0:00:06 > 0:00:07This is our home.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15From up here, it looks the same as it has done for thousands of years.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21But if you get a bit closer you can see we've made a few changes.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25We've been busy re-designing our world.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30'Wherever you look...'
0:00:30 > 0:00:32Welcome to the top of the world!
0:00:33 > 0:00:36'..you can see the scale of our achievements.'
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Oh, my God! This is actually freaking me out.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Just don't, whatever you do, look down.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47'Our generation is changing the face of the planet as never before.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55'I'm Dallas Campbell,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58'and I'm going to show you how we're shaping the modern world.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Like someone's covered the whole thing in clingfilm.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12'We're changing vast landscapes to feed a growing population.'
0:01:15 > 0:01:19This is Brazilian cow number two hundred and ten million and one.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24'And harnessing the Earth's resources to power our planet.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30'Today, we act on a scale previously unimaginable.'
0:01:30 > 0:01:32Three, two, one...
0:01:32 > 0:01:34'We have become a force of nature.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38'We're making the impossible possible.'
0:02:12 > 0:02:15When I was a kid, we used to have this golden camping rule,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19which was, "If you can't carry it, it doesn't come,"
0:02:19 > 0:02:22because, ultimately, the fun of camping
0:02:22 > 0:02:26is just about stripping life back to its absolute basics.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32'And the basics of life are food, water and energy.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38'Now, think of that on a global scale
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'and just imagine how much we get through.'
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Take a city like New York.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Every day, New Yorkers use 1.5 billion gallons of water,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07enough to fill five Empire State Buildings.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17In just three days, they eat enough grain
0:03:17 > 0:03:21to turn all the roads in Manhattan into gigantic fields of wheat.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33And the city uses as much fuel as you'd get from six massive oil rigs,
0:03:33 > 0:03:34running round the clock.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Of course, the real world works rather differently.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00So how do you get enough fresh water, enough meat, enough bread,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04enough fruit and vegetables onto people's dinner plates?
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Well, really, within our own lifetimes,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10we've been reshaping the planet and we've done it on a scale
0:04:10 > 0:04:13the likes of which we've never seen before.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31'We survive by harnessing the Earth's resources.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34'And the most important is water.'
0:04:34 > 0:04:35- It's a nice day!- Yeah.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37HE CHUCKLES
0:04:37 > 0:04:40- Can you give me a bit of a shove? - Yes, certainly.- Brilliant.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53'At 23 miles long,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57'Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in the UK.'
0:05:00 > 0:05:02It's absolutely vast and very, very deep,
0:05:02 > 0:05:03there is a lot of water in here
0:05:03 > 0:05:06but, obviously, in terms of the total amount of water on the planet,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09it's a tiny fraction of a drop
0:05:09 > 0:05:14of the 1.4 billion cubic kilometres in total,
0:05:14 > 0:05:19which sounds like a lot of water, but there's a catch.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26'Only a tiny fraction of the water on Earth is drinkable.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:32Right.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Now, I want you to imagine
0:05:34 > 0:05:38that all the water in my bucket here represents all the water on Earth.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Now, most of that is seawater, salty seawater
0:05:40 > 0:05:42and it's no good for humans to drink at all.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Now, if I put my hands in,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46the water I can hold in my hands
0:05:46 > 0:05:49represents all the freshwater on Earth, it's about 3%,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52but most of that is actually tied up in ice or deep underground,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54and it's very difficult for us to get to.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00And if I let that go, just the water that remains on my damp hands
0:06:00 > 0:06:04is the water that's available to us and it's hardly anything at all.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11'There are 16 billion gallons of fresh water here.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16'But not everyone can live near enough to use it as drinking water.'
0:06:16 > 0:06:18And it's the same the world over.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20We're surrounded by water,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23but often it's the wrong sort or it's in the wrong place.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33'One of our greatest challenges
0:06:33 > 0:06:35'has been getting water to where it's needed.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50'The Grand Canyon.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55'And winding through it, the majestic Colorado River.'
0:07:02 > 0:07:05What can I tell you about the Grand Canyon
0:07:05 > 0:07:08other than it lives up to its star billing?
0:07:08 > 0:07:11The cliffs are just stacked on top of each other
0:07:11 > 0:07:14and the Canyon just plummets down seemingly for ever.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16It's that powerful flowing water
0:07:16 > 0:07:20that's sculpted the landscape so dramatically.
0:07:20 > 0:07:21But in OUR search for water
0:07:21 > 0:07:26we've transformed the planet in ways that are just as spectacular.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34'Flying out of the Grand Canyon,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37'you come across something you might not expect.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41'A huge lake.'
0:07:42 > 0:07:45This may look like a natural wonder,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49but, in fact, it's man-made -
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Lake Mead.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59At 110 miles long,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02it can hold a vast amount of fresh water.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13It's one of the largest man-made lakes in the world.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31And THIS is the structure that started it all - the Hoover Dam.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54If anything can stop a river in its tracks, this can.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57A seven million tonne curve of concrete
0:08:57 > 0:09:01that transfers all the force of the water from Lake Mead
0:09:01 > 0:09:03into the rock walls of the Canyon.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08It's only ten o'clock in the morning,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10and it's absolutely rammed packed with tourists,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14people coming and driving over the Hoover Dam,
0:09:14 > 0:09:15because it is box-office!
0:09:15 > 0:09:1880 years on, it still has this magnetic draw to it.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20You can see just how beautiful it is,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24the way this concrete bowl sweeps down into the valley floor.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26And it is one of the great American stories -
0:09:26 > 0:09:29this was built in the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32And yet, it became this symbol of optimism,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36as well as being one of the great engineering and science stories.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Nothing on this scale had ever been attempted before.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49220 metres tall and a staggering 370 metres wide,
0:09:49 > 0:09:55apparently, it contains enough concrete to build a pavement all the way round the equator,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58subject to planning permission, of course.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03When it was built, it was the largest concrete structure on Earth.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Cocooned deep inside the dam is a mysterious, hidden world of tunnels.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'The biggest fear engineers faced
0:10:25 > 0:10:28'was whether the dam would be strong enough.'
0:10:29 > 0:10:32If you've ever worried about cracks in your plaster at home,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34spare a thought for the builders of the Hoover Dam.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Obviously, they were working at the very limits of engineering,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40so they were a little bit worried about cracks and the whole lot coming down.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43And you can see, look, it's been somebody's job
0:10:43 > 0:10:45to inspect these hairline cracks.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48You can see a little one just coming down there.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53And he's put a mark alongside just to highlight it
0:10:53 > 0:10:57and he's initialled it, Mr OBS,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59and he did that in 1943.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08This is the end of the tunnel.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Now, I've got a little camera here, a little video camera,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and I wanted to just show you what it looks like looking back up.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24'Up close, you can see the dam isn't one solid wall,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26'but layers of interlocking blocks.'
0:11:28 > 0:11:30If they had poured it in one lump,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33it would have taken 100 years to harden,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36because concrete gives off heat when it sets.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39A bit of a problem in the intense desert heat.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44So small sections, cooled with refrigerated pipes,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46got the job done in just two years.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54For the next two decades, the Hoover Dam was the tallest in the world.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01A record breaker that showed
0:12:01 > 0:12:04what a new generation of engineers could achieve.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08We'd created a man-made lake,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13so big it's a landmark as indelible as the Grand Canyon itself.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23The Hoover Dam was a turning point.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27But now, with so many dams across the globe that are even bigger,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31we've harnessed one third of the world's entire river flow.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37In fact, we've captured so much water,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40we've altered the spin of the Earth -
0:12:40 > 0:12:43it now rotates a fraction of a second slower.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58'By harnessing water on this scale,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01'we can live in some of the harshest places on Earth.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12'Where there was once just wilderness,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15'whole towns are springing up out of the sand.'
0:13:21 > 0:13:23We can build entire cities...
0:13:25 > 0:13:28'..like this one - Las Vegas.'
0:13:31 > 0:13:33With Lake Mead on its doorstep,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Vegas has tripled in size in just 30 years.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56There used to be just 8,000 people living here.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Now, there are two million.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04And another 40 million visitors flock here every year.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10All to one of the hottest places on Earth.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Whatever you think of Las Vegas, they are extraordinary, aren't they?
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Just over 100 years ago, none of this was here at all.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Las Vegas, literally, was just a railroad stop.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33That is it - desert.
0:14:36 > 0:14:3935 years ago, none of the big hotels were here.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43If you want a symbol of sheer speed of transformation,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Las Vegas wins hands down.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Damming rivers is one way to provide our water,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00but what do you do when the rivers run dry?
0:15:08 > 0:15:09Take China.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Most people live in the north of the country in cities like Beijing,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18but droughts here are leaving rivers and lakes empty.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25By contrast, the south, with fewer people, has six times more water.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30So the Chinese are diverting water northwards
0:15:30 > 0:15:32by building an artificial river.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Stretching around 700 miles,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42it rivals some of the world's longest natural rivers.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52The Shahe Aqueduct, a giant race canal
0:15:52 > 0:15:56and, currently, part of the world's largest engineering project.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08The idea for this project has actually been knocking around for quite a while now.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12In fact, it was China's leader Chairman Mao who, in 1952, said,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15"The south has a lot of water, the north a little,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18"so, if possible, it's OK to lend a bit."
0:16:18 > 0:16:22And here we are, 60 years later, with an answer to that -
0:16:22 > 0:16:23it is possible.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27It's going to be difficult, it takes a lot of human ingenuity,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29but China is doing it.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38To build on such a gigantic scale,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41the Chinese are constructing the aqueduct on site
0:16:41 > 0:16:45in separate 45-metre-long sections.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Each one starts off as a giant framework of steel rods.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08It's fascinating just to stand here and see all this steel.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10It's about 80 tonnes of it,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13all welded together and wired together
0:17:13 > 0:17:15to create this bird's-nest skeleton.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21The whole structure is encased in concrete
0:17:21 > 0:17:23and then moved into position.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31This crane can lift a whopping 1,200 tonnes,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35and each one of these sections weighs 1,200 tonnes,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38so we are at maximum crane lifting capacity here.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46No pressure, then, for 25-year-old crane driver Guang Ah Fang.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Building an aqueduct over such a long distance
0:18:12 > 0:18:14isn't just about brute force.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23It's worth remembering, of course,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25there's no pumps here to pump the water down.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29It's all completely reliant on gravity,
0:18:29 > 0:18:36which means you have to engineer a very, very precise gradient in it from north to south.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38And when you consider
0:18:38 > 0:18:42that this whole thing is about 1,200 km long...
0:18:44 > 0:18:46..that's some extreme plumbing!
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Positioning is absolutely critical.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00To keep the water flowing,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04one end of each section has to be lower than the other
0:19:04 > 0:19:06by exactly one centimetre.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19The aqueduct is so long it won't be fully operational until 2030.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23But, when it's complete, millions in northern China will benefit.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Harnessing water has led to the largest engineering project on Earth.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35But it's our need to feed ourselves
0:19:35 > 0:19:38that's really transforming the face of our planet.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50A small plot of land on the local allotment
0:19:50 > 0:19:54used to be a common way to provide fruit and veg for the family.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57If you were prepared to spend a few hours a week tending it.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06And, for some people, that's never changed.
0:20:08 > 0:20:14Len Spaulding has been growing veg on his allotment for over 40 years.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18- During the war, they was created because no-one had no food.- Yeah.
0:20:18 > 0:20:19And that's what they were made for.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Wow, these are some fine-looking carrots.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24There we go, let's get this one, this is a monster.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27I'm going to need a bigger fork.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28Look at that!
0:20:28 > 0:20:31That is the kind of carrot that's going to win prizes.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35That surprised me more than it surprised you, quite frankly.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38- It's a beauty, isn't it?- This is a proper Bugs Bunny carrot.- Yes.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41What is it about growing your own veg that's so satisfying?
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Well, it's the excitement of what's coming out.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46I've got carrots here, asparagus there,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48potatoes there, parsnips there,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52plums, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries...
0:20:52 > 0:20:55And I can't think of anything else.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58THEY CHUCKLE
0:21:02 > 0:21:05But we can't all grow our own food.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10In the modern world, others tend to do it for us.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14After all, it's become a fairly big operation.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Try to imagine just how much food we get through globally each day.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Every single day, we produce nearly a million tonnes of meat.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57And nearly three million tonnes of grain.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03The amount we produce has almost tripled in just 50 years.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10It is absolutely mind-blowing
0:22:10 > 0:22:14just how much food the human race now consumes,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18so much so we've had to completely rethink the way that we produce it.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27When we first started growing food,
0:22:27 > 0:22:31our farming was dictated by nature.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34But today we're controlling nature
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and on a vast scale.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44It may not look like it, but one place where that's happening
0:22:44 > 0:22:46is right here, on the south coast of Spain.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53I just love landscapes, love this...
0:22:53 > 0:22:56just unforgiving and dramatic,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58but, you know, not very productive.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02You just come down, you can feel just how dry the soil is,
0:23:02 > 0:23:03absolutely no moisture at all.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Obviously, you've got the kind of desert scrub plants
0:23:07 > 0:23:10which kind of eke out a living.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14This region is one of the driest parts of Europe.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17On the face of it, it's a dust bowl.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20But this arid landscape has become the site
0:23:20 > 0:23:22of an agricultural revolution.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26'In the 1950s,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30'local farmers found that any crops they could actually get to take root
0:23:30 > 0:23:32'were just blown down by the wind.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35'Until they made a remarkable discovery.'
0:23:40 > 0:23:44It's interesting just how much human innovation happened by chance.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Growers would put up this vertical plastic sheeting
0:23:47 > 0:23:50in order to protect their crops from the wind.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54But then they had this eureka moment when they realised that it had an added benefit -
0:23:54 > 0:23:58in that it actually made their crops ripen earlier.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Protecting crops meant farmers could make the barren landscape fertile,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10with the added bonus of an extended growing season.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16It was the start of an amazing physical transformation.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21'Farmers here had spotted an opportunity
0:24:21 > 0:24:26'to change this arid region into a gigantic market garden.'
0:24:30 > 0:24:32So, production on that scale,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34you can forget about your greenhouse at the bottom of your garden,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37you're going to need something a little bigger.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Inside this ginormous greenhouse,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49there are a quarter of a million kilos of tomatoes.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00But it's not just growing under cover that's the key to their success.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Nature itself no longer always gets a look in.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Lola Gomez Ferran has spent her working life
0:25:14 > 0:25:18perfecting a very different way of growing tomatoes.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20The variety, the name is "angel".
0:25:20 > 0:25:21- Angel?- Angel?
0:25:21 > 0:25:23- Angel.- Angel. It's very good.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26What I notice here, you know, the interesting thing,
0:25:26 > 0:25:28here we are, we're inside this huge greenhouse
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and none of the tomato plants are actually growing in the ground.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Yes, normally they grow hydroponically.
0:25:35 > 0:25:36Yeah. So just in grow bags,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38like you might get in the garden centre at home.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42And this isn't soil in here, is it, this is basically loft insulation.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Yes, the advantage is that
0:25:44 > 0:25:48the system permits reuse all the water and all the nutrients.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Never contaminate underground.
0:25:51 > 0:25:52It's interesting to know
0:25:52 > 0:25:55that they get the water through these irrigation tubes,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and their nutrients, so water drips along here and at the bottom.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03And the result is these beautiful tomatoes,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05absolutely gorgeous.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07'It's an industrial way of growing crops,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10'a factory farm for vegetables.'
0:26:21 > 0:26:22It is nice to think that,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24when you buy your tomatoes from the supermarket
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and it says "Product Of Spain,"
0:26:27 > 0:26:29this is actually where they come from.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38They can grow two entire crops like this one over the year.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47But there's not just one big greenhouse.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50There's quite a few.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55'Which means there's really only one way to appreciate them.'
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Keep running.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59- From the air! - Keep running, keep running.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Wow, we're up! That was great!
0:27:21 > 0:27:25'It's a shimmering sea of greenhouses -
0:27:25 > 0:27:28'the largest concentration in the world
0:27:28 > 0:27:31'and a monument to the way we now produce food.'
0:27:36 > 0:27:39That arid desert just drops off, suddenly there's a clean line
0:27:39 > 0:27:41and then it just becomes white.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44It is just like it's been snowing down here,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47it's as if we're flying over a snowfield.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50It is bizarre, like someone's, er...
0:27:50 > 0:27:53covered the whole thing in clingfilm.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59'Suddenly, we hit a pocket of rising air.'
0:28:06 > 0:28:07Woo!
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Agh!
0:28:10 > 0:28:12Agh!
0:28:12 > 0:28:15- Agh!- This is the hot air from the plastic.- Oh, man!
0:28:17 > 0:28:20- What is it, the hot air from the plastic?- Yeah.
0:28:27 > 0:28:28Amazing!
0:28:28 > 0:28:32You can just feel the warm air picking us up and carrying us,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35exactly like a bird flies on a thermal -
0:28:35 > 0:28:39warm air rising from all this plastic, carrying us up even higher.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44Oh, just glorious.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48'The wind and the heat is exactly
0:28:48 > 0:28:51'what made growing crops here so difficult
0:28:51 > 0:28:53'until all these greenhouses were built.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59'As far as the eye can see,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02'almost every corner of the land is covered,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05'which makes our next move a little tricky.'
0:29:08 > 0:29:11OK, we're coming into land.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Ooh, oh...
0:29:24 > 0:29:27HE LAUGHS
0:29:27 > 0:29:32'Luckily for us, acres of plastic makes for the perfect soft landing.'
0:29:34 > 0:29:38This plastic-coated corner of the Costa Del Sol
0:29:38 > 0:29:41has now become one of the most eye-catching spots...
0:29:43 > 0:29:44..on the entire planet.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58A quarter of all those tomatoes end up here, in the UK.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05Londoners eat over half a million tonnes of fruit and veg a year,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08enough to fill Trafalgar Square
0:30:08 > 0:30:10over half-way to the top of Nelson's Column.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Of course, some of us need to eat a bit more than others.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22My name's James, I'm a cycle courier.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26I eat a lot, you know, you definitely have to eat a lot.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31I need to keep fuelled to keep riding.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38On an average day, I suppose it's about 50, 60 miles.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43I burn a lot of calories throughout the day.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46If you're constantly cycling, you can burn out,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49and I have burned out before when the day is very hot
0:30:49 > 0:30:52and you haven't hydrated enough, when you haven't eaten enough.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54So you need to replenish.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05I've got a very healthy appetite.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08My girlfriend says, "How can you eat so much and not get fat?"
0:31:08 > 0:31:09HE CHUCKLES
0:31:11 > 0:31:14But it's not just James.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21Today, the amount of food we eat is on the increase the world over
0:31:21 > 0:31:26and our hunger for one particular kind is growing spectacularly.
0:31:27 > 0:31:28Meat.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43The average American eats 2,000 animals in their lifetime.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48This moving mountain of steak is a little on the rare side.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Though we're not in Texas or anywhere in North America.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02This rodeo is in a completely different continent.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04We're in Brazil!
0:32:09 > 0:32:13There are now rodeos like this all over Brazil.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19And that's because the beef industry has exploded in just a few decades.
0:32:28 > 0:32:3120 years ago, this country was importing most of its food.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Today, things are very different.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44I'm not here to show why the Brazilians are obsessed with rodeo,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47but because it's places like this that really show
0:32:47 > 0:32:51how radically a nation can change, almost overnight.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58It's 7am and these ranchers
0:32:58 > 0:33:01are about to round up one of their herds.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03But it's not just any herd.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Welcome to the world of the mega-farm.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19This ranch alone has over 125,000 head of cattle.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29But this is nothing compared to the country as a whole.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33Today, Brazil has more cattle than people - over 210 million.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38It's now the largest beef exporter in the world.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Perhaps the biggest key to the nation's success is its sheer size.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Brazil is vast. Almost all of Europe could fit inside it.
0:33:59 > 0:34:00In the north of the country,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03the irony is that a lot of space was created
0:34:03 > 0:34:07because of the loss of a precious ecosystem.
0:34:07 > 0:34:08Only a generation ago,
0:34:08 > 0:34:12some of what's now farmland was rainforest.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Deforestation has cleared vast tracts of land.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Huge effort has gone into halting this.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27But much of the new space has become farmland.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39'This farm never was rainforest,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43'but it demonstrates a different reason for Brazil's success.'
0:34:43 > 0:34:45This is the magic ingredient.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52In here, we've got...
0:34:54 > 0:34:55..bull semen.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59Brazilians are at the forefront of bovine genetics
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and this stuff gets sold all round the world.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07Through cutting-edge breeding programs,
0:35:07 > 0:35:11farms like this have crossed native Brazilian breeds with Indian cattle
0:35:11 > 0:35:15to produce cows that not only reproduce quicker,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17but also cope with the hot climate.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22'They have, in effect, created a "supercow".'
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Wow, look at that! Oh!
0:35:26 > 0:35:30'And I'm about to meet the latest addition to the herd.'
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Oh! Look at you! Hi!
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Hi, there. Oh, my God, he's gorgeous, isn't he?
0:35:38 > 0:35:42This is Brazilian cow number two hundred and ten million and one.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Born just a few hours ago.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47Welcome.
0:35:47 > 0:35:48Can I hold?
0:35:48 > 0:35:50Under there? Ah, oh...
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Blimey! You're heavy!
0:35:52 > 0:35:55You're heavy! Oh, wow, look at that!
0:35:55 > 0:35:58What's that, nine pound? No, more than that.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00You are heavy, little thing, aren't you?
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Cute as he is, though, these cows are big, big business.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06This farm specialises in breeding.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10Apparently, there's 20,000 expectant mothers per month
0:36:10 > 0:36:12just on this ranch.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14That's a lot of calves.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17You'd better go back to your mum.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21'Brazilian cows can naturally give birth to around 15 calves.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26'Using artificial insemination, they can now produce up to 60.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30'It's specialising in calves that's made this farm such a success.'
0:36:31 > 0:36:34She'll be all right. She'll be OK.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39'It looks like I've made a new friend.'
0:36:39 > 0:36:42I'm not your mother!
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Come on, you want to... Come on, you want to go this way.
0:36:45 > 0:36:46There you go!
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Come on. You want to go over there.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Your mum's going to be worried about you.
0:37:01 > 0:37:02We should leave them in peace.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05We'll leave them... Leave them in peace now?
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Thank you very much, thank you for letting me see that.
0:37:08 > 0:37:09It was amazing, amazing.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Today, mega-farms have spread all over the world.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Russia,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20America
0:37:20 > 0:37:22and Australia,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25all have farms that have grown to thousands of square miles.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Over 10% of the Earth is now used for agriculture.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34That's equivalent to all of South America.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39More than twice that is being used for grazing animals.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41That's like all of Africa.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46In fact, nearly 40% of the Earth's land surface
0:37:46 > 0:37:49is devoted to producing food for us.
0:37:56 > 0:38:02But to put a meal on our dinner tables we need something else.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Something we harvest from beneath our planet's surface.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09Minerals and metals keep energy flowing
0:38:09 > 0:38:11to our doorstep and beyond.
0:38:15 > 0:38:16CHILDREN LAUGH
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Every day in Britain,
0:38:18 > 0:38:23millions of us kick-start the morning with toast and a cup of tea.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26- Do you want some toast as well, Elliot?- Yes, please.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31But the most important meal of the day wouldn't be very hot
0:38:31 > 0:38:33without a particular metal -
0:38:33 > 0:38:34copper.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38There's loads of it hidden away in all of our homes.
0:38:38 > 0:38:44It's copper wires that channel the electricity that cooks our food.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56OK, sit down.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Upstairs, Bonnie needs clean clothes.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02Good girl, very good!
0:39:07 > 0:39:09Should we go, then?
0:39:09 > 0:39:12So, every day, millions of washing machines run in the UK.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Copper pipes take the water to the machine
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and make the electric motors spin the drum.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29In a world of entertainment on tap,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33it's copper that brings the small screen to life.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43In fact, we're so dependent on all this hidden copper in our daily lives,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46we're now completely surrounded by it.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53This miracle metal connects the modern world.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55Which means just one thing...
0:39:57 > 0:39:59..we keep needing more of it.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16To fuel our ever-increasing demand for metal and minerals
0:40:16 > 0:40:20we've had to push further and deeper into our planet.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40Bingham Mine.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46It produces enough copper every year
0:40:46 > 0:40:50to replace all the wires in every home in America and Mexico.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00Not surprisingly, it's the largest open-pit mine in the world.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15On the way up here,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18I saw a bumper sticker on one of the cars of one of the mine workers
0:41:18 > 0:41:22and it said, "If you can't grow it, it's got to be mined."
0:41:22 > 0:41:24And this right here kind of sums that whole thing up.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Everything that we use on the planet, everything we consume,
0:41:28 > 0:41:30ultimately comes from here.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32Not literally here.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45The modern world relies on resources that come from underground.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50Here, they've been mining for over 100 years.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53The result is three miles wide
0:41:53 > 0:41:55and, at nearly a mile deep,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58it could swallow up the world's tallest building.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05And this is what it's all about - this is copper in its rawest form.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08And actually, when you look at it, it doesn't look like a whole lot,
0:42:08 > 0:42:13and that's because the ore here on average is only about 0.6% copper.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16But it's this low-grade ore that is the reason
0:42:16 > 0:42:18that this place is so massive.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24Seams of copper are so deep that they have to dig down for years
0:42:24 > 0:42:26through waste rock to reach it.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30For Matt Lengerich and his team, it's a waiting game.
0:42:31 > 0:42:36This shovel will arrive at copper ore in roughly two or three years.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40You've got to dig two or three years before you hit copper again?
0:42:40 > 0:42:43No, we have to move waste rock for seven years.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45He's already been doing it for four.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47So seven years of getting rid of the waste,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50that's before you're going to see copper again.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04The giant diggers and trucks are just to take the rock away.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06To get it out of the ground in the first place,
0:43:06 > 0:43:09you need something with a little more oomph.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13When you blast, is it very, very controlled
0:43:13 > 0:43:16or is there a certain amount of fingers crossed
0:43:16 > 0:43:17and hope it all goes...?
0:43:17 > 0:43:20It's very, very controlled with a little bit of fingers crossed.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22THEY LAUGH
0:43:22 > 0:43:26Not too much fingers crossed, I hope. We'll be standing a long way that way.
0:43:32 > 0:43:38'This may look small, but, as you know, size isn't everything.'
0:43:38 > 0:43:39OK, ready?
0:43:40 > 0:43:42Three, two, one...
0:43:59 > 0:44:00Oh!
0:44:00 > 0:44:02HE LAUGHS
0:44:02 > 0:44:04That gives you a little ring in the ear.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21Three blasts a day and 100 years of mining
0:44:21 > 0:44:24have created the largest excavation in our history.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34It's easy to forget that so much in the modern world comes from underground.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41The minerals that keep our computerised world connected...
0:44:43 > 0:44:45..and we use to build our cities.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50And one resource above all others
0:44:50 > 0:44:54that we use to power everything is our fuel.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10Our man-made world needs an endless supply of energy,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13which means we've gone to extraordinary lengths to get it.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22We're just leaving a little harbour outside Nagasaki.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26We're going to sail a couple of miles or so just out to sea
0:45:26 > 0:45:28to a little island called Hashima.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37'Locally, this little rocky outcrop is known as Battleship Island,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40'and, though it may look like one,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43'it's actually the remains of an entire town.'
0:45:49 > 0:45:54This used to be the most densely populated piece of land on the entire Earth.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Population at its height - 5,000.
0:45:57 > 0:46:005,000 people used to live right there.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05But this is no ordinary town.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10None of these buildings would have been here at all without one thing -
0:46:10 > 0:46:11coal.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21'Hashima sat on top of a huge seam of it lying under the sea.'
0:46:24 > 0:46:25Oh, my God.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Its residents were miners and their families.
0:46:37 > 0:46:43Just 40 years ago, when this tiny island was crammed full of people,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46it supported a vast coal mine
0:46:46 > 0:46:50that helped fuel the mighty technological growth of Japan.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58The modern world is literally built on coal, oil and gas.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07You look around and it's kind of hard to imagine that this was a town,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09with everything that a town had, you know,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12apartment buildings, schools, hospitals.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17Round the corner over there used to be a cinema.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22This would have been a kind of market area with shops.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26You would have shift-workers going to work and coming back exhausted.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34We came to depend on fuel so much
0:47:34 > 0:47:38that to get it we crammed an entire town on a rock
0:47:38 > 0:47:39in the middle of the sea.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51But the coal here began to run out.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Almost overnight, the miners returned to the mainland,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08taking with them what little they could carry.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Our need for energy is insatiable
0:48:18 > 0:48:20and demand is only ever going to increase.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36Now, we're creating sustainable mega-projects
0:48:36 > 0:48:39that harness a form of power that's never going to run out.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52If you want to harness enough wind energy to power a town or a city,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56you need to go where the wind is at its strongest.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58And that's normally over open water like this,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00simply because it's nice and flat,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03and you don't have the land getting in the way to slow it up.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10Which is why we're now turning the open sea into our power stations.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18The largest offshore wind farm in the world
0:49:18 > 0:49:20is rising from British waters.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25This is the London Array, 20 miles from the Kent coast.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44As I'm sure you can appreciate, getting these monsters out here
0:49:44 > 0:49:46presents a whole host of engineering challenges.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49Not least the wind itself,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51the thing they're actually designed to harness,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55makes the whole process of building them a complete nightmare!
0:49:56 > 0:50:00'With the ever-present threat of stormy weather,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04'it's hard to imagine a tougher construction site.'
0:50:04 > 0:50:07With everything constantly moving, the wind going and the waves going,
0:50:07 > 0:50:12you need somewhere solid to work from a solid base,
0:50:12 > 0:50:14and this is the solution.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19She's called Discovery,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23a huge ship that can lift completely out of the water on giant stilts
0:50:23 > 0:50:26to make a stable platform standing on the seabed.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Stacked on board are all the component parts
0:50:34 > 0:50:35to build the giant turbines.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42The most important are these blades.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48They're engineered just like an aircraft wing.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51And designed to capture as much energy as possible
0:50:51 > 0:50:52from even light winds.
0:50:58 > 0:51:03It is crazy to think that something this big, 60 metres long,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06and, what's that, just over six feet in diameter,
0:51:06 > 0:51:11can be driven by an eight-mile-an-hour wind.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14That's how much energy is in the wind around us.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22'Of course, something that's designed to catch the wind this well
0:51:22 > 0:51:25'is a nightmare to build in windy weather.
0:51:28 > 0:51:29'Today, for the team on board,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32'there's nothing they can do but wait.'
0:51:35 > 0:51:37Hi, Tony. Busy doing not a lot?
0:51:37 > 0:51:41Yeah, the wind's too high at the moment, so we can't do any work.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44So... How high is too high?
0:51:44 > 0:51:47For blades that we're on now, that can be 11 metres per second.
0:51:47 > 0:51:4911 metres per second.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51Come with me, because there's a handy conversion chart there.
0:51:51 > 0:51:5411 metres per second...which is 21 miles an hour.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58I guess, given that we're in one of the windiest parts of the country,
0:51:58 > 0:52:00building a wind farm...
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Well, that's, yeah... It's a Catch 22, isn't it?
0:52:03 > 0:52:06- You put them in a windy place, don't you?- Yes.
0:52:06 > 0:52:07THEY LAUGH
0:52:07 > 0:52:09So I don't think we're going to get one in my shift.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12- When's your shift end?- I finish at six o'clock tonight. I don't think...
0:52:12 > 0:52:14- Seriously?- Yeah.- Oh, man!
0:52:14 > 0:52:18I don't think we're going to, but it can soon change.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23And, lo and behold, a few hours later,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27the wind does begin to drop and work can continue.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39So this chap over here is co-ordinating the whole thing,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42almost like a choreographer or a conductor.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44It's an incredibly skilled operation,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46but they make it look so easy.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50Be in awe of the skill of these guys.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24That's one down, two more to go.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41On a calm day, they can install a whole turbine in 12 hours.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51OK, we've got a bit of climbing to do today.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56- Once you're attached... And you step off...- Yeah.- And off you go.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59'I've decided to inspect the work a little closer.'
0:54:04 > 0:54:06OK.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08This is where the real climbing starts.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Oh.
0:54:28 > 0:54:29Oh, man.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31It's stiff.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02Oh, wow! Look at this!
0:55:05 > 0:55:07You can really understand why we're here
0:55:07 > 0:55:11as you stick your head up through this hatch and you feel the wind.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14And it's just quite awe-inspiring
0:55:14 > 0:55:17seeing how enormous these turbine blades are.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20When you're on the shore, they look so elegant and fragile
0:55:20 > 0:55:22and, actually, they're just enormous.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25I'm glad it's not too windy today. That's all I can say.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Each one of these turbines is a staggering 120 metres across -
0:55:50 > 0:55:52that's the same as the London Eye.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03Imagine 174 London Eyes, all spinning out here,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07all generating power for us to use.
0:56:07 > 0:56:12And each one of these turbines can power 3,000 houses...
0:56:12 > 0:56:13something like that,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16depending on whether you've left your power shower on.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21And then, you multiply all that by 174
0:56:21 > 0:56:25and you get a true sense of the scale of all of this.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28This huge power station out here in the middle of the sea.
0:56:30 > 0:56:31That's pretty awesome.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38Being able to harness the wind on this scale
0:56:38 > 0:56:41really could transform our energy future.
0:56:41 > 0:56:42And you look out here,
0:56:42 > 0:56:46it really is one of the marvels of the modern world -
0:56:46 > 0:56:48a new landscape created by us.
0:57:01 > 0:57:02Within a generation,
0:57:02 > 0:57:04we've revolutionised the way
0:57:04 > 0:57:08we harness our energy, our food and water.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14As our population have grown, so too has our ambition.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23We have entered an unprecedented age,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26an age where we're transforming the face of the Earth as never before.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34In order to thrive, we've become a force of nature.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Harnessing energy has powered our growth.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46We've created incredible man-made landscapes.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53We've shrunk our planet by moving faster and further.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59THIS is the modern world we've engineered.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05The place we call home has been reshaped within our lifetime.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13And that incredible pace of change across the globe
0:58:13 > 0:58:16has been driven by our ability to make giant leaps
0:58:16 > 0:58:18beyond what we thought was feasible.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21This combination of imagination, of ambition,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23of creativity, of technology.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27And, of course, our human achievements today
0:58:27 > 0:58:30are drawing up the blueprints for the future.
0:58:57 > 0:59:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd