An odd shower formed here from the top of the worlds as we head into the afternoon. Tallest trees. 0ur temperatures similar theres nothing else to what we had, really, like this on the planet, on monday, with highs and im getting an appreciation between 15 18 celsius for that right now. For the majority of us. To freezing alpine ice lakes. Now for wednesday, the area of low pressure starts to move right over the uk, so we are looking at a cloudy im really nervous about my body day with some fairly prolonged outbreaks of rain. Going into some kind of shock once still, the rain is useful i get in the water. For a number of us it was very dry last month,. From cambodias threatened so the rain is welcomed wildlife to the worlds by gardeners, im sure. Largest butterfly migration. But there is more of that rain to come, and it is kind coming up this week, of yo yo rain, if you like it, were exploring some amazing because as this low pressure ecosystems here on the travel show. Deepens and moves to the south, outbreaks of rain moves southwards, as well. But the rain will then return back northwards, so we get two dollops of rain from this particular system. Thursday we are looking at some rain around, across parts of the south. Northwards, theres heavier rain set to move in across the swathe of northern england, particularly north east england, perhaps even a bit of thunder mixed in with some of that. It will start to turn quite windy as we go through the course of thursday, and that continues into friday, turning increasingly humid as well. Now it stays on the unsettled side friday and even into the weekend, with still some bursts of heavy rain hello and welcome to the travel show around accompanied by claps of thunder across england and wales. With me, mike corey, but generally further north, coming to you from my home the quieter the weather gets, so it may stay dry in inverness in Eastern Canada because, lets face it, our epic adventures in glasgow this weekend. And elaborate vacations have been put on hold at least for right now. So what better opportunity to dip our toe back into the archives . Listen, its no secret that our collective globe trotting has had an impact on our world for several years now something we always think about here on the travel show so the plan today is to look at some of our favourite episodes that have tried to shine a light on the issue. First up, a personal highlight of mine on the california coast, when i went to the stretch known as big sur to understand more about the effects of Climate Change from the top of the worlds tallest trees. For over a millennium, redwood trees have become an icon of this state. So these are coast redwoods. They are the tallest tree species in the world, reaching currently about 380 feet tall is the tallest one. They re really important ecologically. They support the habitat and provide habitat for a lot of plants and animals. So as the Climate Changes, temperatures are increasing, its drying things out as temperatures get warmer, and thats a big, big consideration for these particular trees because they need so much water, thats affecting their water balance and their ability to transport more water to the tops of the trees. But now, its time to get to work. Groans. There we go. So first, we need a sample of the trees core. This is the halfway mark there. And then, when we get to the ground, well be able to pull that spoon out with the core on it. Earlier on, anthony showed me some of those secrets this tree had already revealed. And so, wow, these are the rings here . Yeah, yeah. Each one of those is an annual ring one years worth of growth you can see here. You know, there could be 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 maybe years here. Wow. So this section up here hasnt seen sunlight for 600, 700 years . Yeah. This redwood stands at over 70 metres tall. Climbing redwoods is forbidden in most places, but in this reserve, we have special permission, and what a privilege it is. Okay, a0 metres. I cant get over how beautiful this tree is. We have button for the canopy, so there are burn marks on this tree at a0 metres, which boggles my mind. Its incredible up here. Anthony told me that wildfires are another threat these trees are increasingly facing in the modern world. Birds nest. I dont think theres anybody home, though. With anthony already at the top collecting samples, i make my final push upwards. This view is definitely one of the wildest, most incredible views ive seen in my entire life. I cant believe were 71 metres off the ground right now. This is 700 years old it is before the colonisation of america, before taj mahal, before machu picchu. It makes me feel like a speck of sand in the sandbox like, insignificant yeah, yeah. Its a pretty humbling experience, isnt it . If the Climate Change conditions dry things out sufficiently, then they might start to feel some impacts. They might not grow as well, they might not get as tall, they might, in the future, even start to die back, and thats what were trying to figure out. Do i feel the tree shaking a little bit . Yep, its waving. Okay, just a normal thing, im assuming . Yep chuckles. 0ne things for sure i will never forget the view from the tops of those trees. This is bbc news. Welcome if youre watching next up, were off to here in the uk, on pbs the french alps for a murkier but no in america or around the globe. Less fascinating view of our changing planet, from he very bottom im mike embley. Of a glacial lake. Lucy heads to france for a swim our top stories in some pretty shocking conditions. Paying their respects. Thousands of mourners file past across the world, Global Warming the casket of george floyd is shortening the ski season and starting to seriously affect in his hometown of houston. His brother makes an emotional plea for justice. The economy for lower resorts. The Charity Protect our winters has been collecting data from climate scientists around the world, all with similar predictions by 2050, the alps could see thank a reduction in snow plea for justice. Yall. Thank plea forjustice. Yall. We will get justice. By more than a0 . Thank yall. We will get justice. We will get it. We will not let this door close. The us economy has officially gone into recession, ive noticed a massive difference, but stocks are surging, with the nasdaq hitting especially the last 25 years that a record high. Weve been doing it, of the glaciers retreating, Prince Andrew is embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with us prosecutors the glaciers getting smaller. Investigating his friend, in the winters, our winter seasons getting shorter. You know, they used to start november very comfortably and now sometimes, were lucky if they start in december. Push on the left ski. Good work the other thing thats quite scary right now is because of these extreme changes in the temperatures that were seeing, and what this does to the snowpack, it really weakens the way that the snow bonds together, and weve seen a big rise in the amount of avalanches. Here in tignes, the resort has been making plans to ensure its future. Woo hoo . And one ambitious project is to open an indoor ski dome by the grande motte glacier. These artist impressions show what it will look like in the winter. And also in the summer, to guarantee year round skiing, no matter the weather. Hello hi well, im giving my ski legs a rest. Nice to meet you, lucy, im dan. To try something a little bit different. Okay yes, that is a mask and regulator. Were gonna start by this little room. Ive been persuaded into ice diving. I know they said im not gonna feel the cold, but im really nervous about my body going into some kind of shock once i get in the water. Im sure itll be fine, but my mind is currently in overdrive. Ijust want to get in now youre in . Perfect dan will be staying above the ice helping me and another instructor go under. Its not an activity you can do as a group rather, one person at a time with an instructor, for safety reasons. Okay, and we rotate into the water now oh, god my initial worries of freezing to death quickly went away. Perfect bye bye . But it didnt quite go to plan and i had to surface. So my mask started to fill with water and i started to panic, so i was like out after a little reminder about what to do namely, dont panic i was mentally prepped for another go. 0kay. This time, my mask stayed put, but we decided not to stray too far from the ice hole and my confidence returned. Its an otherworldly experience under the ice, cut off from the noise and distractions above, and its surprisingly relaxing. 0nly towards the end did my toes and fingers start to tingle a little but otherwise, the dry suit really did keep the cold out. For the really daring, its possible to also free dive. Probably not for me, though i much prefer having the oxygen tank. And that was lucy in tignes. Now, im not sure about you, but im feeling a bit chilly after that last piece, so lets warm up and also go back in time to 2016, when we sent Henry Golding to cambodia to join a special patrol that takes on poachers preying on the local wildlife deep in the jungle. That is shocking, to say the least. Have a look at how many chainsaws theyve actually commandeered from these illegal loggers. How many would you say there are, eddie . Its over 500, ill say, yeah. But this piece of timber that you see here look this is the rosewood, the famous rosewood, which is the more expensive in china. It costs 20,000. 20,000 . Per cubic metres. Yes. And these. . Cable ties. These would just be looped around a tree. Yes, yes. So, time for me to take on the criminals. Kind of. All right. Lets go. I found a brand new love for this man. And cant wait till you see. I cant wait. How ya like me now . That was pretty, uh, pretty scary. We saw we were stopping for a little bit of a water break. In the distance, there are two guys on the motorbike who literallyjust leapt on their bike and ran off and luckily, one of the guys actually saw that, started chasing. And whats happened is theyve dropped whatever they were carrying, and this was it rosewood . Rosewood, yes. The perpetrators arent too quick to get away this time. Its clearly a tough job for these rangers. Just making our way through the forest is hard enough. How ya like me now by the heavy continues. This ride is getting bumpier and bumpier. Its almost like trying to stay on a bucking bronco. Whoa ha this deforestation is destroying animals habitats, and thats not the only man made dangers they face here the remains of snares can be found all around. Its a strong piece of stick, okay . Planted in the ground. So when hes coming, hes getting this piece of fruit, whatever it is, and hes getting captured. So theres a bit missing here . Yes, its missing a piece of fruit, and i believe Something Else is missing. So a lot of these traps are designed to maim, rather than kill so they can collect them alive . Yes. Having seen the indiscriminate damage that snares like these do to even much larger animals than their intended targets, its quite shocking to see one up close. But witnessing it myself, i also come face to face with the brutal impact this can have. Henry taking on poachers in the cambodian jungle. Well, make sure to stick with us, because coming up next, we have more great memories of our favourite eco trips, including how to stop your animal selfies putting wildlife in danger. And when i reach the end point of one of the planets most stunning animal migrations. Up next, the banks of the dead sea. This vast salty lake is one of the middle easts top tourist attractions, but its one thats slowly disappearing, leaving behind a scarred landscape, which we sentjo whalley to explore. This is the lowest point on earth and people come here from all over the world to experience the surreal sensation of floating about in the hyper salty waters. But in recent years, the dead sea has been shrinking back at a rate of more than a metre a year. The phenomenons been caused by a sharp decrease in the amount of water flowing into it. As the countries along the riverjordan, the dead seas main source, harness its flow for industry and farming. 30 years ago, the dead sea came all the way up here, right to these beach umbrellas. But now the seas receded so much, the tourists have to be bused by tractor to the waters edge. Its a distance of more than a mile. As the waters recede, huge underground salt deposits are left behind. And when the salt dissolves, the ground above it can collapse without warning, causing sinkholes. Yariv has seen the impact first hand. Two years ago, this road, which was one of the countrys major highways, was closed and re routed after the surface started to sink. Everythings just collapsing into this hole . Yeah, yeah. And this is one of the and this is power relatively small. Or not lets say not so big. Thats a small one . not so big, yeah. Its not a big one, yeah. How many sinkholes are there now . I volunteered for how many sinkholes are there now . Around more than 6,000. 6,500, lets say around 6,500. The beginning of it was the late 80s. It was a phenomena nice one, interesting, very interesting phenomena but it escalated very much and very fast. This tourist resort used to be one of the dead seas few public beaches. Two years ago, it had to be evacuated when the ground became too unstable. Wow. The whole building just had to be abandoned. Yeah. Yeah, in a short, very short notice, we have to just take everything take our bags, stuff, equipment. There is a plan to reverse the fortunes of the dead sea by pumping water into it from the red sea, over 100 miles away, but that could take many years, and no one knows for sure if it will work. In the meantime, the people here are determined to rebuild, using satellite mapping to assess where new holes might open up. Eli has started taking groups out to safely view the sinkholes. He wants something positive to come out of the problem. Um, first of all, to raise the awareness of people to the dead sea crisis and then we have also the other side, the bright side of the problem, and people are amazed by the scenery. It is beautiful. The idea is for people to be able to see the geological wonders that have appeared as the dead sea has receded. Wow its such a lot to take in, because its this devastation but its also beautiful, isnt it . It is beautiful. Always, its better to look in the bright side of the problem. Yeah yes. Its the eerie beauty of this place that its hoped can be used to attract more tourists to the area and repair some of the economic damage thats been caused by the sinkholes. If youre planning a trip to the dead sea, you dont need to worry about a sinkhole opening up under the beach the affected areas are clearly signposted and shouldnt be entered without guidance from an expert. Now to finish our look back at some of our favourite eco trips, here are the lengths that some people will go to protect their native wildlife. First, when carmen visited the charity thats urging people to think twice before taking a selfie with an animal. Im heading to the wildlife friends foundation, three hours drive south of thailands capital bangkok, to find out whats being done to help animals that have been used in the tourist industry. So how big a problem are these animal selfie pictures . Its huge. Example here we have a gibbon being used as a photo prop animal. Its very, very common to see a baby gibbon or a slow loris being carted around by a guy, and people will pay maybe one or 200 baht to have that one second selfie. A lot of these animals are just beaten into submission. So this animal here you cant see unless i zoom, but look, hes on a very, very short chain. Infant animals are particularly vulnerable to the photo prop trade. Here in the wildlife hospital, babies that have been rescued or abandoned are cared for in the nursery. Can you tell me a bit about langurs . Why are they so popular in the photo prop industry . Because then, when when when they was born, their fur is completely full of orange and with that pinky face, theyre so, so cute. They are quite popular to be appealing people to want to take a photo. Removing a young animal from its parents impacts their behaviour for life. Maggie was found abandoned near the rescue centre. Chico grew up in the photo prop industry and was then kept as a pet. He was given to the team here when he became too big to handle. We have carers that shawn and tour who bring maggie and chico into the forest every day and we encourage them to climb in the trees usually by throwing fruit into the trees, wrapped in vines or Something Like that. Oh, okay. We were hoping that he would copy maggie, who is more wild. Chico is a little bit more fond of humans. Hes coming to say hello now. Ok. Hi, chico should i be worried . Its ok. Just stay. Hi, chico just stay calm. Oh just stay calm. 0h, hello 0k, yes. 0h, chicos holding my hand. Yes. Hello, chico. 0h, hi so he does have a unnatural attachment to humans. He wouldve been pulled from the wild as a very young infant. Hes been with humans most of his life. Were trying to erase that to a certain extent, but the stark reality of a photo prop animal, its not all fun and games like we just saw then. Yes, he was having fun with you, but if he was to do that to a tourist, he would get beaten with a stick, and thats how they can control these animals. What people should do when they see things like this is safely try and take video footage or photographs. It then needs to be reported to the relevant authorities, and ourselves here at wfft, as we can also inform the department of National Parks and the authorities to act. Here at the foundation, tourists are encouraged to roll up their sleeves, get dirty, and help care for the rescued animals. And thats far more rewarding than taking a selfie to share with your friends. Carmen laughs. And finally, when i met a couple who have dedicated their lives to raising awareness of one of the worlds most spectacular migrations. You wouldnt know it to look at, but these hills are just a couple hours drive from mexico city, one of the worlds biggest urban this is the trans atlantic volcanic belt, but its not the volcanoes weve come to see. Every winter, millions of butterflies fly for around two months from canada and the us to a few patches of High Altitude forests here in mexico. In recent years, the populations have dwindled, thanks to the destruction of habitats in the us and canada and deforestation here in mexico. One study says the numbers have gone down by 84 in the last 20 years. The fear is this one more bad winter and the entire colony could be gone. There isjust one b b, run byjoel and his american wife ellen, which they set up in an effort to make day trippers stay here for a bit longer. And why do you guys love the butterflies . Why are you here . Well, you know, like, well, thats how i met ellen. Thats how we met. When we met, there was nothing here. People came on day trips, people came from far away, they paid outside operators to come here, and none of the money stayed in the community. So really, what weve been trying to do with starting our business is have more people come, stay here. And create morejobs. Stay in the community, stay longer. And the numbers are much lower than they used to be in the area, with the butterflies . I mean, its actually gotten better, the numbers have gotten slightly better in the last four seasons, but its still, you know, dramatically lower than what it was. Than it used to be . Yeah. While numbers are still critically low, the signs from this year and the last is that the worrying decline appears to be stabilizing. Well, thats all for this week. And if you need reminding what our beautiful world looked like when were actually able to go see it, check out our social media channels. Were all here, hoping we can travel again soon. Until then, stay safe, keep planning those future trips, 00 23 36,792 4294966103 13 29,430 and ill see you soon
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