Our planet is really tough and that’s not about to change. In the long run, Earth can cope with anything we throw at it. We could clear all the jungles, but a jungle can regrow over a few thousand years; we could burn down all of Earth’s fossil fuels, flooding the atmosphere with Carbon Dioxide, but even then it would only take a million years for the atmosphere to recover; even the creatures we are wiping out will be replaced with others as evolution works its magic. It’s only a question of time. The Earth will be just fine.

But that’s not to say that the rapid changes we are forcing on Earth don’t matter. We humans operate on a different timescale. We have evolved to occupy the world as it is; now we are changing this world, and in doing so, altering the very environment that has allowed our species and civilisation to thrive. We’re certainly more advanced than the dinosaurs but that doesn’t mean that we are much better at coping with sudden change on a global scale. It’s often suggested that the planet needs saving, but it’s not Earth that’s in peril, it’s us.

Iain Stewart

Like most geeks, I’m a movie and television show buff and, perhaps unlike most of them, have a huge collection of both forms of media that has almost filled my 2.7TB Drobo to full capacity. Recently, however, I’ve found that documentaries about geology and science are starting to appeal more to me than the fictional stuff.

I just watched all five episodes of a brilliantly well-crafted documentary on evolution and the history of Earth by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Narrated with contagious enthusiasm by geologist Iain Stewart, Earth: The Power of the Planet is just a lot of fun to watch and, in a welcome change from most documentaries about the Earth, focuses more on informing you about the Earth’s history than hammering in the message of saving the environment. That is certainly the theme behind the series but it remains in the background for the most part, making the whole thing a more enjoyable experience.

The couple of paragraphs I’ve quoted above are the conclusive remarks of Iain Stewart as he signs off at the end of the fifth and last episode (which also happens to be the best one of the lot). It’s a fantastically written monologue and I just wanted to share it with you all. If you’re into these kinds of documentaries, I highly recommend that you watch this series if you get a chance to do so.

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  1. aayush posted this
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