Humans are a relatively new addition to the earth, but we have changed geology more than any natural force. This epoch is called anthropocene — and it might be the last one.
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00:00Humans now dominate every major system of the Earth
00:04and change the natural processes of the Earth
00:08more than all natural processes combined.
00:11That's a pretty big conclusion.
00:24The Anthropocene is the time in the geological record
00:28when humans have moved the planet outside its natural limits.
00:35Everyone who believes in science is incredulous
00:40that there are people who do not believe
00:42that climate change is anthropogenic, meaning human-caused,
00:46and that it is an absolute crisis-point pressing issue of our age.
00:52The Earth is 4.5 billion years old
00:55and humans have really only been up and running
00:59in terms of contemporary civilization for about 10,000 years.
01:03We kind of needed to show people,
01:05wow, here's a place, this place that we have transformed
01:10in the blink of an eye.
01:25We deliberately searched out the places that were shocking.
01:42So by the time we got there, frankly, we were still shocked.
01:46It's rare in our modern day and age that we get that big view,
01:49that panoramic planetary view, and think about deep time.
01:54But it was important to us to make this project global,
01:58to say we're not pointing a finger over there or over there.
02:01This is the whole planet all at once.
02:03Climate change has got to go, baby!
02:20We're reaching a saturation point of understanding
02:24that makes me extremely hopeful
02:26as this global conversation becomes more and more urgent.
02:31There are a lot of people who are talking about this
02:33as being their most important issue.
02:36That's the first time that's ever happened.
02:38My hope comes from the fact that there is a confluence
02:41of things coming together,
02:42different ways of people interrogating
02:47this massive problem that we have.
02:49And if we can do something in our film across the country,
02:53throughout the world, to help that consciousness raising,
03:00then I hope we've done our job.