Avoiding Apocalypse

The Earth is heating up and this climate change will have cataclysmic consequences for humanity - namely the desertification of agricultural lands and submersion of some of the planet's most populated zones. This episode explores the best scientific solutions to rescue the climate and humanity, including carbon capture, artificial trees, production of Earth-cooling clouds, and many more.

More than ever, humanity is dependent on fossil fuels, with world consumption of petroleum, natural gas, and coal rising a little every year. Inevitably, reserves are going to give out, and humanity isn't ready. But scientists are already working to find substitutes.

Can our planet provide water to an unlimited number of human beings? Signs of resource depletion are already numerous. Potable water is becoming increasingly scarce. The biggest culprit? Agriculture, which has to feed the seven billion people that inhabit the planet.

The world's population has surpassed 7 billion today and will reach nine-billion individuals by 2050. But can the planet supply food for an unlimited number of people?

Life on earth depends on a frightening contest of circumstances. It is so accidental that scientists wonder how it could have come about. The living world has often had to start all over from scratch, and extinct species made way for Earth's new masters. Humankind, as civilized and technically advanced as it may be, is at the mercy of the same phenomena.

Human development is founded on scientific and technical progress: it is what drew humans out of their animal condition, and made them the uncontested masters of the planet. But is this race towards ever more science and technology entirely to the advantage of humans?