Racing Extinction Page #5

Wow.

Just about everything

that we do emits carbon dioxide,

from the way we heat

and air-condition our houses,

the way we do

our transportation systems,

whether it's planes,

trains, or automobiles.

Just about everything pumps out

vast amounts of carbon dioxide.

But you can't see it.

To be able to see

this hidden world was like

you were let in on

this magic trick,

but the magic trick that was

actually killing the planet.

This looks like a big parade

of crap, doesn't it?

Just filth.

Yep.

So, what are you

working on, buddy?

Come on in.

l will show you.

Is this your

flux capacitor?

It's close.

Oh, right here,

actually.

I can spin this.

You see this?

It shoots carbon dioxide.

I mean, what, the government

hiring you? Whose doing it?

You just doing

your own thing or what?

-lt's like a science project.

-Yeah. Just a science project.

Science project?

In many ways,

our generation is the one with

the last hand on the throttle

that just pushes

that throttle down.

We're putting

so much carbon dioxide

and so much methane

into the atmosphere,

it's quite possible,

if you think about it...

...that the baby boom

generation itself,

is the single most

impactful generation

of mammals this planet

has ever seen.

In the anthropocene,

we're changing every parameter.

We're changing the geology

of the planet.

We're changing the chemistry

of the ocean.

The anthropocene means that

what happens to this planet

is now in our own hands.

When you take any drop

off the ocean anywhere

and you look under a microscope,

there's so much beauty there

on this tiny scale,

this miniature architecture

that I never tire of looking at.

Our first speaker is Boris Worm,

and he's published

a number of important

and controversial papers

in recent years

on the decline of phytoplankton.

When I give a talk on

plankton, I say, first of all,

let's take a breath,

and let's take a second breath,

and then contemplate the fact

that that second breath

came from the ocean,

because it was produced

ultimately by phytoplankton,

which produce half of the oxygen

we breathe.

We're aware that we are changing

the ocean at a global scale.

There's multiple human impacts,

ranging from fishing to climate

change and acidification,

implying that no part of the

ocean is free from human impact.

Using satellite

imagery and other data...

...Dr. Worm determined

that we have may have lost

40% of plankton production

in just the last 50 years.

It's happening primarily as

a consequence of climate change,

and there is

a lot of controversy,

because it's a big question.

And if this plankton decline

pans out to be as dramatic

as we think it is,

then that would be a big deal.

Your life depends on

the oceans breathing.

And, in fact, animals could

only exist on land

after plankton in the oceans

had produced enough oxygen

for them to live by.

We have this illusion

that it's the big things

in the environment that count.

But if you lose

the small things...

Everything else fails.

It's like there's

this incredible web

where we're all connected,

and if you take out

one little thing,

let's say like plankton,

everything, the whole web collapses.

It's like having a symphony.

And one by one,

you just pluck

each of the instruments

out of the orchestra.

Till your last voice is there.

And then, it's gone.

It's out of order when globally,

most of the world's fighting

to protect these species,

and he's taking 600,

possibly even more, every year.

That's the processing plant.

Paul found this guy,

Mr. Lee,

one of the biggest smugglers of

endangered sharks in the world.

They had three protected species

of sharks- basking sharks,

great whites, and whale sharks.

Well, like I said, if I had

a possible business opportunity

to buy omega-3 oils

from him.

What do I need to know

about fish oil?

Say, "Look,

we need 1 00% confirmation

"that it's a good product," and,

then, yeah, ask for samples.

I'm just gonna play it, like,

a little bit angry, defensive,

and you're gonna try

to pacify me.

Where am I operating

out of in the U .S.?

l'm gonna say Brooklyn.

Wherever. That's your call, mate.

Shark oil is being used

for omega-3,

but these sharks he's trading

are endangered

and protected in China

and internationally.

The only law

that we really had

to protect endangered species

is CITES.

CITES is the convention

for international trade

of endangered species.

And there's only

a few hundred animals

that are actually on that list.

And part of the reason

is because

the people that control CITES

are actually in

the trade of selling them.

Ahead of this CITES conference,

a new decision-making mechanism

to set up a centralized system...

for the resumption

of the international trade

in elephant ivory.

The economy's been down.

lt's taking a while to

get people interested.

Obviously, Mr. Sawyer's

very interested.

Can we take

a very small sample back of...

Just to let you know, last time,

he did give me some, and...

I need to test it though.

We need to have

my people test it.

I don't know who your lab is.

I'm sorry, l'm sorry.

This will be my lab.

Can l just borrow Louie

for one second?

You have to talk.

Just one second, Louie.

Just they want... They

want to know about...

I just want to make sure

that five years from now,

we don't have problems

with people saying,

"Oh, we fished out

all the whale sharks."

-Yeah.

-Okay.

1 00%. 1 00% whale shark.

Yeah.

We walked up

the steps and looked into

the processing ground.

And there was whale sharks

chopped in bits all over the floor,

so we just walked in

and started photographing.

Then, we sent out a press

release to the world's media.

It went viral. We

had National Geographic,

Time magazine, the BBC.

It just went everywhere.

The Chinese government

are doing a lot, at the moment,

for endangered species.

They're burning ivory.

They've banned shark-fin soup

at government banquets.

And things are really moving

in the right direction.

Bye-bye.

-Bye. Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

So I just hope

they can be proactive with Mr. Lee.

We are down about it,

but maybe there is light

at the end of the tunnel.

Yeah.

It's really easy

for us to look east and say,

"You know,

look what China's doing.

"They're destroying the planet.

They're polluting everything.

"They're wiping out species."

But the west is already doing

an incredible job

of massively depleting

and damaging the environment

and taking out

a lot of threatened species.

What's happening in China now

is they're going through

the same growing pains

that we did.

But when we went through

our growing pains,

there was only a billion people

on the planet.

With China going through

its growing pains,

there's over 1 .3 billion people

in China alone.

We've already pushed

so many vulnerable species

and the environment

to the brink.

We can't afford to keep

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