The Emerald Planet

Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In The Emerald Planet, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future. His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity.

Plants live secret, unseen lives. But they are as aggressive, competitive and dramatic as animals - locked in life-and-death struggles for food and light, taking part in fierce battles for territory, and desperately trying to reproduce and scatter their young. Using pioneering new filmmaking technology and the very latest science, The Green Planet from BBC Studios reveals this strange and wonderful world of plants like never before. Sir David Attenborough travels across the globe, from the USA to Costa Rica, Croatia to northern Europe to find brand new stories and a fresh understanding of how plants live their lives. The original soundtrack is composed by Benji Merrison and Will Slater who reveal, “The challenge was to create a score which allows the audience to connect with plants on an emotional level, much more of a conundrum than when scoring for the animal kingdom.”

by Andrew C. Scott (Author)

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