WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:03.680 Welcome. This is Marsha for RADIOI, and today I will 2 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:07.679 be reading National Geographic magazine dated September twenty twenty five, 3 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:11.640 which is donated by the publisher. As a reminder. RADIOI 4 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:14.480 is a reading service intended for people who are blind 5 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.960 or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read 6 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.399 printed material. Please join me now for the continuation of 7 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:26.199 the article I began last time, entitled The Great Moon 8 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:32.560 Rush by Charles Fishman. For the imaginable future, any company 9 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:36.159 or nation or science institution operating on the Moon will 10 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.320 be operating from Earth, which is where the enforcement leverage 11 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:43.079 comes from and where any sanctions can be imposed. And 12 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.600 one of the unspoken rules of the High Seas is 13 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:49.920 that presence matters. The US has eleven aircraft carrier strike 14 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:53.560 groups for the Seven Seas. The Chinese Navy has added 15 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:56.719 ships steadily in the past decade and now has more 16 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.679 warships than the U. S. Navy. The same principle will 17 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.200 be visvidly true on the now empty Moon. This Moon 18 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:08.200 race is about adventure, opportunity, science, but also presence. Whoever's 19 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.120 activity is dominant on the Moon will most powerfully influence 20 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.280 its rules and shape its future. Going to the Moon 21 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:18.000 to live in. Work will demand the combination of hubris 22 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.560 and humility that other crazy human enterprises have required the 23 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.319 Transcontinental Railroad and the Trek to the Poles, the invention 24 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.840 of the Internet, than the original moon landings themselves. We 25 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:33.280 are certainly underestimating the consequences, as we did with each 26 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:36.120 of those projects. The Moon is going to be harder 27 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:40.239 in reality than everyone hopes. Since twenty eighteen, there have 28 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.840 been fifteen missions to put landers on the surface of 29 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.599 the Moon from a range of countries and companies. Only 30 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:51.200 six succeeded a sixty percent failure rate. With twenty first 31 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:57.480 century technology, one pioneering company, Intuitive Machines, became the first 32 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.120 private company to soft land a spacecraft on the Moon 33 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:05.280 and not crash, something only five nations have done. Intuitive 34 00:02:05.319 --> 00:02:08.960 Machines did this twice, stunning achievements for a small company, 35 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:12.599 and both landers survived their arrivals on the Moon, but 36 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.039 they weren't able to perform their missions for a simple, 37 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.240 sobering reason. In each case, as it landed on the 38 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:22.919 uneven terrain near the Moon's south pool, the spacecraft toppled over, 39 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:26.439 rendering it mostly useless. After years of work and tens 40 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.039 of millions of dollars in investment. If the Moon proves 41 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:34.000 harder than companies like Intuitive Machines hope their investors could 42 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.319 get exhausted if the promise of water fades, so could 43 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.840 invest your enthusiasm. We could spend two decades trying to 44 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:43.439 make life on the Moon work, trying to spark a 45 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.879 self sustaining moon or economy, and it could all peter out, 46 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.719 leaving the Moon littered with the remnants of what could 47 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:53.800 have been moon bases, much the way terrestrial developments stall, 48 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.840 leaving robar sticking up from half finished walls. Those would 49 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.280 stay on the Moon a test to our failures for 50 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.439 millions of years. Indeed, the Moon is about to be 51 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.479 a very busy place, with eighty four announced national and 52 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:12.080 commercial missions just between now and twenty thirty. Economics will 53 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:15.520 ultimately drive what happens after. But what's so striking is 54 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:20.280 a different motivation, expressed equally by the entrepreneurs, the engineers, 55 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:27.439 the scientists, the astrophysicists like Joseph Silk and Nivedita Mahesh. Wonder. 56 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:31.639 Our fascination and appreciation for the Moon are built on wonder. 57 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.759 You can feel the wonder here on Earth. When you 58 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.280 step outside on a summer evening and a full moon 59 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:40.840 is rising, low and large and shining on the horizon, 60 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:43.599 you can feel the wonder and the hypnotic appeal of 61 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.639 pictures from the Moon's surface. You can hear the wonder 62 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.319 in the voices of the Apollo astronauts from the surface. 63 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.639 Wonder is driving the age of the new Moon as 64 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:57.759 much as opportunity. Far reach is a stretch, as is 65 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:01.159 the life spotting hyper telescope, but no more than the 66 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:05.439 Apollo missions, or the Internet or the Manhattan Project. Mahesh 67 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:09.280 hopes Farview's team will see some test radio antennas on 68 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.919 the Moon as soon as next year, with a larger 69 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.400 array as soon as twenty thirty. To install one hundred 70 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:18.800 thousand antennas, she says, you first have to do one. 71 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:23.560 Understanding the astrophysics of the thirteen point eight billion year 72 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:27.800 old universe has tremendous urgency for Mahesh, driven by both 73 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:31.720 the opportunity the moment presents and the wonder. How could 74 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.120 we not explain the origins of the universe If we 75 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:37.120 have the ability to do it, we have to complete 76 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:40.759 the pictures, says Mahesh. Don't don't we want to know 77 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.639 where the first star came from? We are Stardust, don't 78 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:46.879 we want to know where we came from? This is 79 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.000 the only way to do it. How to start building 80 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:52.959 on the Moon. The next several decades will stand out 81 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.720 as unlike any others in the Moon's four point five 82 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.920 billion year history. If all goes to plan, the Moon 83 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:01.399 will become an outpost, perhaps with a bit of the 84 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:05.240 feel of a nineteen fifty sci fi show crossed with 85 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:09.600 the industrial outskirts of Newark Airport. By twenty eighty, there 86 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:13.399 could be a thriving lunar economy supporting game changing science. 87 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:16.120 But to build it, scientists and engineers will need to 88 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:24.480 start small and take three million three milestone steps. Phase 89 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:28.240 one build with dirt. Rocket launchers are pricey. To keep 90 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:30.720 costs down, will need to start working with the most 91 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:36.120 abundant resource already on the Moon, mega regolith or lunar soil. 92 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.439 Phase two develop lunar power. A permanent base will need 93 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.360 to be self supporting with its own electric power sources 94 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.279 to grow food and protect people's long term well being. 95 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:50.000 Phase three open for business. A lunar base will thrive 96 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:53.879 only if it can stain itself economically selling rare and 97 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:57.319 valuable resources back to Earth, like minerals or electric power. 98 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:02.839 Next article What Katrina taught us. Two decades after the 99 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:07.000 hurricane devastated New Orleans, fourteen billion dollars has been spent 100 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:10.199 on an elaborate coastal defense system. Will it be enough 101 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:14.560 to stop the next vegas storm? It's been twenty years 102 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:18.800 since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in coastal Louisiana, leaving nearly 103 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:22.879 fourteen hundred dead and causing some one hundred twenty five 104 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:26.560 billion dollars in damage. Much of the devastation resulted from 105 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.959 huge volumes of water that heaved inland via estuaries and canals, 106 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:36.319 flooding New Orleans. Healthy coastal wetlands would have absorbed some 107 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:39.920 of that storm surge had decades of development not wrecked 108 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:44.000 habit on the Delta. Shipping canals and oil infrastructure up 109 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:49.000 ended its hydrology. Dams and levees robbed it of replenishing sediment. 110 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.360 Months after the storm, Louisiana created the Coastal Protection and 111 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:57.160 Restoration Authority, a state agency that developed a fifty year 112 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:02.120 blueprint to prevent land loss and build infrastructure augmenting coasts 113 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:07.800 natural defenses. Louisiana has since spent nearly fourteen billion dollars 114 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:11.759 on some one hundred seventy projects, though not without setbacks. 115 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:16.560 Earlier this year, after bemooning costs and impacts on fisheries, 116 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.680 the governor suspended a cornerstone of the plan that would 117 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:24.319 have diverted fresh water and sediment to a much eroded basin. 118 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:28.720 Questions linger about funding another roughly thirty years and thirty 119 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:34.279 billion dollars worth of projects. Sure it's expensive, says Alex Kolker, 120 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:39.199 a climate scientist with the Louisiana University's Marine Consortium, but 121 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.680 the cost of another Katrina would be over one hundred 122 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:45.079 billion dollars. Here's a detailed look at what the state 123 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:49.000 has accomplished and what yet can be done to bolster 124 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:57.360 a fragile, critical ups landscape. This by Boyce uphold protecting 125 00:07:57.399 --> 00:08:02.160 a vulnerable coast. Informed by the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, 126 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:06.279 Louisiana's efforts to better withstand storms and rising seas today 127 00:08:06.759 --> 00:08:12.040 take two forms. Built defenses and restored natural ones. Projects 128 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:16.319 aim to prevent both catastrophic flooding and land loss. Water 129 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:22.040 In this infrared satellite map appears black next ninety nine 130 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:24.639 point nine nine nine percent of the deep sea is 131 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:28.360 a mystery. Katy Croft Bell is on a mission to 132 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.800 change that by deploying a new tool to help scientists 133 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.000 get eyes on the murky depths. This article by Andrew S. 134 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:39.879 Lewis we know almost nothing about the deep sea floor. 135 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.240 After decades of exploration, it is still the least understood 136 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:46.759 habitat on Earth. This blind spot has long vex's National 137 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:50.720 Geographic Explorer, katy Croft Bell, who has led dozens of 138 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:54.159 ocean expeditions around the world. After all, the deep sea 139 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:57.240 encompasses some two thirds of the globe and plays a 140 00:08:57.320 --> 00:09:01.360 key role in sequestrian carbon and regulating the climate. So 141 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:04.159 Bell and a few other researchers recently set out to 142 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:08.240 quantify the gaps in our knowledge. The results were even 143 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.440 worse than they thought. A mere point zero zero one 144 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:15.879 percent of the deep sea floor has been visually observed. 145 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.759 They found that though there have been some forty four 146 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:22.600 thousand deep sea dives since the nineteen fifties, many surveyed 147 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.399 the same sites, resulting in only about twelve thousand unique 148 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.039 locations explored. Their findings also revealed that just five high 149 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:34.639 income countries have been responsible for nearly all the dives. 150 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.759 The cost of deep sea research is partly to blame 151 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:41.200 for this monopoly. The price of an advanced tool like 152 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:44.720 a deep submergence vehicle ranges from tens of thousands to 153 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:48.240 millions of dollars. For almost a decade, Bell has been 154 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:51.240 working to make the deep sea more accessible. Her pace 155 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:54.279 picked up in twenty eighteen when she convened nearly two 156 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:58.480 hundred fifty researchers at the MIT Media Lab to discuss 157 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:01.759 ways to increase our knowledge of the seafloor, from cheaper 158 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:06.440 sensors and machine learning to community engagement in robotics. By 159 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:11.559 the events close, Bell had a realization, why couldn't one 160 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.840 piece of technology be cheap to make, easy to operate 161 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:17.960 and suited for a wide variety of vessels that could 162 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:22.320 transform the field, Bell recalls thinking and really accelerate our 163 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:26.360 understanding of the deep ocean. The veteran ocean researcher decided 164 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.960 to make it a reality. Fast forward seven years and 165 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.080 Bell is on the cusp of debuting debuting a revolutionary 166 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:39.080 deep submergence vehicle that has many features of the multimillion 167 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.799 dollar devices, but at a cost of less than ten 168 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.240 thousand dollars. It will be a total game changer, Bell says, 169 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.480 not much bigger than a scuba tank. The tool is 170 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:51.759 being built to withstand the immense pressure that exists twenty 171 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:55.039 thousand feet below the water's surface, allowing it to reach 172 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.480 ninety eight percent of the ocean floor. Bell and her 173 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:03.279 colleagues at the Ocean Discovery ODL, a nonprofit she founded 174 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:06.840 in twenty twenty one, named it the Deep Ocean Research 175 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:11.960 and Imaging System DORIS. The finished product will be equipped 176 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.879 with sensors to detect temperature, depth, and saliginity, but its 177 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:18.759 primary goal is to capture footage with its four K 178 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:22.679 still in video cameras, which will help scientists better understand 179 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:27.200 the measurements and samples taken from the seafloor. And the 180 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:31.200 development process has the attention of major players. ODEL is 181 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.799 creating the prototype in partnership with tech company Blue Robotics 182 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.879 and receiving funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 183 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:44.320 among others. Future upgrades will include the ability to collect 184 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.799 samples in audio. Bell's team is also collaborating with the 185 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:53.120 Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to create machine learning models 186 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:57.600 that can rapidly analyze all the data that the tool retrieves. 187 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:02.519 Bell and her odl colleagues identified thousands of locations that 188 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:06.039 would greatly diversify and increase the number of surveyed sites, 189 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:11.120 including spots in the Southern Ocean and the pacifics Clarion 190 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:15.480 Clipperton Zone. Exploring these points would effectively double the number 191 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:18.639 of unique locations around the world that we've seen. Bell 192 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:22.960 says Doris will help with that because of its small 193 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:25.440 size and ease of deployment. The new device will be 194 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:29.200 launched from vessels not typically used for deep sea research. 195 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:34.519 One example is the Ho Kulai, a double hulled canoe 196 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:40.000 used by the Polynesian Voyaging Society PVS, an organization working 197 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.679 to expand knowledge of traditional navigation techniques. Bell collaborated with 198 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:48.440 PVS as she tested early low cost instruments, and the 199 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:52.320 Hawaii based organization is planning to use a Doris prototype 200 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:55.919 on an upcoming journey across the Pacific. The quest will 201 00:12:55.960 --> 00:13:00.000 be partially supported by National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Places 202 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:04.759 Ocean Expeditions, an ambitious effort that's dispatching a number of 203 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:08.360 scientists to study the world's five oceans. She also will 204 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.279 be working with other explorers on the multi year project 205 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.919 to deploy the new tech on their research trips. Bill 206 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:17.759 has never been more excited about the potential for discovery. 207 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.759 What's left in the ninety nine point nine ninety nine 208 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:25.759 percent that we haven't seen yet. While Mexico's train of 209 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:30.879 the future leave its past behind, the trend Maya Railway 210 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.159 was built to unite the country and honor ancient Maya sytes. 211 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:37.399 Now there are questions about what exactly has disappeared along 212 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:44.639 its path. This article by Michael Finkel. Roberto Royo was 213 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:47.039 inside the cave when the roof cracked open and a 214 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:52.960 massive drill churned, thundering through stalactites. Stumbling, Rojo ducked for cover, 215 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.840 holding out his phone, the biologist and outspoken cave explorer 216 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:00.279 capturing the moment that a spectacular limestone chamber in the 217 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:05.720 Yucatan Peninsula of southeastern Mexico was destroyed. A rusty steel 218 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.759 pillar about four feet in diameter and eighty feet tall, 219 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:13.440 was later jammed into the hole by the industrial drig rig. 220 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:17.360 Drill rig on the surface above the hollow pillar was 221 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.279 pumped full of cement, some of which spilled into the 222 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:24.720 crystalline water, partially filling the senote as a sinkhole or 223 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:29.159 cave system with an underground reservoir is known rust flakes 224 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.039 shedding from the pillar, mixed with loose cement, and a 225 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:36.120 dark stain spread across the pool. Nearby, a second hole 226 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.279 was punched and another pillar inserted, then a third, then 227 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:43.559 a fourth. There are now forty pillars in this senote alone, 228 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:47.480 marching through in rows of four by Rojos count more 229 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.559 than fifteen thousand pillars have been stabbed into the thin 230 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.360 Yucatan soil and a salt that may trigger a chain reaction. 231 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:58.440 The Yucatan Peninsula is bigger than Florida, but because it's 232 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.240 made of porous limestone, much of the region has no 233 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:05.200 rivers or lakes. The widespread sonotes are a crucial source 234 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:09.879 of fresh water, sustaining hundreds of species from jaguars to tapirs, 235 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:14.399 as well as millions of Mexican citizens and all of 236 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.399 the Taurus Maya. People have placed ceremonial objects in senotes 237 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.360 for over a thousand years. Most critically, many of the 238 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:26.240 senotes are interconnected ruin some of the water, says Rojo, 239 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:28.639 and you risk at all and they drain to the sea. 240 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:33.840 So Ooze from the pillars also attacks the Mezzo American 241 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:37.639 reef and the beaches of Cancun and the mangroves, buttressing 242 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.519 the coast, as well as the jungle and its wildlife. 243 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:45.039 Everything in Rojo's perspective could be lost and echo side. 244 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:48.879 He calls it all for the sake of a train trend. 245 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:53.120 Maya slides into the station, air conditioning pumping spotlessly clean 246 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:57.320 the seats and aisles in trim tinted teal or aquamarine. 247 00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:01.840 Like the sea beyond cancuons termin all sleekly curved walls 248 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:05.519 and planters bursting with greenery clarifies why this is one 249 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:10.200 of the most expensive infrastructure projects in modern Mexican history. 250 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:14.759 The system fully opened in December twenty twenty four, costing 251 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.519 an estimated thirty billion dollars and creating a grand loop 252 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:22.200 around the Yucatan Peninsula, nine hundred sixty six miles of rail, 253 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.960 thirty four stops, and more than three dozen trains moving 254 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:29.159 in both directions at up to one hundred miles per hour. 255 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:34.159 Some tracks sits on elevated viaducts supported by steel pillars 256 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:38.720 that have been stuccoed above ground demurely in white. The 257 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:43.159 train is an incredcredible achievements. As a cologist and cave diver, 258 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:48.039 German yan Yez one of the few people who love 259 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:52.200 exploring the senote is as much as Robert Roho. The 260 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:55.039 two of them were once close best friends, says Rojo, 261 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:58.440 and started a caving club together. Now they hardly speak. 262 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:02.879 Trenbaya divided them, as it has cleaved friendships and families 263 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:07.920 across Mexico and beyond. How could a train so innocuous 264 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.000 stir up terrible fights? The conflicts are both grand and 265 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:13.599 not the direction of a nation. The price of a 266 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:18.240 bier and tenned to polarize society. There's a battle between 267 00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:20.640 those with a far sighted need to preserve the last 268 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:24.319 scraps of wild mother Earth and those who understand that 269 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:28.400 human impact, unstoppable since our species was born, should be 270 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:32.119 celebrated when you feel it's been appropriately wrought. Tran Maaya 271 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:35.319 was a result is a project that's seen with two 272 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:39.720 sets of eyes. When construction started in twenty twenty, Yanyas 273 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:44.440 and Roho were both drawn to the senotes beneath the route, 274 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.039 but while Roho documented ruin, Yanyes helped seek treasure. For 275 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:53.480 two years, Yanyas was employed by Mexico's government and worked 276 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.599 closely with members of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, 277 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:02.279 a respected Mexican office that oversees the nation's cultural heritage 278 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:06.519 from museums to pyramids. The Institute's field unit assesses the 279 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:10.599 archaeological impact of proposed public works, and for tran Maya, 280 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:14.880 an unprecedented team of two thousand was assembled, including scientists 281 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:18.640 and support staff, who combed the jungle along the planned circuit. 282 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:21.759 It was the job of my dreams as Yanyas, who 283 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:26.680 was the underwater mapping division and assisted in dozens of fines, 284 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:30.559 including the first intact Maya canoe discovered in the region, 285 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.119 believed to be from around a D nine hundred. Likely 286 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.160 it will be displayed in one of the nine new 287 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.279 museums being built that will highlight trand Maya discoveries. Yanyas, 288 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.480 unlike Rojo, was actually on the job site every day 289 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.400 in uniform part of the crew, from track layers to archaeologists. 290 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:53.440 Yanyas says he sensed dedication in national pride, a belief 291 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:56.319 that the work was important because to them it was 292 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:59.799 the Yucatan Peninsula beyond that the tourist strips has long 293 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:03.480 been neglected with areas of extreme poverty, tran Maya has 294 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:06.880 the power to change that. In addition to taking passengers, 295 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.720 the rail line will soon carry large quantities of cargo, 296 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.759 which should reduce the price of goods from beef to 297 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:17.799 beer informally remote areas and let farmers efficiently transport produce. 298 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:21.880 Tourists and their cash will be distributed more equitably throughout 299 00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:25.480 the peninsula. Ticket prices for locals make the train cheaper 300 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:29.039 than the bus. A study by the United Nations estimates 301 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:32.680 that by twenty thirty, the economic boost from Tranmyah will 302 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.920 generate more than nine hundred thousand new jobs and lift 303 00:19:36.039 --> 00:19:40.200 one point one million people out of poverty. It's the 304 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.759 ideal project at the right time, supporters say, launching an 305 00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:48.640 improvised region impoverished region into the future. Not building this 306 00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:52.599 modern marvel would be would have been tragic. Without a train, 307 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:56.799 the area's population growth may have necessitated a more ecologically 308 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:01.559 damaging old fashioned highway. Even the pillars, to some are beneficial. 309 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:05.440 Elevating the train preserves the natural flow of the wildlife 310 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:10.440 beneath instead of fragmenting habitats. Rojo has documented one hundred 311 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:15.599 twenty senotes the pillars have pierced, which means Yanettes notes 312 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.559 that at least ten thousand others are unharmed. As for 313 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:24.200 contaminating the aquifer, sanitation experts believe a greater culprit than 314 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.720 pillars is a lack of proper sewage disposal in the area, 315 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.599 and the monetary stimulus of the train should help fix that. 316 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:36.079 Trand Maya, says Yanyez won't kill the Yucatan, It's going 317 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.240 to save it. Circling south out of Cancun, the train 318 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.240 rolls through jungle inland of the famous beach resorts. The 319 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.680 ground level tracks here have sliced open one of the 320 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:52.440 last places in Mexico with vast healthy forest. Otto Fahan Beartrop, 321 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:55.400 a Mexican journalist and owner of a tour guiding business, 322 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:59.240 has spent years investigating tran Maya and claims that anyone 323 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:03.799 who supports it has been brainwashed by government propaganda. Yanyas 324 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.039 and Rojo fought chiefly over tolerance for ecological harm, but 325 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:12.240 the van Bertrub family, like many others, is attempting to 326 00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:16.839 maintain cordial relations while clashing over politics and sociology. Too, 327 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:20.599 and what it means to be Mexican. Etienne van bertrub 328 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:24.640 Otto's first cousin, their fathers are brothers, is an academic 329 00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:28.880 specializing in sustainable development who has also intensely studied tran 330 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:32.079 Maya and believes that many opposed to it have been 331 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:36.160 blinded by dislike of Mexico's new leadership. Tranmaya is the 332 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:41.920 pet project of former President andres Manoel Lopez Obrador, known 333 00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:46.200 as AMLO, who brought a progressive outlet to the Mexican 334 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.039 government for the first time in decades when elected in 335 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:53.559 twenty eighteen on a platform focused on reducing poverty. Amlo 336 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.839 mentioned the train in his inaugural address and swiftly launched construction, 337 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:02.759 which finished soon after his chosen successor, Claudia Scheinbaum, became 338 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:06.240 president in twenty twenty four. To keep the project moving, 339 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:12.279 believes Atto van Bertraub Amlo breezenly lied. The president stated 340 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:15.200 repeatedly that not one tree will be cut because the 341 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:18.519 train will be built over abandoned rail lines. In truth, 342 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:21.079 millions of trees were felled, and much of the route 343 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:24.240 is far from old tracks to protect wildlife. Where the 344 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:28.519 train wasn't elevated. The government promised to install animal crossings. 345 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:32.799 Plans distributed to the media showed wide, gently sloping overpasses 346 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:36.480 designed to look natural with trees and shrubs. None have 347 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:40.400 yet been built. Otto reported on such deceptions for the 348 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:45.319 Yucatan newspaper La Jornada Maya. He joined forces with the 349 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:49.599 Roho and other anti train activists. Rojo's videos of the 350 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:53.839 pillars were widely distributed. Dozens of Mexican scientists and academics 351 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:58.400 signed letters pleading for construction to halt. Mexican singers, actors, 352 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:01.640 and artists recorded video was begging the government to conserve 353 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:06.079 the forest. Demonstrations were staged in fresh clear cuts. Some 354 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:10.680 protesters cuffed themselves to machinery. Journalists around the world took notice. 355 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:14.599 A New York Times headline announced that the project barrels 356 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:19.000 towards disaster. The reaction of the government, expressed in Omlo's 357 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:22.880 televised speches and social media posts, was to imply that 358 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:27.079 those who opposed the train were traders enemies of Mexican progress. 359 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:30.000 That's when I got my first threatening calls, says Otto. 360 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:34.480 He has warned he could be disappeared, a terrifying concern 361 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:39.160 in Mexico, whereover a dozen environmental protesters are murdered each year, 362 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:43.039 more than anywhere else in the world except Columbia, according 363 00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:47.079 to the non profit agency Global Witness. Fearful for his life, 364 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:49.519 Otto fell silent. I couldn't write any more. It was 365 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:52.759 too dangerous. He lauds the bravery of people like Rojo, 366 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.559 who kept up the drum beat, repeatedly pointing out the 367 00:23:55.559 --> 00:24:00.240 project was illegal as the mandated environmental impact statements were 368 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:04.920 never completed. AMLO's response in November twenty twenty one was 369 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:08.519 to declare that the train was a matter of national security. Further, 370 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.759 AMLO put the Mexican military in charge of the project's 371 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:16.240 construction and operation, and with these strong arm tactics, as 372 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:19.319 Otto views them, the president by passed the need for 373 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:24.039 environmental assessments. In May twenty twenty three, the Mexico Supreme 374 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:28.960 Court ruled that such evasive actions were illegal, but AMLO 375 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:33.680 overruled the court's decision with a narrower executive order, and 376 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:38.039 construction rolled down. Even the revered National Institute of Anthropology 377 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:41.160 and History was caught up in an apparent scandal. An 378 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:46.039 archaeologist with the trend Maya team, Juan Manoel Sandeval published 379 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:50.279 a scathing seventy five page report detailing incidents of purposeful 380 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:54.799 destruction of artifacts so that train workers could bulldoze through 381 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.440 without delay. The Washington Post reported that more than twenty 382 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:03.440 five thousand antiquities, including Maya temples, were obliterated. Members of 383 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:08.359 the indigenous community, about half of the peninsula's population identifies 384 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:13.039 as adigious Indigenous, more than double the national average, raised 385 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:16.720 voices in protests. Some expressed that the very name tran 386 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:21.640 Maya reduced Native people to a marketing slogan. But nothing 387 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:24.880 stopped construction, and the train is done after all, that's 388 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:29.440 as Otto. The result is a cultural, environmental, and economic catastrophe. 389 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:32.799 Many stations are far from city centers, difficult to reach. 390 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:37.519 The early rider numbers are one fifth of government expectations. 391 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.160 Maintaining a high tech train in tropical weather and salty 392 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:44.559 air will be an endless expense in a handful of years. 393 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:48.440 He's certain tran Maya will lie in ruins, rusted and overgrown. 394 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.200 Maybe people will visit it like the temples of Tulum 395 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:58.680 trn Mayas. As Otto's cousin Etien van Bertraub thought, though 396 00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:01.240 not free of flaws, is one of the most important 397 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:04.599 projects in Mexican history. Etienne grew up in Mexico but 398 00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:09.079 now lectures on urban development at University College London. He 399 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:13.200 acknowledges the painful losses stalagmites that grew for millions of 400 00:26:13.319 --> 00:26:16.920 years shattered in minutes, but feels that what's gained the 401 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:22.160