人类足迹
今天的人类数量，是一万二千年前的二千倍。随着人口增长，人类扩散到世界各地，几乎征服了地球上所有生态系统，但这并非我们能独力完成。在这一集《人类足迹》，尚恩遇上了一众替代品：一群动植物物种接受了人类的帮助，把它/它们的命运与我们的命运紧扣在一起。
非洲爪蛙是种特别的生物，现已成为科学标志，它们以令人惊讶的方式帮助我们了解自己。家猫或许是地球历史上数量最多的掠食性哺乳动物，它们在我们的家中和野外过着双重生活。在美国让人最费力种植的植物是草坪草，草坪草可说是生产力最低的植物之一，但因为它象征着的地位和人类对它的归属感而繁盛生长。在另一个极端，粟米几乎为我们们提供一切，但它的崛起令这种世界顶级农作物陷入意外险境。鸡揭示出商品化的代价，当新的选择出现，即使是替代品也可以被替代。
人类这物种与其他物种结成巧妙的联盟，为我们在全球的扩张推波助澜，但我们很少能预视到自己的才智会带何等后果。一个由替代品主导的世界，令地球上的其余物种几乎没有生存空间。问题是我们能否找到方法与我们喜爱和重视的物种共存，同时为地球上其他独特物种留下生存空间？
双语广播： 粤语/英语 (电视版 及 网上版)
播出时间： (首播) 2025年4月28日 星期一 晚上10时
For every human alive 12,000 years ago, two thousand of us live on the planet today. As we multiplied, people spread around the world, conquering virtually all of the planet’s ecosystems. But we didn’t do it alone. In this episode of Human Footprint, Shane meets The Replacements: a group of animal and plant species that accepted humanity’s helping hand, hitching their destinies to our own.
There’s Xenopus, the African Clawed Frog: a bizarre creature that’s become a scientific icon, helping us learn about ourselves in surprising ways. The house cat, maybe the most numerous predatory mammal in our planet’s history, lives a double life in our homes and wild places. America’s most demanding crop, turf grass, might just be its least productive, but it thrives because it signals status and belonging. At the other extreme, corn does just about everything for us… but its stratospheric rise has put the world’s top crop in an unexpectedly perilous position. And the chicken reveals the cost of commodification – when a new alternative appears, even The Replacements can be replaced.
Our species has forged ingenious alliances with other species that have fueled our global spread. But we rarely anticipate the consequences of our cleverness. A world dominated by The Replacements is one with little room for the planet’s other species. The question is: can we find ways to live alongside the species we love and value, while saving space for all the others that make life on Earth so special?
Bilingual: Cantonese/ English (TV Version & Web Version)
Time: (First run) 2025.04.28 MON 10:00pm
