houck at San Diego Zoo

receives DNA samples
from all over the world.

She's taking them to a secure vault.

It's known as the Frozen Zoo.

It's hard to imagine,

but there's probably
more vertebrate life in that room

than anywhere else on the planet.

We get samples every day.
It might be a tiger,

it might be a bear,
it might be a rare reptile.

Right now, we have over 10,000
individuals represented.

The living cells
of our world's rarest animals

are being stored here
at minus-200 degrees Celsius...

..keeping their DNA
viable indefinitely,

just in case the worst happens.

There are multiple frozen zoos
like this around the world

and, with extinction rates so high,

they might be needed
sooner than we thought.

I hope that we never have to see

extinction of some of
these amazing species.

But, if we do, the samples
in the Frozen Zoo

might be the hope
for bringing them back, so that...

..our children and grandchildren

could once again

see the actual animals.

Not knowing what the planet
will be like when I'm an adult,

not knowing whether it will be
capable of sustaining life -

that is a terrifying thing to face.

I think the planet
that I've been born into

is the most beautiful place
that I could ever imagine.

It's full of amazing wildlife...

..and us - humans are incredible.

But we seem to forget that the place
that we live in is finite

and very vulnerable, and it seems
to be dying before our eyes.

Since the age of ten, I've been
hearing about our warming world,

but nothing was really
done at that time.

All I observed at that time
was sort of mass apathy.

But what is positive
is that the youth

are standing up and
are taking leadership.

CHANTING: Save our planet!

Save our planet!

Save our planet!

We need more people to care.

We need more people
to look at the facts and say,

"I will do something about this."

Whose future? Our future!

Whose planet? Our planet!

Whose future?

So we need to think about how
we interact with the natural world.

We need to view it
not as a commodity

but as a system that
we are a part of...

..because we are
inextricably linked

to the natural world,
and whatever happens

to the oceans,

whatever happens to the forests,

whatever happens to the deserts,
that will come back

and it will happen to us.

Right now, we have
the capacity and knowledge

to stop the damage we are doing.

But what we don't have

is time.

My inspiration and hope
for the future

lies with the next generation.

But we all have a responsibility
to reduce our carbon footprints,

harness the forces of nature
for our energy

and protect the natural world.

The survival of humanity
and our fellow creatures on Earth

depends upon it.

Do you want to be
the last generation

that signed the death certificate
of humanity?

Do you want to be the generation
that sees the last elephant killed?

Do you want to be the generation

that sees the last fish
fished out of the sea?

Or do you want to be the generation

and the individuals
that turned it around?

This is the single
most serious moment

in the 200,000 years that
our species has been on this Earth.

I see reason to hope.

And I think we can.

I think we humans, we are
incredibly intelligent animals,

and we can,

and we will,

if we set our minds to it.

The Open University
has produced a free poster

exploring our perfect planet.
To order, please call...

..or go to...

..and follow the links
to the Open University.