The Secret of Life on Earth Page #3

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All grasses and sedges are flowering

plants. lt's easy to overlook that.

No need for insects.

Grass pollen is carried by the wind.

When the seeds are set...

...they contain a nutritious substance

which gives them a good start.

Grind it up and it becomes flour...

...a basic human food

that can be stored for months.

The wild grasses that we know

as rice, oats, barley and wheat...

...were the key to the growth

of human civilization.

What drives the combine harvesters

is energy from the sun...

...processed and stored...

...in billions of microscopic marine

plants in prehistoric times...

...as oil,

one of the so-called fossil fuels.

Another fossil fuel is coal...

...the carbonized remains

of some of the earliest forests.

lt provides more than 40%

of the world's industrial energy.

And it takes energy to operate

the great thrust into the depths...

...where the prized black seam lies.

Fossil fuels, coal and oil...

...contain energy which can

be released so easily by fire.

ln 1 991 , the Gulf War focused

our attention on what happens...

...when nature is wantonly put

into reverse.

Originally, when plants first gathered

this energy from the sun...

...carbon dioxide was used and oxygen

given off to enrich the atmosphere.

Now, fire uses up oxygen...

...while carbon gases

pour back into the air.

Less violently, it goes on

in peacetime too.

Modern transport relies

on the burning of oil.

The carbon gases discharged

by city traffic and industry...

...build in the atmosphere and prevent

the release of heat by radiation...

...thereby causing

a greenhouse effect.

Other harmful chemicals

attack the ozone...

...which shields us

from ultraviolet rays...

...damaging to human skin and also

to the plant life of the oceans.

Trash, garbage, litter.

The dead end of life.

What is biodegradable is transformed

into a new life cycle...

...but mankind has introduced

the non-biodegradable...

...the junk outside

nature's regeneration...

...which poisons land and sea.

For the first time, a single species,

the human species...

...is threatening

the life-support systems.

We have broken the green contract.

But we are learning

to be less wasteful.

As the world's resources shrink,

we are recycling more and more.

This factory already uses 30%

wastepaper.

Soon it will recycle 60% waste

into new paper.

We are also learning to capture energy

without burning fossil fuels or timber.

Besides nuclear energy,

there is tidal power...

...solar panels, wind power.

We can harness the elements.

Our space-age technology can monitor

the damage we are inflicting.

Satellites report the frightening speed

of loss of vegetation...

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