Human Planet Stream

[Aide Broeckel]

Airborneaerosols can cause or prevent cloud formation and harm human health. These maps depict aerosol concentrations in the air based on how the tiny particles reflect or absorb visible and infrared light.

Satellite images of Earth at night have been a curiosity for the public and a tool of fundamental research for at least 25 years. They have provided a broad, beautiful picture, showing how humans have shaped the planet and lit up the darkness.

Greenness is an important indicator of health for forests, grasslands, and farms. The greenness of a landscape, or vegetation index, depends on the number and type of plants, how leafy they are, and how healthy they are.

Whether started by humans (farming, logging, or accidents) or by nature (lightning), fires are always burning somewhere on Earth. These maps show the locations of fires burning around the world each month.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a different part of the world? What would the weather be like? What kinds of animals would you see? Which plants live there? By investigating these questions, you are learning about biomes.

These maps show the average amount of water vapor in a column of atmosphere by month. Water vapor is the key precursor for rain and snow and one of the most important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

GEO is a unique global network connecting government institutions, academic and research institutions, data providers, businesses, engineers, scientists and experts to create innovative solutions to global challenges at a time of exponential data growth, human development and climate change that transcend national and disciplinary boundaries. The unprecedented global collaboration of experts helps identify gaps and reduce duplication in the areas of sustainable development and sound environmental management.

To protect our planet, we need the measuring and the monitoring capabilities that only Earth observations can provide. The United Nations (UN) recognize the significant contributions of GEO in advancing Earth observations to unlock transformative solutions to address the complex global challenges.

As GEO pursue a vision to make Earth intelligence accessible to everyone, the UN family welcomes its commitment to closely collaborate with GEO. Through concerted efforts and shared resources, we can achieve meaningful progress towards a safer and more sustainable future for all.

There's no end to the educational opportunities that exist, and the series is a perfect way to broaden your family's understanding of the world and its inhabitants. Each episode offers lessons in geography, history, anthropology, and social behavior.

The series encourages curiosity and a greater respect for the world's diversity and the adaptability of the human spirit. Viewers experience the lifestyles of people from all walks of life and far-reaching corners of the globe, witnessing their struggles for survival over the elements of nature.

Graphic footage of predators and human hunters killing and eating prey. Some customs involve violence, including one case that shows village people beating each other with sticks to prove their courage.

Parents need to know that Human Planet is a beautiful series from the makers of Planet Earth and Life that chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the planet's most adaptable inhabitants: humans. From the majestic jungles of South America to the barren Sahara Desert, this show introduces viewers to an array of indigenous people and their lifestyles, so there's plenty of opportunity for learning. Very young children and sensitive kids might be bothered by the graphic scenes of animals being killed by predators and by humans, so be sure to gauge your kids' readiness for this issue. What's more, there is plenty of nudity (male genitalia, buttocks, and female breasts) related to some subjects' customs. But if your kids can handle these aspects of this stunning series, then it's a great choice for the whole family.

From the makers of Planet Earth and Life comes another sweeping documentary about nature and its inhabitants: HUMAN PLANET. Narrated by John Hurt, this series turns the cameras on Earth's diverse human population, chronicling mankind's impressive ability to adapt to any surroundings and to overcome the daunting obstacles of the natural world. The show visits some of the most remote locations in the world to witness how the indigenous people use ingenuity and minimal resources to survive harsh elements, deadly native species, and limited options for food.

This series is a fascinating journey that will change the way you look at the world, inspire a new awe for the human spirit, and redefine how you interpret "civilization." Human Planet takes viewers around the world in six hours, bypassing the traditional tourism hotspots in favor of remote locales like the Altai Mountains of Mongolia, Inuit territory in Northeast Canada, and West Papua.

With six hour-long episodes packed with geography and anthropology lessons and plenty of lead-ins to discussions about global warming and conservationism, it's a sure bet that this series caters to families looking for something worthwhile to tune into. But if your kids are sensitive to issues like animal violence, be sure to preview the show before you watch it with them, as many scenes show in graphic detail animals being killed (by predators and by humans) and dismembered. The same holds true for viewers' sensitivity to nudity, since some subjects' customs mean that at times whole segments center on groups of people who go about their business wearing next to nothing.

Families can talk about the environment. Did watching Human Planet change the way you feel about the environment and conservationism? How would deforestation or global warming affect these people differently from you? What responsibilities do we have as inhabitants of the planet to protect it? How does the media serve as a learning tool?

Kids: How does this show make you look differently at cultural diversity? What challenges do these people face that you'll never have to? What challenges do you have that they know nothing about? What common ground might you have?

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? What would you like to see there? What local delicacies would you eat and drink? How would you relate to the people? What might you learn from experiencing another culture?

Jet streams are like twelve-lane highways in the atmosphere. Fast-moving jets of air that circle the globe and are usually found at the height that commercial airlines fly. Jet streams exist because of temperature differences. The sun warms the Earth unevenly because our planet has an orbit and its axis is tilted, so regions around the equator get more solar warmth than regions around the poles. The temperature difference between the colder north and south poles with the equator causes the wind to blow in fast currents.

These jet streams play a huge role in our daily lives. For example, Pennsylvania has faced numerous energy crises because of the polar vortex, where the northern polar jet dips down really far south, bringing with it arctic cold air.

This image above shows the jet streams on June 29, 2023. Notice the faster moving lines closer to the very top and bottom of the map. Also note that in the northern hemisphere, there is the so-called subtropical jet cutting across the United States and through the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

For months, forecasters talked about how the United States weather has been driven by what is called an Omega Block, a pesky phenomenon where the jet stream stops moving predominantly west to east across the country and instead moves in big, blocky waves.

The second map zooms in on the United States during the same time period and highlights this wavy, omega-like jet stream pattern, which existed for all of May and into July. This blockiness locked in profound weather changes, including extreme heat in Texas, numerous tornado outbreaks across the plain states and deep south, as well as providing a pathway for wildfire smoke to travel from Canada to our airspace in Pennsylvania.

Climate change research gives us a good clue about what is going on. Man-made global warming is rapidly heating the planet and much of that heat is being recorded as big temperature spikes at the poles. For instance, the North Atlantic is in the midst of a never before seen increase in ocean temperatures of 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Arctic Sea ice has plummeted so much recently that scientists expect it to be ice-free in the summer by the end of this decade. And global average temperatures in June are currently running close to a degree warmer than any month in recorded history.

In the short-term, extreme weather is only going to get worse. Natural cycles in global climate patterns are also changing. They will enhance the human-induced changes we just discussed, including a rapid warming of the east Pacific Ocean called an El Nino pattern that also causes significant changes to the jet stream and US weather patterns.

Humans burning fossil fuels and warming the planet are having far-reaching impacts, going so far as to now change the fundamental dynamics of the planet's jet streams and adding to the long and growing list of extreme weather harming the Commonwealth. The question has long been: can and should we do anything about global warming in Pennsylvania? Yet, as we more deeply change the climate, the question shifts to how fast can we do everything to stop this madness?

Most people have heard Earth referred to as "the water planet." With that name comes the rightful image of a world with plentiful water. In photographs taken from space, we can see that our planet has more water than land. However, of all the water on Earth, more than 99 percent of Earth's water is unusable by humans and many other living things - only about 0.3 percent of our fresh water is found in the surface water of lakes, rivers, and swamps.

The teacher guide describes our current understanding of water cycling and freshwater issues that affect natural and human communities.

3a8082e126