WEBVTT

00:00:21.970 --> 00:00:24.420
Okay

00:01:05.380 --> 00:01:08.899
There is a place in the universe unlike

00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:15.694
any other a modest blue and white
planet circling a very ordinary star.

00:01:15.695 --> 00:01:19.039
It is the only place we
know of with oceans of

00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.519
liquid water and an
atmosphere rich in oxygen.

00:01:22.520 --> 00:01:26.929
It\'s the only place we know all of
which expresses the magical essence

00:01:26.930 --> 00:01:31.939
calls life of 30 million life forms.

00:01:31.940 --> 00:01:34.339
A species called Man has grown so

00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:38.134
powerful that it threatens the
creativity of the planet.

00:01:38.135 --> 00:01:42.019
That species is now searching
for new understanding of

00:01:42.020 --> 00:01:48.090
its relationship with its
one and only home place

00:02:19.690 --> 00:02:21.990
Yes

00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:38.089
Life began and let\'s see.

00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:39.859
That\'s the conventional wisdom.

00:02:39.860 --> 00:02:43.489
Anyway. This idea is based
on the first fossils little

00:02:43.490 --> 00:02:47.854
bacteria like things simple looking
but already complex inside.

00:02:47.855 --> 00:02:52.879
That appeared in warm tropical seas
like this three or 4 billion years ago.

00:02:52.880 --> 00:02:57.319
When these humble beginnings King the
mind boggling richness of organisms

00:02:57.320 --> 00:03:01.909
found on Earth today over 30
million different species.

00:03:01.910 --> 00:03:05.614
And huge numbers of them
are alive in lessee.

00:03:05.615 --> 00:03:11.509
But is it only these organisms
that are alive or is the sea

00:03:11.510 --> 00:03:14.070
Tell a lie.

00:03:29.590 --> 00:03:37.174
A coral reef like this one off that goes to
Belize suggests that the c is indeed alive.

00:03:37.175 --> 00:03:40.249
Here is one of the
liveliest places on Earth.

00:03:40.250 --> 00:03:44.029
There\'s a bewildering variety
of organisms here living

00:03:44.030 --> 00:03:48.874
together helping each other feeding
each other go operating competing.

00:03:48.875 --> 00:03:53.824
And they\'re all mothers by the ocean
salt water waves currents and tides

00:03:53.825 --> 00:03:57.450
A coral reef is the world in miniature.

00:03:58.060 --> 00:04:04.564
We can recognize dozens of different
organisms here and they are obviously alive.

00:04:04.565 --> 00:04:07.144
But they wouldn\'t be without the reef.

00:04:07.145 --> 00:04:10.309
It\'s more than just a massive
limestone constructed

00:04:10.310 --> 00:04:13.624
lab I layer of a centuries
by Carl organisms.

00:04:13.625 --> 00:04:16.729
It\'s an essential part of the corals.

00:04:16.730 --> 00:04:19.590
It\'s a vital part of them.

00:04:23.710 --> 00:04:28.174
Corals are simple animals
related to jellyfish.

00:04:28.175 --> 00:04:31.909
With the help of algae that live
within that tissues they lay

00:04:31.910 --> 00:04:35.793
down huge amounts of calcium
carbonate to build a skeleton

00:04:35.794 --> 00:04:37.609
and a growing colony.

00:04:37.610 --> 00:04:43.230
The skeleton is obviously part of a living
thing like the bones in our bodies.

00:04:45.280 --> 00:04:49.159
But what happens when a parrot
fish comes along and eats

00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:53.419
the soft spots separating the
corals from their skeletons.

00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:56.074
Together they were alive.

00:04:56.075 --> 00:04:59.689
Separated. We call them dead.

00:04:59.690 --> 00:05:04.459
Coral organisms separated from their
calcium carbonate skeleton odd

00:05:04.460 --> 00:05:08.899
dead just as pieces of the reef
separated from the corals are dead.

00:05:08.900 --> 00:05:12.660
The pots are alive together

00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:24.754
Shell\'s bones hair would

00:05:24.755 --> 00:05:30.840
all seem alive when they\'re teamed up with
protoplasm but dead when they\'re not.

00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.629
When it comes right down to it we
really don\'t know what life is.

00:05:38.630 --> 00:05:43.009
It\'s impossible to separate living
parts of nature from non-living parts.

00:05:43.010 --> 00:05:46.260
They\'re like the two
sides of the same coin.

00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:55.534
An animal in a suitable
environment is obviously alive.

00:05:55.535 --> 00:06:00.779
But if it gets separated from its
home place it soon loses its vitality

00:06:00.780 --> 00:06:04.239
Just as with parts of a coral organisms are

00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:09.200
alive only as long as they\'re
parts of larger living systems.

00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:14.930
These larger living units
of our ecosystems.

00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:36.909
And ecosystem is a three-dimensional
pieces that includes

00:06:36.910 --> 00:06:41.630
rocks and water and sediments and organisms

00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:10.999
A rocky headland on Canada\'s Vancouver
Island is an ecosystem with

00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:17.160
distinct characteristics very different
from a nearby sand beach ecosystem.

00:07:19.450 --> 00:07:23.629
The rocks are crowded with
organisms taking advantage of

00:07:23.630 --> 00:07:28.789
the abundant oxygen and nutrients carry
to them by every splashing wave.

00:07:28.790 --> 00:07:32.839
This ecosystem is obviously full of life.

00:07:32.840 --> 00:07:39.079
Any change in the waves the water the rocks
or air causes a change in the community of

00:07:39.080 --> 00:07:45.754
organisms and a change in the community of
organisms affects the entire intertidal zone.

00:07:45.755 --> 00:07:52.939
All parts of the ecosystem are connected by
exchanges and materials and flows of energy.

00:07:52.940 --> 00:08:00.940
They are interdependent tied together by vital
bonds chemical physical and biological.

00:08:01.565 --> 00:08:05.854
Without these connections
organisms cannot exist.

00:08:05.855 --> 00:08:10.800
So life is much more than a
property of organisms alone

00:08:37.630 --> 00:08:43.624
He allergy remind us of the
importance of the outer world of what

00:08:43.625 --> 00:08:49.504
surrounds sustains and holds
the evolution of organisms.

00:08:49.505 --> 00:08:55.534
And so we come to a broader vision of
life as a creative principle in hurry.

00:08:55.535 --> 00:08:58.380
Hurry ecosystems.

00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:05.074
Organisms are just one way that are
creative that he has demonstrated.

00:09:05.075 --> 00:09:10.174
And organisms are assuming dead
when deprived of their surroundings

00:09:10.175 --> 00:09:15.319
They only show their vitality
within the living ecosystems that

00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:20.640
ecosystems are alive because
there\'s a life-giving being.

00:09:27.010 --> 00:09:32.869
For most of human history people have
thought of the earth as a living being.

00:09:32.870 --> 00:09:36.109
Before we knew how the planet
look people imagined it

00:09:36.110 --> 00:09:39.930
to be the body of a
goddess who created life.

00:09:42.670 --> 00:09:49.950
Mother Earth by the Nature. Mother of God

00:09:51.880 --> 00:09:56.554
The idea of a living earth was
lost just a few 100 years ago.

00:09:56.555 --> 00:10:00.229
It is now re-emerged as
part of scientific thought.

00:10:00.230 --> 00:10:06.120
It is called Gaia theory named
after the Greek goddess.

00:10:06.510 --> 00:10:11.764
Earth is a living system but
it is not a giant organism.

00:10:11.765 --> 00:10:14.149
Earth is much more complex.

00:10:14.150 --> 00:10:17.670
It is a higher order of organization.

00:10:18.160 --> 00:10:24.169
But since organisms or the living units we
know best it\'s helpful to make comparisons.

00:10:24.170 --> 00:10:28.234
An organism\'s body is made
of tissues and organs.

00:10:28.235 --> 00:10:34.350
Earth\'s body the ecosphere is
made of land and water ecosystems

00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:39.349
Organs are alive as long
as they are a part of

00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:44.430
a larger living system in this
case the body of a rotifers.

00:10:50.680 --> 00:10:55.939
An organism like this flounder
is alive as long as it is

00:10:55.940 --> 00:11:01.200
a part of a larger living
thing as sea coast ecosystem.

00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:09.064
Ecosystems to are alive because
like organs in our body

00:11:09.065 --> 00:11:15.030
they are connected do surrounding
ecosystems as parts of the living ecosphere

00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:18.799
Just as our bodies are made up of

00:11:18.800 --> 00:11:22.909
interconnected organs which are alive
without being self-sufficient.

00:11:22.910 --> 00:11:26.329
It is useful to think of earth\'s
body as being made up of

00:11:26.330 --> 00:11:32.010
interconnected ecosystems which
are alive but not independent.

00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:39.450
And aspirin Girl is a
well-defined little ecosystem.

00:11:39.550 --> 00:11:42.889
Within the Grove the aspen trees create

00:11:42.890 --> 00:11:47.760
climate and soil conditions different
from the surrounding grassland.

00:11:49.750 --> 00:11:53.449
The community of organisms
within the Grove is also

00:11:53.450 --> 00:11:58.770
distinct although active ones
like the ten rabbits come and go

00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:06.889
Everything within the aspen grove is connected
ecologically as part of a living system.

00:12:06.890 --> 00:12:09.169
And the aspen grove is connected to

00:12:09.170 --> 00:12:13.680
the larger Aspen Parkland
ecosystem of which it is apart

00:12:25.270 --> 00:12:30.960
The connections among organisms
and ecosystems state many forums.

00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:42.289
Scientists steady exchanges of energy
and matter are perpetual cycling of

00:12:42.290 --> 00:12:48.720
atoms and molecules as one narrow way
of understanding how life works.

00:12:49.660 --> 00:12:53.239
Were told in school about
cycles that exchange

00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:57.094
nutrients between organisms
and their environments.

00:12:57.095 --> 00:13:01.309
But things also cycle on a
much larger scale and over

00:13:01.310 --> 00:13:06.299
billion-year time periods the
entire planet is involved

00:13:06.760 --> 00:13:10.819
Calcium carbonate that we
know as limestone jargon

00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:17.340
coral reefs provides a good example of matter
that circulates through the ecosphere.

00:13:18.280 --> 00:13:24.289
Dissolves calcium is abundant in seawater
where it may be taken into the bodies of

00:13:24.290 --> 00:13:31.264
organisms like muscles or corals turtles or
fish to build protective shells or skeletons.

00:13:31.265 --> 00:13:36.409
But seawater contains more calcium
than organisms can tolerate.

00:13:36.410 --> 00:13:41.479
To get rid of the excess bacteria and algae
have developed the ability to combine

00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:47.254
dissolved calcium with carbon dioxide
to form solid calcium carbonate.

00:13:47.255 --> 00:13:50.389
For hundreds of millions
of years there has been

00:13:50.390 --> 00:13:54.964
a continuous rain of chalky carbonate
crystals to the ocean flaw.

00:13:54.965 --> 00:13:58.204
In time it becomes dolomite and limestone.

00:13:58.205 --> 00:14:02.130
The most abundant sedimentary
rocks in the world.

00:14:12.160 --> 00:14:18.919
Many parts of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta
and British Columbia are solid limestone.

00:14:18.920 --> 00:14:21.529
Every molecule of calcium carbonate and

00:14:21.530 --> 00:14:25.489
these rocks was formed by the
cells of marine organisms.

00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:30.870
We can see the lands as they accumulated
on the ocean floor eons ago.

00:14:31.150 --> 00:14:35.779
Marine organisms created
this rock movement of

00:14:35.780 --> 00:14:41.940
the Earth\'s crust thrusted upwards tilting and
bending the labs as mountains were formed.

00:14:42.250 --> 00:14:49.234
Limestone is broken down by whether
bacteria lichens and other organisms.

00:14:49.235 --> 00:14:53.329
The water that runs from the
Rocky Mountains craggy face

00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:57.739
carries redissolve calcium beginning
its journey back to the sea.

00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:02.059
Perhaps delaying for a few years
to become the bones of a beaver.

00:15:02.060 --> 00:15:04.890
Atlas for now

00:15:11.760 --> 00:15:13.850
The

00:15:23.980 --> 00:15:25.399
story

00:15:25.400 --> 00:15:27.109
of calcium carbonate

00:15:27.110 --> 00:15:32.329
reveals just one of hundreds of similar
cycles in which atoms of matter move

00:15:32.330 --> 00:15:37.999
freely among the rocks
water air and organisms.

00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.299
Every atom of gas in the
air whether you have

00:15:41.300 --> 00:15:45.919
oxygen carbon dioxide methane
nitrogen has been part of

00:15:45.920 --> 00:15:50.119
all liquids and solids that compose
the bodies of organisms and not

00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:54.804
just once but again and again it\'s this end

00:15:54.805 --> 00:15:59.389
the cycling of matter and flow of
energy that unites every part of

00:15:59.390 --> 00:16:04.939
the ecosphere within any living
system via the sale or the earth.

00:16:04.940 --> 00:16:10.069
The cycles and the exchanges are regulated
domain name conditions that are best

00:16:10.070 --> 00:16:15.960
suited to allow the system to continue
functioning and to continue evolving.

00:16:22.810 --> 00:16:28.639
In a healthy animals body things like
temperature salt content and the amount of

00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:31.233
different gases in the
blood are almost constant

00:16:31.234 --> 00:16:35.280
regardless of what we do
what we eat or where we are

00:16:37.660 --> 00:16:41.520
It\'s the same in the ecosphere.

00:16:43.180 --> 00:16:47.689
The salt content of seawater
has been almost constant from

00:16:47.690 --> 00:16:49.759
millions of years even though tons of

00:16:49.760 --> 00:16:53.269
minerals are added every
minute by the world\'s rivers.

00:16:53.270 --> 00:16:59.370
Salt content of the sea is regulated
in part by microorganisms.

00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:05.089
Earth\'s surface temperature has changed

00:17:05.090 --> 00:17:10.200
little over 3 billion years even
though the sun is getting hotter.

00:17:10.300 --> 00:17:14.659
The composition of air is
kept constant by exchange of

00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:18.829
molecules among organisms
water rock and dare

00:17:18.830 --> 00:17:22.459
Both a human body and the ecosphere have

00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:25.789
the ability to regulate
their internal conditions.

00:17:25.790 --> 00:17:30.000
This ability is a critical
property of life.

00:17:32.770 --> 00:17:38.434
If Earth is a living system that
regulates what goes on within itself.

00:17:38.435 --> 00:17:42.709
We have to rethink some of
our notions about evolution.

00:17:42.710 --> 00:17:45.589
We have been taught that organisms adapt to

00:17:45.590 --> 00:17:49.260
their surroundings and
that the fittest survive.

00:17:49.930 --> 00:17:55.759
But ecology tells us that there\'s more
to evolution than just organisms.

00:17:55.760 --> 00:17:59.790
And ecosystems also evolve.

00:18:00.280 --> 00:18:06.139
And the Athabasca sand dunes of northern
Saskatchewan that June ecosystem has

00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:12.630
evolved in less than 10 thousand years since
the retreat of the last continental glacier.

00:18:13.060 --> 00:18:19.159
10 thousand years is a very short Diamond
terms of earth history and yet in

00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:25.099
the Athabasca dunes there\'s a group of marvelous
plants found nowhere else in the world.

00:18:25.100 --> 00:18:29.629
They all have characteristics which allow
them to thrive in the harsh environment of

00:18:29.630 --> 00:18:35.700
shifting sands temperature extremes
and greatly reflected sunshine.

00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:51.274
The dune ecosystem has created
new species and varieties.

00:18:51.275 --> 00:18:54.949
And plants have had a role
in shaping the dunes.

00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:59.899
Where plants grow the sand is more stable
less inclined to blow in the wind.

00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:04.710
The plants helped to create
their physical surroundings.

00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:12.739
If the dunes make the plants and
the plants make the dunes then

00:19:12.740 --> 00:19:19.110
logically it is the ecosystem of which they
are all part that is doing the evolving.

00:19:20.470 --> 00:19:24.619
Organisms do not live
or evolve in isolation

00:19:24.620 --> 00:19:28.290
Anymore than organs in our bodies do.

00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:52.684
We can think of species as organs
in the body of their ecosystem.

00:19:52.685 --> 00:20:00.004
If some organs are removed the body heals
itself if others are removed the body dies.

00:20:00.005 --> 00:20:05.464
In some ecosystems and individual
species may be so important

00:20:05.465 --> 00:20:10.680
It is a critical indispensible
part are vital organ.

00:20:15.280 --> 00:20:21.229
Without living aspen trees the aspen grove
ecosystem would change drastically.

00:20:21.230 --> 00:20:24.424
Most of the other species would disappear.

00:20:24.425 --> 00:20:29.520
The Aspen is considered
to be a keystone species.

00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:38.659
We know very little about the
importance of individual species.

00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:42.004
Everyone lost his a potential wound.

00:20:42.005 --> 00:20:47.520
But which ones may be like vital
organs that the others depend on

00:20:52.060 --> 00:20:57.754
On a larger scale every damage
ecosystem weakens the ecosphere

00:20:57.755 --> 00:21:04.650
simplifying it working against the healthy
complexity evolved over millions of years.

00:21:07.990 --> 00:21:12.739
Which of Earth\'s ecosystems might
be vital organs without which

00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:17.640
the ecosphere will not support
complex organisms like us.

00:21:19.030 --> 00:21:22.819
We have no positive proof but it seems that

00:21:22.820 --> 00:21:25.159
the immense boreal forests which encircle

00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:29.550
the northern hemisphere are very
important to global climate.

00:21:35.350 --> 00:21:43.350
It\'s also likely that tropical and subtropical
rainforests are keystone ecosystems.

00:21:44.530 --> 00:21:50.419
They have existed as part of Earth\'s
ecosphere for a very long time.

00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:57.000
The lush growth of green vegetation is a
major source of oxygen for the atmosphere.

00:21:58.120 --> 00:22:04.819
The transpiration of water vapor from
rainforest trees forums reflective white clouds

00:22:04.820 --> 00:22:08.730
which helped to keep earth\'s
surface from overheating

00:22:16.060 --> 00:22:19.549
To what bodily organs can we compare

00:22:19.550 --> 00:22:24.169
rain forests perhaps they are

00:22:24.170 --> 00:22:30.484
lungs in reverse because they breathe in
carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.

00:22:30.485 --> 00:22:36.259
Perhaps they are hard because
they pump water from Earth to.

00:22:36.260 --> 00:22:39.514
Perhaps they are reproductive organs

00:22:39.515 --> 00:22:43.679
because they have given birth
to so many different species

00:22:49.330 --> 00:22:53.869
We don\'t know what the effects of
removing the rainforest maybe.

00:22:53.870 --> 00:22:56.479
If it turns out to be a fatal error we will

00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:59.119
not have the opportunity
to correct our actions by

00:22:59.120 --> 00:23:05.160
replacing the keystone. One experiment.

00:23:07.180 --> 00:23:12.199
We don\'t know what life is
but it is certainly not

00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:17.044
just animated organisms scurrying
about the surface of a dead planet.

00:23:17.045 --> 00:23:25.045
That magic essence life is everywhere in air
and rock and water as well as in organism.

00:23:25.340 --> 00:23:28.954
Life is not something which
appears when we\'re born

00:23:28.955 --> 00:23:32.250
Disappears when were laid to rest.

00:23:32.350 --> 00:23:38.434
Life is a partnership of all of
Earth\'s parts including ourselves.

00:23:38.435 --> 00:23:45.799
As one single species among 30 million we
are immersed in the ecosystems of a living.

00:23:45.800 --> 00:23:51.303
The life we enjoy as part of a
larger vitality which cycles forever

00:23:51.304 --> 00:23:53.550
through the ecosphere.

00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:11.159
Even though

00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:14.109
Everywhere in the world around us length is

00:24:14.110 --> 00:24:17.649
something that science can\'t
measure or even defined.

00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:22.269
But even if we can\'t fully understand
it we\'re still able to appreciate

00:24:22.270 --> 00:24:26.904
life as Earth\'s fatality expressed
in so many creative ways.

00:24:26.905 --> 00:24:29.769
The diversity of organisms in the sea is

00:24:29.770 --> 00:24:33.399
a marble but so are the
improbable solitary waves.

00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.149
The thought breathing air that
moves with the palm trees and

00:24:37.150 --> 00:24:42.080
the fertile sediments that build Island
and among the root of the man and girl.

00:24:44.010 --> 00:24:49.089
Everything we are and
everything we have is borrowed

00:24:49.090 --> 00:24:53.689
from this home place from the
living planet. From its marvelous

00:24:53.690 --> 00:24:59.689
E and glam ecosystems we can\'t create
or even control ecosystems but

00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:06.199
we do have the power to damage and destroy
as earthlings bring nurtured by Earth.

00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:08.874
What is asked in return is simple.

00:25:08.875 --> 00:25:13.189
The less aggression towards the
natural world more humility and

00:25:13.190 --> 00:25:19.530
compassion smart compliance with
the natural processes that were