- Look at that.
Our beautiful blue planet.
[serene music]
Teeming with living marvels.
[bee buzzes] [owl hoots]
It looks so peaceful.
But all isn't what it seems.
[music intensifies]
I'm Bill Nye, your tour guide to the end of the world.
Viewer discretion is advised.
[dramatic music]
Get ready for the worst day on Earth!
The biggest extinction event
since the end of the dinosaurs.
Brace yourselves!
Tsunamis are now happening all along the Pacific Rim.
[passengers clamoring]
Nuts?
- Oh... - [screams]
- Earth is constantly on the edge of disaster...
This is the big one.
With threats coming from everywhere.
- Go back to your lab, egghead.
Leave the drilling to Daddy.
- And no one... [screams]
I mean no one is safe.
[yelling]
Not even me.
But there is hope, people.
It doesn't have to go down that way.
The power lies with us to predict,
prepare for, and even prevent world-ending disasters with--
you guessed it--with science.
Whoo-hoo!
The Earth is in our hands, and it is up to us
to keep our amazing planet alive and well.
Get back to your cubicle, James!
Not today, Fluffy.
The end is a long way off, because together,
we can--dare I say it?
Change the world!
* *
[wind howling]
Greetings!
Bill Nye here.
I don't know about you, but the last few years
have made me realize that things we thought
were impossible are possible.
We humans live on a planet with the unlimited potential
for total annihilation.
We usually weather storms like this,
but this time might be a little different.
You see, we've never seen a hurricane
this big or this bad.
Whoa!
[dramatic music]
* *
[cow mooing]
Welcome, my friends, to the Disaster Institute,
a museum of catastrophic events
that have happened in the past,
are happening now, or could happen at any moment.
Some of these exhibits will seem all too familiar.
Some you've never imagined.
Others you'll wish you never heard about.
None of them is for the faint of heart.
We're here to witness the end of the world.
But we're also here to see how we can save it and ourselves.
A scientific blueprint for a better tomorrow,
you might say.
So which doomsday shall we visit tonight?
Ah, a classic, a world killing asteroid.
Maybe another time.
Nuclear Armageddon?
No, not tonight.
You've got to be in the mood.
Tonight, it's a storm.
A storm to end all storms.
The Earth as we know it will never be the same.
Fair warning, the exhibits in this museum
are highly interactive.
There are no life jackets, no seat belts,
and no exit doors.
[foreboding music]
[snakes hissing]
Well, that's troubling.
You ready?
Hope so.
Storms have both ravaged and nourished Earth
for billions of years.
Long before we ever got here, there were mighty storms.
Here's what our planet might have looked like
in the first billion years or so.
Pretty, but I wouldn't want to build a summer home there.
- [grunting]
- Of all the dangers our ancestors faced,
one of the scariest must have been
when the clouds darkened and roared
and the ocean fell from the sky.
Just ask our friend, Cor, here.
He'd be the first to tell you.
Back then, Earth controlled our fate.
- [grunting]
- I know it was tough,
but you got us this far, man.
[thunder rumbling]
Many cultures have been fascinated by storms.
The Sumerians spoke of a great flood that drowned the Earth.
The Inca too.
Shakespeare himself wrote a play called "The Tempest"
that takes place during an epic storm.
And consider this.
Once movies were invented,
the disaster movie wasn't far behind.
[dramatic music]
[people screaming]
* *
In every age, it seems, we've had a fascination with storms.
We even give them names.
We started naming hurricanes back in 1950,
and every year, the family grows.
* *
You may recognize some of these names.
Isabel, Michael, Katrina, Sandy, Patricia.
You may have even lived through some of them.
All of these were deadly storms,
but some were worse than others.
Category 1 storms can have wind speeds
up to 95 miles an hour.
That's strong enough to rip the roof off a house.
Category 5 storms have winds of 150 miles an hour.
They can level entire neighborhoods.
Hurricane Sandy, which hammered New York
a few years back, was only a Cat 3.
And Katrina, the one that sank New Orleans,
that was the worst kind, a Category 5.
By the time we leave this museum,
there'll be another name on the wall.
Several names, actually.
[dramatic music]
* *
It's time for the museum's most thrilling attraction.
We're about to take a ride on our disaster simulator.
Sound scary?
Well, I hope so.
I want you to experience this disaster firsthand
from three points of view.
A young shop owner on the ground
who has to make a fateful decision.
An air traveler in the sky on a flight from hell.
And a scientist in a bunker,
fighting to sound the alarm and save lives.
No one is safe--not even me.
Come to think of it, I'll be lucky to make it out alive.
Viewer discretion is advised.
[machine humming]
[tense music]
* *
Our story begins here in the not-so-distant future.
The trouble was first spotted
aboard the International Space Station.
Looking out the window one orbit,
astronauts noticed that Earth looks strange.
Almost like it's on fire.
Are those clouds or smoke?
It prompts the ISS to alert
their fellow Earthlings down below,
who don't have the benefit of a 250-mile high view.
* *
It looks like smoke, but looks can be deceiving.
The world isn't on fire.
Quite the opposite.
The world is about to drown.
Those white and gray bands are transverse cirrus clouds,
and they form at the edge of storm systems
or perpendicular to a jet stream.
It's summertime-- Hurricane season.
Those cirrus clouds are a warning sign
that something very large and unprecedented
is taking shape.
We've never seen this many tropical depressions
or the oceans this warm.
The whole Earth seems poised to burst
into a set of superstorms.
My esteemed colleague is a storm analyst talking
to the National Hurricane Center branch chief
and other government agencies.
Computer weather modeling predicts as many
as two or three major hurricanes
could be tracking toward the United States
at the same time.
The good news is, now our scientist can warn us.
She saves the day, right?
Wrong!
Government officials say it's too early,
and this guy, the Secretary of Commerce,
is adamant that any storm warning
is a crazy overreaction.
- People are sick of all the doom and gloom!
They don't want it from the government,
and they sure as hell don't want it from the weatherman!
[playful music]
- This is what I like to call an "act of cow."
[dramatic music] [cow moos]
Act of cow symbolizes the human negligence
that can trigger a disaster or make one worse.
It's inspired by a bovine named Daisy, who,
as legend has it, kicked over a lantern
and started the Great Chicago Fire.
[cow mooing]
Like the Secretary of Commerce blocking
a potential life-saving warning
from the National Weather Service.
He's our cow.
- Oh, you're a cow, Nye!
- Sir, this is not helpful.
- The best our fearless storm analyst could do
was convince him to make the FAA aware
of the cirrus clouds, which are known to cause
what pilots call "clear air turbulence,"
and plenty of trouble for airplanes.
[plane engine roaring]
[ominous music]
- This is your captain speaking.
We just got an update from the weather folks
about that big storm system.
We've decided to fly around it,
which will delay our arrival by an hour or more.
Thank you.
- Why is it that every disaster movie begins
with someone in power ignoring a scientist?
Because it happens more than you might think.
There are too many incentives to ignore bad news.
In this case, the potential damage
to the economy and the backlash
against government mandates.
This is just one of several lousy decisions
that will make everything worse.
[bell chimes]
Nature and human nature will conspire to create
the worst possible scenario.
* *
This is gonna really suck.
[horns honking]
It's Friday afternoon,
and the good people of Houston, Texas,
are looking forward to the weekend.
It's been a few days since our scientist
issued her warning about the storms brewing
in the Atlantic.
Two of them are getting stronger.
More are forming off the Gulf Coast,
the Atlantic seaboard, and in the Pacific Ocean.
The NHC has finally been allowed to issue
its storm advisory, but people around here
are hardly paying any attention.
"What's a little rain?" they say.
Just goes to show we're not very good
at recognizing danger.
Even when it's right there or right here,
staring us in the face.
* *
Case in point,
this coffee shop just reopened its doors,
and the last thing this owner wants to do
is put up the closed sign again.
This shop was always her dream,
and her dream is open for business.
She's put the past two years into this place.
Every day, every penny.
Right now, this shop is her life.
Storms, storm advisories, hurricane hysteria,
she's been through it all before.
Besides, what can she even do about it?
The weather does what the weather does.
She's got a shop to run and can't afford
to lose another day, much less another customer.
[thunder rumbling] [indistinct chatter]
Over the next two days, the weather does plenty.
Record warm ocean temperatures have spawned five--
five monstrous storms threatening billions of people
on three continents.
Unprecedented in recorded history.
[tense music]
Storm Alpha, as it's now known,
gathers steam in the Atlantic and threatens the Gulf Coast.
What they're calling Storm Beta
is forming in the Arabian Sea
and looks to make landfall on Northern India.
Storm Gamma in the Philippine Sea
will undoubtedly ravage mainland Japan.
Storm Delta in the South Atlantic
has Brazil in its crosshairs.
And number five, Storm Epsilon in the Pacific
is on a collision course with Southern California.
Each one of these storms has the potential
to become a Category 5.
These meteorologists are just beginning to realize
how bad things could get.
The five hurricanes will come to be known
as the Hydra Storm,
named after the multi-headed monster
in Greek mythology, Roman mythology,
and the Marvel universe.
And this beast is about to strike!
Not today, Fluffy.
Not today.
* *
[tense music]
* *
- The mighty Hydra Storm we've been tracking
is really five enormous storms.
And this one, which people are calling Storm Alpha,
began forming in the mid-Atlantic.
They're predicting it will make landfall by nightfall.
After the Hurricane Center is finally allowed
to issue a warning, the people of Houston
are already in grave danger.
- Officials are advising residents
to shelter in place and prepare for high winds
and intense flooding.
Widespread power outages are also expected,
along with disruptions in the supply chain.
[indistinct chatter]
- So everyone rushes to stock up on supplies.
Water, candles, batteries, toilet paper.
A little beef brisket.
You know, the essentials.
A voluntary evacuation order is also given,
but many of the residents decide to stay put
and ride out the storm.
Louisiana is going to get hit the hardest, everyone says.
Texas will be spared the worst of it.
But there's a funny thing about hurricanes.
They tend to do what they want.
They wander, exchanging energy with the wind and the ocean
in what's called self-advection.
By the time Storm Alpha reaches shore,
it will have altered course
and be headed straight for Houston.
[thunder rumbling]
* *
Authorities dispatch first responders in Houston
and from neighboring states
to render aid as Storm Alpha moves.
But bravery and expertise can only take you so far.
The coming storms will make short work
of any rescue efforts.
[thunder rumbling]
We're on an international flight from Paris to Houston.
And that's a cumulonimbus cloud,
otherwise known as a thunderhead,
the telltale sign of a storm like this.
A biggie, by the looks of it.
- Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
We are experiencing some moderate turbulence
as we navigate around this rather large storm system.
So I'm gonna ask that you remain in your seats
with your seat belts securely fastened.
Flight attendants, please secure the cabin.
- The pilots still believe they can fly around the storm.
But that was before the Storm Alpha
altered its path a little without warning.
* *
[laughing] Moderate turbulence?
No. No.
Nuts?
* *
[wind howling]
Mandatory evacuation orders are finally
given to all affected cities.
The National Guard is placed on high alert,
but they're powerless until it's safe to go back in.
All the world can do now is hang on for dear life.
Many residents are fleeing their homes,
even though it means having no idea what might
be left when they return.
[car horns honking]
Others decide to stay put in order to protect the things
they've worked so hard for.
Some of these people have experienced
near misses before, and are hoping like hell
this next storm will be more of the same.
For them, it's worth the risk--
or it seems to be.
- Weather experts are now predicting
that it will become a full-blown hurricane
by nightfall, a Category 4 at least--
some say Category 5.
The conditions are changing rapidly,
and that could affect the hurricane's intensity
and where it ultimately makes landfall.
- Over the next few days, the five hurricanes,
all Category 5 strength,
will make landfall on three continents.
By the time it's done, the Hydra Storm
will alter coastlines forever
and devastate our civilization.
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
- Fortunately for us, hurricanes are very wide,
but they're also very low.
We've ascended to 35,000 feet,
10,000 meters above Storm Alpha,
to a safe altitude.
I guess it depends what you mean by safe.
It's been a long flight, and the airplane
is getting low on fuel.
For some reason, we've lost contact
with air traffic control.
There's no choice but to attempt a landing
in Houston before the hurricane gets any stronger.
This is fine.
It's fine.
[intense music]
* *
[glass shattering]
The weight of the water causes the entire city
to sink 5 inches.
Yes, really.
Millions of residents are threatened
by sledgehammer winds and massive storm surges
that will drown entire neighborhoods in minutes.
The evacuation order was given too late.
Many victims won't be able to escape.
While others made the fateful decision
to ride out the storm.
- Storm Alpha's powerful winds
are causing record-breaking surges
throughout downtown Houston,
some as high as 20 feet above sea level.
If you are in the city, please,
please find shelter above--
- [gasps]
[thunder rumbling]
[clattering]
[tense music]
* *
- As the Gulf Coast is ravaged,
the other four heads of the Hydra Storm
are making landfall with equal fury.
* *
[people screaming]
[siren wailing]
* *
- [gasping]
* *
[helicopter droning]
[people screaming]
[plane rattling]
- [breathing raggedly]
[indistinct chatter]
- Unfortunately, the pilot's miscalculated.
This flight won't be able to land.
[person screams]
I mean, technically, it'll land on something.
- Will you shut the [bleep] up!
[people screaming]
[clattering]
- [gasping]
[glass cracking]
[screams]
- Well, as you can see, it's not just flooding
you got to worry about.
It's wind too.
Right now, it's at a peak intensity.
210 miles an hour, a new record.
The first Category 6 hurricane in history.
Whoa!
Ah!
[screaming]
[grunts]
Oh, no!
[screaming]
- [groaning]
While the United States has better infrastructure
than many nations,
government officials' reluctance to act,
delays in the chain of command,
and the fast-moving nature of the Hydra Storm
all delivered a death toll to the United States
of 200,000 people.
Around the world, another 12 million are dead.
The economic losses are in the trillions.
We're talking about instant mass unemployment, riots,
neighbor against neighbor, desperate people
searching desperately for something to eat
and water to drink.
Extremist groups managed to topple
vulnerable governments just like that.
In short, the world is a hot mess.
The environmental devastation was enormous.
The Hydra Storm ripped its way through America's heartland,
flooding 100,000 square miles.
These floodplains used to be the Great Plains--
where we grew our crops, where our food came from.
So now what, people?
Well, we're gonna starve.
[dramatic music]
[machine humming]
Whew!
I hope that was fun--
for you.
Did things have to be this bad?
No!
Is there any way we could have seen this coming
and done a lot better?
Chyah!
But first thing's first,
let's demystify this disaster.
Let's explore the anatomy of a storm.
I've prepared a little demo.
Let's go to the bat cave.
Well, there are no bats, and it's not really a cave.
It's up here.
[inquisitive music]
Now big storms, like hurricanes,
form at sea, driven by the upward motion of warm air.
Now for our model storm in a jar here,
we have heat from our model Sun,
along with our miniature cold ocean.
The temperature difference is driving a current,
a circulation of air and water vapor.
Let's add a little smoke so we can see the motion of the air.
In a storm, when the rising air hits the stratosphere,
it moves sideways before it falls back down.
If enough air is moving, the combined forces
of gravity and Earth's rotation
make a storm system spin.
That's what gives hurricanes and cyclones
their signature swirl.
Okay, heat powers storms.
Where is all that heat coming from?
Just like in our model, it begins with the Sun.
But what really matters is where that solar heat ends up.
On Earth, most of the heat gets stored in the ocean.
You may not believe me, but this tub contains
over a ton of water.
Water is heavy. It can hold a lot of heat.
Did you ever jump in a lake, a cold one?
I have. You feel it everywhere.
Water carries heat away from your body
25 times faster than air.
[musical sting]
* *
[sighs]
Warm water also stores heat energy well.
It's like a thermal battery.
Heat energy from the surface of the ocean is the battery
that powers our hurricanes and cyclones.
The warmer the ocean, the stronger the storms.
Our oceans are getting warmer and warmer each year.
[grunts]
* *
Red on the map shows where the temperatures are rising.
Take a look.
There's a hell of a lot of red!
The warming oceans are giving rise
to more intense, violent storms
and to the very real possibility of a hydra storm.
But why are the oceans getting warmer?
What's changing?
To answer that question, we'll have to go back in time.
All the way back to when fire was new.
[insects chirping]
We've been at this a long time.
Charred bones and wood ash tell us that early hominids
were tending the very first fires
more than a million years ago.
Early on, fires provided heat and light
to our old friend, Cor.
After all, who doesn't love a nice hot meal
of toasted acorns and seared woolly mammoth meat?
- [huffs] - Oh, hi.
Is this, uh, paleo?
I got to figure those early humans realized
they were controlling some sort of pure energy.
Just watching the ashes rise into the sky
must have made our ancestors wonder
if there wasn't a way to harness that energy.
But as our species evolved, we began finding
all sorts of ways to harness heat
and all kinds of new ways to make fire.
[rhythmic whirring]
Use a fire to get water hot, and you get steam.
We call something that uses heat
to make things go or spin a heat engine.
The Industrial Revolution ran on heat engines
that were powered by hot-burning,
piston-stroking, wheel-spinning fires
of wood and coal.
* *
The key to any heat engine, big or small,
is a temperature difference.
Hotter in one place, cooler in another.
This is true of an old time steam engine
or an internal combustion engine.
It's also true of a huge atmospheric storm
powered by warm water below and cold air above.
We wanted more and more heat
to keep our civilization going and growing.
So we started burning fossil fuels like coal.
It turns out fossil fuels are the remains
of ancient plants transformed by millions
of years of pressure and heat.
In some mines, you can actually see the tree trunks
that have turned to coal.
Natural gas and oil generally come
from microscopic ocean plants.
No matter where it came from,
if we can find an ancient fossil fuel, we'll burn it.
Like our distant ancestors, we're burning old dead plants.
We love burning stuff.
[car horn honks] Humans are pyromaniacs,
burning more fires than ever before.
This swanky SUV burns ancient petroleum,
which we purified and refined to keep his engine running.
It's hot on the inside and cool out here.
Another heat engine.
For thousands of years, we didn't consider
that these fires might have any consequence.
The carbon captured by ancient plants
becomes carbon dioxide, the gas that's given off
when we burn fossil fuels.
CO2, as it's known, is really good
at trapping heat.
Our penchant for burning ancient dead things
is creating a monster.
Get away from me!
Ah!
[tense music]
* *
We created this monster.
And here's the thing.
It doesn't have to happen like this.
We can get past our million-year-old obsession
with burning dead plants.
We have a way to slay this beast.
We call it science.
[playful music]
[inquisitive music]
* *
- As you may know, I'm not a professional hockey player.
But the point I want to make can't be made
with a round ball or a Frisbee.
The hockey stick is the shape of the most iconic graph
of the 20th century because it shows how fast
the world is getting warmer.
And we're the ones causing it.
Our ancestor, Cor, was here.
The average global temperature of Earth
remained relatively steady over the last 10,000 years.
Until around the year 1900.
Then it shot up as fossil fuel burning increased.
You and I are here.
Well, what scientific evidence did climatologist,
Michael Mann, examine to come up with this graph?
Rings in trees, mud and rock from the bottoms of lakes,
the ice at the poles, bleaching of coral reefs,
melting glaciers, rising sea levels,
and more frequent and more violent hurricanes.
Evidence of our obsession with burning fossil fuels
is all around us.
So how do we bend this curve?
[suspenseful music]
We don't want to go back to the days
when we hung out in caves,
and we can't just shut down civilization.
Let's find new ways to make fire.
[inquisitive music]
* *
I've never understood the notion
that renewable energy is some kind
of hippie-dippie or fringe idea,
like vampire facials or crystal sound baths.
Now, take solar energy, which even today gets a lot of flak.
When you think about it, the Sun is the main source
of power for all life on the planet
and fuels the entire food chain.
Plants use photosynthesis,
the process of turning sunlight into energy,
to feed themselves, and in turn,
feed us and every other species on Earth.
If only we humans could do what you can do.
Well, we've got the next best thing.
The sun shines everywhere on Earth.
We've figured out how to capture its energy
and turn it into electricity.
Solar panels are like leaves.
Both absorb sunlight and turn it into energy.
Yes, we don't yet have the means to store
and distribute it on very large scales,
but we're working on it.
The sun is our nuclear furnace in the sky,
and it won't shut down for billions of years.
Too often we're told that we have to choose
between progress and being good stewards of the planet,
but that's just not true.
The cities of this new millennium
can be powered by nature itself.
I'll tell you what's a kooky, fringe idea.
Burning the dried corpses of really old dead things
to fuel your civilization,
all the while knowing that by burning those ancient corpses,
you are killing yourself and everyone else.
I mean, think about it, people.
We're like some kind of weird death cult.
There are so many potential sources of energy in nature,
even the breeze itself.
Ocean-based wind turbines could slow
the winds of hurricanes.
Environmental engineers have run simulations
to show how wind turbines could extract kinetic energy
from the air and reduce coastal storm surges,
like the one Hurricane Katrina caused in New Orleans,
by almost 80%.
[thunder rumbles]
A battalion of turbines-- say a thousand or more--
could act like a wall to stop hurricanes in their tracks.
[dramatic music]
* *
A Category 5 could be tamed into a tropical storm
before it ever reaches shore.
And all of that energy would be powering our cities
instead of destroying them.
And while we're at it, let's start removing CO2
from the atmosphere.
We call it direct air carbon capture.
And it's pretty damn cool.
Think of it like artificial trees.
Trees, after all, are the original
carbon capturing machines.
Direct capture technology sucks air in with a fan
and passes it through a filter that absorbs carbon dioxide.
That CO2 gets stored underground,
where we can lock it away for good.
We can also take carbon from the atmosphere,
where it's a pollutant,
and repurpose it to enrich the soil,
where it's a nutrient.
CO2 gas can even make our drinks fizzy fun.
How about a refreshing, carbon dioxide-infused
sparkling beverage?
Mmm.
Saving the world.
Direct air carbon capture has the potential to help us
transition to a carbon-neutral energy system.
You might be thinking, Bill, what is carbon-neutral anyway?
It's when the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere
is equal to the amount being removed.
Carbon removal technologies can help
get us there more quickly.
There are 19 carbon capture plants in Europe,
the United States, and Canada.
More are being planned,
and scientists at Arizona State University
are taking carbon capture to a whole new level.
They're developing mechanical trees
that remove CO2 from the air
a thousand times more efficiently than real trees.
These Redwood-sized towers capture carbon
as the wind blows through their filters.
Imagine entire carbon forests standing tall,
cleaning up our atmosphere.
[uplifting music]
Let's electrify our transportation.
We've just started to make the transition
from gas-powered engines, to hybrid,
to fully electric vehicles.
The big jet companies are already working
on electric planes.
Hear that?
No, you don't,
because I'm flying on an electric plane right now,
giving off zero emissions.
[playful music]
* *
By bending the curve, we turn down the heat.
We reduce the chances of a five-headed hydra storm
from ever happening, and we can be better prepared
for the storms that do happen.
[inquisitive music]
* *
Vulnerable communities can be raised above sea level
and fortified with emergency flood pumps.
Coastal cities can invest in better seawalls.
The most important change we can make
is to demand that public safety measures
be guided by science, not by denial
or short-term economic thinking.
We can prevent an act of cow.
- You're a cow, Nye!
- If we had clear, proactive hurricane warnings,
people would be better prepared,
and they'd make better decisions
the next time disaster strikes.
[thunder rumbling]
[suspenseful music]
* *
[uplifting music]
[car horns honk]
* *
Better decisions, better days ahead.
And the best part is, we can let nature take the lead
if we just get out of the way.
Wetlands have the capacity
to absorb huge amounts of water
for days on end.
And this is one of the big reasons
Hurricane Katrina became such a disaster.
When those wetlands got paved over,
and rain fell on those hardscapes,
it turned freeways into rivers,
and neighborhoods into great lakes.
By protecting wetlands, we're protecting ourselves.
* *
All of these things can be accomplished
in just a few decades--
in some cases, just a few years.
It's within our reach.
Thanks. - Mm-hmm.
- Many of you watching right now
will be around to see the day when we end CO2 emissions
and become carbon-neutral.
Or maybe someday, carbon-negative.
What can I say?
I'm an optimist.
How about you?
- So what have we learned?
Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere fuels storms.
Storms kill people and cost money.
If we take action now, we can prevent
more storms and devastation.
We can do this, people!
All hands on deck!
If you're young, demand that adults
take your future seriously,
because it's not theirs to sell to the highest bidder.
If you're old enough to vote,
make sure the people you're electing
have an eye on the environment.
If you're earning a decent living,
put your money where your mouth is.
Invest in clean energy.
And if you're a billionaire--
hey, man, do the math!
You can't do business on a drowned planet.
And there's another thing we've learned,
and it might be the most important thing yet.
For most of human history, Earth controlled our fate.
We were at the mercy of natural forces
beyond our control.
Today, to a greater and greater extent,
we control the fate of Earth.
We're changing the chemistry of the atmosphere
and the temperature of the oceans.
There are other issues, of course.
But those are stories for another day.
We didn't ask to be in charge here,
but now Earth is in human hands.
We're stewards of an entire planet.
We all live here. We all share the same air.
We all share the same days ahead.
And I see a future with clear skies.
[uplifting music]
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