Once Upon A Time... Planet Earth

Our heroes decide to found a powerful club to oppose all those who attack the planet. After all, are they not the "Planet Guards?” Do they not have the right to return it to them in good condition?

What is the greenhouse effect, and what can we do about it? Maestro, Pierrot, Psi and Grumo leave the far North, home of the Inuit, the first victims of global warming.

We travel across India with the help of a guide, a member of the Planet Guards club, and we discover problems related to pollution and water shortages.

In Sahel, which faces desertification, a major tribe and its domestic animals migrate south in search of water, in order to establish their village.

In the largest forest in the world, an exceptionally diverse environment exists. Today, the Amazon rainforest, its fauna and flora, and the people who live there are threatened by deforestation.

Where do fossil fuels come from and why are they being depleted? Is nuclear energy safe?

Fair trade is an opportunity for small artisans or producers to receive fair compensation for their work. We'll go to Bolivia to see Diego, a small coffee farmer.

Seas and oceans are threatened by pollution. To understand the dangers to which this precious ecosystem is exposed, we will go back in time to relive the fascinating story our planet’s creation. All the while, thinking about solutions.

Nature depends upon a delicate balance which is difficult to create artificially. But on our Earth, the imbalances are becoming more clear. The example of Easter Island reminds us that we must never use more than the earth can produce.

Mexico has water shortages, the Aral Sea has dried up, and finally, China was only able to satisfy its water needs with the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. In a few decades, two to three billion people will run out of water.

Today, 20% of people in the world consume 80% of its resources. We’ll go to Mexico, then to Africa, to see how crucial it is that people unite, that rich countries help the poor, rather than barricade themselves in vain.

Part of our little troop is going to Indonesia, on the island of Borneo, to a Dayak village in the heart of a dense forest. The others are in the Congo forest, in a village of Baka pygmies, where slashing and killing are done without moderation.

Whales which once numbered at 300,000, now can be counted individually. But it's not just whales: 130 million tons of fish are caught each year. Is it not obvious that fishing must be limited to what the ocean can produce?

The climate depends on ocean currents around the moving continents, as well as the movement of the earth around the sun. These are natural. Today climate change is created by human activity, an artificial factor upon which we can act.

Around the world, agriculture consumes 70% of the drinking water! However, satellite imagery allows us to better control irrigation, reducing damage to the earth! Better yet, natural and sustainable agriculture is the kind of farming that everyone needs!

Nature, which is a great pool of resources, needs diversity, and that is what man does not understand. The facts are there: in the coming years, we could face thirty thousand extinctions a year! Man must now learn to live with, and not at the expense of, nature.

Because of global warming, the passage in the Pacific, across the icy mazes of the North, is now free! The 5 bordering countries fight to claim its ownership, while we need to be focusing on what’s necessary: cutting our fossil fuel consumption by half.

In the Philippines and India, the mountains of trash are sources of income for countless poor people who often handle toxic materials. To address the rise of waste in the world, manufacturers must reduce it at its source, and consumers must learn to recycle.

Women produce most of the food in developing countries but have little income and even fewer rights. We go to Burkina Faso in Africa, to India and to China.

In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, many children are forced to work, sometimes from the age of 4 or 5. But children are also exploited as soldiers, there are nearly 300,000 in the world! We will investigate the Congo.

Fossil fuels will run out. How to replace biomass, recycling and waste incineration, geothermal, and biofuels? With wind, hydro and solar energy. And with hydrogen, the fuel of the future as they say, even though many challenges still exist.

Imagining the best city for the future is not easy. We will go to Curitiba, Brazil, and Bedzeg, not far from London, and we will evoke the Chinese city model of Dongtan. Then it will be the construction of tomorrow…

We will produce twice as much CO2 than our planet can absorb. How to fight against global warming: cool the Earth, bury CO2 underground, as well as reduce consumption in homes, industry, transportation, etc.

We are in Casamance, in a reception center. Our young heroes are helping Sira, a twelve year-old girl, to get to Dakar for a heart operation. Back in Sira’s village, they intend, not without difficulty, to rebuild and rehabilitate the school.

Since the dawn of mankind, technical progress has never ceased. Today, the goal of technology should be to preserve our beautiful blue planet, its life, and its diversity for our children and our children's children.

Maestro takes our heroes travelling into the future: photovoltaic modules and space hotels, the International Space Station, and the Moon and Mars. On Earth, there are nature reserves, clean rivers, use of hydrogen fuel, etc.