1 00:00:13,388 --> 00:00:15,599 MAN 1 [ON RADIO]: Well, 16, the launch team wishes you... 2 00:00:15,766 --> 00:00:17,059 ...good luck and Godspeed. 3 00:00:17,976 --> 00:00:21,146 MAN 2 [ON RADIO]: We appreciate that, and we can't do without you. 4 00:00:26,777 --> 00:00:28,111 MAN 1 : Launch commit and liftoff. 5 00:00:28,278 --> 00:00:30,531 MAN 3: We have a launch commit, and we have a liftoff. 6 00:00:30,697 --> 00:00:33,951 The swing arm is moving back. We've cleared the tower. 7 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:35,702 MAN 2: Roger, cleared the tower. 8 00:00:35,869 --> 00:00:37,955 MAN 4: Houston is now controlling. 9 00:00:46,088 --> 00:00:50,342 NARRATOR: Not so long ago, we left our Earth for the first time... 10 00:00:50,842 --> 00:00:54,304 ...to explore a neighboring world in the solar system. 11 00:00:57,391 --> 00:01:00,894 MAN 2: Well, Houston, Sweet 16 has arrived. 12 00:01:01,228 --> 00:01:03,313 MAN 4: Roger, 16, copy you loud and clear. 13 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,066 NARRATOR: We found a fascinating place... 14 00:01:06,483 --> 00:01:08,902 ...but barren and lifeless. 15 00:01:09,152 --> 00:01:12,030 ASTRONAUT 1 : We've stopped, and let's take a gander around... 16 00:01:12,823 --> 00:01:14,700 ...and see which way we ought to head. 17 00:01:14,866 --> 00:01:17,869 ASTRONAUT 2: Dave, if we could make it out that far, directly ahead of us. 18 00:01:18,036 --> 00:01:20,163 Look at those large blocks. 19 00:01:21,081 --> 00:01:24,001 ASTRONAUT 1 : You mean as we come down the slope, yeah, at 12 o'clock. 20 00:01:24,167 --> 00:01:26,878 NARRATOR: One sight stood out from all the others. 21 00:01:28,255 --> 00:01:31,341 When we looked back across the moon's horizon... 22 00:01:31,717 --> 00:01:34,803 ...we saw the Earth, our home... 23 00:01:35,512 --> 00:01:37,389 ...a tiny oasis... 24 00:01:37,597 --> 00:01:40,809 ...beckoning across all those miles of empty space. 25 00:01:41,518 --> 00:01:43,854 ASTRONAUT 1 : I'll tell you, it looks beautiful going away... 26 00:01:44,021 --> 00:01:46,523 ...and it'll look even better coming back. 27 00:02:22,851 --> 00:02:25,228 NARRATOR: To look at our Earth from the outside... 28 00:02:25,395 --> 00:02:28,231 ...is to discover an entirely new planet. 29 00:02:30,567 --> 00:02:32,903 We can see familiar landforms... 30 00:02:33,070 --> 00:02:35,530 ...like Florida and the Bahamas. 31 00:02:36,948 --> 00:02:39,159 But what's most striking from space... 32 00:02:39,326 --> 00:02:40,911 ...is that our world... 33 00:02:41,078 --> 00:02:43,455 ...unlike any other we know of... 34 00:02:43,622 --> 00:02:45,457 ...is a world of water. 35 00:02:46,625 --> 00:02:49,294 Two-thirds of it is covered by ocean... 36 00:02:49,461 --> 00:02:52,589 ...glistening in layers of blue and turquoise... 37 00:02:52,756 --> 00:02:55,425 ...through a delicate filigree of cloud. 38 00:02:59,471 --> 00:03:02,682 All of it is wrapped in a thin layer of air... 39 00:03:03,683 --> 00:03:06,269 ...shielding its surface from the harsh radiation... 40 00:03:06,436 --> 00:03:08,563 ...and cold vacuum of space. 41 00:03:11,525 --> 00:03:14,194 If it weren't for this fragile cocoon... 42 00:03:14,444 --> 00:03:17,864 ...our beautiful planet would be as dry and lifeless... 43 00:03:18,031 --> 00:03:21,076 ...as our nearest neighbors in the solar system. 44 00:03:27,374 --> 00:03:30,293 Mars has only a feeble atmosphere. 45 00:03:30,711 --> 00:03:33,296 It's locked in a permanent ice age. 46 00:03:36,633 --> 00:03:39,636 Venus, under a very dense atmosphere... 47 00:03:39,803 --> 00:03:41,638 ...is hotter than an oven. 48 00:03:42,639 --> 00:03:44,599 Nothing could live here. 49 00:03:45,725 --> 00:03:47,310 As far as we know... 50 00:03:47,727 --> 00:03:50,188 ...only the Earth can support life. 51 00:03:54,025 --> 00:03:56,236 To learn more about the unique environment... 52 00:03:56,403 --> 00:03:58,989 ...which makes life possible here on Earth... 53 00:03:59,739 --> 00:04:02,784 ...we're now returning to space, in a variety of craft. 54 00:04:03,869 --> 00:04:06,580 We call this: "Mission to Planet Earth." 55 00:04:07,289 --> 00:04:09,124 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] 56 00:04:09,291 --> 00:04:10,959 [RUMBLING] 57 00:04:35,567 --> 00:04:37,611 Shannon, come on up! 58 00:04:38,361 --> 00:04:39,488 This is great. 59 00:04:39,654 --> 00:04:43,533 NARRATOR: Only a few hundred people have actually seen the Earth from space. 60 00:04:43,700 --> 00:04:44,826 Look at that. 61 00:04:44,993 --> 00:04:47,162 NARRATOR: Here, we can see it as a whole. 62 00:04:56,505 --> 00:04:58,381 Floating beneath us... 63 00:04:58,548 --> 00:05:00,800 ...Sri Lanka and lndia. 64 00:05:02,594 --> 00:05:05,055 But now we also see a planet... 65 00:05:05,222 --> 00:05:08,808 ...bathed in the light of a nearby star: the Sun. 66 00:05:11,436 --> 00:05:14,064 Ours is a world of constant change... 67 00:05:15,065 --> 00:05:18,860 ...shaped and reshaped by nature's powerful forces. 68 00:05:21,947 --> 00:05:25,450 lts blueness came out of the Earth itself. 69 00:05:27,202 --> 00:05:30,872 The ancient oceans were steamed out of the interior... 70 00:05:31,039 --> 00:05:32,749 ...by erupting volcanoes. 71 00:05:34,584 --> 00:05:38,421 We know this one as the Big lsland of Hawaii. 72 00:05:43,927 --> 00:05:47,013 Now whole continents appear. 73 00:05:48,265 --> 00:05:50,100 Europe is on the left. 74 00:05:51,393 --> 00:05:54,271 Stretching beyond Gibraltar to the horizon... 75 00:05:54,646 --> 00:05:56,606 ...the Mediterranean Sea. 76 00:05:59,192 --> 00:06:01,528 On the right: Africa. 77 00:06:11,955 --> 00:06:14,082 Deep in the heart of Africa... 78 00:06:14,249 --> 00:06:17,669 ...we come upon a land of forests, lakes, and rivers. 79 00:06:20,547 --> 00:06:22,716 We're crossing over Lake Victoria... 80 00:06:22,883 --> 00:06:25,260 ...and the broad plain of the Serengeti. 81 00:06:31,641 --> 00:06:33,310 Here, beneath us... 82 00:06:33,476 --> 00:06:37,147 ...our planet's systems of water, earth and air... 83 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:39,649 ...interact to sustain life. 84 00:06:45,488 --> 00:06:48,450 To observe this complex environment more closely... 85 00:06:49,451 --> 00:06:53,580 ...we'll drop down to the surface of the strange red lake below. 86 00:07:01,671 --> 00:07:03,673 This is Lake Natron. 87 00:07:05,300 --> 00:07:08,303 It's hard to believe any life could exist here. 88 00:07:09,429 --> 00:07:13,266 But, in fact, the lurid color is the life itself. 89 00:07:14,517 --> 00:07:18,647 The water is teeming with red algae that feed on white soda... 90 00:07:18,813 --> 00:07:20,857 ...from nearby volcanoes. 91 00:07:24,778 --> 00:07:28,823 Ash, spewing from these volcanoes for millions of years... 92 00:07:29,449 --> 00:07:32,702 ...nourished the great grasslands of the Serengeti... 93 00:07:33,036 --> 00:07:35,997 ...where a wondrous array of species evolved. 94 00:07:44,422 --> 00:07:47,384 Each depends in some way upon the others. 95 00:07:48,426 --> 00:07:49,886 [SNORTS] 96 00:07:50,595 --> 00:07:52,305 [SNORTING] 97 00:07:53,515 --> 00:07:56,726 NARRATOR: Every link between animals and plants... 98 00:07:57,018 --> 00:08:01,272 ...is a strand in the rich fabric of life on Earth. 99 00:08:11,908 --> 00:08:13,743 [GROWLING] 100 00:08:17,956 --> 00:08:20,875 NARRATOR: Of all the creatures that evolved in Africa... 101 00:08:21,835 --> 00:08:23,962 ...only one stood upright. 102 00:08:25,255 --> 00:08:28,091 Only one developed tools and language. 103 00:08:30,343 --> 00:08:32,178 For about a million years... 104 00:08:32,345 --> 00:08:34,639 ...humans were hunters and gatherers. 105 00:08:36,558 --> 00:08:38,643 Then we discovered farming. 106 00:08:42,939 --> 00:08:46,109 Now the same land could support many more people. 107 00:08:47,777 --> 00:08:51,990 But without the Earth's life-support system of water and air... 108 00:08:52,949 --> 00:08:55,368 ...not a living thing could exist. 109 00:08:56,035 --> 00:08:57,871 [BREATHING] 110 00:09:00,749 --> 00:09:03,168 NARRATOR: 7wo hundred miles above the Earth... 111 00:09:03,334 --> 00:09:05,086 ...there is no air. 112 00:09:07,714 --> 00:09:10,341 This astronaut must wear a space suit. 113 00:09:10,967 --> 00:09:13,470 It supplies the oxygen he needs... 114 00:09:13,636 --> 00:09:17,474 ...and insulates his body from extreme heat and cold. 115 00:09:22,228 --> 00:09:26,483 Inside, the orbiter functions somewhat like a miniature Earth. 116 00:09:27,984 --> 00:09:32,363 The environment is carefully balanced to keep the astronauts comfortable. 117 00:09:33,823 --> 00:09:36,284 One system controls the temperature. 118 00:09:37,368 --> 00:09:39,454 Another supplies oxygen. 119 00:09:43,166 --> 00:09:44,209 On Earth... 120 00:09:44,375 --> 00:09:48,421 ...the forests and oceans absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale. 121 00:09:50,006 --> 00:09:54,177 In space, the crew uses special canisters to clean the air. 122 00:09:55,303 --> 00:09:59,557 For a short time, this artificial system supplies to the astronauts... 123 00:09:59,974 --> 00:10:03,061 ...what the Earth has always provided for us. 124 00:10:04,687 --> 00:10:08,191 lts natural systems slowly recycle the air... 125 00:10:08,358 --> 00:10:10,735 ...the water, and even the rock. 126 00:10:13,363 --> 00:10:14,739 In one cycle... 127 00:10:14,906 --> 00:10:19,452 ...heat from the sun evaporates water from the ocean to form clouds. 128 00:10:21,079 --> 00:10:23,498 Winds drive the clouds over land. 129 00:10:25,750 --> 00:10:28,545 Rain from the clouds falls back to the Earth... 130 00:10:28,795 --> 00:10:31,005 ...and then runs down to the sea... 131 00:10:31,172 --> 00:10:33,550 ...where the cycle begins once more. 132 00:10:38,888 --> 00:10:42,016 Heat stored in the clouds can drive them upwards... 133 00:10:42,183 --> 00:10:44,853 ...into towering thunderheads. 134 00:10:45,019 --> 00:10:48,565 Inside them, powerful electric charges are building. 135 00:10:49,607 --> 00:10:51,609 [THUNDER CRASHING] 136 00:11:33,401 --> 00:11:36,237 NARRATOR: You can see lightning on Earth from space. 137 00:11:36,905 --> 00:11:38,907 Astronaut Charlie Bolden: 138 00:11:39,991 --> 00:11:42,952 BOLDEN: Probably my favorite spectacular view is nighttime... 139 00:11:43,286 --> 00:11:45,413 ...watching lightning all over the Earth... 140 00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:48,082 ...as it goes from cloud top to cloud top... 141 00:11:48,249 --> 00:11:49,834 ...over hundreds of miles. 142 00:11:50,001 --> 00:11:52,962 Almost as if somebody is conducting an orchestra, you know... 143 00:11:53,129 --> 00:11:56,257 ...and the light is flashing in response to the music and everything. 144 00:11:56,424 --> 00:11:59,469 You float up in the window and look for long periods of time... 145 00:11:59,636 --> 00:12:02,764 ...in amazement at what's going on down there. 146 00:12:08,519 --> 00:12:11,314 NARRATOR: In places where there is a lot of rainfall... 147 00:12:11,481 --> 00:12:14,025 ...an abundance of life springs forth. 148 00:12:16,027 --> 00:12:20,323 The plants produce oxygen which we and the other animals breathe. 149 00:12:24,535 --> 00:12:27,538 Life on Earth is easy to see from space. 150 00:12:28,456 --> 00:12:31,167 Costa Rica and Panama are green with it. 151 00:12:40,134 --> 00:12:43,513 But other places in the world get almost no rain. 152 00:12:45,181 --> 00:12:49,227 In the Namib Desert, only wind has shaped the surface... 153 00:12:49,811 --> 00:12:54,190 ...sweeping the parched sand into dunes nearly 1000 feet high. 154 00:12:59,779 --> 00:13:02,073 In some of the driest deserts... 155 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,661 ...people have drilled for water trapped in the rocks deep below the sand. 156 00:13:09,455 --> 00:13:13,126 Each one of these tiny circles is an irrigated field... 157 00:13:13,543 --> 00:13:15,670 ...half a mile in diameter. 158 00:13:18,214 --> 00:13:20,425 But this is a short-term gain. 159 00:13:20,633 --> 00:13:24,012 It will take only 60 years to use up all the water... 160 00:13:24,387 --> 00:13:27,348 ...but more than 10,000 years to replace it. 161 00:13:33,062 --> 00:13:35,732 In some regions, like the Sahara... 162 00:13:36,232 --> 00:13:41,154 ...the amount of rainfall can change drastically within a single generation. 163 00:13:42,155 --> 00:13:45,366 When we stayed looking at Lake Chad from space... 164 00:13:45,658 --> 00:13:47,910 ...we saw that it was shrinking. 165 00:13:48,745 --> 00:13:50,413 Soon a wave of droughts... 166 00:13:50,580 --> 00:13:53,666 ...brought starvation to the people living here. 167 00:13:56,252 --> 00:13:59,172 We don't know why these local changes occur... 168 00:13:59,839 --> 00:14:02,592 ...but we do know that the Earth's climate, as a whole... 169 00:14:02,759 --> 00:14:05,386 ...has changed over much longer periods. 170 00:14:09,015 --> 00:14:11,309 During the last million years... 171 00:14:11,476 --> 00:14:15,521 ...great sheets of ice advanced and retreated several times... 172 00:14:15,772 --> 00:14:19,025 ...burying Northern Europe and much of North America. 173 00:14:23,780 --> 00:14:26,407 This is the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. 174 00:14:27,367 --> 00:14:28,868 [RUMBLING] 175 00:14:43,383 --> 00:14:46,385 NARRATOR: Trapped deep inside these frozen walls... 176 00:14:46,636 --> 00:14:48,721 ...is a record of climate change... 177 00:14:48,888 --> 00:14:51,265 ...going back thousands of years. 178 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,318 By analyzing samples of the ancient ice... 179 00:15:02,485 --> 00:15:05,655 ...we may learn to predict our future climate. 180 00:15:11,202 --> 00:15:13,162 Ten thousand years from now... 181 00:15:13,412 --> 00:15:17,041 ...perhaps the sites of Montreal, Detroit, and Copenhagen... 182 00:15:17,208 --> 00:15:20,211 ...will again lie buried beneath a mile of ice. 183 00:15:25,424 --> 00:15:27,510 MAN: And it's moving. Looks good. 184 00:15:27,969 --> 00:15:30,847 NARRATOR: To observe large-scale changes on the Earth... 185 00:15:31,013 --> 00:15:32,682 ...we use satellites. 186 00:15:34,225 --> 00:15:37,019 The TDR satellite will act as a relay... 187 00:15:37,186 --> 00:15:39,856 ...linking scientists with dozens of spacecraft... 188 00:15:40,022 --> 00:15:42,275 ...watching different parts of the globe. 189 00:15:42,441 --> 00:15:44,902 MAN: Kathy, it looked like we had a good deploy on time. 190 00:15:45,069 --> 00:15:46,571 Everything looks good. 191 00:15:46,737 --> 00:15:48,739 NARRATOR: Some study ocean currents. 192 00:15:49,657 --> 00:15:51,951 Others monitor the health of crops. 193 00:15:52,952 --> 00:15:55,580 They also warn us when storms develop. 194 00:16:01,794 --> 00:16:03,171 Of all the storms... 195 00:16:03,337 --> 00:16:06,883 ...the most dangerous and unpredictable are hurricanes. 196 00:16:08,426 --> 00:16:10,386 Without help from satellites... 197 00:16:10,553 --> 00:16:13,973 ...we could not prepare ourselves for the onslaught. 198 00:16:26,402 --> 00:16:28,779 MAN [OVER PA]: We are under a hurricane warning. 199 00:16:29,071 --> 00:16:33,659 Officials of Civil Defense are advising voluntary evacuation... 200 00:16:33,951 --> 00:16:35,995 ...of the Berry lslands. 201 00:16:40,583 --> 00:16:41,918 [GLASS SHATTERS] 202 00:16:50,259 --> 00:16:52,303 [ALARM WAILING] 203 00:17:03,814 --> 00:17:05,358 [CAR ALARM BEEPING] 204 00:17:21,123 --> 00:17:24,710 NARRATOR: Hurricane Hugo, after ravaging Puerto Rico... 205 00:17:25,253 --> 00:17:27,338 ...tore into South Carolina. 206 00:17:28,589 --> 00:17:33,302 What was once a national forest is now a heap of kindling. 207 00:17:36,973 --> 00:17:41,269 Where once there was a house, only the front steps remain. 208 00:17:51,988 --> 00:17:53,364 [SIRENS WAILING] 209 00:17:53,531 --> 00:17:54,824 NARRATOR: Overnight... 210 00:17:54,991 --> 00:17:58,828 ...nature's fury has devastated entire communities. 211 00:18:04,834 --> 00:18:07,253 But then, as quickly as it struck... 212 00:18:07,420 --> 00:18:08,754 ...the storm vanishes... 213 00:18:08,921 --> 00:18:11,674 ...and the Eastern seaboard is calm once more. 214 00:18:12,717 --> 00:18:16,679 There are, however, other catastrophic events affecting our planet. 215 00:18:18,723 --> 00:18:21,517 They are far more violent than any storm. 216 00:18:27,523 --> 00:18:32,194 The Earth is continually pelted by a hail of objects from space. 217 00:18:32,820 --> 00:18:35,740 Most are tiny and burn up in the atmosphere. 218 00:18:37,033 --> 00:18:40,036 But, every now and then, a big one gets through. 219 00:18:41,704 --> 00:18:45,499 Some 30,000 years ago, a piece of an asteroid... 220 00:18:45,666 --> 00:18:48,502 ...weighing perhaps 300,000 tons... 221 00:18:48,669 --> 00:18:50,421 ...slammed into Arizona. 222 00:18:51,547 --> 00:18:55,343 It blasted out a crater almost 600 feet deep. 223 00:18:56,552 --> 00:18:59,347 As collisions go, it was a small one. 224 00:19:13,527 --> 00:19:18,032 From space, we can see the scars from much bigger impacts on Earth. 225 00:19:18,574 --> 00:19:21,410 This one in Canada is 60 miles across. 226 00:19:24,246 --> 00:19:28,417 The effects of a similar collision may have wiped out the dinosaurs. 227 00:19:32,505 --> 00:19:36,425 The young Earth was once completely covered by impact craters. 228 00:19:36,842 --> 00:19:38,761 But most of them have been erased... 229 00:19:38,928 --> 00:19:42,973 ...by the powerful forces which keep changing the face of our planet. 230 00:19:43,516 --> 00:19:45,518 [CAMERA CLICKING] 231 00:19:46,018 --> 00:19:47,770 NARRATOR: From orbit, we see evidence... 232 00:19:47,937 --> 00:19:51,607 ...for the most astonishing geological discovery of our time. 233 00:19:52,274 --> 00:19:56,779 The Earth's crust is broken into about a dozen moving plates. 234 00:19:59,031 --> 00:20:02,034 Here, a giant crack extends out to the right... 235 00:20:02,201 --> 00:20:05,121 ...from the Sinai Peninsula through the Dead Sea. 236 00:20:08,624 --> 00:20:10,126 In a closer view... 237 00:20:10,292 --> 00:20:13,546 ...you can see how the Sinai, shaped like a triangle... 238 00:20:13,838 --> 00:20:17,216 ...has wrenched away from Saudi Arabia, on the far right. 239 00:20:20,678 --> 00:20:24,807 The rift that opened between them lies under the Gulf of Aqaba. 240 00:20:30,980 --> 00:20:33,649 Most of the rifts are on the sea floor. 241 00:20:35,568 --> 00:20:37,570 [MEN SPEAKING lN FRENCH] 242 00:20:42,658 --> 00:20:46,370 NARRATOR: To search for them, we need vehicles similar to spaceships. 243 00:20:53,335 --> 00:20:56,172 We are on a journey, 2 miles down... 244 00:20:56,338 --> 00:20:58,716 ...to the very bottom of the ocean. 245 00:21:01,385 --> 00:21:05,181 We will enter a world that has never seen sunlight. 246 00:21:07,641 --> 00:21:11,812 And yet, the ocean floor is alive with exotic creatures. 247 00:21:21,572 --> 00:21:23,949 They thrive on nutrients in the water... 248 00:21:24,116 --> 00:21:27,661 ...which is heated by the Earth's great furnace beneath. 249 00:21:33,292 --> 00:21:36,837 Here in mid-ocean, at the boundary between two plates... 250 00:21:37,254 --> 00:21:40,174 ...molten rock pushes up from the interior. 251 00:21:41,967 --> 00:21:45,346 These lava chimneys are actually miniature volcanoes. 252 00:21:49,266 --> 00:21:52,561 Just as one of the Earth's systems recycles water... 253 00:21:53,229 --> 00:21:55,314 ...another recycles rock. 254 00:21:56,815 --> 00:21:59,777 As new crust is added to the Earth's surface here... 255 00:21:59,944 --> 00:22:03,906 ...the other edge of the plate, perhaps thousands of miles away... 256 00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:06,992 ...sinks back into the Earth's interior. 257 00:22:07,743 --> 00:22:08,953 As it melts... 258 00:22:09,870 --> 00:22:11,872 ...volcanoes erupt. 259 00:22:19,421 --> 00:22:22,758 This is Sakura-jima Volcano in Japan. 260 00:22:24,051 --> 00:22:27,304 You can see its smoke all the way from space. 261 00:22:53,956 --> 00:22:57,793 Here, two great plates are slowly crushing together... 262 00:22:58,127 --> 00:23:00,254 ...pushing up the Himalayas... 263 00:23:00,629 --> 00:23:03,215 ...the highest mountain range on Earth. 264 00:23:05,926 --> 00:23:08,887 From just beneath us, the snow-capped peaks... 265 00:23:09,054 --> 00:23:13,142 ...stretch over 1000 miles towards the horizon on the left. 266 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,410 Almost all of North America, here on the right... 267 00:23:31,660 --> 00:23:33,829 ...lies upon a single plate. 268 00:23:34,997 --> 00:23:38,834 On the left, the Pacific plate is sliding northward past it... 269 00:23:39,627 --> 00:23:42,796 ...at the stately pace of a half-inch per year. 270 00:23:44,214 --> 00:23:46,926 The Gulf of California, in the center... 271 00:23:47,092 --> 00:23:49,803 ...marks the boundary between the two plates. 272 00:23:50,512 --> 00:23:52,181 Along this boundary... 273 00:23:52,473 --> 00:23:55,643 ...the infamous San Andreas Fault runs northward. 274 00:23:57,019 --> 00:23:58,979 Using satellite pictures... 275 00:23:59,146 --> 00:24:03,525 ...a computer can take us on an imaginary flight along the San Andreas. 276 00:24:05,235 --> 00:24:08,364 The actual height of the terrain has been exaggerated... 277 00:24:08,530 --> 00:24:12,785 ...to accent the network of valleys formed by the fauIt's many traces. 278 00:24:45,067 --> 00:24:47,736 As the two plates slide past one another... 279 00:24:47,903 --> 00:24:50,197 ...they lock together in some places. 280 00:24:51,281 --> 00:24:53,158 The strain builds. 281 00:25:07,756 --> 00:25:11,552 Near San Francisco, the strain reaches the breaking point. 282 00:25:12,761 --> 00:25:14,596 Something has to give... 283 00:25:15,180 --> 00:25:18,851 ...and when it does, we are rocked by an earthquake. 284 00:25:22,146 --> 00:25:24,064 Magnified by the computer... 285 00:25:24,231 --> 00:25:27,943 ...first a sharp wave, traveling at 10,000 miles an hour... 286 00:25:28,110 --> 00:25:30,070 ...moves out from the epicenter. 287 00:25:31,030 --> 00:25:33,782 Then comes a series of rolling waves. 288 00:25:34,116 --> 00:25:36,618 These inflict most of the damage. 289 00:25:45,544 --> 00:25:49,631 MAN: It is impossible to know yet how many more fatalities there are... 290 00:25:50,049 --> 00:25:54,219 ...following this earthquake, which hit at 5:04 yesterday, in the middle of rush hour. 291 00:25:54,386 --> 00:25:58,515 The earliest efforts to rescue came last night from all sorts of people: 292 00:25:59,016 --> 00:26:01,977 Cops, firemen, people right here in the neighborhood... 293 00:26:02,144 --> 00:26:05,105 ...who risked their lives to rescue strangers. 294 00:26:12,112 --> 00:26:14,073 CHILD: Everything started shaking. 295 00:26:14,239 --> 00:26:16,825 I started running. I didn't know where to run... 296 00:26:16,992 --> 00:26:18,994 ...because I was getting too scared. 297 00:26:19,161 --> 00:26:22,831 And my mom couldn't get me because the floor was moving too hard. 298 00:26:24,625 --> 00:26:28,337 NARRATOR: Some buildings, though still standing, had to be demolished. 299 00:26:45,521 --> 00:26:49,274 In time, the houses and highways are rebuilt... 300 00:26:49,691 --> 00:26:53,028 ...better designed to withstand the next earthquake. 301 00:26:54,530 --> 00:26:58,534 People will always be subject to nature's powerful whims. 302 00:27:03,872 --> 00:27:06,500 In Japan, another fault zone... 303 00:27:06,875 --> 00:27:09,628 ...millions live with the same uncertainty. 304 00:27:18,387 --> 00:27:20,973 One day, almost certainly... 305 00:27:21,557 --> 00:27:23,851 ...we'll learn to predict earthquakes. 306 00:27:26,812 --> 00:27:29,857 But in the meantime, we try to live in harmony... 307 00:27:30,023 --> 00:27:32,526 ...with our sometimes turbulent planet. 308 00:27:33,819 --> 00:27:38,115 After each assault, we pick up the pieces and carry on. 309 00:27:38,282 --> 00:27:40,284 [SPEAKING lN FRENCH] 310 00:27:44,454 --> 00:27:48,417 NARRATOR: And sometimes, we wonder if there could be any other place... 311 00:27:48,584 --> 00:27:51,086 ...as wonderful in all the universe. 312 00:28:00,429 --> 00:28:02,431 [ORGAN PLAYING] 313 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:06,602 [CROWD CHEERING] 314 00:28:15,110 --> 00:28:17,154 NARRATOR: But now, a new force... 315 00:28:17,571 --> 00:28:20,115 ...as threatening as any in nature... 316 00:28:20,324 --> 00:28:22,910 ...has begun to change the Earth. 317 00:28:23,744 --> 00:28:25,996 We are that force. 318 00:28:28,457 --> 00:28:31,627 To our ancestors, only a few centuries ago... 319 00:28:32,252 --> 00:28:34,963 ...the forests, oceans, and skies... 320 00:28:35,130 --> 00:28:37,799 ...seemed vast and almost limitless. 321 00:28:38,634 --> 00:28:40,636 But all that has changed. 322 00:28:42,095 --> 00:28:44,848 It is only now that we can see it from space... 323 00:28:45,015 --> 00:28:49,186 ...that we realize the magnitude of what we are doing to the Earth. 324 00:28:54,608 --> 00:28:59,279 As settlers cleared land to create the great farms of the American Midwest... 325 00:29:00,155 --> 00:29:04,326 ...more and more valuable topsoil eroded into the Mississippi. 326 00:29:06,495 --> 00:29:09,331 Flowing southward down this great river... 327 00:29:09,623 --> 00:29:12,125 ...the silt is carrying pesticides. 328 00:29:12,834 --> 00:29:15,671 They are pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. 329 00:29:18,548 --> 00:29:20,467 The Yangtze River in China... 330 00:29:20,634 --> 00:29:24,471 ...is a natural conveyor belt for soil from the plateau above it. 331 00:29:25,555 --> 00:29:29,685 Now it doubles as a dump for sewage and industrial wastes. 332 00:29:32,145 --> 00:29:36,692 But an island far away has become the most eroded place on Earth. 333 00:29:39,194 --> 00:29:43,031 Madagascar was once cloaked in lush forest. 334 00:29:44,074 --> 00:29:47,327 Now loggers and farmers have cut most of it down. 335 00:29:48,912 --> 00:29:51,873 With nothing to cling to, the thin red soil... 336 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,752 ...has washed down the mountain slopes into the Betsiboka River... 337 00:29:56,003 --> 00:29:58,213 ...choking its mouth completely. 338 00:30:03,051 --> 00:30:05,303 Off the coast of South America... 339 00:30:05,470 --> 00:30:08,473 ...the Atlantic is awash with brown sediment... 340 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,518 ...pouring out from the Orinoco and the Amazon. 341 00:30:13,770 --> 00:30:18,692 Upriver, lies the largest continuous rainforest in the world. 342 00:30:28,910 --> 00:30:33,457 This is home to nearly half of all the species found on Earth. 343 00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:37,294 They are sheltered from sun and wind... 344 00:30:37,461 --> 00:30:39,671 ...by its great moist canopy. 345 00:30:41,465 --> 00:30:44,426 People depend upon the rainforest for food... 346 00:30:44,676 --> 00:30:47,596 ...and the rare medicines its plants produce. 347 00:31:02,110 --> 00:31:05,280 Like those who settled Europe and North America... 348 00:31:05,614 --> 00:31:09,951 ...people in search of a better life are clearing the land for farming. 349 00:31:11,286 --> 00:31:14,873 The cut trees are left to dry, then burned. 350 00:31:43,652 --> 00:31:46,905 Almost one acre of tropical rainforest... 351 00:31:47,155 --> 00:31:49,324 ...is destroyed every second. 352 00:31:56,748 --> 00:32:01,294 Some 100 species, most of which we've never even seen... 353 00:32:01,711 --> 00:32:04,506 ...are driven to extinction every day... 354 00:32:04,673 --> 00:32:06,967 ...lost to the planet forever. 355 00:32:11,513 --> 00:32:13,265 In destroying them... 356 00:32:13,431 --> 00:32:16,393 ...we are tampering with the fabric of life... 357 00:32:16,852 --> 00:32:20,522 ...cutting the very strands that bind us all together. 358 00:32:27,779 --> 00:32:31,616 Only from space can you see how much is burning. 359 00:32:33,452 --> 00:32:37,455 The smoke spreads thousands of miles across to the Andes Mountains. 360 00:32:40,208 --> 00:32:43,462 Soon we will see roads here, then farms. 361 00:32:43,962 --> 00:32:45,881 Towns will expand to cities. 362 00:32:55,223 --> 00:32:58,268 Eight million people live here in Los Angeles. 363 00:33:01,479 --> 00:33:04,733 Six million vehicles and thousands of factories... 364 00:33:04,900 --> 00:33:06,985 ...release chemicals into the atmosphere. 365 00:33:07,152 --> 00:33:10,155 RECORDING 1 : This is the West Coast Air Quality Management District... 366 00:33:10,322 --> 00:33:14,242 ...with an air quality update for the Los Angeles and Orange Counties. 367 00:33:14,409 --> 00:33:17,913 RECORDING 2: We're suggesting that persons with heart or respiratory diseases... 368 00:33:18,079 --> 00:33:20,415 ...should reduce physical activity. 369 00:33:21,041 --> 00:33:23,960 NARRATOR: Smog permeates the air we breathe. 370 00:33:28,215 --> 00:33:31,218 Not only are we polluting our air... 371 00:33:31,384 --> 00:33:34,179 ...we may also be altering our climate. 372 00:33:40,101 --> 00:33:41,519 Around the globe... 373 00:33:41,686 --> 00:33:46,358 ...cars and factories belch huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the air... 374 00:33:47,108 --> 00:33:50,904 ...faster than our oceans and depleted forests can absorb it. 375 00:34:05,043 --> 00:34:09,297 Our numbers are increasing by nearly 100 million every year. 376 00:34:11,132 --> 00:34:13,134 We consume enough energy... 377 00:34:13,301 --> 00:34:15,720 ...to be visible all the way from space. 378 00:34:17,973 --> 00:34:21,810 There are now more than 6 billion of us spread across the Earth. 379 00:34:22,727 --> 00:34:25,772 In this satellite view, you can see the continents... 380 00:34:25,939 --> 00:34:29,317 ...outlined by the lights of the great coastal cities. 381 00:34:30,902 --> 00:34:32,612 In North America. 382 00:34:37,158 --> 00:34:39,119 In Europe and in Asia. 383 00:34:41,830 --> 00:34:44,165 But our planet does have limits. 384 00:34:44,833 --> 00:34:48,503 The carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we produce... 385 00:34:48,670 --> 00:34:50,505 ...act like a blanket... 386 00:34:51,006 --> 00:34:54,009 ...trapping the sun's heat inside our atmosphere. 387 00:34:55,969 --> 00:34:59,472 Beneath it, the Earth's temperature may be rising. 388 00:35:00,849 --> 00:35:02,434 Without intending it... 389 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,187 ...we are now conducting an uncontrolled experiment... 390 00:35:06,354 --> 00:35:08,815 ...on the Earth's life-support system... 391 00:35:08,982 --> 00:35:11,818 ...and we cannot predict the consequences. 392 00:35:15,030 --> 00:35:17,240 But already there are clues. 393 00:35:19,534 --> 00:35:22,704 High in the stratosphere, a thin layer of ozone... 394 00:35:22,871 --> 00:35:26,333 ...shields us from the sun's deadly ultraviolet rays. 395 00:35:28,043 --> 00:35:30,211 You can't see the ozone... 396 00:35:30,378 --> 00:35:32,672 ...but our satellites and other instruments... 397 00:35:32,839 --> 00:35:36,051 ...have detected a hole bigger than Europe... 398 00:35:36,217 --> 00:35:38,553 ...in the ozone over Antarctica. 399 00:35:41,765 --> 00:35:43,600 We have created the hole... 400 00:35:43,767 --> 00:35:46,853 ...with chemicals we use in our everyday lives. 401 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,818 Faced with this evidence, the nations of the world... 402 00:35:54,110 --> 00:35:57,656 ...recently agreed to restrict and eventually ban... 403 00:35:57,822 --> 00:35:59,908 ...production of those chemicals. 404 00:36:02,077 --> 00:36:04,162 Looking out past the shuttle's tail... 405 00:36:04,329 --> 00:36:06,122 ...astronaut Jim Buchli: 406 00:36:07,415 --> 00:36:09,751 BUCHLl: Look at how thin the atmosphere is. 407 00:36:09,918 --> 00:36:12,420 Everything beyond that thin blue line... 408 00:36:12,837 --> 00:36:14,756 ...is the void of space. 409 00:36:15,090 --> 00:36:18,802 And everything below it is what it takes to sustain life. 410 00:36:20,261 --> 00:36:22,430 And everything that we do... 411 00:36:22,889 --> 00:36:24,891 ...to this environment... 412 00:36:25,266 --> 00:36:27,352 ...and our quality of life... 413 00:36:27,936 --> 00:36:30,105 ...is below that little thin blue line. 414 00:36:30,271 --> 00:36:32,857 That's the only difference between... 415 00:36:33,608 --> 00:36:36,569 ...what we enjoy here on Earth... 416 00:36:36,736 --> 00:36:40,031 ...and the really harsh, uninhabitable... 417 00:36:40,782 --> 00:36:42,826 ...blackness of space. 418 00:36:44,744 --> 00:36:46,830 That's not very wide, is it? 419 00:36:56,297 --> 00:36:58,675 NARRATOR: Our world is a special place... 420 00:36:58,925 --> 00:37:01,761 ...where millions of species coexist... 421 00:37:02,804 --> 00:37:06,599 ...each one an integral part of our planet's fabric. 422 00:37:11,229 --> 00:37:14,566 What we do will determine their fate... 423 00:37:15,567 --> 00:37:16,943 ...and ours. 424 00:37:18,737 --> 00:37:21,656 We can undo the damage we have caused. 425 00:37:56,107 --> 00:37:59,861 The Earth we inherited can again be a garden... 426 00:38:01,362 --> 00:38:03,531 ...beautiful and bountiful. 427 00:38:05,158 --> 00:38:08,036 Everything we need for life is here. 428 00:38:10,872 --> 00:38:12,749 Shimmering blue... 429 00:38:12,916 --> 00:38:16,503 ...it is our haven in a vast black sea of space. 430 00:38:23,510 --> 00:38:25,220 This is our home. 431 00:38:26,888 --> 00:38:29,057 It will be home to our children... 432 00:38:30,141 --> 00:38:32,310 ...and to their great-grandchildren. 433 00:38:35,355 --> 00:38:38,233 It is home to all the nations of the world. 434 00:38:43,238 --> 00:38:45,657 It's home to the people of Mexico. 435 00:38:54,791 --> 00:38:57,544 Home to the people of Greece and Turkey. 436 00:39:10,682 --> 00:39:13,810 It's home to lsraelis and Arabs. 437 00:39:22,193 --> 00:39:24,445 It's home to the Vietnamese. 438 00:39:36,749 --> 00:39:39,252 It's home to the aboriginal people... 439 00:39:39,419 --> 00:39:42,297 ...and the farmers of the Australian outback. 440 00:39:50,847 --> 00:39:53,266 It's home to the people of Japan. 441 00:40:00,315 --> 00:40:03,109 It's home to the peoples of the Caribbean. 442 00:40:19,751 --> 00:40:21,794 It's home to all of us. 443 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,090 And it's our only home.