HOME Published on May 12, 2009 We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate. The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutesA passionate and moving speech given by 12 year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuki at the UN 20 years ago - 1992 - about the state of the environment.Click here to view the video Environmental activist Severn Cullis-Suzuki returned to Rio on 16 June 2012, some two decades after stopping the world with her impassioned plea to governments to do more to preserve the world and its ecosystems for future generations. Severn is in Rio as part of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and delivered her first address in the Brazilian city since 1992 during the day-long "Green Cross Returns to Rio" event on 16 June 2012. The Green Cross event recognized the issues and activities that drive the NGO founded by President Mikhail Gorbachev out of the 1992 Earth Summit. Human Planet - Web exclusive series trailer - BBC Onehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/humanplanetHuman Planet is an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, heart-stopping landmark series that marvels at mankind's incredible relationship with nature in the world today. Uniquely in the animal kingdom, humans have managed to adapt and thrive in every environment on Earth. Each episode takes you to the extremes of our planet: the arctic, mountains, oceans, jungles, grasslands, deserts, rivers and even the urban jungle. Here you will meet people who survive by building complex, exciting and often mutually beneficial relationships with their animal neighbours and the hostile elements of the natural world. Human Planet crews have filmed in around 80 locations, bringing you many stories that have never been told on television before. The team has trekked with HD cameras and state of the art gear to film from the air, from the ground and underwater. The result: a "cinematic experience" created by world-class natural history and documentary camera crews and programme makers. Sir David Attenborough: People and planetThe dangers facing the earth’s ecosystems are well known and the subject of great concern at all levels. Climate change is high on the list. But argues Sir David Attenborough, there is an underlying and associated cause – population growth.Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollinationPollination: it's vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee. About Louie Schwartzberg Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director and producer who captures breathtaking images that celebrate life -- revealing connections, universal rhythms, patterns and beauty .Full bio and more links Al Gore on averting climate crisisWith the same humor and humanity he exuded in An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore spells out 15 ways that individuals can address climate change immediately, from buying a hybrid to inventing a new, hotter "brand name" for global warming.About Al Gore Once the US Vice President, then star of An Inconvenient Truth, now Nobel Peace Prize winner, Al Gore found a way to focus the world's attention on climate change. In doing so, he has invented… Full bio and more links Al Gore warns on latest climate trendsAt TED2009, Al Gore presents updated slides from around the globe to make the case that worrying climate trends are even worse than scientists predicted, and to make clear his stance on "clean coal."Hans Rosling on Global Population GrowthThe world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years -- and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils using colorful new data display technology (you'll see).About Hans Rosling As a doctor and researcher, Hans Rosling identified a new paralytic disease induced by hunger in rural Africa. Now he looks at the bigger picture of social and economic development with his…Full bio and more links Click here to view the video Johan Rockstrom: Let the environment guide our developmentHuman growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockstrom reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior. His research has found nine "planetary boundaries" that can guide us in protecting our planet's many overlapping ecosystems.About Johan Rockstrom If Earth is a self-regulating system, it's clear that human activity is capable of disrupting it. Johan Rockstrom has led a team of scientists to define the nine Earth systems that need to be… Full bio and more links |
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