How the Earth Changed History
BBC is rereleasing a whole slew of non-fiction documentaries surrounding nature and its impact on humanity, as well as vice versa.
HOW THE EARTH CHANGED HISTORY is one of those. Hosted by Iain Stewart, in approximately 300 minutes, the charged narrative is about the forces of nature that channeled human history. It’s a dicey proposition, this notion that only a few forces did such a thing, especially when covering millennia, but he gamely makes his points, using gorgeous photography to illustrate what happened and when, as geology, geometry and climate shaped our various cultures, from the dawn of time up through the Industrial Revolution. And while he doesn’t spell out the current changes that are being caused by excess human pollution – climate change – the implications are clear.
Broken up into five major segments, at around an hour each, Professor Stewart examines how droughts, earthquakes, volcanoes and human-caused pollution create an environment for stability or an setting for chaos. Always surrounding himself with beautiful HD camera-work, this British/U.S.A. co-production (BBC and National Geographic Channel) is worthy of note.