HUMANWATCH

Edward Booth, 8

Lichfield

Series 1 – Episode 1

Michaela: Hi, I’m Michaela Salmon, and welcome to a new series – Humanwatch! I’m here with my friend Chris and we’re going to show you some amazing footage and share incredible stories of life among the humans.

Chris: Yes, I’m Chris Puffin and I can’t wait to show you the weird and wonderful world of humans. Trust me, fellow creatures, it’s going to be fascinating!

Michaela: Now, in this episode we’re going to look at how humans are planning for more sustainable futures. We start with Simon Kingfisher, who’s in Surrey to investigate how humans are using renewable energy. Simon.

Simon: Thanks, Michaela. Yes, I’m here in rural Surrey where we’ve been keeping a close eye on a cute family of humans building their new dwelling. Here it is now, and you might notice it has strange black panels on top. Well, these panels are called solar panels and they are one of the ways humans are using renewable energy – they soak up heat and light from the sun, then transform it into energy to be used inside human homes. It’s like our friend the adder, basking in the sun to gain the energy she needs to go hunting.

Chris: Wow, Simon, thanks for showing us that! Now we’re going to cross to Wales, where Megan McCapercaillie is looking at another way humans are being sustainable.

Megan: Thanks Chris, and “Croeso i Gymru,” everyone! I’m at the Royal Mint plant for recovering precious metals, where things like gold and silver can be saved from old equipment like laptops and phones. It can then be reused instead of thrown away. It’s even used to make the coins humans swap with each other!

Chris: Ooh, you know I love shiny things! If I weren’t a puffin, I think I’d be a magpie! And speaking of coins, Michaela has exciting news for us.

Michaela: That’s right, Chris, I’m thrilled to confirm that some new human coins have been designed – with some of us featured on them! There are coins with pictures of salmon, puffins, and the capercaillie – plus more of our amazing friends like the red squirrel and bees!

Putting rare British species like us on their coins shows how much humans care about preserving our species, and our planet. That’s why we can see humans making so much effort towards sustainable futures.

Chris: Quite right, Michaela. Although, we know not all of them get it right. Let’s take a quick look at this human – watch this clip from last night, this chap spends 10 minutes trying to decide which bin to put his plastic water bottle in; then puts it in the one for paper! Oh dear.

Michaela: Oh dear indeed. Well, that’s all we’ve got time for tonight. Join us tomorrow when we’ll be exploring wind turbines and broadcasting from the Lincolnshire home of Sir Isaac Newton, former Master of the Royal Mint. It promises to be a really wild show! Goodnight.