0:00:00.713,0:00:01.864 [Oliver Jeffers] 0:00:01.888,0:00:03.829 [An ode to living on Earth] 0:00:05.325,0:00:06.579 Hello. 0:00:06.603,0:00:09.611 I'm sure by the time[br]I get to end of this sentence, 0:00:09.635,0:00:11.101 given how I talk, 0:00:11.125,0:00:13.990 you'll all have figured out[br]that I'm from a place called 0:00:14.014,0:00:15.283 planet Earth. 0:00:15.307,0:00:17.037 Earth is pretty great. 0:00:17.061,0:00:18.881 It's home to us. 0:00:20.117,0:00:21.307 And germs. 0:00:21.331,0:00:23.624 Those [blip] take a back seat[br]for the time being, 0:00:23.648,0:00:26.632 because believe it or not,[br]they're not the only thing going on. 0:00:26.656,0:00:29.406 This planet is also home[br]to cars, brussels sprouts; 0:00:29.430,0:00:32.014 those weird fish things[br]that have their own headlights; 0:00:32.038,0:00:33.211 art; 0:00:33.235,0:00:34.712 fire, fire extinguishers, 0:00:34.736,0:00:36.918 laws, pigeons, bottles of beer, 0:00:36.942,0:00:38.093 lemons and light bulbs; 0:00:38.117,0:00:39.879 Pinot noir and paracetamol; 0:00:39.903,0:00:42.482 ghosts, mosquitoes, flamingos, flowers, 0:00:42.506,0:00:44.045 the ukulele, elevators and cats, 0:00:44.069,0:00:45.578 cat videos, the internet; 0:00:45.602,0:00:47.331 iron beams, buildings and batteries, 0:00:47.355,0:00:48.840 all ingenuity and bright ideas, 0:00:48.864,0:00:50.019 all known life, 0:00:50.043,0:00:51.622 and a whole bunch of other stuff. 0:00:51.646,0:00:54.053 Pretty much everything we know[br]and ever heard of. 0:00:54.077,0:00:56.053 It's my favorite place, actually. 0:00:56.077,0:00:57.634 This small orb, 0:00:57.658,0:01:00.488 floating in a cold and lonely[br]part of the cosmos. 0:01:01.363,0:01:04.434 Oh, the accent is from Belfast,[br]by the way, which is ... 0:01:04.458,0:01:05.672 here. 0:01:05.696,0:01:06.846 Roughly. 0:01:07.860,0:01:10.241 You may think you know this planet Earth, 0:01:10.265,0:01:11.439 as you're from here. 0:01:11.463,0:01:12.625 But chances are, 0:01:12.649,0:01:15.463 you probably haven't thought[br]about the basics in a while. 0:01:15.487,0:01:16.931 I thought I knew it. 0:01:16.955,0:01:18.395 Thought I was an expert, even. 0:01:18.419,0:01:21.363 Until, that is, I had to explain[br]the entire place, 0:01:21.387,0:01:22.871 and how it's supposed to work, 0:01:22.895,0:01:25.525 to someone who had never been here before. 0:01:25.549,0:01:26.747 Now that you might think, 0:01:26.771,0:01:29.006 although my dad always did say 0:01:29.030,0:01:31.057 the sure sign of intelligent[br]life out there 0:01:31.081,0:01:33.469 is that they haven't bothered[br]trying to contact us. 0:01:33.493,0:01:36.850 It was actually my newborn son[br]I was trying to explain things to. 0:01:37.185,0:01:38.803 We'd never been parents before, 0:01:38.827,0:01:39.978 my wife and I, 0:01:40.002,0:01:43.589 and so treated him like most guests[br]when he arrived home for the first time, 0:01:43.613,0:01:44.986 by giving him the tour. 0:01:45.010,0:01:46.637 This is where you live, son. 0:01:46.661,0:01:48.347 This room is where we make food at. 0:01:48.371,0:01:51.664 This is the room we keep[br]our collection of chairs, and so on. 0:01:51.688,0:01:52.859 It's refreshing, 0:01:52.883,0:01:55.672 explaining how our planet works[br]to a zero-year-old. 0:01:55.696,0:01:56.871 But after the laughs, 0:01:56.895,0:02:00.164 and once the magnitude that new humans[br]know absolutely nothing 0:02:00.188,0:02:03.212 settles on you and how little[br]you know [unclear], 0:02:03.236,0:02:06.380 explaining the whole planet[br]becomes quite intimidating. 0:02:06.404,0:02:07.816 But I tried anyway. 0:02:07.840,0:02:10.912 As I walked around those first few weeks, 0:02:10.936,0:02:13.221 narrating the world as I saw it, 0:02:13.245,0:02:16.390 I began to take notes[br]of the ridiculous things I was saying. 0:02:16.414,0:02:18.707 The notes slowly morphed into a letter 0:02:18.731,0:02:21.048 intended for my son[br]once he learned to read. 0:02:21.072,0:02:22.541 And that letter became a book 0:02:22.565,0:02:25.247 about the basic principles[br]of what it is to be a human 0:02:25.271,0:02:27.711 living on Earth in the 21st century. 0:02:28.243,0:02:30.417 Some things are really obvious. 0:02:30.767,0:02:32.679 Like, the planet is made of two parts: 0:02:32.703,0:02:34.449 land and sea. 0:02:35.124,0:02:38.410 Some less obvious[br]until you think about them. 0:02:38.434,0:02:39.688 Like, time. 0:02:40.228,0:02:43.220 Things can sometimes[br]move slowly here on Earth. 0:02:44.030,0:02:46.304 But more often, they move quickly. 0:02:46.623,0:02:49.392 So use your time well,[br]it will be gone before you know it. 0:02:50.401,0:02:51.551 Or people. 0:02:51.988,0:02:55.202 People come in all different[br]shapes, sizes and colors. 0:02:55.567,0:02:56.964 We may all look different, 0:02:56.988,0:02:59.090 act different and sound different, 0:02:59.114,0:03:00.321 but don't be fooled. 0:03:00.345,0:03:01.702 We are all people. 0:03:01.726,0:03:04.940 It doesn't skip me that of all[br]the places in the universe, 0:03:04.964,0:03:06.234 people only live on Earth, 0:03:06.258,0:03:07.839 can only live on Earth. 0:03:07.863,0:03:10.069 And even then, only[br]on some of the dry bits. 0:03:10.093,0:03:12.919 There's only a very small[br]part of the surface of our planet 0:03:12.943,0:03:14.918 that is actually habitable to human life, 0:03:14.942,0:03:17.307 and squeezed in here[br]is where all of us live. 0:03:17.331,0:03:20.135 It's easy to forget[br]when you're up close to the dirt, 0:03:20.159,0:03:22.498 the rocks, the foliage,[br]the concrete of our lands, 0:03:22.522,0:03:25.688 just how limited the room[br]for maneuvering is. 0:03:25.712,0:03:28.156 From a set of eyes close to the ground, 0:03:28.180,0:03:30.704 the horizon feels like it goes forever. 0:03:30.728,0:03:32.609 After all, it's not an every-day ritual 0:03:32.633,0:03:35.038 to consider where we are[br]on the ball of our planet 0:03:35.062,0:03:37.027 and where that ball is in space. 0:03:37.051,0:03:39.979 I didn't want to tell my son[br]the same story of countries 0:03:40.003,0:03:42.884 that we were told where I was growing up[br]in Northern Ireland. 0:03:42.908,0:03:44.750 That we were from just a small parish, 0:03:44.774,0:03:47.149 which ignores life outside[br]its immediate concerns. 0:03:47.173,0:03:50.807 I wanted to try to feel[br]what it was like to see our planet 0:03:50.831,0:03:53.196 as one system, as a single object, 0:03:53.220,0:03:54.633 hanging in space. 0:03:54.657,0:03:55.808 To do this, 0:03:55.832,0:03:58.268 I would need to switch from[br]flat drawings for books, 0:03:58.292,0:03:59.776 to 3D sculpture for the street, 0:03:59.800,0:04:01.804 and I'd need almost 200 feet, 0:04:01.828,0:04:03.283 a New York City block, 0:04:03.307,0:04:05.561 to build a large-scale model of the moon, 0:04:05.585,0:04:07.283 the Earth and us. 0:04:07.831,0:04:10.992 This project managed to take place[br]on New York City's Highline park 0:04:11.016,0:04:12.209 last winter, 0:04:12.233,0:04:15.327 on the 50th anniversary[br]of Apollo 11's mission around the Moon. 0:04:15.351,0:04:16.684 After its installation, 0:04:16.708,0:04:19.241 I was able to put on[br]a space helmet with my son 0:04:19.265,0:04:22.187 and launch, like Apollo 11 did[br]half a century ago, 0:04:22.211,0:04:23.361 towards the Moon. 0:04:24.028,0:04:25.243 We circled around, 0:04:25.267,0:04:27.321 and looked back at us. 0:04:27.814,0:04:29.290 What I felt was 0:04:29.314,0:04:31.282 how lonely it was there in the dark. 0:04:31.831,0:04:33.545 And I was just pretending. 0:04:33.569,0:04:35.086 The Moon is the only object 0:04:35.110,0:04:37.354 even remotely close to us. 0:04:37.378,0:04:39.260 And at the scale of this project, 0:04:39.284,0:04:41.308 where our planet was 10 feet in diameter, 0:04:41.332,0:04:43.879 Mars, the next planet,[br]will be the size of a yoga ball 0:04:43.903,0:04:45.703 and a couple of miles away. 0:04:46.465,0:04:48.655 Although borders[br]are not visible from space, 0:04:48.679,0:04:49.965 on my sculpture, 0:04:49.989,0:04:51.568 every single border was drawn in. 0:04:51.592,0:04:54.616 But rather than writing the country names[br]on the carved-up land, 0:04:54.640,0:04:56.465 I wrote over and over again, 0:04:56.489,0:04:58.783 "people live here, people live here." 0:04:59.284,0:05:01.704 "People live here." 0:05:01.728,0:05:04.164 And off on the Moon, it was written, 0:05:04.188,0:05:05.522 "No one lives here." 0:05:05.990,0:05:07.593 Often, the obvious things 0:05:07.617,0:05:10.330 aren't all that obvious[br]until you think about them. 0:05:10.688,0:05:13.204 Seeing anything from[br]a vast enough distance 0:05:13.228,0:05:14.656 changes everything, 0:05:14.680,0:05:16.887 as many astronauts have experienced. 0:05:16.911,0:05:19.292 And human eyes have only[br]ever seen our Earth 0:05:19.316,0:05:21.172 from as far as the Moon, really. 0:05:21.196,0:05:22.362 It's quite away further 0:05:22.386,0:05:24.854 before we get to the edges[br]of our own Solar System. 0:05:24.878,0:05:27.714 And even out to other stars,[br]to the constellations. 0:05:28.373,0:05:31.531 There is actually only one point[br]in the entire cosmos 0:05:31.555,0:05:34.413 that is present in all[br]constellations of stars, 0:05:34.437,0:05:36.675 and that presence is 0:05:36.699,0:05:38.441 here, planet Earth. 0:05:39.069,0:05:41.696 Those pictures we have made up[br]for the clusters of stars 0:05:41.720,0:05:45.140 only make sense from[br]this point of view down here. 0:05:46.490,0:05:48.664 Their stories only make sense[br]here on Earth. 0:05:48.688,0:05:50.664 And only something to us. 0:05:51.220,0:05:52.545 To people. 0:05:52.569,0:05:54.829 We are creatures of stories. 0:05:55.276,0:05:56.906 We are the stories we tell, 0:05:56.930,0:05:58.863 we're the stories we're told. 0:05:59.176,0:06:02.671 Consider briefly the story[br]of human civilization on Earth. 0:06:03.049,0:06:05.612 It tells of the ingenuity, elegance, 0:06:05.636,0:06:07.919 generous and nurturing nature of a species 0:06:07.943,0:06:10.776 that is also self-focused, vulnerable, 0:06:10.800,0:06:12.617 and defiantly protective. 0:06:12.641,0:06:15.544 We, the people shield[br]the flame of our existence 0:06:15.568,0:06:18.283 from the raw, vast elements[br]outside our control, 0:06:18.307,0:06:19.664 the great beyond. 0:06:20.283,0:06:23.284 Yet it is always to the flame we look. 0:06:24.458,0:06:26.053 For all we know, 0:06:26.077,0:06:27.276 when said as a statement, 0:06:27.300,0:06:30.136 it means the sum total of all knowledge. 0:06:30.160,0:06:31.613 But when said another way, 0:06:31.637,0:06:33.542 for all we know, 0:06:33.566,0:06:35.966 it means that we do not know at all. 0:06:36.407,0:06:40.033 This is the beautiful,[br]fragile drama of civilization. 0:06:40.522,0:06:42.832 We are the actors and spectators[br]of a cosmic play 0:06:42.856,0:06:44.506 that means the world to us here, 0:06:44.530,0:06:46.680 but means nothing anywhere else. 0:06:46.704,0:06:48.982 Possibly not even that much[br]down here, either. 0:06:49.006,0:06:51.696 If we truly thought about[br]our relationship with our boat, 0:06:51.720,0:06:52.935 with out Earth, 0:06:52.959,0:06:55.872 it might be more of a story[br]of ignorance and greed. 0:06:57.220,0:06:59.221 As is the case with Fausto, 0:06:59.245,0:07:01.153 a man who believed he owned everything 0:07:01.177,0:07:03.716 and set out to survey what was his. 0:07:03.740,0:07:06.113 He easily claims ownership of a flower, 0:07:06.137,0:07:08.104 a sheep, a tree and a field. 0:07:08.724,0:07:11.069 The lake and the mountain[br]prove harder to conquer, 0:07:11.093,0:07:12.760 but they, too, surrender. 0:07:13.109,0:07:15.310 It is in trying to own the open sea 0:07:15.334,0:07:17.752 where his greed proves his undoing, 0:07:17.776,0:07:19.847 when, in a fit of arrogance, 0:07:19.871,0:07:22.466 he climbs overboard[br]to show that sea who is boss. 0:07:22.870,0:07:24.618 But he does not understand, 0:07:24.642,0:07:27.459 slips beneath the waves[br]and sinks to the bottom. 0:07:28.355,0:07:29.585 The sea was sad for him, 0:07:29.609,0:07:31.743 but carried on being the sea. 0:07:32.903,0:07:35.410 As did all the other objects[br]of his ownership. 0:07:35.434,0:07:38.445 But the fate of Fausto[br]does not matter to them. 0:07:39.601,0:07:43.349 For all the importance in the cosmos[br]we believe we hold, 0:07:43.373,0:07:45.032 we'd have nothing 0:07:45.056,0:07:46.611 if not for this Earth. 0:07:46.635,0:07:49.077 While it would keep happily spinning, 0:07:49.101,0:07:50.500 obliviously without us. 0:07:51.135,0:07:53.382 On this planet, there are people. 0:07:54.311,0:07:55.659 We have gone about our days, 0:07:55.683,0:07:57.723 sometimes we look up and out, 0:07:57.747,0:08:00.364 mostly we look down and in. 0:08:00.913,0:08:03.929 Looking up and by drawing lines[br]between the lights in the sky, 0:08:03.953,0:08:06.190 we've attempted to make[br]sense out of chaos. 0:08:06.769,0:08:10.254 Looking down, we've drawn lines[br]across the land to know where we belong, 0:08:10.278,0:08:11.579 and where we don't. 0:08:11.603,0:08:14.411 We do mostly forget that these lines[br]that connect the stars 0:08:14.435,0:08:16.196 and those lines that divide the land 0:08:16.220,0:08:18.498 live only in our heads. 0:08:18.522,0:08:20.458 They, too, are stories. 0:08:21.022,0:08:23.373 We carry out our everyday[br]routines and rituals 0:08:23.397,0:08:25.466 according to the stories[br]we most believe in, 0:08:25.490,0:08:27.982 and these days, the story[br]is changing as we write it. 0:08:28.006,0:08:30.155 There is a lot of fear[br]in this current story, 0:08:30.179,0:08:31.339 and until recently, 0:08:31.363,0:08:33.569 the stories that seemed[br]to have the most power 0:08:33.593,0:08:34.776 are those of bitterness, 0:08:34.800,0:08:37.942 of how it had all gone wrong[br]for us individually and collectively. 0:08:37.966,0:08:41.450 It has been inspiring to watch[br]how the best comes from the worst. 0:08:41.474,0:08:44.212 How people are waking up[br]in this time of global reckoning, 0:08:44.236,0:08:47.728 to the realization that our[br]connections with each other 0:08:47.752,0:08:49.903 are some of the most[br]important things we have. 0:08:49.927,0:08:51.121 But stepping back. 0:08:51.145,0:08:52.654 For all we've had to lament, 0:08:52.678,0:08:55.685 we spend very little time relishing[br]the single biggest thing 0:08:55.709,0:08:57.629 that has ever gone right for us. 0:08:57.653,0:08:59.383 That we are here in the first place, 0:08:59.407,0:09:00.601 that we are alive at all. 0:09:00.625,0:09:02.283 That we are still alive. 0:09:02.307,0:09:05.244 A million and a half years[br]after finding a box of matches, 0:09:05.268,0:09:08.180 we haven't totally burned the house down. 0:09:08.204,0:09:09.368 Yet. 0:09:09.392,0:09:11.726 The chances of being here[br]are infinitesimal. 0:09:11.750,0:09:12.917 Yet here we are. 0:09:12.941,0:09:14.339 Perils and all. 0:09:14.363,0:09:16.768 There have never been[br]more people living on Earth. 0:09:16.792,0:09:17.942 Using more stuff. 0:09:18.251,0:09:20.768 And it's become obvious[br]that many of the old systems 0:09:20.792,0:09:22.839 we invented for ourselves 0:09:22.863,0:09:24.029 are obsolete. 0:09:24.053,0:09:25.631 And we have to build new ones. 0:09:26.014,0:09:27.418 If it wasn't germs, 0:09:27.442,0:09:30.109 our collective fire[br]might suffocate us before long. 0:09:30.569,0:09:33.643 As we watch the wheels[br]of industry grind to a halt, 0:09:33.667,0:09:35.731 the machinery of progress become silent, 0:09:35.755,0:09:38.151 we have the wildest of opportunities 0:09:38.175,0:09:39.775 to hit the reset button. 0:09:40.096,0:09:41.466 To take a different path. 0:09:41.953,0:09:43.770 Here we are on Earth. 0:09:44.457,0:09:46.492 And life on Earth is a wonderful thing. 0:09:47.101,0:09:48.355 It looks big, this Earth, 0:09:48.379,0:09:50.236 but there are lots of us on here. 0:09:50.260,0:09:52.809 Seven and a half billion at last count, 0:09:52.833,0:09:54.899 with more showing up every day. 0:09:55.610,0:09:56.801 Even so, 0:09:56.825,0:09:58.531 there is still enough for everyone, 0:09:58.555,0:10:00.011 if we all share a little. 0:10:01.015,0:10:02.682 So please, 0:10:02.706,0:10:03.856 be kind. 0:10:05.145,0:10:06.764 When you think of it another way, 0:10:06.788,0:10:09.012 if Earth is the only place[br]where people live, 0:10:09.036,0:10:12.256 it's actually the least[br]lonely place in the universe. 0:10:13.376,0:10:15.582 There are plenty of people to be loved by, 0:10:15.606,0:10:17.148 and plenty of people to love. 0:10:17.709,0:10:19.812 We need each other. 0:10:19.836,0:10:21.736 We know that now, more than ever. 0:10:22.955,0:10:24.105 Good night.