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| Image credit: BBC |
The
Horizon programme is one of the BBC’s
longest running series. First broadcast in 1964, it provides a gloriously
honest portrayal of both the evolution of television and of science. The event,
organised by the British Science Association in
partnership with the Festival of Nature and
the University of Bristol’s Cabot Institute,
meandered through the decades of footage providing a simultaneously amusing and
sobering window into the progression of thinking in ecology and climate science.
This is how the #FON16 starts! "Scanning the Horizon" with @cabotinstitute and @BritSciAssociat pic.twitter.com/Lneh9m9QdY— Imperial Spark (@ImperialSpark) June 8, 2016
The
evening began with two near-identical snippets of footage; both taken from the
bow of an icebreaker crashing through Antarctic sea ice but filmed 50 years
apart. The older black and white version, broadcast in 1966, depicted the work
of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The fuzzy monochrome pictures of
dramatic Antarctic scenery were accompanied by Phantom of the Opera-style organ
music and a narrator with an accent so archaically-British it would put the
queen to shame.
The
program explored the geology of the Antarctic, walking through the stages of
continental drift before ending on the vast coal deposits that can be found in
the Antarctic. The thought of coal mining in the world’s last pristine
wilderness seems slightly mad by today’s standards but 1966, as Jonathan pointed
out, was long before the 1991 environmental protocol was signed protecting the
Antarctic from mineral exploration.
The
clip was preceded by footage aired earlier this year. Apart from the addition
of the swanky new Halley Research Station the only differences between the two
were the colour and resolution: The Antarctic has preserved its natural habitat
thanks to limited human interaction. The two clips were a great way to kick off
the event and provided a stark contrast to the fast-changing world depicted in
the rest of the Horizon episodes.
By
far my favourite episode was from 1971 entitled ‘Due to lack of interest,
tomorrow has been cancelled’. The footage taken at Lake Eerie comprised scenes
of environmental devastation set to lively jazz. The combination drew a laugh
from the audience and the dated feel was certainly comical in the context of
today’s CGI mega-productions that air in the prime-time BBC slots.
Despite
this, it was surprisingly progressive; even in the 70s the BBC was reporting
the long term, global effects of human interactions with the environment with
an apocalyptic twist. As someone who grew up in the 90s I felt like the worst effects
have only been realised in recent years, yet footage like this reminds me that these
issues have been knocking around for decades.
The Horizon
clips revealed just how vital the late 60s and early 70s were in the
development of the environmental movement- suddenly it was fashionable to be
interested in ecology. Jonathan attributed this in part to the 1968 Apollo space
mission that took the first photograph of the earth from space. After the
mission astronaut William Anders said
In a further Horizon airing in 1971 ‘Vox
pops’ (short interviews with members of the public) filmed on the streets of
New York revealed the scale of the environmental movement coupled with footage
of marches and protests. So prevalent was this voice that in 1970 President
Nixon stated that the “price of goods should
be made to include the cost of producing and disposing of them without damage
to the environment”. How, I wonder, have we regressed so far from these
aspirations of 40 years ago?
“we travelled all this way to explore the moon but the most important thing is that we discovered the earth".In this era, Jonathan said, we developed a sense of the earth as a single place that we all inhabited; and a place we must look after.
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| The famous 'Earthrise' photo from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon. The crew entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts held a live broadcast, showing pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Image credit: NASA. |
The 80s were all about
energy production. As the decade progressed, the greenhouse effect was gaining
recognition and the Horizon content mirrored this. An episode in 1982 revealed
impressively large wind turbines built by Boeing in collaboration with NASA as
a clean and sustainable energy solution. Rather comically, Britain’s only wind
turbine at this time was a slightly decrepit looking windmill which paled into
turbine-insignificance in comparison to the highly engineered US turbines. A
further episode later in the decade, provided a snapshot of UK’s sources of
carbon emissions immersed in a description of the carbon cycle. Despite humankind
being in possession of knowledge of global warming for over a 100 years, public
interest grew around this time; something that Jonathan attributed to the formation
of the IPCC in 1988.
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| Wind turbine created by Boeing in 1982 with NASA. Image credit: Boeing. |
In all, the event was
a wonderful glimpse into rarely seen BBC archives. While the evolution of
thinking on climate change was what carried the discussions, I particularly
enjoyed watching the interviews and narration from an era of television long
gone. It made me realise what an invaluable tool it is in documenting past generations
and I hope we are able to preserve much of the BBC content from the last five
decades. As Steve pointed out, TV viewers in 40 years will probably look back
at TV from today and laugh at the styles and fashions. Let’s hope they laugh at
us from an even more progressive and sustainable future.
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This blog is written by Cabot Institute member Keri McNamara, a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.
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Keri McNamara
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