Darwin's dangerous idea. Part 3, Life and death.

The third in a very informative three-part series in which Andrew Marr looks in depth at all aspects of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. This part looks at how the way we inhabit the earth is leading to mass extinction and how we've struggled to understand and accept the full implications of Darwin's legacy. Marr looks back at how Darwin's theory of natural selection upset the Victorian people of his tme and led to his fears at publishing his research. However, in the Indonesian jungle, naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was reaching similar conclusions to Darwin. He wrote to Darwin and Darwin was finally impelled to publish. Following this, Ernst Heckel founded the science of ecology; Wallace noted the way in which extinction could be induced by the interference of man rather than being a natural part of evolution. Darwin's final book was on worms and showed how vital the earthworm is to our lives. The effects of industrialisation led to huge concerns about our changing relationship with nature; William Morris, in particular, campaigned to save the beauty of the English countryside. But it wasn't until the arrival of moth enthusiast James W Tutt that Darwin's theory was connected to the effect of industrialisation on evolution. His discovery showed that in industrialised areas, the black version of the peppered moth survived and increased, while the paler variety became extinct. This provided proof that the behaviour of humankind on their environment could directly influence the path of evolution. Other ecological studies ensued, leading to Rachel Carson's publication of 'Silent Spring,' which looked into the dangers of pesticides; a book now regarded as the original battle cry for the modern environmental movement. James Lovelock expanded Darwinian theory to describe a global ecosystem based on biological feedback. He called this the Gaia hypothesis. This coupled with the first view of our planet taken from the surfaceof the earth, led to the beginnings of environmentalism.