(La Humanidad Desde el Espacio). TECNOLOGÍA
Un viaje épico de descubrimiento a partir de datos de satélites y tecnología CGI para contar la historia de ascenso de la humanidad y la impresionante extensión de la influencia de los humanos y la transformación de vastas zonas del planeta.
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00:00:00Now we live in a world interconnected with an impressive complexity.
00:00:06Forged by revolutionary innovations for thousands of years.
00:00:12Innovations that have led us to build an intricate network of networks
00:00:19that facilitate our progress.
00:00:22Now, for the first time, we can visualize the invisible ties that keep us together.
00:00:30This is the story of how our ingenuity shaped the modern world
00:00:36and how we will use it to ensure our future.
00:00:53Our journey began when the Earth had less than 5 million inhabitants.
00:01:05The fertile crescent in the Mediterranean Levant, 10,000 BC.
00:01:11The home of a revolutionary innovation that gave rise to one of our most important global networks.
00:01:19In these fertile lands, our ancestors planted the first seeds.
00:01:28Something apparently insignificant changed humanity forever.
00:01:42The planting of seeds is a capital in the history of humanity
00:01:47because it completely changed our diet.
00:01:50We went from being hunters and gatherers, as we have been throughout history,
00:01:57to becoming farmers.
00:02:05But agriculture was not limited to the Middle East.
00:02:10Independently, other tribes in other parts of the world began to harvest.
00:02:22In Mexico, the Olmecs began to plant corn 9,000 years ago.
00:02:308,000 years ago, the first potatoes were taken from the earth in the Peruvian Andes.
00:02:40Rice was planted for the first time in the Valley of the Pearl River in China, 7,000 years ago.
00:02:49And in 3,000 BC, wheat had already spread throughout Europe.
00:03:01Agriculture became our only activity.
00:03:06The possibility of observing the earth from space allows us to see a huge footprint on the planet.
00:03:16We use 10% of the earth's surface to cultivate
00:03:22and more than double to supply our cattle.
00:03:27The world's largest cattle ranch occupies more than Israel.
00:03:35And wheat crops are equivalent to the surface of Greenland.
00:03:42We need almost half of the planet's land to feed ourselves,
00:03:47and that figure increases every day.
00:03:51But agriculture not only provided us with food,
00:03:55but also radically transformed human behavior.
00:03:59For the first time, agriculture allowed us to dedicate part of our time to other activities,
00:04:05instead of worrying about food 24 hours a day.
00:04:10For tens of thousands of years, we lived in small tribes of hunters and gatherers,
00:04:16looking for food incessantly.
00:04:19But agriculture allowed us to settle.
00:04:22This was what allowed us to stay in one place for the first time.
00:04:27We no longer had to move to find food.
00:04:31In these first settlements, we reinforced another human feature, cooperation.
00:04:41And working together, we were able to share new ideas and skills
00:04:49that made our ingenuity flourish.
00:04:51Those people could go out and specialize in new roles in society.
00:04:56They became expert carpenters, weavers, or blacksmiths.
00:05:00And through this process based on agriculture,
00:05:03they built complex and competent civilizations.
00:05:07With these new skills, we created the first civilizations,
00:05:12whose ruins can still be seen,
00:05:15in which we built a new civilization.
00:05:19Thanks to agriculture, we built the first cities,
00:05:24such as Jericho,
00:05:27Erbil,
00:05:29and Byblos.
00:05:33The oldest have been inhabited for 11,000 years.
00:05:38And thanks to agriculture, we built the first cities,
00:05:42like Jericho,
00:05:44Erbil,
00:05:46and Byblos.
00:05:49These are the foundations of the modern world.
00:05:57The simple act of planting a seed
00:06:00transformed our way of being as a species.
00:06:03It made it possible for us to congregate in settlements,
00:06:07which would later become cities,
00:06:10and the connected and global society we have today.
00:06:19From space, you can see how huge our modern cities have become.
00:06:29Some have melted, forming giant metropolises,
00:06:33where more than 50 million people have congregated.
00:06:40You can distinguish the most important metropolises
00:06:43that cross the Appalachians,
00:06:45from the west coast to Canada's ice and granite,
00:06:48to the United States.
00:06:50In the 90 minutes we take to orbit the Earth,
00:06:53we can see the impact of humanity around us,
00:06:56and see how it has spread across the planet.
00:07:02Today, more than 500 cities
00:07:05are home to more than a million people.
00:07:11What's surprising is that this excessive growth
00:07:14of modern cities
00:07:15began only 250 years ago.
00:07:19For most of history, cities were an exception.
00:07:23There were few big cities.
00:07:25Most lived in the countryside,
00:07:27and that situation lasted for thousands of years.
00:07:30What triggered the growth of today's metropolises?
00:07:34The answer has to do with the ingenuity of a man
00:07:37whose simple idea revolutionized the world,
00:07:40giving rise to one of the greatest massive migrations
00:07:43in the history of mankind.
00:07:58Our interconnected world has been forging for thousands of years.
00:08:03Today, space satellites reveal the network of networks
00:08:06that connect us globally,
00:08:11including cities.
00:08:16The population of the first cities
00:08:19remained stagnant for thousands of years.
00:08:22But 250 years ago,
00:08:24a man had an idea that revolutionized the world.
00:08:36Great Britain, 1765.
00:08:41While most of our ancestors worked in the countryside,
00:08:45the Scottish engineer James Watt
00:08:48decided to improve a recent innovation.
00:08:53The steam engine.
00:08:57Until then, steam engines were primitive
00:09:00and had a very limited use.
00:09:03But with some essential changes,
00:09:06Watt greatly increased the efficiency of this machine,
00:09:14unleashing the incredible potential of steam.
00:09:19In the history of mankind,
00:09:21three great leaps have been made.
00:09:23The first was to learn to control fire.
00:09:25The second, agriculture.
00:09:27And the third great difference was achieved
00:09:29when we learned to use steam to produce energy.
00:09:33Engineers welcomed the Watt machine,
00:09:36which opened the door to a new wave of human innovation
00:09:39almost overnight.
00:09:46Suddenly, a single steam pump
00:09:49in a coal mine
00:09:51could replace 500 horses.
00:09:56And now it could be manufactured not only by hand,
00:09:59but also manually.
00:10:03For the first time,
00:10:05human society freed itself from the limitations
00:10:08of muscle power
00:10:10and began to use machinery.
00:10:14Steam energy led to the greatest period of change
00:10:17in human behavior in 1,000 years.
00:10:27And this affected, above all, Manchester, England.
00:10:32The city of Manchester, England.
00:10:38Thanks to James Watt,
00:10:40this quiet mercantile town
00:10:42quickly succumbed to steam energy.
00:10:48Tens of thousands of people
00:10:50leave the countryside
00:10:52to find work in the new factories.
00:10:59In just 50 years,
00:11:00the population of Manchester
00:11:03has gone from 20,000 to 160,000.
00:11:10And it has become
00:11:12the first industrialized city in the world.
00:11:20The incredible thing is that cities can grow as much as they want
00:11:24because they can transport food by rail,
00:11:27as well as coal and people.
00:11:30Suddenly, boom!
00:11:32A huge metropolitan area is created.
00:11:38And this became an episode of transformation
00:11:41in the behavior and history of humanity.
00:11:44It opened up the world to us.
00:11:54The Industrial Revolution united people like never before.
00:12:00For the first time in history,
00:12:02the population of cities around the world
00:12:04expanded massively,
00:12:06growing to millions in just a few decades.
00:12:17Another great step forward
00:12:19to build the current world.
00:12:23We see it in India, China, Tokyo.
00:12:26Suddenly, industrial cities like Detroit
00:12:28grow from 250,000 to a million in just a decade.
00:12:32It's extraordinary.
00:12:34Everything takes a radical turn.
00:12:36Cities explode.
00:12:39The Industrial Revolution triggered
00:12:41one of the most important massive migrations
00:12:44in the modern world.
00:12:47If we go back to 1800,
00:12:49only 3% of the world's population lived in cities.
00:12:52Then came the steam engine,
00:12:54the railroad,
00:12:56the Industrial Revolution
00:12:58and suddenly the curve took off.
00:13:03It marks the beginning of the urban era.
00:13:071.2 million people a week
00:13:09moved to cities around the world at that time.
00:13:12It's incredible.
00:13:16This human change triggered
00:13:18a unique moment in the history of humanity.
00:13:24In the year 2006,
00:13:25something really significant happened
00:13:28to human history.
00:13:30This year was the first year
00:13:32in which the inhabitants of cities
00:13:34outnumbered those in the countryside.
00:13:40The Industrial Revolution
00:13:42turned us into an urban society.
00:13:46But maintaining the modern world
00:13:48required another surge of ingenuity.
00:13:52Something that would give rise
00:13:53to the largest network of engineering on the planet.
00:13:59One that almost all of us are connected to.
00:14:10We have built a world
00:14:12in which our technology covers the entire globe,
00:14:15bringing together thousands of millions of people.
00:14:19From space,
00:14:20we can see the consequences of our ingenuity.
00:14:27October 28, 2011.
00:14:30Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
00:14:43NASA launches the Suomi satellite.
00:14:51Designed to study meteorology,
00:14:53but with an electronic eye
00:14:55hundreds of times more sensitive
00:14:57than previous satellites,
00:14:59it also reveals the interconnectivity
00:15:01of our electrified world.
00:15:09This is black marble.
00:15:17A clear composition of the world
00:15:18made with thousands of images
00:15:20collected by the Suomi
00:15:22in 312 orbits.
00:15:27It reflects almost every light we turn on.
00:15:38When I look at the images
00:15:40of NASA's black marble,
00:15:42I am amazed.
00:15:45It is an amazing illustration
00:15:47of the impact that electricity
00:15:49and the electrical network
00:15:51have had on the human species.
00:15:55Here you can see the Nile River
00:15:57shining like a beam of light
00:15:59that extends over the city of Cairo.
00:16:06The lights of hundreds of tugboats
00:16:08reveal an invisible artificial border
00:16:10as they patrol their territorial waters.
00:16:17And while South Korea shines,
00:16:21North Korea remains totally dark.
00:16:30Since we get up in the morning,
00:16:32we go to work,
00:16:34we work and we go to bed at night,
00:16:36almost everything we do
00:16:38requires electricity
00:16:40in one way or another.
00:16:43What was the point of inflection
00:16:44that lit the spark of the modern world?
00:16:59December 31, 1879,
00:17:01Menlo Park, New Jersey.
00:17:10Inventor Thomas Edison
00:17:12presents his version
00:17:14of the improved electric bulb.
00:17:20He has created a filament
00:17:22with bamboo and carbon.
00:17:30Edison's bulb
00:17:32shines more and for longer
00:17:34than the previous ones,
00:17:36with a duration of more than 1,000 hours.
00:17:40But a bulb is worth nothing
00:17:42without a source of energy.
00:17:45After all,
00:17:47you need to get the electricity
00:17:49from where an electric plant is generated
00:17:51and take it to where
00:17:53homes and factories are used.
00:17:55And for that,
00:17:57you need another invention.
00:18:02Thomas Edison
00:18:04perfected the bulb
00:18:06as we know it.
00:18:08What is not as well known
00:18:10and yet is more important
00:18:12is that Edison also created
00:18:14a small electrical grid.
00:18:19Edison built
00:18:21a small electrical grid
00:18:23to bring the energy
00:18:25to hundreds of new bulbs
00:18:27in southern Manhattan.
00:18:30This was the first electrical grid.
00:18:36Inspired by Edison's brilliant idea,
00:18:38in just 100 years,
00:18:40the electrical grid
00:18:42acquired a colossal size.
00:18:45In North America,
00:18:47hundreds of electrical plants
00:18:49provide electricity
00:18:51to almost a million kilometers
00:18:53of high-voltage transmission lines.
00:19:00These, in turn,
00:19:02connect thousands of cities
00:19:04providing energy
00:19:06to more than 300 million people.
00:19:15With enough copper wire
00:19:17to reach the moon
00:19:19and return.
00:19:21The electrical grid
00:19:23is an amazing machine.
00:19:25It is certainly
00:19:27the largest and most sophisticated
00:19:29machine built by people.
00:19:31It's hard to even quantify
00:19:33the size of this device.
00:19:39Today, the world
00:19:41is wrapped in an electrical grid.
00:19:4547,000 kilometers of cable
00:19:47distribute electricity
00:19:49throughout Australia.
00:19:52In India,
00:19:54that number is doubled.
00:19:57The Russian grid
00:19:59has more than a million kilometers.
00:20:05In Europe,
00:20:073 million kilometers of cable
00:20:09connect 23 countries together.
00:20:15All over the world,
00:20:17the electrical grid
00:20:19supplies electricity
00:20:21to more than 5.5 billion people,
00:20:2380% of humanity.
00:20:29From the vision of a man,
00:20:31we create this modern wonder.
00:20:38The electrical grid
00:20:40is one of the most complex systems
00:20:42or technologies created by man
00:20:44and spread all over the world.
00:20:48Electricity is the blood
00:20:50of modern society.
00:20:53And the electrical grid
00:20:55is its veins.
00:21:00And until they cut it off,
00:21:02we don't really appreciate it.
00:21:11Suddenly,
00:21:12life freezes.
00:21:18You can't navigate the internet.
00:21:20None of the lights work.
00:21:22You can't do anything.
00:21:25But only when we don't have electricity
00:21:27do we realize how ubiquitous it is
00:21:29and how the contemporary world works.
00:21:40To supply the modern world
00:21:42we depend on two substances
00:21:44extracted from the confines of the earth.
00:21:49Resources we have become addicted to.
00:21:53Without which
00:21:55the world we live in
00:21:57would not exist.
00:22:07The Cordero Rojo mine
00:22:09in the powder river basin of Wyoming
00:22:10is one of the largest in America.
00:22:14It is a giant hole
00:22:16on the ground
00:22:18almost two kilometers wide.
00:22:22Here,
00:22:24some of the largest machines
00:22:26ever built
00:22:28extract thousands of tons of earth
00:22:30a day extracting coal.
00:22:33Many people are surprised
00:22:35when they learn
00:22:37that most of the electricity
00:22:38produced in the world
00:22:40comes from coal.
00:22:45Coal is the main source
00:22:47of energy supplied
00:22:49to our electrical grid.
00:22:54This revealing time-lapse
00:22:56from space
00:22:58shows us the extent
00:23:00of coal exploitation in Wyoming
00:23:02during the last 20 years.
00:23:05Out of nowhere
00:23:06we have excavated an area
00:23:08the size of Vancouver.
00:23:16And this huge mining complex
00:23:18supplies less than half
00:23:20of the electricity
00:23:22needed in the United States.
00:23:28This dependence on coal
00:23:30has generated a global network
00:23:32of supply and demand.
00:23:37Indonesia is the largest
00:23:39coal exporter in the world.
00:23:43It sells 30 million tons
00:23:45annually to Japan.
00:23:52Australian coal
00:23:54has helped the Chinese industrial boom.
00:23:59And much of Europe
00:24:01with the largest economy in the world
00:24:03buys coal from Russia.
00:24:07In the production of energy
00:24:09coal is in charge.
00:24:12But coal alone
00:24:14is not enough
00:24:16to meet the demand.
00:24:18All over the world
00:24:20we use enough electricity
00:24:22to supply energy
00:24:24to an American household
00:24:26for more than 5 million years.
00:24:32To meet the demand
00:24:34we have built
00:24:36a huge network
00:24:38of power plants.
00:24:40More than 2,300 coal plants
00:24:42generate 41%
00:24:44of our electricity.
00:24:49439 nuclear plants
00:24:51supply another 10%.
00:25:00Natural gas
00:25:01feeds almost 3,000 power plants
00:25:03that generate
00:25:05a fifth of the electricity
00:25:07we consume.
00:25:15But these natural resources
00:25:17are insignificant
00:25:19compared to the impact
00:25:21of this matter,
00:25:23oil.
00:25:25Titusville, Pennsylvania,
00:25:27August 27, 1859.
00:25:34Until then,
00:25:36oil was only extracted
00:25:38when it was filtered
00:25:40to the surface.
00:25:45But Edwin Drake
00:25:47was convinced
00:25:49that he could take advantage
00:25:51of the potential of oil
00:25:52by drilling the ground.
00:25:55And he almost immediately
00:25:57began to have problems.
00:25:59What happened was
00:26:01that the deeper they got,
00:26:03they found water.
00:26:05And then it was filled with water
00:26:07and it collapsed.
00:26:09So it was a total disaster.
00:26:12People began to call him
00:26:14Crazy Drake
00:26:16because they really thought
00:26:18he was crazy.
00:26:20Nobody had achieved
00:26:22anything.
00:26:24But Drake does not give up
00:26:26and uses iron pipes
00:26:28to reinforce the sides
00:26:30of the well.
00:26:32And it ended up working.
00:26:34He managed to drill up to 20 meters
00:26:36and ta-da!
00:26:38He began to extract oil from his well.
00:26:40People stopped thinking
00:26:42he was crazy.
00:26:45Before Drake,
00:26:47oil was only used
00:26:49on a small scale
00:26:50to generate electricity
00:26:52and artificial light.
00:26:54His ingenuity is another powerful example
00:26:56of how small innovations
00:26:58can radically change
00:27:00the scale of human effort.
00:27:05Through drilling,
00:27:07oil began to be extracted
00:27:09and exploited
00:27:11like never before.
00:27:13The moment when Drake
00:27:15successfully drilled his well
00:27:17and oil came out of it
00:27:18was a drastic change
00:27:20in the history of mankind.
00:27:25Today we travel the world
00:27:27looking for oil.
00:27:33Drilling in remote places
00:27:35like Alaska
00:27:37or southern Australia.
00:27:42And from the frozen páramos
00:27:44of Siberia
00:27:46to the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
00:27:49All over the world
00:27:51more than 3,500 platforms
00:27:53extract almost 4 million barrels
00:27:55of this black matter
00:27:57every hour.
00:27:59That's 67,000 barrels per minute.
00:28:03In just 150 years
00:28:05we have extracted
00:28:07almost a billion barrels
00:28:09of oil from the earth.
00:28:14Without oil
00:28:16we would be confined.
00:28:19He is the one who keeps
00:28:21our planes, cars
00:28:23and ships going
00:28:25all over the world.
00:28:29But he doesn't just keep us moving.
00:28:35Our ingenuity
00:28:37has led us to use it in ways
00:28:39that not even Edwin Drake
00:28:41would have imagined.
00:28:45Almost everything we use,
00:28:46every product we use every day
00:28:48is somehow related
00:28:50to oil.
00:28:55The influence of oil
00:28:57is so immense
00:28:59that it even sustains
00:29:01one of the oldest human traits
00:29:03that unites us.
00:29:06Trade.
00:29:10Trade is a complex network
00:29:12that extends around the world.
00:29:14But its origins are very humble.
00:29:18It was forged with something as simple
00:29:20as a metal box
00:29:22that would transform our lives.
00:29:35Our world depends
00:29:37on the extensive global networks.
00:29:39Millions of kilometres
00:29:41of highways and railways.
00:29:44Thousands of planes
00:29:46that fly over the planet.
00:29:49And ships that sail
00:29:51across the oceans.
00:29:53Everything that makes
00:29:55our civilization goes in them.
00:29:57Our trade routes
00:29:59are an indispensable network
00:30:01that connects us
00:30:03to each other.
00:30:05Everything that we consume
00:30:06and use now
00:30:08comes from different places.
00:30:10It has nothing to do
00:30:12with what happened before.
00:30:14If the world is supplied
00:30:16right now,
00:30:18it is thanks
00:30:20to international trade.
00:30:25But how did this vital network grow?
00:30:29The roots of trade
00:30:31in the modern world
00:30:33date back a thousand years ago
00:30:34in the centre of China.
00:30:43The Chinese were pioneers
00:30:45in trade.
00:30:50For hundreds of years
00:30:52the Han dynasty
00:30:54designed a network
00:30:56of 10,000-kilometre roads
00:30:57known as
00:30:59the Silk Road.
00:31:03Extended across continents,
00:31:05these roads
00:31:07are considered
00:31:09the first intercontinental trade network.
00:31:18They transported goods
00:31:20that many had never seen before.
00:31:28Before the arrival of silk
00:31:30to the Roman Empire,
00:31:32they only had linen
00:31:34and rough wool.
00:31:36For them,
00:31:38silk was a revelation.
00:31:40They went crazy.
00:31:43But trade on land
00:31:45was often arduous
00:31:47and dangerous.
00:31:52In the middle of the 1400s
00:31:54between the Byzantine
00:31:55and Ottoman Empires,
00:31:57the Silk Roads
00:31:59became impassable.
00:32:04But trade between the East
00:32:06and the West
00:32:08was too profitable
00:32:10to be abandoned.
00:32:13That is why
00:32:15an alternative route
00:32:17to the Far East was needed.
00:32:19South of Spain,
00:32:21August 3, 1942.
00:32:25Cristóbal Colón
00:32:27embarked on
00:32:29his first of his four
00:32:31revolutionary voyages.
00:32:36Colón sailed west
00:32:38through the Atlantic
00:32:40thinking he would
00:32:42reach the Far East.
00:32:48But on the way
00:32:50he came across this.
00:32:54America.
00:32:59This new world
00:33:01began the golden age
00:33:03of discoveries
00:33:05because it opened the gates
00:33:07to a vast trade empire
00:33:09between nations from all over the world.
00:33:13The ships that sailed
00:33:15around the globe
00:33:16for 150 years
00:33:18made routes to new lands
00:33:20in the northern and southern hemispheres.
00:33:26And although sometimes
00:33:28they were represented
00:33:30as heroic exploration missions,
00:33:32in reality the sailors
00:33:34moved for their commercial desires.
00:33:38Colón, Díaz,
00:33:40de Gama and Magallanes
00:33:42were not looking for gold
00:33:44or souls to save.
00:33:46They were looking for
00:33:48nutmeg, mazis,
00:33:50clove and cinnamon.
00:33:52The age of discoveries
00:33:54made us realize
00:33:56that in Europe
00:33:58there were other places
00:34:00in the world
00:34:02of incalculable wealth.
00:34:04A pound of nutmeg
00:34:06was Armani's suit,
00:34:08Gucci's shoes
00:34:10and the BMW of the time.
00:34:12The effect of these voyages
00:34:14began to spread
00:34:16as England, Paris and Rome
00:34:18began to import tea,
00:34:20spices and sugar.
00:34:25Coffee arrived in Amsterdam
00:34:27and New York.
00:34:31These first commercial routes
00:34:33brought great wealth
00:34:35to the ports they connected
00:34:37establishing the basis
00:34:39of today's commercial networks.
00:34:42But the birth
00:34:44of the current consumer market
00:34:46had to wait several centuries.
00:34:55Newark-Elizabeth port,
00:34:57New Jersey, April 26, 1956.
00:35:11Malcolm McLean
00:35:13is about to present an invention
00:35:14that will revolutionize commerce.
00:35:20Before McLean,
00:35:22loading and unloading goods
00:35:24was slow and expensive.
00:35:27The grain was taken to the winery
00:35:29and hundreds of workers
00:35:31placed the goods
00:35:33in the available spaces.
00:35:36But McLean had the brilliant idea
00:35:38of standardizing the process
00:35:40using transport containers.
00:35:45It's just a box,
00:35:47but the container
00:35:49offers a unit of commerce,
00:35:51something uniform
00:35:53in terms of size
00:35:55in all parts of the world.
00:35:57And you can adapt
00:35:59the dimensions of the ships,
00:36:01the cranes and the trucks
00:36:03to something of the same size.
00:36:06This universal size
00:36:08of containers
00:36:10drastically reduces
00:36:12the costs of cargo.
00:36:14Today,
00:36:16we have a network
00:36:18of 4 billion dollars
00:36:21where thousands of ships
00:36:23transport goods
00:36:25from the United States
00:36:27to the United Kingdom
00:36:29and abroad.
00:36:31Today,
00:36:33we have a network
00:36:35of 4 billion dollars
00:36:37where thousands of ships
00:36:39transport goods
00:36:41from the United States
00:36:42to the United Kingdom
00:36:44and abroad.
00:36:46Today,
00:36:48we have a network
00:36:50of 4 billion dollars
00:36:52where thousands of ships
00:36:54transport goods
00:36:56from the United States
00:36:58to the United Kingdom
00:37:00and abroad.
00:37:02Today,
00:37:04we have a network
00:37:06of 4 billion dollars
00:37:08where thousands of ships
00:37:10transport goods
00:37:12from the United States
00:37:14to the United Kingdom
00:37:16and abroad.
00:37:18Today,
00:37:20we have a network
00:37:22of 4 billion dollars
00:37:24where thousands of ships
00:37:26transport goods
00:37:28from the United Kingdom
00:37:30to the United Kingdom
00:37:32and abroad.
00:37:34Today,
00:37:36we have a network
00:37:38of 4 billion dollars
00:37:40where thousands of ships
00:37:42transport goods
00:37:44from the United Kingdom
00:37:46to the United Kingdom
00:37:48and abroad.
00:38:13But goods
00:38:15are not the only things
00:38:17that move constantly.
00:38:20Our ingenuity
00:38:22has led to inventions
00:38:24that move a billion people
00:38:26a day
00:38:28and has created
00:38:30the largest global network
00:38:32in the world.
00:38:39New York,
00:38:40one of the largest cities
00:38:42on the planet.
00:38:48Today,
00:38:50more than 800 different languages
00:38:52are spoken here.
00:38:56Formed by generations
00:38:58of immigrants,
00:39:00the Big Apple is the city
00:39:02with the most linguistic diversity
00:39:04on Earth.
00:39:06In the world,
00:39:08more than 200 million people
00:39:10live abroad.
00:39:14But the number of people
00:39:16who travel daily
00:39:18is much higher.
00:39:28At all times,
00:39:30a fifth of humanity
00:39:32is traveling.
00:39:37Navigating
00:39:38through a complex global network
00:39:40of Israeli highways,
00:39:45sea corridors
00:39:48and air routes.
00:39:52Transport has opened the world to us,
00:39:55allowing us to travel
00:39:57anywhere at any time.
00:40:02But 100 years ago,
00:40:04there was practically
00:40:06no infrastructure.
00:40:09Our ancestors
00:40:11took thousands of years
00:40:13to leave Africa.
00:40:15And after that,
00:40:17thousands of years passed
00:40:19until a person
00:40:21went around the world.
00:40:23And now we do it every day.
00:40:25How did we become
00:40:27so mobile?
00:40:29The answer lies
00:40:31in an invention.
00:40:33October 1, 1908.
00:40:35Detroit, Michigan.
00:40:39The industrial Henry Ford
00:40:41designed a chain of assembly
00:40:43to produce his mass-produced car,
00:40:45the Ford T.
00:40:50It reduced costs
00:40:52by offering an affordable car
00:40:54for the average American.
00:40:59During the next 15 years,
00:41:0115 million cars
00:41:03from that production plant
00:41:05were produced,
00:41:07giving rise to a radical change
00:41:09in human behavior.
00:41:11The car is the technology
00:41:13that unites us
00:41:15and makes us a modern civilization
00:41:17because it has been our dream
00:41:19for centuries,
00:41:21to travel from one point to another
00:41:23in an individual way.
00:41:25The mass production of the car
00:41:27led us to a new network,
00:41:29the highways.
00:41:33The first highway in the United States
00:41:34traveled 1,000 kilometers
00:41:36from the Potomac River
00:41:38to Ohio.
00:41:42100 years later,
00:41:44North America already had
00:41:46the largest network of highways
00:41:48in the world.
00:41:507 million kilometers.
00:41:55Around the world,
00:41:57more than 56 million kilometers
00:41:59of highways
00:42:01connect cities, countries
00:42:02and even continents.
00:42:07Today, we can drive
00:42:0917,000 kilometers in a row
00:42:11from John O'Groats in Scotland
00:42:13to Cape Town in South Africa.
00:42:19If we stretch all the highways,
00:42:21we could circle the equator
00:42:23more than 1,000 times.
00:42:29This allows us to drive
00:42:30more than 1,000 million vehicles
00:42:32around the world.
00:42:36One for every seven people.
00:42:42The car represents freedom,
00:42:44the ability to remake our lives,
00:42:46to find a job.
00:42:48Our lives still depend on it.
00:42:52Now, the metropolitan regions
00:42:54extend for several kilometers
00:42:56and we can live on an unsuspected scale
00:42:57for generations.
00:43:01And that's the final stage
00:43:03of the transportation
00:43:05that takes us beyond the city
00:43:07on a global scale.
00:43:09Interestingly,
00:43:11the invention that gave rise
00:43:13to the most extensive network
00:43:15of humanity
00:43:17is five years before Ford's car.
00:43:23Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA.
00:43:27December 17, 1903.
00:43:32On this desolate beach,
00:43:34the Wright brothers
00:43:36test a machine known as the Flyer.
00:43:40Aero-transported,
00:43:42it can travel 40 meters
00:43:44in just 12 seconds.
00:43:48This insignificant event
00:43:50gives rise to a revolution.
00:43:53The era of propelled flight
00:43:58that opens the way
00:44:00to another global network
00:44:02generally underestimated.
00:44:05From that first flight,
00:44:07which didn't reach 60 meters,
00:44:09the world shrank.
00:44:11Now we have global networks
00:44:13that allow us to travel
00:44:15from one place to another
00:44:17in just one day.
00:44:19Using GPS and radar data,
00:44:21we can track the planes
00:44:23that fly over the world
00:44:25on a daily basis.
00:44:28Every year,
00:44:30almost 40 million flights
00:44:32transport 3 billion people
00:44:34to remote destinations.
00:44:37To support this movement,
00:44:39there is a network
00:44:41of more than 40,000 airports.
00:44:46The International Airport
00:44:48is the largest airport
00:44:50in the world.
00:44:52It is the largest airport
00:44:54in the world.
00:44:55Hansfield-Jackson International Airport
00:44:57in Atlanta
00:44:59is the busiest in the world.
00:45:0195 million passengers
00:45:03take off from it
00:45:05every year
00:45:07to 225 different destinations.
00:45:14Today, aviation
00:45:16is a fascinating challenge
00:45:18for human mobility.
00:45:21The invention of the plane
00:45:23and international flights
00:45:25have not only shrunk the world,
00:45:27but have also connected
00:45:29all of humanity,
00:45:31the whole planet,
00:45:33as a single interconnected city.
00:45:42Now we can travel
00:45:4490% of the planet
00:45:46in less than 48 hours.
00:45:53This is proof
00:45:55that we are more connected
00:45:57than ever in history.
00:46:02Our perception of the world has changed.
00:46:05Now we see ourselves
00:46:07as members of a single society,
00:46:09of a single race.
00:46:11Travelling in the modern world
00:46:13unites us in an unimaginable way
00:46:15centuries ago.
00:46:18But our ingenuity
00:46:20has led us to an even newer network.
00:46:26A network that allows us
00:46:28to talk face-to-face
00:46:30with people on the other side of the world
00:46:32without leaving home.
00:46:42Today, thousands of millions of people
00:46:44carry computers in miniature.
00:46:4850 years ago,
00:46:50computers with the same processing power
00:46:52occupied an entire room.
00:46:56Now, technological advances
00:46:58have reduced them
00:47:00to the palm of a hand.
00:47:02Connected in a network,
00:47:04smartphones have completely changed
00:47:06the functioning of society,
00:47:08with incredible consequences.
00:47:12With just a touch of a key
00:47:14we can share our lives
00:47:16with anyone on the planet.
00:47:20Every day,
00:47:22182 billion emails are sent.
00:47:25And 500 million tweets.
00:47:28Instagram processes
00:47:3070 million photos.
00:47:33And more than 3 billion
00:47:35Facebook posts
00:47:37receive a like.
00:47:40We can spread a thought
00:47:42or an idea in an instant.
00:47:44If it becomes viral,
00:47:46a post can reach
00:47:48thousands of millions of people.
00:47:53But just 500 years ago,
00:47:5599% of our ancestors
00:47:57didn't even have access
00:47:59to a single book.
00:48:08Maguncia, Germany, 1450.
00:48:14For centuries,
00:48:16books and writings
00:48:18were printed with this.
00:48:20Wooden letters.
00:48:22Each letter was carefully carved
00:48:23and each page
00:48:25was individually printed.
00:48:29Until the sculptor
00:48:31Johannes Gutenberg
00:48:33had a simple idea.
00:48:36To make lead-printed letters.
00:48:43Metal letters
00:48:45can be moulded
00:48:47instead of carved,
00:48:49greatly increasing
00:48:51the printing speed.
00:48:53Before 1450,
00:48:55it took two weeks
00:48:57to print a book
00:48:59and up to a month.
00:49:01But with Gutenberg's quick
00:49:03and flexible invention,
00:49:05a book could be printed
00:49:07per hour.
00:49:09Gutenberg's printing
00:49:11was 100 times cheaper.
00:49:13And that meant
00:49:15a drastic change
00:49:17in human behaviour.
00:49:19The availability of books
00:49:21and cheap pamphlets
00:49:23meant that
00:49:25reading and writing
00:49:27were no longer
00:49:29a luxury.
00:49:32During the next 500 years,
00:49:34printing became
00:49:36a mass communication method.
00:49:39Thousands of millions
00:49:41of books and newspapers
00:49:43were printed.
00:49:48Books and newspapers
00:49:50were the fastest
00:49:51means of communication
00:49:53for 200 years.
00:49:55But they travelled
00:49:57at the speed
00:49:59they could be transported.
00:50:01In the case of the United States,
00:50:03it took a week
00:50:05to travel from the East Coast
00:50:07to the West.
00:50:11Until, in the early 1800s,
00:50:13a new invention
00:50:15accelerated communication
00:50:17exponentially.
00:50:21THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
00:50:30With the invention
00:50:32of electricity,
00:50:34messages no longer
00:50:36travel at the speed
00:50:38of a horse,
00:50:40but via cables
00:50:42almost at the speed
00:50:44of light.
00:50:46What the telegraph did
00:50:48was reduce the time
00:50:49from one city
00:50:51to another
00:50:53to just a few seconds.
00:50:57But the telegraph
00:50:59surpassed its great test
00:51:01when it managed
00:51:03not only to connect countries,
00:51:05but continents.
00:51:08July 29, 1858.
00:51:13In the Middle Atlantic,
00:51:15two ships are approaching.
00:51:16Both have a cable
00:51:18made of seven copper wires.
00:51:25With great care,
00:51:27the cables are clamped,
00:51:31creating the first
00:51:33transatlantic telegraph cable.
00:51:39For the first time,
00:51:41Europe and America
00:51:43joined together
00:51:44through an electric cable
00:51:46and we were able to use
00:51:48the electricity
00:51:50to send messages.
00:51:53On August 16, 1858,
00:51:55Queen Victoria
00:51:57sends a telegraphic message
00:51:59to President Buchanan.
00:52:02In total,
00:52:04the message of 99 words
00:52:06of His Majesty
00:52:08took 17 hours and 40 minutes.
00:52:10Something ridiculous
00:52:12nowadays.
00:52:15When you think about
00:52:17what that really means,
00:52:19people could communicate
00:52:21with the other side
00:52:23of the vast ocean
00:52:25much faster than sending
00:52:27a letter by ship.
00:52:29It brought two continents together.
00:52:31It was a great achievement,
00:52:33something spectacular.
00:52:35Nowadays,
00:52:37800,000 kilometers of
00:52:39submarine fiber optic cable
00:52:41connect each continent of the Earth.
00:52:44This network of communications
00:52:46has doubled in size
00:52:48only in the last five years.
00:52:52Cable 3,
00:52:54Southeast Asia,
00:52:56Middle East, Western Europe,
00:52:58is an engineering project
00:53:00with an extension
00:53:02of 40,000 kilometers
00:53:04that connects 33 countries,
00:53:06from Belgium to Japan.
00:53:09Through it,
00:53:11we send the equivalent
00:53:12of 200,000 million words per second.
00:53:16If you and I
00:53:18were to pronounce
00:53:20all those words,
00:53:22we would have to start
00:53:24speaking in the time of Jesus Christ
00:53:26and continue day and night
00:53:28without sleeping,
00:53:30without stopping,
00:53:32without eating,
00:53:34and we would still be speaking.
00:53:36But this incredible network
00:53:38is not limited to the ocean floor.
00:53:43Only in the United States
00:53:45there are 56,000 kilometers
00:53:47of data cables.
00:53:51The set of these cables
00:53:53has created the perfect network
00:53:55of communications
00:53:57that defines how we interact
00:53:59and communicate.
00:54:03Internet.
00:54:09With all these data networks
00:54:10and the Internet,
00:54:12for the first time in human history,
00:54:14we can communicate
00:54:16with anyone,
00:54:18anywhere on the planet
00:54:20whenever we want.
00:54:25The hip-hop dancers
00:54:27in Shanghai
00:54:29learn and exchange ideas
00:54:31with the dancers
00:54:33in Harlem and Soweto.
00:54:35Now you can be in the Rocosas
00:54:37or in the plains of Tibet
00:54:38and have access
00:54:40to 100 times more information
00:54:42than the best-informed person
00:54:44of 20 years ago.
00:54:49Internet is the summit
00:54:51of our interconnected society.
00:54:54It shapes almost all aspects
00:54:56of our lives.
00:55:00We can do all this
00:55:02instantly
00:55:04from anywhere in the world.
00:55:06Internet reflects
00:55:08how interconnected we are.
00:55:20We have come a long way
00:55:22in the last 12,000 years.
00:55:25Directed by revolutionary inventions,
00:55:27we have built
00:55:29a global network
00:55:31of impressive complexity.
00:55:33Layer by layer,
00:55:35this network supplies us
00:55:37food, energy, goods,
00:55:39transport and communication,
00:55:41revealing a truly global society
00:55:43of overwhelming complexity.
00:55:52But this wealth of data
00:55:54means much more.
00:55:57We can use it
00:55:59to study our future,
00:56:00revealing the overwhelming challenge
00:56:02of feeding and providing energy
00:56:04to an entire population
00:56:06in rapid expansion,
00:56:08inspiring our ingenuity
00:56:10and the daring inventions
00:56:12that will ensure
00:56:14our future on Earth.
00:56:23Every year we generate more data
00:56:25than in all the history
00:56:27that precedes us.
00:56:31Stored in millions of devices,
00:56:33we accumulate
00:56:352.5 trillion bytes
00:56:37around the world.
00:56:44If you were to store them
00:56:46in CDs,
00:56:48we would accumulate
00:56:507 or 8 CDs
00:56:52from here to the moon.
00:56:55We are in the age of data.
00:57:00This data has become very valuable.
00:57:04It allows us to create
00:57:06a detailed image of our world.
00:57:08It reflects the interconnection
00:57:10of our society
00:57:12in which we totally depend
00:57:14on each other.
00:57:16And what is even more important,
00:57:18it reveals our vulnerability.
00:57:23This extraordinary intensity
00:57:25and wealth of data
00:57:27allows us, for the first time,
00:57:28to get a good idea of the future.
00:57:30We can find out
00:57:32how our actions present
00:57:34can evolve.
00:57:43This is the world population clock.
00:57:52With each click
00:57:54a new individual is registered
00:57:56on the planet.
00:57:59The figure reaches
00:58:01200,000 daily.
00:58:07At present,
00:58:09we are 7.3 billion people.
00:58:13How did we get to that figure?
00:58:16And how much more will we grow?
00:58:22Demographic growth
00:58:24at first was slow.
00:58:28It took 11,500 years
00:58:30to reach 1,000 million.
00:58:35But only 130 years more
00:58:37to double that figure.
00:58:43In the last 50 years
00:58:45the population has doubled again.
00:58:52Our success
00:58:54puts us in an irreversible direction.
00:58:59In just 15 years
00:59:01our population will increase
00:59:03to 8,000 million.
00:59:07It is predicted that 20 years later
00:59:09we will reach 9,000 million.
00:59:16An increase of 2,000 million people,
00:59:18not in thousands of years,
00:59:20but in less than a generation.
00:59:25Now we are about 7,000 million people.
00:59:27But this massive increase
00:59:29of at least 2,000 million
00:59:31in the next 35 years
00:59:33has no precedent.
00:59:35The world population
00:59:37has never grown to that scale.
00:59:40Innovation has led us
00:59:42to unprecedented demographic growth.
00:59:45The big question is
00:59:47will we be victims
00:59:49of our own success?
00:59:56In the near future
00:59:58we will face great challenges
01:00:00when it comes to keeping
01:00:02the human population
01:00:04without destroying
01:00:06the natural environment we live in.
01:00:10These challenges revolve
01:00:12around food.
01:00:15Food is life.
01:00:17Without it we will die.
01:00:19I can't say it more clearly.
01:00:21Food is life.
01:00:23Water.
01:00:26Just about everything we do
01:00:28requires water.
01:00:30So to grow the crops
01:00:32that feed us
01:00:34and to keep the industry going
01:00:36we need water.
01:00:39And a source of energy.
01:00:41How are we going
01:00:43to turn on the lights
01:00:45or start our vehicles
01:00:47if not?
01:00:53The countdown begins.
01:00:55Every day that passes
01:00:57our population needs
01:00:59more food, water and energy.
01:01:04How can we meet the demand
01:01:06without destroying the earth?
01:01:09Or without contributing
01:01:11to climate change?
01:01:15As scientists
01:01:17we know that the climate
01:01:19changes naturally.
01:01:20But now the human contribution
01:01:22adds to the natural change
01:01:24and like a magnifying glass
01:01:26amplifies the change
01:01:28in our systems.
01:01:31Our methods
01:01:33will not last forever.
01:01:35So we will have to look
01:01:37for alternative solutions.
01:01:41If we add two billion
01:01:43more people
01:01:45in the next 35 years
01:01:47the magnitude of the problem
01:01:48will be even more obvious.
01:01:52We must find a solution
01:01:54that ensures
01:01:56the future of our life
01:01:58on the planet.
01:02:03And all the information
01:02:05that we have collected
01:02:07can be useful.
01:02:10We can use the data
01:02:12to understand the future
01:02:14and the patterns that shape
01:02:16our evolution.
01:02:18Will we find the solutions?
01:02:22Will the same human ingenuity
01:02:24that has brought us here
01:02:26be able to ensure
01:02:28the future of the next generations?
01:02:31There is no time to lose.
01:02:43Human ingenuity
01:02:45has led us to demographic growth
01:02:46like never before.
01:02:50The sum of another
01:02:52two billion people
01:02:54around 2050
01:02:56will endanger our lives.
01:02:58One of the biggest problems
01:03:00will be food.
01:03:02How to feed
01:03:049 billion people
01:03:06is a disturbing question.
01:03:08It is very difficult.
01:03:11Feeding humanity
01:03:13is an urgent task.
01:03:15We need a lot of land
01:03:17for crops and livestock.
01:03:19Millions of litres of water
01:03:21and energy
01:03:23to grow, produce
01:03:25and transport food.
01:03:28And this is affecting
01:03:30the environment.
01:03:33Everything emits
01:03:35carbon dioxide,
01:03:37especially our agriculture.
01:03:41The challenge is
01:03:42to find a way
01:03:44to produce enough food
01:03:46for everyone
01:03:48without damaging the land
01:03:50that gives us food.
01:03:53Imagine you had
01:03:55a beautiful garden
01:03:57full of food
01:03:59that you need
01:04:01to feed yourself
01:04:03for a year.
01:04:05Great.
01:04:07And now imagine
01:04:09that every year
01:04:10to feed an average American
01:04:12you need almost
01:04:14one hectare.
01:04:17But in 2050
01:04:19it is expected
01:04:21that that hectare
01:04:23will have to feed
01:04:25not one,
01:04:27but four.
01:04:29At this point
01:04:31we will have used
01:04:33almost all the arable land
01:04:35in the world.
01:04:37And if we cultivated
01:04:38we would have used
01:04:40the whole land
01:04:42instead of horizontally.
01:04:47Chicago,
01:04:49on the shores
01:04:51of the Great Lakes.
01:04:54The green sense crop
01:04:56does not look very green
01:04:58on the inside.
01:05:00But replacing the sun
01:05:02with these pink LEDs
01:05:04allows us to cultivate
01:05:06in a very different way.
01:05:09Here it is cultivated
01:05:11vertically,
01:05:13cutting the used land
01:05:15by 90%.
01:05:19And harvesting not one,
01:05:21but 26 times a year.
01:05:28Urban agriculture
01:05:30does not only save land,
01:05:32but also water.
01:05:34These crops
01:05:36use only 10%
01:05:38of the water
01:05:40the fields need.
01:05:42And that is critical
01:05:44because we also face
01:05:46a shortage of water
01:05:48in the future.
01:06:01From space
01:06:03we see that the earth
01:06:05is a world made of water.
01:06:07But most of it
01:06:09cannot be used.
01:06:1297%
01:06:14of the earth's water
01:06:16is salt water
01:06:18and only about 2.5%
01:06:20is fresh water.
01:06:22And the amount
01:06:24that can be used
01:06:26is even less.
01:06:28The majority
01:06:30of that fresh water
01:06:32is in the glaciers
01:06:34and underground
01:06:36but only 1%
01:06:38of the earth's water
01:06:40a very limited resource.
01:06:44Of that 1%
01:06:46of fresh water
01:06:48two thirds are used
01:06:50to make food.
01:06:53If you see what we use
01:06:55to prepare food every day
01:06:57you will understand why.
01:07:04To grow a couple of potatoes
01:07:06you need an average
01:07:08of 25 litres of water.
01:07:11The salad needs
01:07:13140 litres.
01:07:17And these two eggs
01:07:19a total of 270 litres.
01:07:23And this fillet
01:07:25more than 2,000 litres.
01:07:30And a glass of milk
01:07:33another 200 litres.
01:07:37In total
01:07:39you need 2,600 litres
01:07:41of water to prepare
01:07:43a meal.
01:07:47And millions of people
01:07:49eat every hour.
01:07:53So much of the food
01:07:55we eat grows in fields
01:07:57with irrigation agriculture.
01:07:59So the vegetables
01:08:01the meat
01:08:03and the glass of milk
01:08:04have needed huge amounts
01:08:06of water.
01:08:10That is why water
01:08:12is becoming
01:08:14one of our most precious materials.
01:08:17Looking at the world
01:08:19from its orbit
01:08:21we see the consequences
01:08:23of our thirst.
01:08:25I will never forget
01:08:27when I wanted to take
01:08:29a picture of the Aral Sea
01:08:31and took a few orbits
01:08:32and suddenly it has
01:08:34ceased to be a sea.
01:08:39More than 30,000 kilometres
01:08:41of canals and 45 dams
01:08:43have stolen the water
01:08:45from the Aral Sea.
01:08:49You could not see any water.
01:08:51There were remains of a shore
01:08:53perhaps,
01:08:55but you could not see
01:08:57more than a bluish
01:08:59and dusty grey.
01:09:00But not only is the water
01:09:02disappearing.
01:09:04The Yellow River
01:09:06in China
01:09:08is used for agriculture.
01:09:10Only 10% of its flow
01:09:12reaches the sea.
01:09:14The Indus River
01:09:16in Pakistan
01:09:18also drains only 10%
01:09:20of its water.
01:09:22And in America
01:09:24less than 10%
01:09:26of the Colorado waters
01:09:28reach Mexico.
01:09:31It is necessary
01:09:33to cultivate food
01:09:35that preserves the earth
01:09:37and the water.
01:09:39Crops such as
01:09:41greensense can help a lot.
01:09:43And there are other innovations
01:09:45that also offer promising solutions.
01:09:52Harpenden, north of London.
01:09:57At the experimental station
01:09:58of Rothamsted
01:10:00these wheat plants
01:10:02have no paragon.
01:10:04Scientists have designed
01:10:06them to give more wheat
01:10:08than ever.
01:10:12The primary way
01:10:14to increase the amount
01:10:16of food is to increase
01:10:18the harvest,
01:10:20that is, to increase
01:10:22the amount of food
01:10:24produced in the same land.
01:10:26We use technologies
01:10:28such as genetic engineering
01:10:30to make our crops
01:10:32as productive as possible.
01:10:41These plants
01:10:43are better cultivated.
01:10:45By altering their genetic configuration
01:10:47they will produce much more wheat.
01:10:51The harvest is increased
01:10:53without using more land
01:10:55fertilizers or pesticides.
01:11:01In England today
01:11:03almost 16 tons of wheat
01:11:05per hectare are harvested.
01:11:08These plants are designed
01:11:10to increase that amount
01:11:12to 40 tons.
01:11:15Biotechnology
01:11:17can also make the plants
01:11:19more resistant to plagues,
01:11:21droughts and floods.
01:11:23This opens up new possibilities
01:11:25about where to cultivate.
01:11:30We always try to advance
01:11:32and cultivate, for example,
01:11:34wheat resistant to drought
01:11:36so that it can be planted
01:11:38in sub-Saharan Africa
01:11:40and rice resistant to floods
01:11:42so that it can be cultivated in Asia.
01:11:46Soon we could see rice resistant
01:11:48to drought and floods
01:11:50in India and Pakistan.
01:11:53Corn resistant to drought
01:11:55in the west of Kansas
01:11:58and in plantations
01:12:00in dry areas of Uganda.
01:12:04And wheat cultivated
01:12:06in semi-arid areas
01:12:08of Africa,
01:12:10Australia
01:12:12and South America.
01:12:15New agricultural methods
01:12:17are the key to feed the world
01:12:19in the future
01:12:20and could be used
01:12:22to stop climate change.
01:12:27Coincidentally, agriculture
01:12:29produces a quarter of
01:12:31the greenhouse gases
01:12:33of human origin
01:12:35that go to the atmosphere.
01:12:45There is no miraculous formula
01:12:47to ensure our food
01:12:48in the future.
01:12:50We would have to change
01:12:52what we cultivate,
01:12:54how and where we cultivate it.
01:13:02But will we have enough energy
01:13:04to cook in the future?
01:13:16Almost everything we do
01:13:18today requires energy.
01:13:24Manufacturing,
01:13:26moving,
01:13:28eating,
01:13:30having fun.
01:13:33The population is approaching
01:13:359 billion,
01:13:37so we will need even more energy.
01:13:40But will we have enough?
01:13:45300 years ago,
01:13:46the industrial revolution
01:13:48caused mass migration.
01:13:50Since then,
01:13:52more and more people
01:13:54have settled in the cities.
01:13:56At the moment,
01:13:58there are 3.5 billion people
01:14:00living in the cities
01:14:02and it is expected
01:14:04that by 2050
01:14:06there will be 7 billion,
01:14:08twice as many.
01:14:10It is a human transition
01:14:12on a scale never seen before.
01:14:13We will build more cities
01:14:15in the next 40 years
01:14:17than we have ever built in history.
01:14:20It is believed
01:14:22that this massive urban growth
01:14:24will have a great impact
01:14:26on our lives.
01:14:35In 2050,
01:14:37to go from one city to another,
01:14:39there will be more people in transit.
01:14:40This will go up to 600%.
01:14:45Air passengers
01:14:47will go from 3 billion a day
01:14:49to 16 billion.
01:14:52This translates
01:14:54into 44 million people
01:14:56flying a day.
01:14:59And the number of cars
01:15:01on the roads
01:15:03will reach 2 billion.
01:15:07In China,
01:15:08there are 250 million vehicles
01:15:10and 20 million more a year
01:15:12when the middle class
01:15:14discovers the freedom
01:15:16of having a car.
01:15:18In Beijing,
01:15:20the roads are already full
01:15:22with 2 million cars.
01:15:27An increase of 1,500
01:15:29every day.
01:15:39Our energy needs
01:15:41will also double
01:15:43in 2050.
01:15:48We will need
01:15:50110% more oil.
01:15:53This means
01:15:55a cost of 265,000 liters
01:15:57per second.
01:16:01And around the world,
01:16:03more than 1,000 new coal plants
01:16:05will be built
01:16:06to meet the demand
01:16:08for electricity.
01:16:13Looking ahead into the future,
01:16:15the greatest energy demand
01:16:17will come from places
01:16:19like China and India.
01:16:22People in these parts
01:16:24will drive more cars,
01:16:27they're going to fly more,
01:16:29they're going to consume more
01:16:31electricity.
01:16:36Do we have enough resources
01:16:38to meet this
01:16:40enormous demand?
01:16:49With the current consumption rates,
01:16:51it is believed that oil
01:16:53will last about 50 years.
01:16:56Coal may last
01:16:58another century.
01:17:00For now, it seems
01:17:02that it will be enough.
01:17:06But using what is left
01:17:08of these resources
01:17:10will bring problems.
01:17:12There is a lot of coal
01:17:14left in the earth,
01:17:16but if we burn it all
01:17:18to generate the necessary energy,
01:17:20we will have a big problem
01:17:22with climate change.
01:17:24And that is not a solution.
01:17:27The use of fossil fuels
01:17:29could add another
01:17:31300 billion tons
01:17:33of carbon dioxide
01:17:34by 2050,
01:17:36greatly increasing
01:17:38the effects of climate change.
01:17:45We will suffer more storms
01:17:47and sea level rises
01:17:49more frequently.
01:18:01In Southeast Asia,
01:18:02for example,
01:18:04for the next 35 years,
01:18:06the population
01:18:08in coastal cities
01:18:10will be on fire,
01:18:13putting many more people
01:18:15in danger of great storms
01:18:17and sea level rises.
01:18:21All over the world,
01:18:23coastal floods threaten
01:18:25to invade 1 billion people
01:18:27by 2050.
01:18:33We have to find solutions
01:18:35to the delicate problem
01:18:37of energy.
01:18:39Human beings have
01:18:41an amazing ability
01:18:43to innovate.
01:18:45We are supremely good
01:18:47at making tools,
01:18:49we create things,
01:18:51and we are already
01:18:53creating technologies
01:18:55and machines
01:18:57that offer us
01:18:59an alternative
01:19:01to the natural disaster
01:19:03that we are facing.
01:19:31Not long ago,
01:19:33a few decades ago,
01:19:35solar energy
01:19:37looked more like
01:19:39a utopian dream,
01:19:41like a fantasy.
01:19:47But these plants
01:19:49make that fantasy come true.
01:19:52Ivampa
01:19:54produces enough electricity
01:19:56to maintain
01:19:57140,000 homes.
01:20:04It has been proven
01:20:06that these huge plants
01:20:08demonstrate that this technology
01:20:10is useful for something.
01:20:12It really works.
01:20:14You can produce
01:20:16large amounts of electricity
01:20:18from solar energy.
01:20:20Ivampa is just an example
01:20:22of the energy
01:20:24that the sun can produce.
01:20:25Our closest star
01:20:27offers us other sources of energy.
01:20:32Its heat moves the wind of the world.
01:20:40Wind power is probably
01:20:42the most prosperous renewable energy.
01:20:45It is active all over the world.
01:20:50There are many countries
01:20:52that feed on
01:20:53a large portion
01:20:55of their wind energy.
01:21:00Every year,
01:21:02the sun generates enough energy
01:21:04to meet 20,000 times
01:21:06our global needs.
01:21:09Will we have a more prosperous future
01:21:11by using the sun
01:21:13to feed our planet?
01:21:23With demographic growth,
01:21:25our thirst for energy will increase.
01:21:29But to stop climate change,
01:21:31we must stop relying
01:21:33on fossil fuels.
01:21:37The holy grail of the immediate future
01:21:39is to switch to solar energy.
01:21:48In the last five years,
01:21:50the solar energy we use
01:21:51has increased by almost 100%.
01:21:57China now produces
01:21:59almost 400 gigawatts
01:22:01of renewable energy
01:22:03at a time,
01:22:05more than twice the total energy consumption
01:22:07of Africa.
01:22:10In Canada,
01:22:12wind energy has increased
01:22:14by 2,000% in 10 years,
01:22:19feeding 1.5 million people
01:22:21in homes and businesses
01:22:26with a slight emission
01:22:28of greenhouse gases.
01:22:31Long before we had to start
01:22:33extracting coal and oil,
01:22:35we depended essentially
01:22:37on the power of the sun.
01:22:40Looking ahead,
01:22:42we will once again depend
01:22:44on the sun to generate
01:22:46most of our energy.
01:22:52There's a lot of coal and oil
01:22:54on the earth,
01:22:56but the sun will shine
01:22:58for billions of years.
01:23:00The wind will always blow,
01:23:02the water will always flow.
01:23:06Switching to solar energy
01:23:08is a way of getting rid
01:23:10of fossil fuels.
01:23:12If we do,
01:23:14we can ensure
01:23:16our energy needs
01:23:18in the future.
01:23:22Will we have
01:23:24a hopeful future?
01:23:33In the last 12,000 years,
01:23:35our society has undergone
01:23:37an incredible transformation
01:23:45from wasted nomads
01:23:47to the construction
01:23:49of the modern world,
01:23:57where innovation has led
01:23:59us to build
01:24:01an interconnected network
01:24:05that now reaches us all.
01:24:10This incredible connection
01:24:12is a great independence
01:24:13and also means
01:24:15that we have to take care
01:24:17of our systems
01:24:19because what we do
01:24:21as individuals
01:24:23affects the rest more.
01:24:25Now we have the ability
01:24:27to see how connected we are.
01:24:31Everything we do
01:24:33in our daily lives
01:24:35generates large amounts
01:24:37of information.
01:24:39If we collect it,
01:24:41we can see ourselves
01:24:43in the future.
01:24:46How we move,
01:24:48eat,
01:24:50trade.
01:24:52And to understand
01:24:54any aspect of the modern world,
01:24:56we just have to click.
01:25:00This is the planet
01:25:02that we have created.
01:25:11For the first time in history,
01:25:13all these data
01:25:15allow us to see ourselves
01:25:17in our fullness.
01:25:19But the success of the modern world
01:25:21hangs by a thread.
01:25:24Our ingenuity
01:25:26has a price.
01:25:28We have created a world
01:25:30that must support
01:25:327 billion people.
01:25:34And in a single generation,
01:25:36that number will increase
01:25:38by another 2 billion,
01:25:40rushing us
01:25:41to the future.
01:25:45As a species,
01:25:47we face great challenges
01:25:49in the coming years.
01:25:53But our civilization
01:25:55has already overcome
01:25:57other adversities.
01:25:59If we take a look
01:26:01at our history,
01:26:03we always end up
01:26:05moving forward
01:26:07and overcoming challenges.
01:26:09In the future,
01:26:11this is what has brought us here.
01:26:16For centuries,
01:26:18we have managed to overcome
01:26:20global challenges
01:26:22through technology
01:26:24and our intellect.
01:26:26We even surprise ourselves
01:26:28with how ingenious
01:26:30we can be.
01:26:34Being connected,
01:26:36we can join our forces
01:26:38and face the future together.
01:26:39Not as individual nations,
01:26:41but as a single global society.
01:26:50We have more knowledge than ever.
01:26:53A great ingenuity,
01:26:55the ability to share this knowledge,
01:26:57to spread it,
01:26:59and to create from it.
01:27:02We have a lot of data,
01:27:04a lot of information.
01:27:06It would be a tragedy
01:27:07if we didn't use it effectively.
01:27:09We have to learn to use it.
01:27:16To shape the future,
01:27:18we must learn
01:27:20from the richness of this data.
01:27:25If I want to live in the future,
01:27:27what future?
01:27:29Because I don't believe in the future.
01:27:31I don't believe there is only one.
01:27:33I want to make that future.
01:27:35I think we all do.
01:27:37I want to belong to a global society
01:27:39that brings us all together
01:27:41to take full advantage of our potential.
01:27:43I think the future is possible.