Planet Ocean
Two 52' films directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
RIO+20 – FROM EARTH TO OCEAN
The next Earth Summit will take place in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) from the 4th to the 6th of June 2012, under the aegis of the United Nations. The name Rio+20 refers to the summit organized 20 years ago in the same Brazilian city, which had a resounding impact throughout the world. These big rendezvous between mankind and its planet are driving growing international mobilization. Taking inspiration from North-South dialogue, they often bring together some one hundred Heads of State, thousands of NGOs and representatives of civil society and the world of economics.
Biodiversity, water, energy, natural resources, climate, governance and world population – the stakes of these summits reflect the scale of the challenges facing humanity.
At Rio+20, the main theme of our discussions will be governance of the high seas, a major issue in its own right for the ocean planet that we call Earth.
OMEGA
This humanist initiative has received support from the prestigious watch-making firm OMEGA. The firm, which specializes in high precision in extreme environments, invented the first deep-sea diving watch. From Jacques Maillol to Sir Peter Blake and Dame Ellen MacArthur, OMEGA has supported exploration of the oceans for over a century. Today, OMEGA has agreed to support Planet Ocean.
Can we imagine a film that would change the way people look at the ocean? Can we explain simply, to everyone, the greatest natural mystery of our planet? And lastly, can we help our children believe in a better and more sustainable world tomorrow?
This is the triple challenge of a new cinema adventure signed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and editorin-chief Michael Pitiot, who brings with him the scientific missions of TARA, a unique pool of researchers, oceanographers and biologists from several countries. Thanks to its astonishing photography, the film takes us on a magnificent and unprecedented journey into the heart of the least known regions of our planet. The film narrates the most marvelous and also the most terrifying human experiences of our time. Filmed in extreme geographical conditions all over the globe, it describes the modern Odyssey of a people who go out to discover their blue planet.
The film is also a plea for humanity to respect the world in which we live. It serves a noble and universal cause that will be defended at the next Earth Summit, in Rio, in 2012.
THE SPIRIT OF HOME
The film, shot in high definition in two 52-minute parts, is an educational film intended to serve future generations. It is distributed through a unique media strategy. Its presentation to the television markets (MIPCOM, etc.) is conceived as an event for rallying the greatest number of broadcasters to its cause. The film is, moreover, made available free of charge to any institution (schools, universities, public institutions, NGOs, etc.) that so requests. Adaptation in most of the world's most commonly spoken languages, copying and non-commercial use are encouraged, using every means available, including free distribution on the Internet. These principles, common to all Yann Arthus-Bertrand's works, are designed to share quality information on the great environmental issues of our time with as wide a public as possible.
THE BLUE PLANET
Green, blue, changeable and majestic, vehement or peaceful, the oceans cover the largest part of the surface of our planet. They give our Earth life and its name of blue planet. They are so vast that they still shelter the last natural, virgin spaces of the known world.
THE GREAT SOURCE OF LIFE
We still do not know how life appeared on Earth, but everything suggests that it was born in the oceans. Back then, the surface of the seas was a vision of desolation: no atmosphere, no oxygen, no life. No land may yet have emerged from the waters, but the Earth was already bathed by a precious source of energy: solar radiation.
From the alliance of sun and water came life, first in the form of a spontaneous explosion of the small primitive organisms we call plankton. The most active of them colonized the oceans and those living closest to the surface began to produce the oxygen of our Earth. Later, over successive geological eras, marine life began to colonize the rocks emerging from the ocean and created terrestrial life as we know it. The most primitive marine beings still live in the ocean – and we are their direct descendents. However, what fascinates human beings is not so much the natural beauties of the ocean, but its riches.
MANKIND AND THE OCEAN
From the beginning, human beings have always settled in large numbers on the fringes of the ocean as if on the edge of a huge forest. Their port cities have spread out and taken land from the sea. Their ships ply countless maritime routes. Their fishing fleets draw sustenance from its blue depths. Their offshore platforms pump oil from the seabed. Under the pressure of human needs, the virgin ocean shrinks a little more every day. And yet, the most precious asset of our planet can no doubt be found well beyond these common resources.
THE LUNGS OF THE EARTH
The ocean is not simply a liquid mass. Some regions are deserts, others oases of life. Immense marine whirlpools structure the marine world like so many luxuriant valleys or impassable mountain cols. The ocean is the source – even today – of the vital organisms living on our blue planet. It is still crucial to the breathing mechanism of the Earth and the place where most photosynthesis takes place – and hence the primary source of food chains and production of oxygen. It is the greatest reservoir of the Earth's genetic codes, a genuine treasure trove for medicine and the bio-technologies.
THE CLIMATE MACHINE
In a sort of perpetual movement, these living organisms are born and die during vast marine explosions of life that perpetuate biological cycles. In this way, the ocean recycles matter and stores carbon. This is how oil was formed from marine life forms, as were certain gases or rocks. Lastly, the ocean is also the planet's main thermal regulator. It is the driver of the climate – the temperate climate that makes our world livable.
TOMORROW, EVERYTHING IS STILL POSSIBLE
Over the last 200 years, the ocean has undergone a radical transformation. With climate change, its species are migrating, with some becoming scarcer. Too much carbon is making its waters more acidic. With pollution and dwindling resources, equilibriums have broken down or are starting to break down. Human beings, whose numbers continue to grow, need the ocean a little more every day. For billions of human beings, it is becoming a matter of urgency to discover how the ocean that nourishes them will change. Action is still possible. Thanks to their intelligence, human beings are capable of protecting the life of the oceans and their vital diversity. We are capable of cultivating marine life and exploiting the oceans' unique riches without destroying them. By changing our course, mankind will be able to harvest the blue gold of the oceans.
