The largest river in the world, the Amazon, pours approx 17 billion tons of water into the Atlantic ocean every day. Even bigger, however, is the invisible river flying above the forest canopy and across the continent, flowing 20 billion metric tons of water into the atmosphere every single day.
In this Ted Talk, Antonio Nobre shares astounding scientific knowledge bringing to life the power of the Amazon as well his shock upon hearing an Indigenous leader speak of the same conclusions it took him decades of research to conclude. Through satellite imagery, we see the interconnected systems of this region, and how they provide environmental services to the entire world.
In one aerial photograph, he shows how the seemingly ‘uniform’ blanket of green treetops is in fact a ‘living carpet’ – a phenomenal variety of different tree species, each canopy housing some 10,000 species of insect.
