1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,479 [suspenseful piano music plays] 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,119 [mechanical reverberations echo] 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 5 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:12,399 [suspenseful piano music plays] 6 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:17,919 [Chiwetel] The Earth from space. 7 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,639 [classical music builds] 8 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,279 The only known planet in the universe with surface water. 9 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,359 [suspenseful piano music plays] 10 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,999 Water is what made life and civilization possible. 11 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:36,239 But the ancient water patterns on Earth are shifting. 12 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,519 No one can be sure anymore where tomorrow's water is coming from. 13 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:45,439 [classical music builds] 14 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,959 Already, water scarcity affects four out of ten of the world's population. 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,839 Soon, it will be the future for many of us. 16 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,439 And in many places, the countdown has already begun. 17 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:06,039 [dramatic title music] 18 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,799 -[crowd cheering] -[clock counts down] 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,919 -[crowd cheering] -[clock counts down] 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,679 New Year's Eve, 2020-- 21 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,519 a very different kind of countdown. 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:26,399 [crowd chants countdown] 23 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,799 [crowd chants countdown] 24 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:35,719 -[loud bong emanates] -[fireworks noise explodes] 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,559 ["Auld Lang Syne" plays] 26 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:44,239 It was time to say goodbye to the teen years of the 21st century. 27 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,999 More people had had more fun than at any time in history. 28 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,799 -[music plays] -[fireworks noise explodes] 29 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:55,679 None of us knew it then 30 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,439 but 2020 was about to go very wrong. 31 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,799 The first coronavirus deaths were only days away. 32 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,319 Within weeks there would be no more crowds... 33 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:13,119 No more parties... 34 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,239 No more celebrations... 35 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:23,079 For years experts had predicted that a pandemic was on its way 36 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,759 but not enough people were listening. 37 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,519 [fireworks noise explodes] 38 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,559 And on New Year's Eve 2020, 39 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:35,119 the coronavirus was not the only disaster waiting to happen. 40 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:37,239 [fireworks noise explodes] 41 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:46,599 [Turton] The human population is outstripping the water supply. 42 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:50,959 This is suicidal. 43 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,919 [Famiglietti] The water crisis is something that's happening now 44 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,799 and it's happening around the world. 45 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,839 When we don't have water, people fight. 46 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:05,199 -[dramatic music] -[loud explosions] 47 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:06,999 All hell breaks loose. 48 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:13,079 [woman 1] Oh, no, no, no, no. The house is burning. 49 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:19,359 [Chiwetel] In Australia, 46 million acres of land is being incinerated by wildfire. 50 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:22,519 Thirty-four dead. 51 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,079 An estimated three billion wild animals killed... 52 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,879 Some species driven to the brink of extinction. 53 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:38,239 Similar record-breaking wildfires reported in California, Alaska and Siberia. 54 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:44,479 Worldwide, extreme weather events have doubled since 1980. 55 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,839 Officials in Cape Town, South Africa say 56 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,079 it's just 92 days away from having to shut off most water taps. 57 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,199 They are calling April 21st Day Zero. 58 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,799 [crowd screams and whistles] 59 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,279 [Chiwetel] Mexico City-- one of the largest cities in the world 60 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,159 struggles to come to terms with water shortage as a way of life. 61 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:07,439 In the worst hit neighborhoods, 62 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,159 the poor have taken control of the water supply into their own hands. 63 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:13,759 [woman 2, in Spanish] We hijacked more and more water trucks. 64 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,319 That was the only thing that got them to notice us. 65 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:18,999 Aggression. 66 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:22,639 [Chiwetel, in English] In the Mid-West, 67 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,079 the water which irrigates America's Breadbasket 68 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:27,639 is disappearing forever. 69 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,679 [Callcicrate] We are in a really, really big mess. 70 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,439 Industrial agriculture is really a mining operation. 71 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,079 Where they use up water. 72 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:42,959 They use it up until it's gone... 73 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:46,399 [Chiwetel] In Brazil, 74 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,119 hard-pressed units of armed police are the last line of defense 75 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,439 against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. 76 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,119 [man speaking in Brazilian Portuguese] 77 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,999 [Chiwetel, in English] A force of only a thousand in an area the size of India. 78 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:06,399 -[laughter] -[man speaking in Brazilian Portuguese] 79 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,479 [Chiwetel, in English] The prize on this raid, 80 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:09,799 an illegal tractor. 81 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,159 But small victories will do little to slow down the pace of destruction. 82 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,999 Nearly 20 percent of the forest has already vanished. 83 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,039 And there's a price to pay. 84 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:37,079 In recent years, research has shown that, in a rainforest, 85 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,199 if you take away the trees, you take away the rain... 86 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,279 And for regions far beyond Brazil, 87 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,599 the result could be catastrophic. 88 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:53,719 [Nobre] What would you do if you knew what I know? 89 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,599 It's absolutely essential 90 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:01,759 that humanity understands 91 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:04,839 what kind of risk we are running right now. 92 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,039 I mean, losing our habitat. 93 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:14,199 Losing the planet where we have evolved. 94 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,919 It means really losing the capacity of continuing to live on Earth. 95 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,759 [Chiwetel] The day that water runs out has been called Day Zero. 96 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,719 This film is about people who are fighting 97 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:33,959 to make sure it never happens. 98 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,319 Around three and a half billion years ago, 99 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:47,799 water was where life on Earth began... 100 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:55,039 and today all living creatures depend on it for existence. 101 00:06:55,120 --> 00:07:00,239 [peaceful music gradually increases] 102 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:07,479 The Florida Springs. 103 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,839 Thousands of lakes and dozens of rivers criss-cross the state of Florida 104 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:14,199 on their way to the sea. 105 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,799 For nearly 50 million years, it has been one of the wonders of the world. 106 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,879 And for centuries, it's provided the people of Florida 107 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:26,719 with most of their drinking water. 108 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,679 But now, there's something going wrong in the Florida Springs. 109 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:40,159 Jill Heinerth has been diving here for more than 20 years. 110 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,039 She's seen how things are changing... 111 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:47,879 Because below the surface of the Springs, 112 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,759 you can find the back door to the astonishing story 113 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,319 of what is happening to the world's fresh water. 114 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,719 [underwater noise emanates] 115 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:05,439 -[choral music builds] -[insects and birds chirp in background] 116 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:14,839 [ethereal choral music plays] 117 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,759 [Chiwetel] The Floridan aquifer, 118 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,839 a reservoir of fresh water stretching for 100,000 square miles 119 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,479 under the state of Florida, and beyond... 120 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,479 The largest concentration of fresh water springs on Earth. 121 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:33,999 [Jill] I'm still filled with wonder 122 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,719 every time I have an opportunity to go into an underwater cave. 123 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,239 They're just magical environments. 124 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,719 I liken it to swimming through the veins of Mother Earth. 125 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,759 I am swimming in the sustenance of the planet. 126 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:54,719 [Chiwetel] Of all the water on Earth, 127 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,799 just over two percent can be used for human consumption. 128 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:01,999 Most of that is inaccessible, 129 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,679 locked up in ice caps and glaciers. 130 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,959 A third of the fresh water we can get to, is found underground, 131 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,959 in these vast rock bound aquifers. 132 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,239 They contain a hundred times more 133 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,079 than all the surface water in lakes and rivers combined... 134 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,959 Until now, it's been enough to sustain life on Earth... 135 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,639 But modern life on Earth is something different. 136 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,839 [Jill] What I've learned over many years of being here 137 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,519 is that that clear water doesn't necessarily mean clean water. 138 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,759 I've seen the flow of the springs slow down 139 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:46,679 as if they're tired and getting sick. 140 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,719 I've seen the bottom vegetation disappear 141 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,679 and being replaced by filamentous algae... 142 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,639 Whether that's nitrate pollution from agriculture 143 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,439 or whether it is just using too much! 144 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:08,959 I've seen it change. I've seen things disappear. 145 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:12,039 [ethereal choral music plays] 146 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,359 [Chiwetel] Jill is like the canary in a coal mine... 147 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:18,919 Pollution. Depletion... 148 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:24,479 the clues she's found here are a warning that something is happening... 149 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:27,559 And not just in Florida. 150 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,159 [tense music plays] 151 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,239 Los Angeles, a good place to start an investigation into water. 152 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,439 [tense music plays] 153 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:41,479 There's never been enough to go round... 154 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:43,719 -[music plays] -[passing traffic sounds] 155 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,159 A hundred years ago, they built the world's largest aqueduct 156 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:48,919 to stop the city drying up... 157 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,919 And in the days of the prohibition-- 158 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,639 when the rest of the country was dying for alcohol, 159 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,639 in LA they were fighting each other over water. 160 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:03,839 Water crisis is in the city's DNA. 161 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:11,599 Los Angeles is the showcase of the American dream. 162 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,599 The shop-window of the modern way of life. 163 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,279 The world capital of the swimming pool, 164 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,719 250,000 in LA county alone. 165 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,639 [choral music builds tension] 166 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,319 But stuck between the desert and the ocean, 167 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:32,599 the people of LA... 168 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:35,479 might just be living dangerously. 169 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:40,079 [string music rises] 170 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,399 This is Jay Famiglietti. Water scientist. 171 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,999 Every time California starts running out of water, 172 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:55,959 he's the pundit they come running for. 173 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:00,319 [Bill] ...Senior Water Scientist from NASA's jet propulsion laboratory 174 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:02,519 Jay Famiglietti. Jay. 175 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,799 -[cheering and applause] -Hey, Professor. How are you, sir? 176 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,559 [string music rises] 177 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:17,479 [Bill] Finally, a witness that will tell us expert testimony about this. 178 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:19,959 They call you the Al Gore of water I hear. 179 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,759 Wow, well, that's-that's impressive. 180 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,559 -Well, you know it's a... -[laughter] 181 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,959 When stories like this break, they break in a very, very big way. 182 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,959 Why isn't there a panic or at least a sense of urgency? 183 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,399 Where is the governor going on TV? 184 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,559 What's the plan, man? Water, it's serious shit, bro. 185 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:43,519 [laughter] 186 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,999 It's not clear to me that the general public really appreciates 187 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,599 that the water crisis, the water scarcity is 188 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,039 something that's happening now and it's around the world. 189 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:53,439 It's happening all over the world. 190 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,479 [Chiwetel] Severe drought has been a regular feature 191 00:12:58,600 --> 00:12:59,999 in the Californian story. 192 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,519 [train horn blares] 193 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,519 The years between 2012 to 2014 194 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,439 were the driest for over a thousand years... 195 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,279 But it's not only Californians who are in trouble... 196 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,479 At NASA, Jay Familglietti pioneered a space mission 197 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:23,959 to try to discover what was happening to water supplies over the entire planet. 198 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:30,679 [woman 3] Three, two, one and lift off 199 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:35,679 of GRACE mission tracking the movement of water across our planet. 200 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,959 [Chiwetel] The project was called GRACE, 201 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,599 the Gravity and Climate Recovery Experiment. 202 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:45,399 It acts like a scale in the sky. 203 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,599 [digital bleep] 204 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:50,079 It's composed of two satellites 205 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,119 about the size of a squashed minibus. 206 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,279 They orbit at about 400 kilometers 207 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,679 and they are separated by about 200 kilometers 208 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,199 and they are chasing each other around as the earth spins around. 209 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:07,919 And when the satellites fly over that region, 210 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,119 the region exerts slightly less 211 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,079 of a gravitational tug on the satellites 212 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:13,799 and they float just a little bit higher. 213 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:15,519 [digital bleep] 214 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,519 It's really allowed us to map up 215 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,559 the regions around the world that are gaining or losing water. 216 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,439 [digital bleep] 217 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,679 [Chiwetel] GRACE was a huge scientific success 218 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,039 but the news from space wasn't good. 219 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,119 Two billion people around the world 220 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:38,679 depend on vast underground aquifers 221 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:40,919 for drinking water and growing food. 222 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,719 The GRACE satellite proved that most of these aquifers 223 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:49,199 are losing water much faster than anyone predicted. 224 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,119 [Familglietti] The drought situation 225 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,719 is much worse than I think is generally perceived, 226 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,319 this maybe why we're not getting the public response that we want. 227 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,639 We found that over half of the world's major aquifers, 228 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,479 over half, 20 of them 229 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,999 are past sustainability tipping points and by that, 230 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,199 I mean that the water is being removed. 231 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,599 It's being extracted from these aquifers 232 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,759 at a rate that's greater than it's being replenished. 233 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,599 [Chiwetel] GRACE was a wake up call... 234 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:29,639 The satellites had looked into the future, 235 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,039 and for vast swaths of the US and the world, 236 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:35,999 the future is dry. 237 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,399 [Familglietti] Population is growing, and climate is changing. 238 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:45,839 We don't have the water that we thought that we did. 239 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:48,879 So it's a different world out there. 240 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,519 [digital bleeps] 241 00:15:55,760 --> 00:16:01,079 -[digital bleeps] -[background piano music plays] 242 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,879 [Anders] We've been spending all these revolutions looking at the moon 243 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,279 then as we come around this non inviting place 244 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,199 we look up and there is the Earth. 245 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,239 It's 240,000 miles away, it was small enough-- 246 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,399 you could cover it with your thumbnail. 247 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:17,119 [Anders] Wow! That's crazy. 248 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:20,319 [Lovell] Aww, that's a beautiful shot. 249 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,439 [peaceful background music plays] 250 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,039 -[camera shutter clicks] -[peaceful background music plays] 251 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,439 [Chiwetel] The time, Christmas Eve, 1968. 252 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,559 The location: The Apollo spaceship on the far side of the Moon. 253 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,279 -[camera shutter clicks] -[background piano music plays] 254 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,719 When this photo was taken, there were only three and a half billion people on Earth. 255 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,399 Already, there are twice that many. 256 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,759 In the 1960's, New York and Tokyo 257 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,679 were the only two megacities with populations of more than ten million. 258 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,239 Now there are more than 30. 259 00:17:04,120 --> 00:17:06,759 Most of them much bigger than New York. 260 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,319 It was water that made these cities possible in the first place. 261 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:16,559 But what happens now if the water starts running out? 262 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,199 -[tense background music plays] -[rushing sound of the wind] 263 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,079 [children] ...One step, two step, tickle you under there. 264 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:41,959 [laughter] 265 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:46,199 Cape Town in South Africa is facing one monumental question. 266 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:47,519 How does it survive? 267 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,879 [woman 4] Four million residents of Cape Town are staring down 268 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,519 a painful reality. 269 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:54,959 In a little more than two months, 270 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,039 the South African city could run out of water. 271 00:17:58,640 --> 00:17:59,799 -[kid] Woah! -[laughs] 272 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:04,839 [Chiwetel] February 2018, in Cape Town, South Africa... 273 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,719 there's hardly been any rain for three years. 274 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,159 The reservoirs are almost empty. 275 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,639 [tense background music plays] 276 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:18,639 [man 1] Day Zero, a doomsday scenario when the taps run dry. 277 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,519 For Cape Townians, it is a real possibility 278 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,759 as long as their cities main water supply looks like this. 279 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,879 They are calling April 21st Day Zero. 280 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,639 [woman 5] I'm not saying it's bigger than 9/11 281 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,639 but I'm saying it poses as much of a challenge 282 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,759 as a catastrophe such as 9/11 did but in a completely different way. 283 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,959 [Chiwetel] Tourist brochures were still calling Cape Town 284 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,119 the honeymoon capital of the world. 285 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,799 But the plastic water cans were telling a different story. 286 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,039 [Turton] There is the perception that this is a short term drought 287 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:00,679 and day zero 288 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,799 is needed just to tide people over to the next rainy season, 289 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:06,639 which will be two or three months in the future. 290 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:22,119 The data that we have all tells us that this is not a short-term disturbance. 291 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:26,999 From the 1980s onwards, 292 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,039 there's been a perceptible shift 293 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:32,839 in the rainfall pattern in South Africa. 294 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,559 The weather service in South Africa 295 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,279 are unable to predict the future 296 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,999 under these conditions of climate change. 297 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,399 -[bird screeches] -[tense background music plays] 298 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,799 [Chiwetel] Cape Town is proud of its Mediterranean climate 299 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:50,999 but the climate is changing 300 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:53,919 and the future is unpredictable. 301 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,239 A population that was two million 20 years ago 302 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:00,839 is four and a half million today. 303 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,519 The demand for water never stops growing. 304 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,079 Water is not only the stuff you drink 305 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,639 or the stuff you shower in or the stuff you flush the toilet with. 306 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:16,959 Water is embedded in everything. 307 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,319 Water is part of our everyday modern living. 308 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,439 Water creates the jobs 309 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,119 that give people the salaries that they live on. 310 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,399 Water creates the food. 311 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,839 Every element of our modern economy requires fresh water. 312 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:42,919 -[uplifting piano music] -[water splashing] 313 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,799 [Chiwetel] The Theewaterskloof Dam, 314 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:46,919 Cape Town's biggest reservoir. 315 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,039 This is what it used to look like. 316 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:58,119 A hundred billion gallon playground that has kept the city watered 317 00:20:58,200 --> 00:20:59,759 for the past forty years. 318 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:03,879 But that was before it stopped raining. 319 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,279 And when a city starts running out of water, 320 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:10,599 no one can be sure of a soft landing. 321 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:14,599 [insect chirping] 322 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,319 The same reservoir three years later. 323 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:25,199 By then Theewaterskloof had become an international icon of water crisis. 324 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,759 [woman 6] This is one of Cape Town's main sources of water. 325 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,639 A source that could run completely dry within a matter of weeks. 326 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,959 The last ten percent of the water is unusable 327 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,879 so to all intents and purposes, this reservoir is empty. 328 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:42,359 [Chiwetel] Old farm houses... 329 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:46,879 old roads from before the dam was flooded. 330 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,239 Rows of vines that have stood many years under water. 331 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,359 The man-made solution to Cape Town's water problem 332 00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,079 was no longer up to its job. 333 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,759 [insect chirping] 334 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:07,159 [Turton] A dam always has in the bottom a sediment pile 335 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,239 and when the dam dries out, that desiccates. 336 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,959 It becomes dry like blotting paper. 337 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,279 So, when the rain starts falling 338 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:19,679 and the first water comes in, the first thing it has to do 339 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,439 is rehydrate that pile of blotting paper. 340 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:25,919 So, you are talking of hundreds of millions, 341 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,999 if not billions of liters of water 342 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:32,879 that will get absorbed by that before the water becomes available as yield. 343 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,759 There is a need for a philosophical shift 344 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,039 away from we are masters and owners of nature 345 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,799 to we are now developing in partnership with nature. 346 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,919 We have to give nature a little bit of a space 347 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,119 in order to provide good and useful services for humankind. 348 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,119 [Chiwetel] But the water crisis, when it comes, 349 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,679 will not affect all of humankind in the same way. 350 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:09,559 This is Helen and Ray, 351 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,079 the kind of people who until now 352 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,239 have never really had to think about where their water came from. 353 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,919 In normal times, their consumption is about 80 gallons a day. 354 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,639 Now it's down to 13. 355 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:31,519 And that's a life changer. 356 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,399 We're not the same people that we were this time last year. 357 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:38,879 -[Helen] It's not full, huh? -[Ray] No, babe. 358 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:44,719 The idea that we could turn our taps on and there would be no water was real. 359 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,359 [man 2] The officers are acting on a tip off. 360 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,239 Local residents told them, employees at this body shop 361 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:53,519 are washing cars with city water 362 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,039 and that's a criminal offense. 363 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:58,519 I personally felt incredibly anxious. 364 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,119 [aggressive screaming and shouting] 365 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:07,559 [woman 7] There have already been scuffles here. 366 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:09,639 Security guards now monitor the site. 367 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,239 And there was this sudden madness that was going on. 368 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,439 [all, chanting] Water for all or the city must fall. 369 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:17,879 Water for all or the city... 370 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,199 [woman 8] The local government has brought in severe restrictions 371 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:23,719 forcing people to look for alternative supplies. 372 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,079 They ran out of water at the department stores. 373 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:36,999 They ran out of containers at the plastic supply stores. 374 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,959 [all, chanting] Water is life. Water is life. 375 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:41,239 Water is life. 376 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,159 [crowd member] There's no man with water. 377 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,359 No motor cars, no jobs, 378 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,519 no farm workers, no vegetables. 379 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:51,039 It becomes unimaginable. 380 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:54,719 [Helen] It has been quite humbling. 381 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:57,959 It's always crappy being the... 382 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:00,639 the camel. 383 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:02,039 [Helen] Pack horse. 384 00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:04,279 [Ray] If I pass out along the way, darling, just give me mouth to mouth. 385 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:05,879 [Helen laughs] Just keep going, little man. 386 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:07,159 Keep going, little man. 387 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:09,679 -Stopping. -You can do it, baby. 388 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,279 [Helen] Now they are just cutting into my hands. 389 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,119 [Chiwetel] The water crisis laid bare a secret 390 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,159 that Cape Town would like to forget. 391 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,199 Thirty years after the end of apartheid, 392 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,919 the city still has the reputation 393 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,919 of being one of the most unequal places on Earth. 394 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:39,479 The water you get still depends on who you are and where you live. 395 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,479 Helen and Ray live in Newlands, 396 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:44,959 one of Cape Town's most desirable neighborhoods. 397 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,839 The woman working on the balcony is their maid Paulina. 398 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,719 And where she comes from, every day is Day Zero. 399 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,399 [Paulina] When I started working for Helen I was 28 years old. 400 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:06,759 I'm now 54 years old. 401 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,999 I'm doing everything at her house. 402 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,119 Wash, clean, iron, everything. 403 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,279 I cook, I do everything. 404 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,879 But with all those things, I need to save water. 405 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,999 Because one day we are going to wake up and we don't have water. 406 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,319 And then what's gonna happen without water? 407 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,519 [Chiwetel] Every Friday, Helen gives Paulina water and Paulina takes it home. 408 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:46,279 These heavy bottles contain a hidden truth about water shortages, 409 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,959 not just in South Africa but around the world. 410 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,079 [indistinct chatter] 411 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,199 [in native language] Would you like some water to drink? 412 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,399 [in English] I always give some people, you know, I always give water. 413 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,999 [Chiwetel] The question is why Paulina needs to take the water home. 414 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,599 And the answer becomes clear once we know exactly where home is. 415 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:28,839 Paulina lives in Capricorn. 416 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,999 One of the informal settlements, shanty towns, on the edge of Cape Town. 417 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,199 Few people here have access to running water in their homes. 418 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:43,759 For many years, 419 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,159 there were only 21 public water taps in the whole settlement. 420 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:52,799 Bye, guys. 421 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,839 [indistinct chatter] 422 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,999 [feet scrapping on stones] 423 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,719 [Chiwetel] In prosperous Newlands, 424 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,159 Day Zero seems like an unprecedented disaster. 425 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,599 But here in Capricorn, it's just another day. 426 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:17,999 [Paulina] There is a problem with water in Capricorn. 427 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,559 We get water in the morning at six o'clock. 428 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,439 Around ten or eleven, there is no more water. 429 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,279 In my house I tell them all every day, 430 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,719 we need to save water, we can't just do whatever we do with water. 431 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,479 We need to save water. 432 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,839 We wake up at five o'clock in the morning to fetch water, 433 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:48,559 it only lasts for one hour. 434 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,519 Some of us working night shifts, when we come back, there's no water. 435 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:53,839 Can't bathe for the day. 436 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,639 We must wait until tomorrow. 437 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,239 And this water in the taps, 438 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,999 you can't drink it, it smells. 439 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,199 It's horrible. Sometimes it's green. 440 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:06,839 You don't even know what is happening. 441 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,359 But we must drink it, there's no choice. 442 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,079 Sometimes there's no water to cook. 443 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:13,079 [woman 9] Really? 444 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,879 To cook porridge here, there's no water. 445 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,079 Even to buy water it's expensive. 446 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,719 [Puialina] To buy water is very expensive. 447 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:21,759 Really, really-- 448 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,519 I buy it for my son, it's safer for him to drink that water. 449 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,839 This water that's coming out of the tap, I don't trust it. 450 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:29,839 [Paulina] You don't trust... 451 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,799 Capricorn just gets worse every single day. 452 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,239 We are suffering in this town. 453 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,079 [Chiwetel] In an ideal world, access to water is a human right. 454 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:47,639 But, in the real world, water is a yard-stick of inequality. 455 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:53,239 Over two billion people still live without safe drinking water in their homes. 456 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,919 The average American flushes more water down the toilet 457 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,199 than most Africans use everyday. 458 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:03,559 Worldwide, 459 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,559 poor water sanitation kills nearly a million people every year. 460 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,039 The threat to Cape Town came and went. 461 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,919 In May 2018, the three-year-old drought was over. 462 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,799 -[laughter] -[indistinct chatter] 463 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,599 [indistinct chatter] 464 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,039 [Chiwetel] They prayed for rain and the rain came. 465 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,999 The whole city celebrated. 466 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,399 [man 3] So having analyzed the new data, we are now in a position 467 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:49,959 to state that we have not only managed to avoid day zero this year 468 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:54,519 but we can also safely get through the summer of 2019. 469 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,479 [Chiwetel] Water flowed back into the rivers, 470 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,679 the dams filled up, Cape Town had been saved... 471 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:05,039 but for how long? 472 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,199 [Turton] To simply assume that 473 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,599 the next rain is going to suddenly wash all your problems away 474 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,919 is in my view, suicidal. 475 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,439 Unfortunately the day zero debate only focuses on 476 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,839 water for baths, water for toilets, water for drinking, water for showers. 477 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,839 Domestic water. That's not the significant water. 478 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,479 There's water for the economy. 479 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:29,199 There's water to sustain jobs. 480 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:30,759 There's water for tourism. 481 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,519 There's water for agriculture, water for the food that we eat. 482 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:34,439 That's big water. 483 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:40,119 So there is no economic future based on the business as usual approach. 484 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,519 [Chiwetel] Scientists do not expect the Earth 485 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,399 to run out of water any time soon. 486 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,199 The total amount of fresh water 487 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,679 hasn't changed since the age of the dinosaurs. 488 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:12,919 The pattern of human civilization, 489 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:17,119 the great cities, agriculture, power plants, 490 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,839 all the infrastructure of life on Earth, 491 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,319 has been determined by the availability of water. 492 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,319 But the patterns of water availability are shifting. 493 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,079 The evidence from space shows that while in some regions, 494 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,239 the water supply remains stable, 495 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,359 in others there are unsettling fluctuations. 496 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,399 The world's wetlands, in the tropics 497 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,279 and the extremely high latitudes are getting wetter. 498 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,159 [digital bleeps] 499 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,999 The dry areas in between are becoming drier. 500 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,519 Too much water, or too little, 501 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,719 either way, these fundamental shifts can be devastating. 502 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:07,159 [digital bleeps] 503 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:11,879 [gentle guitar music plays] 504 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,199 My name is Mike Callicrate. 505 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,599 We're in St. Francis, Kansas. 506 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:27,679 We raise cattle and hogs and we have some chickens for eggs. 507 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,079 And we basically produce food. 508 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,679 [gentle guitar music plays] 509 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,439 [Chiwetel] Mike Callicrate is a country boy through and through. 510 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:41,799 Born third of eight children 511 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,239 to a family that had been farming on the plains 512 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:45,879 since the early 1900s. 513 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,639 His dad and his granddad had been farmers 514 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,599 and Mike was never going to be the one to change anything. 515 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:58,439 -[guitar music plays] -[cheering and hollering] 516 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,319 [Mike] I started riding bulls when I was in high school. 517 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:04,559 I'd go to high school rodeos and then it was an easy 518 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,239 transition to want to go to college and rodeo in college. 519 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,799 I not only was a bull rider and could make money rodeoing 520 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:16,119 but I made the bull ropes that the bull riders use to hang onto. 521 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,159 I ended up being one of the top three bull rope makers in the country. 522 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,319 [Chiwetel] This is Callicrate country, the High Plains, 523 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:31,479 home to 20 percent of the entire agricultural output of the United States. 524 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,839 Today, Mike raises 1,500 head of cattle on his family farm. 525 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,239 But small family farms are dying out on the high plains. 526 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,119 And Mike Callicrate has every reason to be worried. 527 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:53,839 His family have seen the high plains die once before. 528 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:00,959 For a time, the waves of migrants who settled in the high plains 529 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,439 in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had enjoyed success. 530 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:12,799 Demand was high and the crops were rich and plentiful. 531 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,439 But deep ploughing and over exploitation had loosened the topsoil... 532 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,199 [wind blows] 533 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,119 ...and when drought came during the 1930s, 534 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:26,839 followed by high winds, 535 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:29,399 the fine soil of the prairies 536 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,679 blew as far as Chicago and Washington, D.C. 537 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,599 The High Plains became a dust bowl 538 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,479 covering 100 million acres of land. 539 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,399 Many believed the Day of Judgment had arrived 540 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:49,239 and the world was coming to an end. 541 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:56,999 And in a sense, the worst environmental disaster in American history 542 00:35:58,600 --> 00:35:59,639 was a judgment. 543 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:06,479 [haunting wind bellows] 544 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,519 The farmers of the Dust Bowl knew there was water underground. 545 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,999 They used to say they could feel it moving beneath their feet... 546 00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:24,559 But they couldn't reach it. 547 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,239 It was only in the '40s that geologists worked out 548 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,959 that they were sitting on enough water to submerge the entire state of Colorado, 549 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:36,999 to a depth of 45 feet. 550 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,479 They called it the Ogallala aquifer, 551 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,639 one of the biggest underground reservoirs of freshwater in the world. 552 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:56,519 The water contained between layers of clay, silt, sand and gravel 553 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,839 has been there since the last Ice Age. 554 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,879 And there was enough of it to fill Lake Huron. 555 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,279 Under the High Plains, the Ogallala reaches out 556 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,679 for 175,000 square miles 557 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:18,159 from the Texas Panhandle to South Dakota. 558 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,559 The wooden windmill pumps used by the early settlers 559 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,079 made little impression 560 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,719 on the massive reserves of water which lay underneath their farms. 561 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:35,519 But after World War II, they adopted better drilling technology 562 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,439 and high-tech irrigation systems. 563 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:44,519 Soon a new, industrial-scale agriculture, 564 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:48,399 was turning the lands of the Dust Bowl into Americas bread-basket. 565 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,719 But it all depended on the Ogallala, 566 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,479 and water was now being extracted from the aquifer 567 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:57,399 faster than it could be replaced. 568 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,919 By the 1950's, some of the survivors of the Dust Bowl 569 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,199 were turning into millionaire landowners. 570 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:12,759 It was Boom Time for America. 571 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:15,239 The birth of rock and roll. 572 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:18,919 Nineteen-cent Hamburgers in the drive-in diner. 573 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,679 Modern life moving so fast 574 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:25,399 that even a reservoir the size of Lake Huron 575 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:27,439 couldn't keep up with the demand. 576 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,039 Almost a third of the Ogallala's water has already gone, 577 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:36,879 most of what's left will disappear in the space of a lifetime. 578 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:43,759 The farmers of the High Plains are looking down the barrel of a new Dust Bowl. 579 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,279 [Mike, on radio] We are in Yuma County 580 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:58,159 and Yuma County is probably the most irrigated county in Colorado. 581 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:03,239 The heart of the industrial agriculture of Colorado. 582 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,959 On the left is probably the biggest feed-lot in the country. 583 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:15,999 There is about 130,000 in capacity there in that facility, 584 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,079 and next to it on the west side is probably another 20,000 cattle. 585 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:26,479 So right in that area there could be as many as 150,000 head of cattle on feed. 586 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,639 This is not a farm, this is a factory. 587 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:40,199 So the big feedlot is going to be located where the water is 588 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,239 and that is over the Ogallala aquifer. 589 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:45,039 You can see all of the irrigation around. 590 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,199 These feedlots, these are center pivots. 591 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:52,999 The water used in a feedlot is not what the cattle are drinking, 592 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,319 it's what the crops are consuming 593 00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:59,519 in the production of the corn, the alfalfa hay. 594 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:06,599 I can tell you that the industrial model will fail because it is not sustainable. 595 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,519 It is like killing the goose that lays the golden egg. 596 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,839 [Chiwetel] The statistics stagger the imagination. 597 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:25,159 More excrement comes from the biggest feedlot 598 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:26,959 than a city the size of Denver. 599 00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:33,839 The world's 1.5 billion cattle drink five times more water 600 00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,519 than the entire human race. 601 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,479 [man 4] Our barbecue is prepared with just the right amount of heat 602 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,959 to keep in the natural juices and hold in that wonderful flavour. 603 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:48,039 [Chiwetel] Over 90% of water from the Ogallala is used for irrigation. 604 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:49,879 [woman 10] Ever hear of a criss-cross burger, 605 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:51,879 it's easy to make and wonderfully good to eat. 606 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:58,399 [Chiwetel] It takes 600 gallons for a simple hamburger. 607 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:00,319 [man 5] Put the barbecued meat on a tender bun 608 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,239 and you've got some eating that's world beating. 609 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,399 Try our famous barbecue at the refreshment stand now. 610 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,879 [Chiwetel] Nearly a thousand gallons for a regular steak. 611 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:13,639 [man 6] Is there anything more important for a family meal than meat? 612 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,119 Better buy it from the store you can trust. 613 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:20,159 [Chiwetel] The water to produce a full-grown cow 614 00:41:20,240 --> 00:41:25,159 is enough for a 10-minute shower everyday for over 130 years. 615 00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:30,239 The Ogallala will run out of water in the space of a lifetime. 616 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:33,319 This is where it is going. 617 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,799 It's not the water we drink which is the problem, 618 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:41,519 it's the water we eat. 619 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,479 And the world's appetite is growing fast. 620 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:02,279 There's been a 500% increase in meat production since 1961 621 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:09,599 and with the world population expected to grow to nine billion by 2050, 622 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:16,159 further massive increases in production will be needed to meet demand. 623 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:22,039 But by then, almost all the Ogallala will be dry. 624 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:28,879 [Familglietti] What's become very clear 625 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:33,519 is that the world's major aquifers are being depleted. 626 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:35,639 Some of them at a very rapid clip. 627 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,439 We've got the aquifers in the Arabian peninsula 628 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:40,519 and across the Middle East. 629 00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:45,559 Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, Bangladesh, North China plain. 630 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:48,039 Over here in North Western Australia. Really all over the world. 631 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,359 So this is a cause for huge concern 632 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:54,799 because those aquifers provide the water for irrigation to grow 633 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,279 most of the food that we grow in the world. 634 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,799 The high plains aquifer in particular 635 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,639 we grow a tremendous amount of grain and beef. 636 00:43:03,720 --> 00:43:09,199 And this is a region that is projected to run out of groundwater in about 30 years. 637 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:15,479 When I think about the collapse of water availability 638 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:17,439 in our big food producing regions. 639 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,919 So much of that middle part of the United States 640 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:23,879 is dominated by agriculture 641 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:26,159 and provides food security for this country 642 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:30,119 so what will those people do for jobs? And what will we do for food security? 643 00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:34,359 The implications for that I think are staggering. 644 00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:39,079 [digital bleeps from satellites] 645 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,919 [Chiwetel] Today, the face of the cattle business on the High Plains 646 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:52,199 is the face of industrial agriculture. 647 00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:56,079 They take the lion's share of the market. 648 00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:58,799 They take the lion's share of the Ogallala's 649 00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:00,879 rapidly diminishing supply of water. 650 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,839 The small farmers are being pushed aside. 651 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:13,999 [Mike] I think that we are in a really, really big mess 652 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,079 as far as agriculture is concerned. 653 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,119 That we would exploit our resources 654 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,159 to the point where there isn't any more water. 655 00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:26,559 Where there isn't any more healthy soils. 656 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:31,959 What about my grandson? What's he going to do for water? 657 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:38,159 [Chiwetel] The threat to the Ogallala's fresh water haunts the high plains. 658 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,159 Ghost Towns are making a come back. 659 00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:45,079 Tens of thousands of small farmers 660 00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:48,279 have sold up and moved on in the past 20 years. 661 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,719 Unable to keep pace with the demands of the market. 662 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,439 [Mike] What we would like to do up here is really show 663 00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:58,639 a regenerative model of production. 664 00:44:58,720 --> 00:45:02,639 What can heal the land? What can use less water? 665 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,159 [Chiwetel] From where Mike's coming from, it's no surprise 666 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:10,879 that he's become the champion of the traditional family farm. 667 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,599 The dilemma is the farms that use less water 668 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:20,199 cannot satisfy the world's craving for beef 669 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,239 and the farms that produce most of the world's beef, 670 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:28,279 are killing off the supply of fresh water for everyone. 671 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:33,959 [Mike] Without the water of the Ogallala Aquifer, 672 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:35,999 the big corporations wouldn't be here at all. 673 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:40,959 And the thing that's so tragic I think is that the water is free. 674 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:43,239 It doesn't cost them anything. 675 00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:45,799 It's absolutely free. 676 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:50,999 It should be in the property of people everywhere that live in the region. 677 00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:54,479 That water should be the people's water. 678 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:56,479 It's like the air we breathe. 679 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,199 I mean how long can you live without water? 680 00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,799 [Chiwetel] But time on the High Plains is running out. 681 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:09,719 Every day that passes, there's less water in the Ogallala. 682 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:15,599 When it's dry, it will take 6,000 years of rainfall to fill it up again. 683 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,479 [Mike] The corporate model of industrial agriculture 684 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:27,279 is really a mining operation. 685 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:30,359 It's really an extraction model of agriculture. 686 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:35,399 Where they use up the natural capital that being water and soil. 687 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:37,799 Or when that water is depleted to a point 688 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,159 that it makes no more sense to pump it, 689 00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:44,719 the big corporations and the industrial agriculture corporations will be gone 690 00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:49,359 and like in a mine, when a mine is spent, 691 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:53,759 when a mine has no more gold, no more silver, 692 00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,919 no more coal, what does the mining company do? 693 00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:59,319 They shut the mine down and they leave. 694 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:05,319 [poignant piano music plays] 695 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:08,439 They leave behind... 696 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:10,999 broken communities. 697 00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:17,239 They leave behind empty feedlots 698 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,719 and they leave behind the destruction. 699 00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,759 Big industrial farmers are not going to stop 700 00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:29,039 until the Ogallala Aquifer is pumping air. 701 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:33,759 [wind howling] 702 00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:43,319 [digital bleeps pulse] 703 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:50,519 [digital bleeps fade] 704 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,839 [percussive music builds] 705 00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:02,519 [Chiwetel] Brazil. 706 00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:07,559 The front line between nature and modern civilization. 707 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:15,679 Many believe that this is where the future of the world's climate will be decided. 708 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:19,799 A frontier... 709 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:21,039 [gun clicks] 710 00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:24,999 ...where the idea of climate change ceases to be an abstraction. 711 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:32,119 Already, Brazil is the world's ninth biggest economy. 712 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,079 But economic development has come at a high price. 713 00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,599 The Amazon is the biggest rainforest in the world. 714 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:43,919 But in Brazil, 715 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,759 illegal logging has already reduced its size by almost a fifth. 716 00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:57,599 While the country's population doubled to over 200 million since 1970, 717 00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,719 the rainforest lost an area the size of Texas. 718 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:09,199 It's already possible to envisage an Amazon without a rainforest. 719 00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:13,039 [in Portuguese] Over here, the tractor, we found the tractor. 720 00:49:13,720 --> 00:49:15,559 We managed to track down the tractor 721 00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:17,239 inside the nature reserve. 722 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:20,159 [Chiwetel, in English] There's more fresh water in Brazil 723 00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:21,399 than anywhere on Earth. 724 00:49:22,160 --> 00:49:24,799 But its biggest cities are being hit by drought. 725 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:27,239 [crowd chants] 726 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:29,639 [Chiwetel] Water demonstrations in the streets, 727 00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:33,479 a sense that something in the climate is going wrong. 728 00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:37,359 And the growing awareness... 729 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:40,999 that the fate of the trees in the forest 730 00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:44,159 and the failure of the rains in the city 731 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:46,399 are somehow connected. 732 00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:56,959 [waves crashing] 733 00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:10,879 -[child screaming and yelling] -[waves crashing] 734 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:14,039 [Chiwetel] The man on the beach playing with his daughter 735 00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:15,839 is Antonio Nobre. 736 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:18,919 [child shouting in Portuguese] 737 00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:20,999 [Chiwetel, in English] He works for the Brazilian Institute 738 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:22,079 for Space Research. 739 00:50:25,240 --> 00:50:27,159 And if you ask him what he does, 740 00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:30,919 sooner or later he will tell you the same story he tells his daughter, 741 00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:33,319 he's trying to save the world. 742 00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,199 He'll tell you that saving the world is stressful. 743 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,959 That he's already had four major heart operations. 744 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:44,839 He'll tell you he delayed having a family 745 00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:48,439 because he was so involved with his work in the Amazon rainforest. 746 00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:53,519 [converses in Portuguese] 747 00:50:55,240 --> 00:50:57,759 [Chiwetel, in English] Tonight's story is about the minotaur. 748 00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:04,799 But the story he tells about the Amazon is far more frightening. 749 00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:11,159 [in Portuguese] You can rest assured that you are breathing the purest air on Earth, 750 00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:12,839 here in the Amazon, 751 00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:14,959 because the plants take care of this as well. 752 00:51:15,040 --> 00:51:19,679 The benefit of how plants work is through another ingenious cycle... 753 00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:23,559 [Chiwetel, in English] Professor Nobre is one of Brazil's leading scientists 754 00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:26,719 and has made it his mission to make the world understand 755 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:28,439 the coming catastrophe. 756 00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:31,239 [in Portuguese] As in the upper airways of the lung, 757 00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:35,279 the air in the Amazon is free of excess dust. 758 00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:40,799 [Chiwetel, in English] The Amazon. 759 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,199 Seventeen times the size of the British Isles. 760 00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:52,719 The largest treasure house of plants and animal species in the world... 761 00:51:53,640 --> 00:51:58,199 and for many, the closest place on Earth to the Garden of Eden. 762 00:51:59,240 --> 00:52:03,279 Thirteen hundred different kinds of birds live among its trees. 763 00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:08,719 Three thousand species of fish swim in its rivers. 764 00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:15,199 Compared to the forest's 55 million years of existence, 765 00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:17,319 human beings are mere newcomers. 766 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:23,439 But now the newcomers... 767 00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:27,519 are threatening to destroy the rainforest forever. 768 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:33,479 [Nobre] We are producing a desert 769 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:36,879 in the most rich forest ecosystem in the world. 770 00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:45,919 One species from ignorance is destroying the whole system. 771 00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:54,799 We are basically compromising the very web of life that sustains us. 772 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,759 Without which, we would not have a chance. 773 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:07,919 I have this incredible suffering from people not listening. 774 00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:17,879 The Indians are more careful, and they are more respectful 775 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:20,639 because they are a product of the forest. 776 00:53:24,600 --> 00:53:27,959 One of the traditional leaders of the Yamomami told me 777 00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:32,039 that if you chop down the forest, 778 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:34,559 the rain will stop 779 00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:38,959 and there will be nothing to drink or eat. 780 00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:44,839 And when I asked him, 781 00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:49,479 how they knew about this connection between the forest and the rain, he said, 782 00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:55,759 "Our ancestors have always known how the rain was made." 783 00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,759 They learnt it from the spirits of the forest. 784 00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:08,559 [Chiwetel] Without trees, there would be no water. 785 00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:11,599 The thought had occurred to Christopher Columbus 786 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:13,359 when he first came to America. 787 00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:19,799 The trees in the forest are not there because of the rain. 788 00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:23,879 The rain is there because of the trees. 789 00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:32,679 It is the idea that has been at the heart of Antonio Nobre's work in the rainforest. 790 00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:40,199 We have a phenomenon that's so mundane. 791 00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:41,999 Everybody say, "Oh, a tree". 792 00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:46,479 But they don't realise, we don't realise what is happening inside. 793 00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:50,679 We don't realise how complex, how incredibly evolved. 794 00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:53,959 It took 400 million years to get to this point. 795 00:54:55,440 --> 00:54:59,199 The tree is an incredibly complex machine 796 00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:03,759 that is able to pump water deep from the water in the soil, 797 00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:06,559 and pump it against gravity 798 00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:10,239 and keep going and going and going. All the way to the leaves. 799 00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:14,679 And release that in the atmosphere like if it were a geyser, 800 00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,639 and you don't see it because it's vapor, it's invisible. 801 00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:27,199 And as it does it, it is like an irrigation system in reverse. 802 00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:37,479 [Chiwetel] Water vapor alone will not turn into rain unless it is seeded. 803 00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:45,119 In the Amazon, the forest produces its own rain by throwing out into the sky 804 00:55:46,040 --> 00:55:48,799 clouds of volatile organic compounds, 805 00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:52,399 which transform the vapor into raindrops. 806 00:55:54,720 --> 00:55:57,159 And the more rain the forest needs, 807 00:55:57,240 --> 00:56:00,479 the more particles the trees release into the atmosphere. 808 00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:03,319 [Nobre] It's magical, in a sense. 809 00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:06,199 It's magical dust 810 00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:10,119 that sprinkles there into the atmosphere which makes the rain to come down, 811 00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:12,199 pixie dust. 812 00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:21,639 And this was the explanation for it, the solution to the mystery. 813 00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:24,919 Finally, "Elementary, my dear Watson". 814 00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:30,479 [orchestral music plays] 815 00:56:32,960 --> 00:56:35,559 [Chiwetel] It's been called the river in the sky. 816 00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:41,839 Everyday each of the forest's 400 billion trees 817 00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:45,599 sends 1,000 liters of water into the atmosphere. 818 00:56:47,080 --> 00:56:49,439 Twenty billion tons. 819 00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:59,839 More water above the tree tops than flows from the River Amazon itself. 820 00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:07,919 Now all of this is threatened by interests that want to turn the forest 821 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:10,959 into cattle ranches and soya beans. 822 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:26,719 [satellite digital bleeps] 823 00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:31,479 Satellites from NASA's Landsat programme monitoring the rainforest. 824 00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:35,719 For 25 years, photographs from space 825 00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:37,759 have documented the deforestation. 826 00:57:39,160 --> 00:57:43,759 Six thousand eight hundred acres of rainforest destroyed every day. 827 00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:46,519 Nearly 300 an hour. 828 00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:51,399 An area the size of almost three football pitches every minute. 829 00:57:52,200 --> 00:57:55,279 [helicopter whirling] 830 00:57:56,080 --> 00:58:00,119 It's is the job of IBAMA, Brazil's environmental police force, 831 00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:02,079 to protect the rainforest. 832 00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:06,559 But it's a dangerous business. 833 00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:12,319 In the Amazon, the fight against climate change 834 00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:15,239 goes head to head with the fight to make money. 835 00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:22,159 Brazil has become the most dangerous country in the world 836 00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:23,719 to be an environmentalist. 837 00:58:26,040 --> 00:58:29,239 [helicopter whirling] 838 00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:33,159 Midsummer 2018. 839 00:58:34,280 --> 00:58:38,879 IBAMA are on a mission near Concelvan, in North-Western Mato Grosso, 840 00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:42,679 at the heart of an area known as the Arc of Destruction. 841 00:58:45,240 --> 00:58:47,319 [in Portuguese] Look at the wood there. 842 00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:50,719 Sometimes more than one company uses the same sawmill 843 00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:53,279 so they can obscure their activity 844 00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:55,879 and avoid inspections. 845 00:58:56,360 --> 00:58:57,559 [speaks Portuguese] 846 00:58:59,040 --> 00:59:01,559 [Chiwetel, in English] They'd hoped for an element of surprise 847 00:59:01,640 --> 00:59:05,239 but here, as often happens, the loggers have been tipped off. 848 00:59:07,960 --> 00:59:10,559 [in Portuguese] Good morning. Everything OK? 849 00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:12,639 Who is in charge here? 850 00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:17,679 -Do you work here? -I do. 851 00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:22,159 [Chiwetel, in English] Militia protect the IBAMA investigators from ambush. 852 00:59:22,240 --> 00:59:23,759 [in Portuguese] Is the owner here? 853 00:59:24,360 --> 00:59:25,359 [continues speaking in Portuguese] 854 00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:26,559 [man 7] He isn't here today, no. 855 00:59:27,160 --> 00:59:28,199 [man 8] Who is the timber merchant here? 856 00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:30,879 Charles. 857 00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:32,039 Charles? 858 00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:38,199 [Chiwetel, in English] The timber yard has a license. 859 00:59:40,080 --> 00:59:43,559 But IBAMA suspects it's a front for illegal logging. 860 00:59:45,920 --> 00:59:50,399 [in Portuguese] The company is working here day and night? 861 00:59:50,480 --> 00:59:54,199 The office is over there, right? Is the paperwork in there? 862 00:59:54,280 --> 00:59:55,799 I don't know. 863 00:59:55,880 --> 00:59:57,399 The office is over there. 864 01:00:00,520 --> 01:00:02,519 [Chiwetel, in English] They are looking for contraband timber, 865 01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:04,959 extracted illegally from protected areas. 866 01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:10,439 [in Portuguese] Does the wood arrive in the morning or afternoon? 867 01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:14,079 [man 9] I don't know. 868 01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:17,719 I'm going to photograph the site a little. 869 01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:22,599 -Name? -Wellington dos Santos Oliviera. 870 01:00:23,360 --> 01:00:24,959 [Chiwetel, in English] The bosses are missing. 871 01:00:26,440 --> 01:00:30,359 Little can be done but to book the low-grade workers who are left behind. 872 01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:37,439 To those who want to save the rainforest, IBAMA have always been the good guys. 873 01:00:39,720 --> 01:00:41,879 But the odds have turned heavily against them. 874 01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:45,199 While this film was being made, 875 01:00:45,280 --> 01:00:48,879 a new president has come to power in Brazil with a different agenda. 876 01:00:51,080 --> 01:00:53,959 IBAMA's strength has been drastically reduced. 877 01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:59,319 Budget cuts, senior officers fired. Operations cut back. 878 01:01:01,560 --> 01:01:04,919 Even the loggers they catch are going unpunished, 879 01:01:05,040 --> 01:01:06,999 as the new government paves the way 880 01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:10,559 to open up the rainforest to agribusiness and mining. 881 01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:15,959 In the six hours it took to make the raid, 882 01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:18,319 elsewhere in the Amazon, 883 01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:23,399 another 1,300 acres of rainforest have disappeared forever. 884 01:01:25,600 --> 01:01:28,119 [birds squawking] 885 01:01:30,120 --> 01:01:34,479 [Nobre] Everything that's living obeys the same principles, 886 01:01:35,680 --> 01:01:40,319 the circulation in human body, the circulation in the rainforest. 887 01:01:41,720 --> 01:01:44,839 When we started looking into the water 888 01:01:45,960 --> 01:01:50,359 and how the water flows and how the water is 889 01:01:50,880 --> 01:01:54,559 manipulated by trees in so many ways, 890 01:01:55,440 --> 01:01:59,999 I start feeling like there should be a better parallel 891 01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:04,399 with human physiology or human workings, metabolism, 892 01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:07,439 and they found the analogy was a heart. 893 01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:10,359 'Cause it's actually pumping. 894 01:02:12,360 --> 01:02:16,319 Then you have the rivers coming off the Amazon, 895 01:02:16,600 --> 01:02:19,759 they are draining the tissues of nature. 896 01:02:20,040 --> 01:02:21,959 The tissues of the landscape. 897 01:02:22,800 --> 01:02:26,039 And you see that's precisely what the blood does in our body. 898 01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:32,919 When the blood go through your tissues, it collects all the waste, 899 01:02:33,000 --> 01:02:37,279 and then bring it back to the heart, which pumps it again. 900 01:02:37,520 --> 01:02:40,959 It's refreshed in the lungs and go all around your body. 901 01:02:41,040 --> 01:02:44,879 And this is precisely what happens in--in a large scale, 902 01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:47,959 in a continental scale, in the Amazon. 903 01:02:48,040 --> 01:02:53,519 But instead of blood you have water. So water is the blood of the landscape. 904 01:03:02,440 --> 01:03:04,999 [Chiwetel] All things in nature are connected... 905 01:03:07,200 --> 01:03:10,479 and water is the common thread of circulations 906 01:03:10,600 --> 01:03:12,399 that links all forms of life. 907 01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:17,079 What is happening in the Amazon affects all of us. 908 01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:23,319 In nature, what goes around, comes around. 909 01:03:25,080 --> 01:03:30,599 [Nobre] The notion that the forest functions like a heart is a new one. 910 01:03:31,120 --> 01:03:35,959 Once you take it out, the heart dies and then the whole system dies. 911 01:03:38,320 --> 01:03:41,599 We are crossing the point of no return right now. 912 01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:53,599 [Chiwetel] Since the new government came to power in Brazil, 913 01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:56,119 the pace of destruction has accelerated. 914 01:04:00,440 --> 01:04:04,239 An estimated loss of two and a half billion trees every year. 915 01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:10,919 In their place, cattle ranches. 916 01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:16,799 Eighty percent of the deforested Amazon 917 01:04:16,880 --> 01:04:20,159 has gone to supply the world's rocketing appetite for beef. 918 01:04:21,520 --> 01:04:23,279 In exchange for the rainforest, 919 01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:27,519 Brazil now boasts the second largest cattle herd in the world. 920 01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:31,679 Anyone can buy a Brazilian hamburger 921 01:04:31,760 --> 01:04:36,239 in New York, London, Moscow or Beijing. 922 01:04:38,840 --> 01:04:41,719 Meanwhile, as Professor Nobre predicted, 923 01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:43,759 Brazil's great cities 924 01:04:43,840 --> 01:04:47,199 are already beginning to pay the price for deforestation. 925 01:04:48,320 --> 01:04:51,599 Diminished rainfall in Rio and Sao Paulo... 926 01:04:52,240 --> 01:04:54,839 Severe drought in Belo Horizonte. 927 01:04:58,840 --> 01:05:02,839 [waves crashing] 928 01:05:04,680 --> 01:05:07,239 [Nobre] What would you do if you know what I know? 929 01:05:09,360 --> 01:05:13,079 [Chiwetel] The question that has haunted Antonio Nobre's working life 930 01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:15,039 has come to haunt us all. 931 01:05:18,040 --> 01:05:20,199 [Nobre] The Second World War was nothing. 932 01:05:21,080 --> 01:05:24,999 What is coming our way is one thousand times worse. 933 01:05:28,240 --> 01:05:32,039 [Chiwetel] The filming of this story began in a very different world 934 01:05:32,120 --> 01:05:33,679 than the one we live in today. 935 01:05:37,440 --> 01:05:39,359 Everything has changed. 936 01:05:44,120 --> 01:05:48,439 Coronavirus has taught us that some warnings do come true. 937 01:05:51,200 --> 01:05:56,399 [Nobre] It's absolutely essential that humanity, uh, understands 938 01:05:57,560 --> 01:06:00,159 what kind of risks we are running right now. 939 01:06:01,880 --> 01:06:04,839 I mean losing our habitat. 940 01:06:08,040 --> 01:06:11,759 Losing the planet where we have evolved. 941 01:06:14,880 --> 01:06:19,719 It means really losing the capacity of continuing to live on Earth. 942 01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:26,879 [woman 11] More than 15,000 scientists 943 01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:29,839 are sounding an alarm about climate change, 944 01:06:29,920 --> 01:06:32,359 they call it a warning to humanity. 945 01:06:32,440 --> 01:06:33,479 [overlapping news reporting] 946 01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:35,199 [man 10] Here along the Golf Coast, it's catastrophic. 947 01:06:35,280 --> 01:06:38,959 There's a frantic effort underway tonight to find survivors. 948 01:06:39,040 --> 01:06:41,279 [man 11] 2014 was the warmest year in the Earth's recorded history 949 01:06:41,360 --> 01:06:43,199 and it's only getting hotter. 950 01:06:43,280 --> 01:06:45,999 [man 12] As we see the climate warming, 951 01:06:46,080 --> 01:06:47,959 the one thing that we're most clear about 952 01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:51,399 is we'll have more cold events and more heat events. 953 01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:52,599 [reporting continues] 954 01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:55,719 [Chiwetel] The world is experiencing a perfect storm 955 01:06:55,800 --> 01:06:58,919 of climate change and rising population. 956 01:06:59,040 --> 01:07:02,119 [man 13] More than 1,200 people are believed to have died... 957 01:07:02,200 --> 01:07:04,119 [Chiwetel] Experts say it's through water 958 01:07:04,200 --> 01:07:07,239 that most of us will feel the effects of climate change first. 959 01:07:07,320 --> 01:07:09,719 [man 14] Nobody can say when the next flood will be 960 01:07:09,800 --> 01:07:12,839 but everybody knows that the waters will rise once more. 961 01:07:13,520 --> 01:07:17,279 [Chiwetel] But for many, the water crisis has already begun. 962 01:07:21,520 --> 01:07:23,799 Until now, Day Zero 963 01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:27,599 was something that could only happen to other people in far off places. 964 01:07:29,360 --> 01:07:33,479 The fight back begins when the message comes closer to home. 965 01:07:37,400 --> 01:07:40,759 Fighting back is what the farmers on the High Plains are doing 966 01:07:40,840 --> 01:07:43,799 to protect their water from over-exploitation. 967 01:07:45,040 --> 01:07:47,359 -[whistling and jeering] -[sombre music plays] 968 01:07:48,160 --> 01:07:51,839 Fighting back is what has been happening in city after city 969 01:07:51,920 --> 01:07:55,479 as water shortages drive protesters onto the streets. 970 01:07:59,080 --> 01:08:02,199 But Day Zero is more than a local problem. 971 01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:05,479 -[whistling and jeering] -[sombre music plays] 972 01:08:05,560 --> 01:08:07,439 It's a global problem... 973 01:08:07,520 --> 01:08:09,599 -[whistling and jeering] -[sombre music plays] 974 01:08:09,680 --> 01:08:11,079 ...and involves us all. 975 01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:16,319 To the world leaders, and those in power 976 01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:21,519 I would like to say that you haven't seen anything yet! 977 01:08:22,840 --> 01:08:27,399 [Chiwetel] Australia, Cape Town, California, Kansas. 978 01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:31,319 Behind all these local Day Zeroes, 979 01:08:31,400 --> 01:08:34,199 science has discovered a common denominator. 980 01:08:35,560 --> 01:08:36,839 And a common solution. 981 01:08:40,520 --> 01:08:45,519 [insect chirring] 982 01:08:45,600 --> 01:08:49,479 "What would you do if you knew what I know?" 983 01:08:51,360 --> 01:08:52,439 Well, now we know. 984 01:08:54,440 --> 01:08:58,559 And now it's up to all of us to do something, before it's too late. 985 01:09:03,960 --> 01:09:05,399 Modern life on Earth, 986 01:09:06,320 --> 01:09:07,959 the life we've grown used to, 987 01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:09,959 is unsustainable. 988 01:09:11,240 --> 01:09:13,479 There's not enough nature to go round. 989 01:09:16,080 --> 01:09:20,999 They used to say that water was nature's way of talking to mankind. 990 01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:25,599 Well, we've reached to the point in time 991 01:09:26,720 --> 01:09:28,919 where we're going to have to start listening. 992 01:09:37,360 --> 01:09:39,439 [soft choral music playing] 993 01:10:31,920 --> 01:10:34,079 [music fades]