Recently Arwa posted NASA images that depict how we have drastically altered countries in the Middle East and North Africa – a jarring post that was read by hundreds of people around the world. Today we bring you a staggering video by Globaïa, which globalizes local issues and demonstrates how efficiently human beings have conquered the entire planet in the 250 years since the industrial revolution first started.
As a result of our “success,” we have entered a new geological epoch that has been dubbed “The Anthropocene.” Hit the jump for a link to this extraordinary three minute video that puts consumption and globalization into perspective like you’ve never seen before.
Modern humans first appeared on the planet roughly 2.4 million years ago. In all those years, our ancestors struggled to survive, learned how to make fire, how to make tools. Over millions of years hominids improved their skills and became more successful, but always at nature’s whim.
But then we became too powerful and now we are the only species ever to have completely altered the earth’s natural cycle. We put a hole in the ozone and have decimated thousands of other species.
We have also improved lives for millions of people. Although our planet is under pressure, relatively speaking, humans are better off than they ever were before. We live longer and more comfortably and we can feed more people, all of which comes with a price.
This three-minute eye-opener was commissioned for the Planet Under Pressure conference held in London at the end of March, 2012. It is the first educational film describing the latest geological epoch.
“The Anthropocene changes our relationship with the planet,” said Conference Chief Scientific Advisor, Nobel Laureate Professor Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University. “We have a new responsibility and we need to determine how to meet that responsibility.”
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