Home

Home is a documentary film by director Yann Arthus-Bertrand, narrated by actress Glenn Close.

I urge you to see this film.
It is composed almost entirely of arial shots of the Earth. The images are astounding.
The narration takes you through the images, beginning with how life on Earth began, with blue-green algae, trees, carbon, oxygen. How the minerals in the earth are what gives it it's colours, and how volcanoes and then water shaped the landscape and created seas, rivers and ecosystems.

Visually it is truly, truly stunning. There were shots of forests, icy wastelands, mountains, multi-hued earth and seascapes that I didn't even know were on the planet.

The film moves on, telling how humans became civilised, forming towns in order to share knowledge and skills, the better to prosper. After this came the rise of agriculture as a means of survival, with groups of humans being able to work together to utilise the resources of the land instead of relying on instinct and luck to hunt and survive.
During this section there were many shots of very remote villages and towns in parts of Africa, depciting people who essentially still live a simple life of labour, dependent on the land and on everybody in their society playing their part.

The agriculture section was interesting to me. The shots of giant cornfields in the western USA with 6 combine harvesters working simultaneously in a row were sort of frightening - the sheer scale almost defies credit, particularly when compared with harvests in other parts of the world. Below is a labourer in Bangladesh during harvest.

The film also covered deserts and the need to feed local populations, and the resulting agricultural developments in irrigation and fertilisers. The circular shape of these fields is due to the configuration of pipes which supply the vast amounts of water necessary to sustain them.

That was another thing that caught me - the percentage of the World's water that goes on agriculture is huuuuge. Necessary to feed our ever-expanding population but huuuuge. There were mentions of the many uses of water worldwide - crops, drinking water of course, sanitation. But then there was also mention of things like golf courses and swimming pools. The amount of water that must be used to maintain the perfect lawns of golf courses and other recreational facilities or things of a purely aesthetic nature - it makes the mind boggle. There are nations in crisis and many more people and economies will suffer horribly from lack of water in the next quarter century. As long as the golf courses are still ok! It does make me feel ashamed that wealthy western civilisation has to spend so much goddamn money to entertain itself. Compare and contrast: I know which cost more. And I know who looks like they're having more fun. This kind of thing is a facade, where we have convinced ourselves that we do enjoy golf, all-singing all-dancing swimming pools, casinos, TV, etc etc etc but if we stood back and really reflected on the enjoyment we derive from them, we would be surprised at how little it actually is. If we could all be brave and admit that this manufactured world we live in isn't actually all we pretend it is, I think it would cause a change for the better. Don't get me wrong, I'm as adapted to modern life as anyone - I drive my car to the cinema to watch films or to buy imported food from megastore chains and wash my face with expensive cleansers and all that stuff. But it's not like I couldn't survive without it. It's not like any of us couldn't. We have lost track of the distinction between what we need and what we want.

Anyway. From agriculture we move to today's serious problems. Deforestation. Fires. Mass production, pollution, nations under threat.

You've heard it all before. Seen the documentaries, the TV ads, the news, the dreadlocked youths in the streets trying to get you to sign petitions. And the agruments - 'global warming does exist' 'does' 'doesn't' etc.

Thing is that's not the point. Whatever stance you take, whatever you believe, whatever label you choose to put on it - our planet is in trouble. Our planet, not the planet. (Note the difference: one denotes collective responsibility, one denies it.) People are dying, species have been wiped out.

There was a great example given in Easter Island, formerly home of the Rapanui people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island 'In recent times the island has served as a cautionary tale about the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation.'
I believe this is what we call concrete evidence - humanity is not invincible. We can seal our own fate or we can change it. We are the first and only known species with the real ability to do this and we should get on and make use of that, or Earth will become one big Easter Island. This is not an exaggeration. We feel too safe. Particularly people who live the kind of life I live. My day to day existence does not include poverty, hardship, climate influenced devastation. When it rains in England, my family's livelihood doesn't get destroyed. If there's a tsunami, people I love don't die. It's almost a question of 'if I can't see it, it doesn't happen.' But you've all heard of the butterfly effect - the concept that even the smallest action, like the beating of a butterflies' wings, can have untold consequences, because everything in this world is linked.

Here are a couple more of my favourite images from the film - examples of erosion in Madagascar.










The Earth is bleeding. I think these images look like wounds.











And here we have deforestation.

Which to my mind does not look so different from a battlefield strewn with bodies.

All linked. The systems on which our ecology and environment is based are intricate and fragile. Greenland's ice caps, which are most definitely melting, will affect sea levels worldwide and the change in sea temperature will damage coral reefs, home to countless species as well as a fairly vital ingredient for life - oxygen. I think we will one day pay for everything we have if more sacrifices are not made.

I reinforce my earlier point - whatever argument you want to make, whatever scientists you stand behind - this is happening. These images are not CGI, they are not artists' impressions, they are deadly real. It seems stupid to waste time arguing the fine points - let's just acknowledge what we must acknowledge and get on with dealing with it.

Of course humanity must evolve and progress, but I am only 20 and the rate at which we are developing really scares me. Population, number of cars on the road, amount of water used have all increased two, three, fivefold and more in only the last 50 years. I've got at least another 50 years in me so what the hell can I expect to see in my lifetime? If something doesn't slow down, I don't know that I want to find out. It's not a race. We are in competition with noone but ourselves. The great human flaw - the need to always be superior.

Of course a big human aspect to the whole issue is that of population growth, which is probably the main factor in the world's problems. We are increasing faster than the planet can supply us with resources - literally supply and demand. Demand is far too great. The person that suggests a mass homocide to thin down the population will of course be hung drawn and quartered. As will the person who campaigns for a law banning reproduction for the next few years to give Earth a chance to catch up. There's no way round it. The planet suffers, or human beings who have every right to be on the planet suffer, so really we are already paying a price (or rather innocent people in poor countries are largely paying the price). Massive dilemma. There are answers in renewable energy, sustainable fishing and eco-friendly lifestyles.

The butterfly effect works both ways. The smallest actions can make for the biggest differences in the crusade to preserve life as we know it. So, recycle. Walk short distances. Buy local. Don't drink bottled water - for God's sake, I'm from a country where the drinking water is perfectly safe, and in fact pretty good, so anyone from England who will only drink bottled water ought to be packed off to a slum town outside in Rio de Janeiro for a reality check. Or given a good wallop with a shovel.

Above all, noone should surrender. Apathy is the biggest killer. Just because it looks really bad now doesn't mean it can't be turned around. For all people's flaws, each and every one of us is also posessed with this great thing - will. So if we make it our collective will to not let our planet go to hell in a handbasket, it won't.
'One of the most successful national reforestation effort is the one undertaken in South Korea beginning in the 1960s. By the end of the Korean War, South Korea was almost totally deforested by a combination of heavy logging and reliance on fuelwood during the Japanese occupation. Relying on the creation of village cooperatives, hundreds of thousands of people were mobilized to dig trenches and to create terraces for supporting trees on barren mountains. Today forests cover 65 percent of the country, an area of roughly 8 million hectares.'
Would this have happened if the South Koreans had said 'well, we could give reforestation a go. But it probably won't work so let's not bother. Let's just sit here and wait for our nation to starve/freeze'? No it would not. We can but try. I for one think that nature is amazing and well worth the effort - better to fail having done our best than fail having done nothing. Because Mother Nature knows, you know. I don't want to go all biblical but she knows when it's time to remind humans who is boss, and I'm sure that if the time ever comes, she will rain down fire and brimstone or flood the entire earth.

And then she will say 'well I hate to say I told you so...'



In the words of the great poet, Cheryl Cole - 'Anything that's worth having is sure enough worth fighting for'

<<<<< (Not bad, but not as beautiful as Earth)

LET'S DO THIS PEOPLE

If you get the chance to see 'Home' I thoroughly recommend you do. You may dislike the commentary, or the tone, or the entire concept but I guarantee you'll learn something.