How Humans Have Changed the Earth's Geology

Brut America

Humans are a relatively new addition to the earth, but we have changed geology more than any natural force. This epoch is called anthropocene — and it might be the last one.

Transcript

00:00Humans now dominate every major system of the Earth

00:04and change the natural processes of the Earth

00:08more than all natural processes combined.

00:11That's a pretty big conclusion.

00:24The Anthropocene is the time in the geological record

00:28when humans have moved the planet outside its natural limits.

00:35Everyone who believes in science is incredulous

00:40that there are people who do not believe

00:42that climate change is anthropogenic, meaning human-caused,

00:46and that it is an absolute crisis-point pressing issue of our age.

00:52The Earth is 4.5 billion years old

00:55and humans have really only been up and running

00:59in terms of contemporary civilization for about 10,000 years.

01:03We kind of needed to show people,

01:05wow, here's a place, this place that we have transformed

01:10in the blink of an eye.

01:25We deliberately searched out the places that were shocking.

01:42So by the time we got there, frankly, we were still shocked.

01:46It's rare in our modern day and age that we get that big view,

01:49that panoramic planetary view, and think about deep time.

01:54But it was important to us to make this project global,

01:58to say we're not pointing a finger over there or over there.

02:01This is the whole planet all at once.

02:03Climate change has got to go, baby!

02:20We're reaching a saturation point of understanding

02:24that makes me extremely hopeful

02:26as this global conversation becomes more and more urgent.

02:31There are a lot of people who are talking about this

02:33as being their most important issue.

02:36That's the first time that's ever happened.

02:38My hope comes from the fact that there is a confluence

02:41of things coming together,

02:42different ways of people interrogating

02:47this massive problem that we have.

02:49And if we can do something in our film across the country,

02:53throughout the world, to help that consciousness raising,

03:00then I hope we've done our job.

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