Discover how a new awareness of nature is helping to restore ecosystems across the globe,

with inventive actions being taken to repair manmade damage and restore reefs, rivers, animal

populations and more. In the Pacific Island of Bikini Atoll, the full extent of the ocean’s ability to

recover is evident. When scientists returned 50 years after the world’s most powerful nuclear

weapons experiment devastated the island, they were astonished to discover that the reefs they

thought destroyed were thriving. When forest land began to be developed around the Panama

Canal, scientists stepped in to explain that there would be no water for the canal without the

trees. A national park was created, saving some of the richest rainforests on Earth. In Norway,

the crash of the cod industry is a cautionary tale about exhausting a once-abundant natural

resource. But working sustainably, the fishing community has learned to manage resources for

future generations. The resurrection of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique in the wake of

civil war and widespread poaching shows that ecosystems can be repaired — with a nudge in

the right direction. Finally, in China, the enormous potential for humans to improve the

environment is stunningly realized in the 25-year restoration of the Loess Plateau, the cradle of

Chinese civilization, which had turned to dust during 8000 years of human activity.