1 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:06,320 This is our home. 2 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,600 From up here, it looks the same as it has done for thousands of years. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:20,120 But if you get a bit closer you can see we've made a few changes. 4 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,440 We've been busy re-designing our world. 5 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:29,640 'Wherever you look...' 6 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:31,440 Welcome to the top of the world! 7 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,360 '..you can see the scale of our achievements.' 8 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,200 Oh, my God! This is actually freaking me out. 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,000 Just don't, whatever you do, look down. 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,240 'Our generation is changing the face of the planet as never before. 11 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,360 'I'm Dallas Campbell, 12 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,800 'and I'm going to show you how we're shaping the modern world.' 13 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,800 Like someone's covered the whole thing in clingfilm. 14 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:11,920 'We're changing vast landscapes to feed a growing population.' 15 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,280 This is Brazilian cow number two hundred and ten million and one. 16 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,080 'And harnessing the Earth's resources to power our planet. 17 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:29,080 'Today, we act on a scale previously unimaginable.' 18 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,000 Three, two, one... 19 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,480 'We have become a force of nature. 20 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:37,920 'We're making the impossible possible.' 21 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:14,560 When I was a kid, we used to have this golden camping rule, 22 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,160 which was, "If you can't carry it, it doesn't come," 23 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,040 because, ultimately, the fun of camping 24 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,040 is just about stripping life back to its absolute basics. 25 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:31,200 'And the basics of life are food, water and energy. 26 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,680 'Now, think of that on a global scale 27 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,600 'and just imagine how much we get through.' 28 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:54,200 Take a city like New York. 29 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:03,640 Every day, New Yorkers use 1.5 billion gallons of water, 30 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:06,680 enough to fill five Empire State Buildings. 31 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,360 In just three days, they eat enough grain 32 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,240 to turn all the roads in Manhattan into gigantic fields of wheat. 33 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,440 And the city uses as much fuel as you'd get from six massive oil rigs, 34 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:33,880 running round the clock. 35 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,080 Of course, the real world works rather differently. 36 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,960 So how do you get enough fresh water, enough meat, enough bread, 37 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:03,520 enough fruit and vegetables onto people's dinner plates? 38 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,000 Well, really, within our own lifetimes, 39 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,600 we've been reshaping the planet and we've done it on a scale 40 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,080 the likes of which we've never seen before. 41 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:30,040 'We survive by harnessing the Earth's resources. 42 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,640 'And the most important is water.' 43 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:34,920 - It's a nice day! - Yeah. 44 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:36,120 HE CHUCKLES 45 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,480 - Can you give me a bit of a shove? - Yes, certainly. - Brilliant. 46 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:52,720 'At 23 miles long, 47 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,480 'Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in the UK.' 48 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:01,640 It's absolutely vast and very, very deep, 49 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:02,960 there is a lot of water in here 50 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,880 but, obviously, in terms of the total amount of water on the planet, 51 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,760 it's a tiny fraction of a drop 52 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:13,960 of the 1.4 billion cubic kilometres in total, 53 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,560 which sounds like a lot of water, but there's a catch. 54 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,080 'Only a tiny fraction of the water on Earth is drinkable.' 55 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:31,320 Right. 56 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,280 Now, I want you to imagine 57 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:37,080 that all the water in my bucket here represents all the water on Earth. 58 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,440 Now, most of that is seawater, salty seawater 59 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,280 and it's no good for humans to drink at all. 60 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:43,120 Now, if I put my hands in, 61 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,360 the water I can hold in my hands 62 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,800 represents all the freshwater on Earth, it's about 3%, 63 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,880 but most of that is actually tied up in ice or deep underground, 64 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:53,880 and it's very difficult for us to get to. 65 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:59,680 And if I let that go, just the water that remains on my damp hands 66 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,520 is the water that's available to us and it's hardly anything at all. 67 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,680 'There are 16 billion gallons of fresh water here. 68 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:15,800 'But not everyone can live near enough to use it as drinking water.' 69 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,720 And it's the same the world over. 70 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,120 We're surrounded by water, 71 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,280 but often it's the wrong sort or it's in the wrong place. 72 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,040 'One of our greatest challenges 73 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,760 'has been getting water to where it's needed. 74 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:49,440 'The Grand Canyon. 75 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,520 'And winding through it, the majestic Colorado River.' 76 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,080 What can I tell you about the Grand Canyon 77 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,440 other than it lives up to its star billing? 78 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,240 The cliffs are just stacked on top of each other 79 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,360 and the Canyon just plummets down seemingly for ever. 80 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:15,840 It's that powerful flowing water 81 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,120 that's sculpted the landscape so dramatically. 82 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:20,960 But in OUR search for water 83 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,520 we've transformed the planet in ways that are just as spectacular. 84 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,040 'Flying out of the Grand Canyon, 85 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,360 'you come across something you might not expect. 86 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,080 'A huge lake.' 87 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,880 This may look like a natural wonder, 88 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,920 but, in fact, it's man-made - 89 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:50,760 Lake Mead. 90 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,840 At 110 miles long, 91 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,760 it can hold a vast amount of fresh water. 92 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:12,400 It's one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. 93 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,720 And THIS is the structure that started it all - the Hoover Dam. 94 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:53,520 If anything can stop a river in its tracks, this can. 95 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,960 A seven million tonne curve of concrete 96 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,120 that transfers all the force of the water from Lake Mead 97 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,240 into the rock walls of the Canyon. 98 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:07,600 It's only ten o'clock in the morning, 99 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:09,920 and it's absolutely rammed packed with tourists, 100 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,200 people coming and driving over the Hoover Dam, 101 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:14,800 because it is box-office! 102 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,880 80 years on, it still has this magnetic draw to it. 103 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:19,840 You can see just how beautiful it is, 104 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,160 the way this concrete bowl sweeps down into the valley floor. 105 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,400 And it is one of the great American stories - 106 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,280 this was built in the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression. 107 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,680 And yet, it became this symbol of optimism, 108 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:35,080 as well as being one of the great engineering and science stories. 109 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:39,200 Nothing on this scale had ever been attempted before. 110 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:48,440 220 metres tall and a staggering 370 metres wide, 111 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:54,520 apparently, it contains enough concrete to build a pavement all the way round the equator, 112 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,000 subject to planning permission, of course. 113 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,720 When it was built, it was the largest concrete structure on Earth. 114 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:17,680 Cocooned deep inside the dam is a mysterious, hidden world of tunnels. 115 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,600 'The biggest fear engineers faced 116 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,080 'was whether the dam would be strong enough.' 117 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:31,200 If you've ever worried about cracks in your plaster at home, 118 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,680 spare a thought for the builders of the Hoover Dam. 119 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:36,520 Obviously, they were working at the very limits of engineering, 120 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:39,760 so they were a little bit worried about cracks and the whole lot coming down. 121 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,040 And you can see, look, it's been somebody's job 122 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,560 to inspect these hairline cracks. 123 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:47,880 You can see a little one just coming down there. 124 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,640 And he's put a mark alongside just to highlight it 125 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,120 and he's initialled it, Mr OBS, 126 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,360 and he did that in 1943. 127 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:07,600 This is the end of the tunnel. 128 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,560 Now, I've got a little camera here, a little video camera, 129 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:15,520 and I wanted to just show you what it looks like looking back up. 130 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:23,080 'Up close, you can see the dam isn't one solid wall, 131 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,800 'but layers of interlocking blocks.' 132 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,400 If they had poured it in one lump, 133 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,320 it would have taken 100 years to harden, 134 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,880 because concrete gives off heat when it sets. 135 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,920 A bit of a problem in the intense desert heat. 136 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:43,040 So small sections, cooled with refrigerated pipes, 137 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,680 got the job done in just two years. 138 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:53,600 For the next two decades, the Hoover Dam was the tallest in the world. 139 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:00,720 A record breaker that showed 140 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,840 what a new generation of engineers could achieve. 141 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,320 We'd created a man-made lake, 142 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:12,280 so big it's a landmark as indelible as the Grand Canyon itself. 143 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,480 The Hoover Dam was a turning point. 144 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,200 But now, with so many dams across the globe that are even bigger, 145 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,760 we've harnessed one third of the world's entire river flow. 146 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,160 In fact, we've captured so much water, 147 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,280 we've altered the spin of the Earth - 148 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,400 it now rotates a fraction of a second slower. 149 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,080 'By harnessing water on this scale, 150 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,080 'we can live in some of the harshest places on Earth. 151 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,520 'Where there was once just wilderness, 152 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,240 'whole towns are springing up out of the sand.' 153 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:22,400 We can build entire cities... 154 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,400 '..like this one - Las Vegas.' 155 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,600 With Lake Mead on its doorstep, 156 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:36,520 Vegas has tripled in size in just 30 years. 157 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,920 There used to be just 8,000 people living here. 158 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,040 Now, there are two million. 159 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,960 And another 40 million visitors flock here every year. 160 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,480 All to one of the hottest places on Earth. 161 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:24,080 Whatever you think of Las Vegas, they are extraordinary, aren't they? 162 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,120 Just over 100 years ago, none of this was here at all. 163 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,760 Las Vegas, literally, was just a railroad stop. 164 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:32,640 That is it - desert. 165 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,320 35 years ago, none of the big hotels were here. 166 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:42,960 If you want a symbol of sheer speed of transformation, 167 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,160 Las Vegas wins hands down. 168 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,760 Damming rivers is one way to provide our water, 169 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,960 but what do you do when the rivers run dry? 170 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:08,240 Take China. 171 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:14,440 Most people live in the north of the country in cities like Beijing, 172 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,560 but droughts here are leaving rivers and lakes empty. 173 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,360 By contrast, the south, with fewer people, has six times more water. 174 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:29,520 So the Chinese are diverting water northwards 175 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:31,560 by building an artificial river. 176 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,440 Stretching around 700 miles, 177 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,520 it rivals some of the world's longest natural rivers. 178 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:51,600 The Shahe Aqueduct, a giant race canal 179 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,520 and, currently, part of the world's largest engineering project. 180 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,000 The idea for this project has actually been knocking around for quite a while now. 181 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:11,760 In fact, it was China's leader Chairman Mao who, in 1952, said, 182 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,760 "The south has a lot of water, the north a little, 183 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:17,960 "so, if possible, it's OK to lend a bit." 184 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,480 And here we are, 60 years later, with an answer to that - 185 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:22,960 it is possible. 186 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,640 It's going to be difficult, it takes a lot of human ingenuity, 187 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:28,240 but China is doing it. 188 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,840 To build on such a gigantic scale, 189 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,840 the Chinese are constructing the aqueduct on site 190 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,160 in separate 45-metre-long sections. 191 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:00,800 Each one starts off as a giant framework of steel rods. 192 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,960 It's fascinating just to stand here and see all this steel. 193 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:09,480 It's about 80 tonnes of it, 194 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,160 all welded together and wired together 195 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,440 to create this bird's-nest skeleton. 196 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:20,600 The whole structure is encased in concrete 197 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:22,480 and then moved into position. 198 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,560 This crane can lift a whopping 1,200 tonnes, 199 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,560 and each one of these sections weighs 1,200 tonnes, 200 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,720 so we are at maximum crane lifting capacity here. 201 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,960 No pressure, then, for 25-year-old crane driver Guang Ah Fang. 202 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,440 Building an aqueduct over such a long distance 203 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,480 isn't just about brute force. 204 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:22,560 It's worth remembering, of course, 205 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:24,720 there's no pumps here to pump the water down. 206 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,480 It's all completely reliant on gravity, 207 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:35,680 which means you have to engineer a very, very precise gradient in it from north to south. 208 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:37,480 And when you consider 209 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,400 that this whole thing is about 1,200 km long... 210 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,480 ..that's some extreme plumbing! 211 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,120 Positioning is absolutely critical. 212 00:18:58,320 --> 00:18:59,920 To keep the water flowing, 213 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:03,160 one end of each section has to be lower than the other 214 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,440 by exactly one centimetre. 215 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:18,000 The aqueduct is so long it won't be fully operational until 2030. 216 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,200 But, when it's complete, millions in northern China will benefit. 217 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:29,280 Harnessing water has led to the largest engineering project on Earth. 218 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,680 But it's our need to feed ourselves 219 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,880 that's really transforming the face of our planet. 220 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,200 A small plot of land on the local allotment 221 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,360 used to be a common way to provide fruit and veg for the family. 222 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,880 If you were prepared to spend a few hours a week tending it. 223 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:05,320 And, for some people, that's never changed. 224 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:13,000 Len Spaulding has been growing veg on his allotment for over 40 years. 225 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,040 - During the war, they was created because no-one had no food. - Yeah. 226 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:18,720 And that's what they were made for. 227 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,120 Wow, these are some fine-looking carrots. 228 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:23,800 There we go, let's get this one, this is a monster. 229 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,160 I'm going to need a bigger fork. 230 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:27,240 Look at that! 231 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,280 That is the kind of carrot that's going to win prizes. 232 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,240 That surprised me more than it surprised you, quite frankly. 233 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,680 - It's a beauty, isn't it? - This is a proper Bugs Bunny carrot. - Yes. 234 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,560 What is it about growing your own veg that's so satisfying? 235 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,720 Well, it's the excitement of what's coming out. 236 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,480 I've got carrots here, asparagus there, 237 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,960 potatoes there, parsnips there, 238 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,880 plums, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries... 239 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,360 And I can't think of anything else. 240 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,960 THEY CHUCKLE 241 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,040 But we can't all grow our own food. 242 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,440 In the modern world, others tend to do it for us. 243 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:13,480 After all, it's become a fairly big operation. 244 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,880 Try to imagine just how much food we get through globally each day. 245 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:54,280 Every single day, we produce nearly a million tonnes of meat. 246 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,880 And nearly three million tonnes of grain. 247 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,840 The amount we produce has almost tripled in just 50 years. 248 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,440 It is absolutely mind-blowing 249 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,080 just how much food the human race now consumes, 250 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,400 so much so we've had to completely rethink the way that we produce it. 251 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,440 When we first started growing food, 252 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,000 our farming was dictated by nature. 253 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,840 But today we're controlling nature 254 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:35,600 and on a vast scale. 255 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:43,040 It may not look like it, but one place where that's happening 256 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,520 is right here, on the south coast of Spain. 257 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,320 I just love landscapes, love this... 258 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,600 just unforgiving and dramatic, 259 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:57,920 but, you know, not very productive. 260 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,000 You just come down, you can feel just how dry the soil is, 261 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,920 absolutely no moisture at all. 262 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,600 Obviously, you've got the kind of desert scrub plants 263 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,080 which kind of eke out a living. 264 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,760 This region is one of the driest parts of Europe. 265 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,240 On the face of it, it's a dust bowl. 266 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,280 But this arid landscape has become the site 267 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,600 of an agricultural revolution. 268 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,200 'In the 1950s, 269 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:29,120 'local farmers found that any crops they could actually get to take root 270 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:31,640 'were just blown down by the wind. 271 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,560 'Until they made a remarkable discovery.' 272 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:43,800 It's interesting just how much human innovation happened by chance. 273 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,680 Growers would put up this vertical plastic sheeting 274 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,840 in order to protect their crops from the wind. 275 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,880 But then they had this eureka moment when they realised that it had an added benefit - 276 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:57,280 in that it actually made their crops ripen earlier. 277 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:05,720 Protecting crops meant farmers could make the barren landscape fertile, 278 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,840 with the added bonus of an extended growing season. 279 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,280 It was the start of an amazing physical transformation. 280 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,400 'Farmers here had spotted an opportunity 281 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:25,400 'to change this arid region into a gigantic market garden.' 282 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,080 So, production on that scale, 283 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,880 you can forget about your greenhouse at the bottom of your garden, 284 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,440 you're going to need something a little bigger. 285 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,160 Inside this ginormous greenhouse, 286 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,880 there are a quarter of a million kilos of tomatoes. 287 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,800 But it's not just growing under cover that's the key to their success. 288 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,600 Nature itself no longer always gets a look in. 289 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,400 Lola Gomez Ferran has spent her working life 290 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,080 perfecting a very different way of growing tomatoes. 291 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,400 The variety, the name is "angel". 292 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:20,760 - Angel? - Angel? 293 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:22,840 - Angel. - Angel. It's very good. 294 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,080 What I notice here, you know, the interesting thing, 295 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,160 here we are, we're inside this huge greenhouse 296 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,920 and none of the tomato plants are actually growing in the ground. 297 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,320 Yes, normally they grow hydroponically. 298 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:35,800 Yeah. So just in grow bags, 299 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,800 like you might get in the garden centre at home. 300 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,040 And this isn't soil in here, is it, this is basically loft insulation. 301 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,840 Yes, the advantage is that 302 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,800 the system permits reuse all the water and all the nutrients. 303 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,080 Never contaminate underground. 304 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:51,840 It's interesting to know 305 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,360 that they get the water through these irrigation tubes, 306 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:58,040 and their nutrients, so water drips along here and at the bottom. 307 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,360 And the result is these beautiful tomatoes, 308 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:04,280 absolutely gorgeous. 309 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,680 'It's an industrial way of growing crops, 310 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,400 'a factory farm for vegetables.' 311 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:21,480 It is nice to think that, 312 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:23,680 when you buy your tomatoes from the supermarket 313 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,280 and it says "Product Of Spain," 314 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,520 this is actually where they come from. 315 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,120 They can grow two entire crops like this one over the year. 316 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,400 But there's not just one big greenhouse. 317 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,760 There's quite a few. 318 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,800 'Which means there's really only one way to appreciate them.' 319 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,040 Keep running. 320 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,640 - From the air! - Keep running, keep running. 321 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,480 Wow, we're up! That was great! 322 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,880 'It's a shimmering sea of greenhouses - 323 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,280 'the largest concentration in the world 324 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,200 'and a monument to the way we now produce food.' 325 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,520 That arid desert just drops off, suddenly there's a clean line 326 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,760 and then it just becomes white. 327 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,200 It is just like it's been snowing down here, 328 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,400 it's as if we're flying over a snowfield. 329 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,760 It is bizarre, like someone's, er... 330 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,280 covered the whole thing in clingfilm. 331 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,680 'Suddenly, we hit a pocket of rising air.' 332 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:06,840 Woo! 333 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:08,240 Agh! 334 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:11,160 Agh! 335 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,960 - Agh! - This is the hot air from the plastic. - Oh, man! 336 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,560 - What is it, the hot air from the plastic? - Yeah. 337 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:27,640 Amazing! 338 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,720 You can just feel the warm air picking us up and carrying us, 339 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,160 exactly like a bird flies on a thermal - 340 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,720 warm air rising from all this plastic, carrying us up even higher. 341 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,240 Oh, just glorious. 342 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,760 'The wind and the heat is exactly 343 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,080 'what made growing crops here so difficult 344 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,760 'until all these greenhouses were built. 345 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,240 'As far as the eye can see, 346 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,360 'almost every corner of the land is covered, 347 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,800 'which makes our next move a little tricky.' 348 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,200 OK, we're coming into land. 349 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,000 Ooh, oh... 350 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,360 HE LAUGHS 351 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:31,040 'Luckily for us, acres of plastic makes for the perfect soft landing.' 352 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,560 This plastic-coated corner of the Costa Del Sol 353 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,360 has now become one of the most eye-catching spots... 354 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:43,680 ..on the entire planet. 355 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:57,400 A quarter of all those tomatoes end up here, in the UK. 356 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:04,760 Londoners eat over half a million tonnes of fruit and veg a year, 357 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,160 enough to fill Trafalgar Square 358 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,800 over half-way to the top of Nelson's Column. 359 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,840 Of course, some of us need to eat a bit more than others. 360 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,480 My name's James, I'm a cycle courier. 361 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,040 I eat a lot, you know, you definitely have to eat a lot. 362 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,920 I need to keep fuelled to keep riding. 363 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:37,040 On an average day, I suppose it's about 50, 60 miles. 364 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:42,640 I burn a lot of calories throughout the day. 365 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,640 If you're constantly cycling, you can burn out, 366 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,280 and I have burned out before when the day is very hot 367 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,400 and you haven't hydrated enough, when you haven't eaten enough. 368 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,240 So you need to replenish. 369 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,560 I've got a very healthy appetite. 370 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:07,200 My girlfriend says, "How can you eat so much and not get fat?" 371 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:08,440 HE CHUCKLES 372 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,000 But it's not just James. 373 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,400 Today, the amount of food we eat is on the increase the world over 374 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:25,240 and our hunger for one particular kind is growing spectacularly. 375 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:27,920 Meat. 376 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,040 The average American eats 2,000 animals in their lifetime. 377 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,520 This moving mountain of steak is a little on the rare side. 378 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:54,160 Though we're not in Texas or anywhere in North America. 379 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,960 This rodeo is in a completely different continent. 380 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:03,520 We're in Brazil! 381 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,840 There are now rodeos like this all over Brazil. 382 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:18,560 And that's because the beef industry has exploded in just a few decades. 383 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,960 20 years ago, this country was importing most of its food. 384 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,760 Today, things are very different. 385 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:43,680 I'm not here to show why the Brazilians are obsessed with rodeo, 386 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,960 but because it's places like this that really show 387 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,120 how radically a nation can change, almost overnight. 388 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,520 It's 7am and these ranchers 389 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,400 are about to round up one of their herds. 390 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,720 But it's not just any herd. 391 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,320 Welcome to the world of the mega-farm. 392 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:18,640 This ranch alone has over 125,000 head of cattle. 393 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,120 But this is nothing compared to the country as a whole. 394 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:32,800 Today, Brazil has more cattle than people - over 210 million. 395 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,000 It's now the largest beef exporter in the world. 396 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,320 Perhaps the biggest key to the nation's success is its sheer size. 397 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:51,920 Brazil is vast. Almost all of Europe could fit inside it. 398 00:33:58,320 --> 00:33:59,760 In the north of the country, 399 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,640 the irony is that a lot of space was created 400 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,080 because of the loss of a precious ecosystem. 401 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:07,720 Only a generation ago, 402 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,400 some of what's now farmland was rainforest. 403 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:16,200 Deforestation has cleared vast tracts of land. 404 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,880 Huge effort has gone into halting this. 405 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,840 But much of the new space has become farmland. 406 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,720 'This farm never was rainforest, 407 00:34:38,720 --> 00:34:42,320 'but it demonstrates a different reason for Brazil's success.' 408 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,040 This is the magic ingredient. 409 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:51,520 In here, we've got... 410 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:54,840 ..bull semen. 411 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:58,200 Brazilians are at the forefront of bovine genetics 412 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,960 and this stuff gets sold all round the world. 413 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,840 Through cutting-edge breeding programs, 414 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,920 farms like this have crossed native Brazilian breeds with Indian cattle 415 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,280 to produce cows that not only reproduce quicker, 416 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,400 but also cope with the hot climate. 417 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,040 'They have, in effect, created a "supercow".' 418 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,880 Wow, look at that! Oh! 419 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,080 'And I'm about to meet the latest addition to the herd.' 420 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:34,520 Oh! Look at you! Hi! 421 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,840 Hi, there. Oh, my God, he's gorgeous, isn't he? 422 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:41,560 This is Brazilian cow number two hundred and ten million and one. 423 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,200 Born just a few hours ago. 424 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,040 Welcome. 425 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:47,320 Can I hold? 426 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:49,880 Under there? Ah, oh... 427 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,560 Blimey! You're heavy! 428 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,440 You're heavy! Oh, wow, look at that! 429 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,080 What's that, nine pound? No, more than that. 430 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,760 You are heavy, little thing, aren't you? 431 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,600 Cute as he is, though, these cows are big, big business. 432 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:05,720 This farm specialises in breeding. 433 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:09,640 Apparently, there's 20,000 expectant mothers per month 434 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:11,320 just on this ranch. 435 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,160 That's a lot of calves. 436 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,000 You'd better go back to your mum. 437 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,640 'Brazilian cows can naturally give birth to around 15 calves. 438 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:25,240 'Using artificial insemination, they can now produce up to 60. 439 00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:29,760 'It's specialising in calves that's made this farm such a success.' 440 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,480 She'll be all right. She'll be OK. 441 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,800 'It looks like I've made a new friend.' 442 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,120 I'm not your mother! 443 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,400 Come on, you want to... Come on, you want to go this way. 444 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:45,920 There you go! 445 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:47,840 Come on. You want to go over there. 446 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,280 Your mum's going to be worried about you. 447 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:01,960 We should leave them in peace. 448 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,960 We'll leave them... Leave them in peace now? 449 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,520 Thank you very much, thank you for letting me see that. 450 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:08,960 It was amazing, amazing. 451 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:13,760 Today, mega-farms have spread all over the world. 452 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,600 Russia, 453 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:19,840 America 454 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:21,280 and Australia, 455 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,720 all have farms that have grown to thousands of square miles. 456 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,560 Over 10% of the Earth is now used for agriculture. 457 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,080 That's equivalent to all of South America. 458 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,840 More than twice that is being used for grazing animals. 459 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:40,760 That's like all of Africa. 460 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,520 In fact, nearly 40% of the Earth's land surface 461 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,160 is devoted to producing food for us. 462 00:37:55,600 --> 00:38:01,000 But to put a meal on our dinner tables we need something else. 463 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,640 Something we harvest from beneath our planet's surface. 464 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:08,080 Minerals and metals keep energy flowing 465 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,720 to our doorstep and beyond. 466 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:15,920 CHILDREN LAUGH 467 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:17,560 Every day in Britain, 468 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:22,280 millions of us kick-start the morning with toast and a cup of tea. 469 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,400 - Do you want some toast as well, Elliot? - Yes, please. 470 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,000 But the most important meal of the day wouldn't be very hot 471 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,040 without a particular metal - 472 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:33,600 copper. 473 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:37,800 There's loads of it hidden away in all of our homes. 474 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:43,680 It's copper wires that channel the electricity that cooks our food. 475 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:55,880 OK, sit down. 476 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,920 Upstairs, Bonnie needs clean clothes. 477 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,840 Good girl, very good! 478 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:08,320 Should we go, then? 479 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,960 So, every day, millions of washing machines run in the UK. 480 00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:16,320 Copper pipes take the water to the machine 481 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:19,320 and make the electric motors spin the drum. 482 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,840 In a world of entertainment on tap, 483 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:32,600 it's copper that brings the small screen to life. 484 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:42,720 In fact, we're so dependent on all this hidden copper in our daily lives, 485 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:45,840 we're now completely surrounded by it. 486 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,480 This miracle metal connects the modern world. 487 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,800 Which means just one thing... 488 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:58,480 ..we keep needing more of it. 489 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:15,400 To fuel our ever-increasing demand for metal and minerals 490 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:19,040 we've had to push further and deeper into our planet. 491 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:39,680 Bingham Mine. 492 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,160 It produces enough copper every year 493 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:49,240 to replace all the wires in every home in America and Mexico. 494 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,680 Not surprisingly, it's the largest open-pit mine in the world. 495 00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:14,520 On the way up here, 496 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:17,400 I saw a bumper sticker on one of the cars of one of the mine workers 497 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,120 and it said, "If you can't grow it, it's got to be mined." 498 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,800 And this right here kind of sums that whole thing up. 499 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:27,560 Everything that we use on the planet, everything we consume, 500 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:29,800 ultimately comes from here. 501 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:31,600 Not literally here. 502 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,640 The modern world relies on resources that come from underground. 503 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,600 Here, they've been mining for over 100 years. 504 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,080 The result is three miles wide 505 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:54,160 and, at nearly a mile deep, 506 00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,120 it could swallow up the world's tallest building. 507 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:04,880 And this is what it's all about - this is copper in its rawest form. 508 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:07,680 And actually, when you look at it, it doesn't look like a whole lot, 509 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:12,000 and that's because the ore here on average is only about 0.6% copper. 510 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,200 But it's this low-grade ore that is the reason 511 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,440 that this place is so massive. 512 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:23,280 Seams of copper are so deep that they have to dig down for years 513 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,720 through waste rock to reach it. 514 00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:29,000 For Matt Lengerich and his team, it's a waiting game. 515 00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:35,520 This shovel will arrive at copper ore in roughly two or three years. 516 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,800 You've got to dig two or three years before you hit copper again? 517 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:42,360 No, we have to move waste rock for seven years. 518 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,080 He's already been doing it for four. 519 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:46,400 So seven years of getting rid of the waste, 520 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,080 that's before you're going to see copper again. 521 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:03,040 The giant diggers and trucks are just to take the rock away. 522 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:05,720 To get it out of the ground in the first place, 523 00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:08,240 you need something with a little more oomph. 524 00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:12,280 When you blast, is it very, very controlled 525 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:15,280 or is there a certain amount of fingers crossed 526 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:16,800 and hope it all goes...? 527 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,680 It's very, very controlled with a little bit of fingers crossed. 528 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:21,160 THEY LAUGH 529 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:25,400 Not too much fingers crossed, I hope. We'll be standing a long way that way. 530 00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:37,000 'This may look small, but, as you know, size isn't everything.' 531 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:38,560 OK, ready? 532 00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:41,320 Three, two, one... 533 00:43:58,240 --> 00:43:59,600 Oh! 534 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:01,280 HE LAUGHS 535 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:03,280 That gives you a little ring in the ear. 536 00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:20,160 Three blasts a day and 100 years of mining 537 00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:23,800 have created the largest excavation in our history. 538 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:33,160 It's easy to forget that so much in the modern world comes from underground. 539 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,120 The minerals that keep our computerised world connected... 540 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:44,440 ..and we use to build our cities. 541 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:49,520 And one resource above all others 542 00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:53,440 that we use to power everything is our fuel. 543 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:09,120 Our man-made world needs an endless supply of energy, 544 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,880 which means we've gone to extraordinary lengths to get it. 545 00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:21,520 We're just leaving a little harbour outside Nagasaki. 546 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:25,080 We're going to sail a couple of miles or so just out to sea 547 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:27,640 to a little island called Hashima. 548 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,760 'Locally, this little rocky outcrop is known as Battleship Island, 549 00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:39,000 'and, though it may look like one, 550 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,200 'it's actually the remains of an entire town.' 551 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:53,680 This used to be the most densely populated piece of land on the entire Earth. 552 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:56,600 Population at its height - 5,000. 553 00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:59,400 5,000 people used to live right there. 554 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,800 But this is no ordinary town. 555 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:09,400 None of these buildings would have been here at all without one thing - 556 00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:10,920 coal. 557 00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:20,880 'Hashima sat on top of a huge seam of it lying under the sea.' 558 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:24,440 Oh, my God. 559 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,080 Its residents were miners and their families. 560 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:42,840 Just 40 years ago, when this tiny island was crammed full of people, 561 00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,680 it supported a vast coal mine 562 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:49,120 that helped fuel the mighty technological growth of Japan. 563 00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:57,880 The modern world is literally built on coal, oil and gas. 564 00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:06,800 You look around and it's kind of hard to imagine that this was a town, 565 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:08,640 with everything that a town had, you know, 566 00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:11,320 apartment buildings, schools, hospitals. 567 00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:16,360 Round the corner over there used to be a cinema. 568 00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:21,760 This would have been a kind of market area with shops. 569 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:25,800 You would have shift-workers going to work and coming back exhausted. 570 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:33,520 We came to depend on fuel so much 571 00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:37,240 that to get it we crammed an entire town on a rock 572 00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:38,720 in the middle of the sea. 573 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,600 But the coal here began to run out. 574 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:04,640 Almost overnight, the miners returned to the mainland, 575 00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,320 taking with them what little they could carry. 576 00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:17,000 Our need for energy is insatiable 577 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:19,960 and demand is only ever going to increase. 578 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,240 Now, we're creating sustainable mega-projects 579 00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:38,920 that harness a form of power that's never going to run out. 580 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:51,880 If you want to harness enough wind energy to power a town or a city, 581 00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:55,040 you need to go where the wind is at its strongest. 582 00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:57,400 And that's normally over open water like this, 583 00:48:57,400 --> 00:48:59,400 simply because it's nice and flat, 584 00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:02,840 and you don't have the land getting in the way to slow it up. 585 00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:09,080 Which is why we're now turning the open sea into our power stations. 586 00:49:14,240 --> 00:49:17,080 The largest offshore wind farm in the world 587 00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:19,200 is rising from British waters. 588 00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:24,760 This is the London Array, 20 miles from the Kent coast. 589 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:43,080 As I'm sure you can appreciate, getting these monsters out here 590 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,960 presents a whole host of engineering challenges. 591 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,000 Not least the wind itself, 592 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,560 the thing they're actually designed to harness, 593 00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:54,200 makes the whole process of building them a complete nightmare! 594 00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:59,160 'With the ever-present threat of stormy weather, 595 00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:03,160 'it's hard to imagine a tougher construction site.' 596 00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:06,520 With everything constantly moving, the wind going and the waves going, 597 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:11,360 you need somewhere solid to work from a solid base, 598 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:13,360 and this is the solution. 599 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,120 She's called Discovery, 600 00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:22,680 a huge ship that can lift completely out of the water on giant stilts 601 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,720 to make a stable platform standing on the seabed. 602 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:33,160 Stacked on board are all the component parts 603 00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:34,800 to build the giant turbines. 604 00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,600 The most important are these blades. 605 00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:47,360 They're engineered just like an aircraft wing. 606 00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:50,480 And designed to capture as much energy as possible 607 00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:51,920 from even light winds. 608 00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:02,120 It is crazy to think that something this big, 60 metres long, 609 00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:05,680 and, what's that, just over six feet in diameter, 610 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:10,000 can be driven by an eight-mile-an-hour wind. 611 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:13,600 That's how much energy is in the wind around us. 612 00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:21,360 'Of course, something that's designed to catch the wind this well 613 00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:24,320 'is a nightmare to build in windy weather. 614 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:28,840 'Today, for the team on board, 615 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,280 'there's nothing they can do but wait.' 616 00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:36,720 Hi, Tony. Busy doing not a lot? 617 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:40,960 Yeah, the wind's too high at the moment, so we can't do any work. 618 00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:43,480 So... How high is too high? 619 00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:46,760 For blades that we're on now, that can be 11 metres per second. 620 00:51:46,760 --> 00:51:48,040 11 metres per second. 621 00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,640 Come with me, because there's a handy conversion chart there. 622 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,320 11 metres per second...which is 21 miles an hour. 623 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:57,720 I guess, given that we're in one of the windiest parts of the country, 624 00:51:57,720 --> 00:51:59,480 building a wind farm... 625 00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:02,720 Well, that's, yeah... It's a Catch 22, isn't it? 626 00:52:02,720 --> 00:52:05,320 - You put them in a windy place, don't you? - Yes. 627 00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:06,600 THEY LAUGH 628 00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:08,840 So I don't think we're going to get one in my shift. 629 00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,960 - When's your shift end? - I finish at six o'clock tonight. I don't think... 630 00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:13,840 - Seriously? - Yeah. - Oh, man! 631 00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:17,160 I don't think we're going to, but it can soon change. 632 00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:22,800 And, lo and behold, a few hours later, 633 00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:26,200 the wind does begin to drop and work can continue. 634 00:52:35,520 --> 00:52:38,360 So this chap over here is co-ordinating the whole thing, 635 00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:41,280 almost like a choreographer or a conductor. 636 00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:43,840 It's an incredibly skilled operation, 637 00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:45,680 but they make it look so easy. 638 00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:49,520 Be in awe of the skill of these guys. 639 00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:23,000 That's one down, two more to go. 640 00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:40,600 On a calm day, they can install a whole turbine in 12 hours. 641 00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:50,240 OK, we've got a bit of climbing to do today. 642 00:53:50,240 --> 00:53:55,120 - Once you're attached... And you step off... - Yeah. - And off you go. 643 00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:58,440 'I've decided to inspect the work a little closer.' 644 00:54:03,240 --> 00:54:05,040 OK. 645 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:07,320 This is where the real climbing starts. 646 00:54:25,240 --> 00:54:27,000 Oh. 647 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:28,920 Oh, man. 648 00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:30,320 It's stiff. 649 00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:01,160 Oh, wow! Look at this! 650 00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:06,960 You can really understand why we're here 651 00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,800 as you stick your head up through this hatch and you feel the wind. 652 00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:13,840 And it's just quite awe-inspiring 653 00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:16,800 seeing how enormous these turbine blades are. 654 00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:19,360 When you're on the shore, they look so elegant and fragile 655 00:55:19,360 --> 00:55:21,720 and, actually, they're just enormous. 656 00:55:21,720 --> 00:55:24,880 I'm glad it's not too windy today. That's all I can say. 657 00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:49,560 Each one of these turbines is a staggering 120 metres across - 658 00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:51,520 that's the same as the London Eye. 659 00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:02,880 Imagine 174 London Eyes, all spinning out here, 660 00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:06,800 all generating power for us to use. 661 00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:11,160 And each one of these turbines can power 3,000 houses... 662 00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:12,480 something like that, 663 00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:15,520 depending on whether you've left your power shower on. 664 00:56:16,560 --> 00:56:20,760 And then, you multiply all that by 174 665 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,000 and you get a true sense of the scale of all of this. 666 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:27,760 This huge power station out here in the middle of the sea. 667 00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:30,880 That's pretty awesome. 668 00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:37,600 Being able to harness the wind on this scale 669 00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:40,320 really could transform our energy future. 670 00:56:40,320 --> 00:56:41,640 And you look out here, 671 00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:45,000 it really is one of the marvels of the modern world - 672 00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,920 a new landscape created by us. 673 00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:01,720 Within a generation, 674 00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:03,520 we've revolutionised the way 675 00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:07,200 we harness our energy, our food and water. 676 00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:13,480 As our population have grown, so too has our ambition. 677 00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,000 We have entered an unprecedented age, 678 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:25,960 an age where we're transforming the face of the Earth as never before. 679 00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:33,080 In order to thrive, we've become a force of nature. 680 00:57:35,520 --> 00:57:38,680 Harnessing energy has powered our growth. 681 00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:45,280 We've created incredible man-made landscapes. 682 00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:52,320 We've shrunk our planet by moving faster and further. 683 00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:58,680 THIS is the modern world we've engineered. 684 00:57:59,840 --> 00:58:04,400 The place we call home has been reshaped within our lifetime. 685 00:58:08,680 --> 00:58:12,280 And that incredible pace of change across the globe 686 00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:15,560 has been driven by our ability to make giant leaps 687 00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:17,600 beyond what we thought was feasible. 688 00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:20,400 This combination of imagination, of ambition, 689 00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:22,960 of creativity, of technology. 690 00:58:22,960 --> 00:58:26,360 And, of course, our human achievements today 691 00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:29,080 are drawing up the blueprints for the future. 692 00:58:56,160 --> 00:58:59,840 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd