National Geographic Channel

TUESDAY, APRIL 22

RIDE THE ECO-FRIENDLY WAVE OF THE FUTURE

Chopping down 11 billion trees and releasing 8 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2007 alone, humans are the only animals on Earth able to significantly alter the state of our planet. As part of Earth Day, we will debut a brand new, eight-part series and a one-hour special highlighting the imprint humans have on the world, and some unusual ways of lowering our environmental impact.

Planet Mechanics is a new series featuring two of Britain’s best green inventors, Dick Strawbridge and Jem Stansfield. This dynamic duo uses ingenuity, resourcefulness and humour to confront ecological challenges head on – creating an air-propelled motorbike in England, solar-powered water-taxi in Venice and even taking one hostel off the power grid by using a local stream and fire hoses.

Visually illustrating the amount of materials that we consume in a lifetime, Human Footprint offers us a compelling look at the impact we have on the world. Did you know that over a lifetime, each one of us will contribute 40 tonnes of waste to landfills? Or that it will take 24 trees to produce all the newspapers and books you will read in a lifetime? Join us for some more staggering facts.

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