The global lockdown has given nature a reset.The year earth changed directed by Tom Beard, narrated by David Attenborough, Apple TV+, 2021
Source:
https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/the-year-earth-changed/
https://variety.com/2021/tv/opinion/david-attenborough-planet-earth-life-in-color-1234953346/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-16/the-year-earth-changed-review-david-attenborough-documentary/100062704
In 2007, American journalist Alan Weisman published a book, "The World Without Us," which is a thought experiment that envisions what the world would look like if humans disappeared from it. Weisman believes that within 500 years, urban settlements would become forests, and that nuclear radioactive waste, bronze statues, plastics and Mount Rushmore would be among the permanent evidence that human presences on Earth.
Weisman's "no people" scenario can be observed in certain areas of the planet. For instance, in the deeply moving documentary released in 2020, David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, wildlife were shown reclaiming the city of Chernobyl, which was abandoned after the tragic 1986 nuclear accident rendered it uninhabitable.
The marked reduction in human activity spurred by the Covid-19 — what some experts have dubbed the "Anthropause" — has afforded scientists and researchers opportunities to observe the natural world like never before. Weisman's thought experiment has nearly become a reality."The Year Earth Changed" is directed by Tom Beard and narrated by David Attenborough, which has seized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe the extent of human impact on animal behavior, by simply taking people out of the picture. Filming from the start of lockdown across five continents, the documentary has recorded nature’s extraordinary responses. It’s a global experiment of epic proportions. This is the year Earth changed. This exquisitely shot series shows wildlife flourishing during the global lockdown. The lives of animals have not only been enhanced for a couple of months because of our enforced sabbatical, previously endangered species have been able to increase their numbers in droves. There has been a huge rise of turtles in Florida, thanks to the closure of beaches, whales in Alaska are communicating clearer and birds in San Francisco have been singing new, more alluring notes during mating season, thanks to the lack of traffic and noise pollution. In Africa, adult cheetahs, unbothered by tourism and safaris, can discreetly feed their cubs the prey they caught, instead of having to worry about other predators attacking them. Leopards have even started to hunt during the day, when they had previously been nocturnal animals of prey.The worst public health crisis in a century has brought our understanding of our planet, and our place in the fragile yet resilient web of life throughout it, into stark relief. The film takes a unique look back at the past year under pandemic lockdown by showing all the ways in which the natural world thrived once human activity suddenly slowed down. Checking in on various locations a month, two months, six months, a year into human quarantine, the 48-minute documentary makes a compelling case for how much damage humans cause on a daily basis, and how much we could help revive the endangered planet by simply adjusting our behavior to coexist more peacefully alongside the animal kingdom.It only took a few days to start seeing results. The air quality in Los Angeles improved dramatically, the amount of toxic gases in China decreased, while smog and air pollution in certain parts of India disappeared to such an extent that the Himalayas could be seen from certain spots for the first time in generations. More than that, though, the absence of humans gave animals the chance to thrive again.After lockdown, global traffic noise reduced by up to 70%, there is a new sound to be heard: birdsong. In San Francisco, with the metro population of 4.7 million, white-crowned sparrows adapt to the quiet by doing something astonishing. Living in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, their song had been drowned out by cars; but now, with the traffic here at its lowest levels since the 1950s, researchers are amazed to hear new notes in the sparrows' mating call. There's hope that the birds will have their best breeding season for years.
And it's not just noise level that reduces, the speed at which air pollution drops around the globe is staggering. In Jalandhar, a city with 1 million population in India, just 12 days after lockdown, the Himalayas, which is the highest mountain range on Earth, hidden behind smog for 30 years, is suddenly visible. The amateur photographer Anshul’s photograph of this moment went viral around the world. It's a vivid illustration that the moment we paused, the Earth was able to breathe again.
During lockdown, air travel has just fallen off a cliff. In Florida, with the population of 22 million, beaches normally packed with holidaymakers on spring break, but deserted now, which is the opportunity for one endangered sea creature (turtle) to boost its numbers. Before, global turtle numbers have been in steep decline, partly because they have been reluctant to visit the ever-busier beaches. But this year is different. As the breeding season begins, the female is able to lay her eggs in peace for the first time of her life. It's long been thought that human disturbance is a major problem for breeding turtles. But this is the first time that scientists can accurately measure the scale of the impact. Each morning, this team of researchers counted the number of turtle tracks that lead to a nest. In the last ten years, the average nesting success rate for loggerheads had dropped to just 40%; while the beaches were closed to humans, that number jumped all the way up to 61%. With these beach closures, these animals were able to do what they’ve been doing for millions of years, more successful than when we have a human presence.
Six thousand kilometers away, on the west coast of America, a new quiet beneath the waves offers an opportunity for ocean giants. In the south east Alaska, with 1.3 million visitors annually, every year, more than 10 thousand humpback whales migrate from Hawaii to these bays in Alaska in order to feed. Normally, they would have to share these waters with ships carrying a million visitors a year. But now, with every cruise canceled, it's as much as 25 times quieter underwater. In this hush, scientists using underwater microphones record a remarkable change. Humpbacks are talking to each other more often and in new ways. But there's something even more surprising. Now the whales can communicate across greater distances without interruption. Reassured by the quiet, humpback mothers are able to team up with others more often. This year, they've got the place to themselves.
When all the retail business is shut down, across the world’s major cities, footfall is reduced by more than 90%. With urban centers almost deserted, remarkable pictures emerge of animals taking advantage of city living. One animal adapts to these abandoned urban spaces with particular ingenuity in Nara, Japan, which with annual visitors of 13 million. The older generation lead a group out of the temple grounds, deep into the concrete jungle of the city. After a two-and-a-half kilometers trek, the group comes to a halt. An unassuming patch was once part of their grazing grounds. It provides everything they need: fresh grass, leaves and herbs. Scientists have discovered that not only did this new diet make them healthier, but fewer visitors meant less plastic trash, which can kill deer. Even when it seems that animals benefit from our presence, in many cases, they're actually better off without us.
In Buenos Aires, with the population of 15.2 million, the space we leave is providing wildlife with new opportunities. Normally shy capybaras raid the manicured gardens of this well-heeled suburb, which has been built on their former wetland home. Nothing seems to stop them enjoying what was originally theirs. The longer our absence continues, the more daring animals become.In Mpumalanga, with the population of 4.2 million, one deadly hunter rewrites the rule book. Vervet monkeys reserve a spot by the pool of a luxury lodge, while impala and nyala antelope take advantage of the salad bar. But not far behind, there is a fully grown male leopard. The appearance during the day of this usually nocturnal hunter is a real surprise. Across Africa, leopards have lost over 60% of their territory to people, making hunting ever more challenging. But here with no guests around, this leopard sees an opportunity, and makes a remarkable switch in his behavior. He starts hunting during the day.
In Cape Town of South Africa, with the population of 4.7 million, African jackass penguins have set up home right alongside us. In previous years, these beaches were packed with people. And by the time the penguins were ready to return from fishing, they would find their path blocked. So many of them waited offshore until sunset, when the crowds headed home. But this year, the beach is deserted. The penguins abandon their old routine and now head home after just a few hours at sea. These chicks are now being fed twice or even three times a day. They're not only healthier and growing more rapidly, but more families are successfully rearing twins. For years, we've assumed that penguins people here were getting along just fine, but in reality, we were making their life difficult.
It's not just the young of city-dwelling animals that are thriving. By now, the effects of this year's restrictions are even being felt in the world's wildest places. In Maasai Mara of Kenya, with annual visitors of more than 300 thousand, when cheetah hunts, her six-month-old cubs stay hidden in the long grass. But as soon as she’s made her kill, she faces a dilemma. She is hundreds of meters away from them, with a carcass too large to drag back. And if she leaves it, she will risk it being stolen by scavengers. Her solution is to use a soft chirruping call to tell her cubs to join her. If she calls too loudly or too often, she will alert her enemies to her defenseless cubs. And it’s at this very moment, that cheetah here have found it hardest to be heard. In the years before lockdown, the hubbub drowned the calls of mother cheetahs' callings to their cubs. Forced to keep on calling, they risked attracting rivals. But this year, this mother is experiencing almost no human disruption. Without people around, researchers are already seeing cheetah cubs doing better.
It's been a full year since the lockdown began, a year in which many of us found solace in nature, a year in which the world changed in amazing ways: annual global carbon dioxide emissions fell by more than 6 percent, the largest drop on record; and under the surface, the planet experienced amazing changes as noises from travel and industry were cut in half. This is the quietest period ever recorded underground. But the effects of this lockdown will not last forever. What can we learn from this moment to find better ways to co-exist with nature? The Year Earth Changed reminds us of the interconnectedness and resilience of all the life forms on our planet. We should use what we learn to re-evaluate and modify our habits, instead of mindlessly returning to how things once were in a pre-pandemic world.CityReads ∣Notes On Cities"CityReads", a subscription account on WeChat,
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