host: welcome to "global 3000." bright solutions -- in one brazilian favela, discarded bottle caps are being turned into skateboards. melting ice -- in alaska, the permafrost is thawing with dramatic consequences for people and animals. and higher waters -- the egyptian coastal city of alexandria is fighting rising sea levels, and its own demise. ♪ our planet consists largely

of water. around 70% of the earth's surface is covered by it. climate change is causing temperatures to rise. until now, oceans have absorbed a large share of the heat, helping to keep temperatures in check. but as temperatures rise, so does the sea level. the entire planet is feeling the impact of melting glaciers. since 1900, sea levels have risen by around 20 centimeters, and particularly sharply since 1993. if this continues, sea levels could be meters higher by the end of this century than they are today. worst-case scenarios predict a rise of up to 1.7 meters. in alexandria in egypt, the rising levels are already causing great concern. reporter: most of the beach has already been swallowed by the sea. just a few years ago, sunbathers lounged here on six rows of chairs.

only one remains. almost 30 meters of beach are now underwater. often the waves lap directly against the buildings. like at this popular beach café. the view is unique, but the future is uncertain. tamer himeda's income is crumbling. the 42-year-old has been running his café for more than 20 years. but now its days, like this entire row of houses, seem numbered. tamer: if this continues, soon there won't be a beach here, nothing at all. next year, the seawater will come right up to the edge here. reporter: cracks on the wall testify to the danger. tamer himeda has lived in fear. in 2019, the porch collapsed under the force of the waves. tamer: i was bewildered. bewildered. i thought we were experiencing a tsunami. reporter: the former pearl of the

mediterranean is now threatened with ruin. founded more than 2,400 years ago by alexander the great, alexandria was once a major center of civilization. today it is egypt's second-largest city with more than five million inhabitants and over 60 kilometers of shoreline. the water creeps ever closer to the historic buildings as the sea level rises. scientists fear that sooner or later, they will be completely submerged. dr. sharaky: about half a million hectares around alexandria and the nile delta will sink. around 4 million people will be affected. if the sea level rises by 1.5 meters, around 8 million people in the delta will be in mortal danger. reporter: the city council is desperately trying to hold back the waves. coastal protection workers are

sinking tetrapods weighing tens of thousands of tons along the coast. the project has been underway since september. the clock is ticking. palaces, historical bridges and lighthouses must be protected before it's too late, warns azza eissa, the head of coastal conservation in alexandria. azza: in the worst-case scenario, the historic defensive wall will collapse. part of it already broke away, but we repaired that. if the wall collapses completely, the park will sink into the sea. reporter: beaches will also be protected with a wall of concrete blocks. cranes are gradually sinking the tetrapods into the sea, costing tens of millions of euros. it's a dangerous mission against the forces of nature. azza: we've often had to stop our work and start all over again because of storm surges. in another place, all our

equipment was submerged by water. these are already enormous challenges because we're working in the sea, in severe weather conditions, especially in winter. reporter: in the city's narrow alleyways, residents are at the mercy of the sheer volumes of water. the small apartment of ahmed ramadan and his wife mansura was flooded four times last winter as the result of rising sea levels and heavy rain. the pensioners don't have enough money to keep repainting the walls, or even to move away. they make do with plastic tarpaulins and stones onto which they place their furniture. ahmed: we're really worried, of course. our lives are in god's hands. what should we do? reporter: in the last flood, they lost their furniture and most of their electrical appliances. for days they couldn't enter their apartment and were stuck out in the street. mansura: i'm scared that in the end we'll lose everything. reporter: alexandria's sewage system has

long been unable to withstand the mix of rain and seawater. not enough pipes that are too thin, and often clogged, even though the city council regularly cleans them. new pipes are being built near the coast to redirect the water back into the sea. but all this is unlikely to solve the problem in the long term. >> i'm affected by it, too, of course. as an employee, i sometimes feel i haven't done my job properly. but i do what i can. we work hard. what's happening here is beyond our capabilities. reporter: and yet many people in alexandria are hoping for a miracle and that they'll somehow get off lightly. for tamer himeda and his family, their very existence is at stake. tamer: i wish the coast would be like it used to be. we hardly have any beach here anymore. almost nothing. i hope that the government will

implement its rescue plan quickly. i'm begging them to save the coast and this cafe. reporter: it's a wish likely to go unfulfilled. the people of alexandria can't stop climate change with wishful thinking. ♪ host:another place experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand is alaska. it's getting warmer and warmer in the usa's northernmost state. last winter, temperatures climbed to a record 19.4 degrees celsius. to put that in perspective, -20 degrees celsius is considered normal at this time of year. such changes are wreaking havoc with the lives of people and animals who live there. reporter: landing in utqiagvik, the change is impossible to overlook -- the permafrost is melting.

the once-frozen landscape is now littered with pools of water, reaching right up to the houses. residents in the united states' northernmost town find the ground is literally melting beneath them. just a few kilometers away, scientists at a u.s. government observatory are busy tracking climate change. bryan thomas has been in charge here for 15 years. for 50 years, the station has recorded co2 levels in the atmosphere and tracked the temperatures and precipitation levels. bryan: what we've noticed over the 40 years that we've been here, plus, you know, a little bit more, almost 50 years now, we've noticed this big change, almost a 100 parts per million change. now the last time there was this much change, it was a 5000 year period after the last ice age when the earth was warming. so what we've done in 50 years, humans have caused the same amount as what was naturally happening in 5000 years.

reporter: new equipment has just been installed, designed to analyze the air even more precisely. it's an exact gauge of global warming. the scientists identify how much carbon dioxide is stored in the air. bryan: we bring it in from our really tall tower outside, bring it in on these hoses, bring it into this instrument and inside this instrument we put a heat laser in there, just like the heat that's coming off the surface of the earth, that's being trapped by the carbon dioxide. basically we create the conditions that are outside. we do that in the lab where we can measure and then we know how much carbon dioxide is in that sample. reporter: utquiagvik is one of four climate change observatories in the u.s. they're run by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, and they're all located far away from cities and industry. bryan: we have alaska, we have hawaii, we have samoa, we have south pole. so we have this nice connection across the earth when the wind

moves past. we don't want to look at what's happening locally, at point sources of pollution, we want to look what's happening in the well-mixed air that's travelled around a lot. reporter: climate change is happening on the observatory's doorstep. the snow is melting earlier in the year and the summers are getting longer. the blocks of ice that once served as a natural protection against the waves and rising sea levels, have gone. in recent decades, the air temperature in the arctic has risen twice as fast as the global average. people here in utquiagvik have witnessed the change first hand. >> the ocean used to freeze in october and now it's not freezing, sometimes until late january. so the storm surges, normally the northern winds in winter, would be coming off of the ice and now they're pushing the ocean waves up against the coast. so you're seeing a lot more erosion occurring because the ocean isn't freezing.

you're seeing damages to the critical infrastructure in the community. as the permafrost is thawing, buildings are sinking and they're being cracked and damaged. >> how i remember it in the past, like 20 years ago, there were like snow and it'd start snowing before school, because school would start like the second week of august and then, like the kids, would start walking to school in the snow. but now look. reporter: the rising temperatures also pose a challenge to local hunters. the wild animals have started to behave differently. it's a real problem, says billy adams. he's one of the best-known hunters in utquiagvik. his indigenous name is agnaq. agnaq: we learn to exist with the animals that we depend on, and

sharing the health of their population. the timing of the migration has changed a lot more, at least up to three to four weeks earlier, then we have to change with that also. for example, in the eighties and nineties we could go a few 100 yards to gather some of our animals from a shore, and now it could be 15 miles, 20 miles further. reporter: but the risks have not only grown for the hunters. residents are also in danger. in winter, a growing number of polar bears are entering utquiagvik. with their natural habitat melting, they come to places like this searching for food, as they fight to survive. agnaq's services as a polar bear ranger are required. agnaq: we had over 90 polar bears come

ashore, and they were within our community, into our communities. and we had to make sure that they were safe. and we started a polar deterrence program and we made sure that the people were safe, the children were safe. andy: we're lucky no one's been hurt yet. so same thing's happening in canada and they've not been quite as lucky. they've had some fatalities with bears in town where they shouldn't be. it happens in kind of waves. it sort of depends on, sort of everything comes down to the sea ice. reporter: the entire ecosystem depends on the ice. so even just a small rise in temperature has a huge impact on nature, and on the lives of the people who live here. andy von duyke is a biologist. he's lived and worked in utqiagvik for the past seven years. andy: the scale of change is huge and it's not getting better.

it's just slowly getting worse and less dependable, just like for my job. i can't do my job as easily as i used to because of the ice or lack of ice, and the same is true for the wildlife as well. reporter: back to the observatory. the center received a rare visit from washington this summer. scientists and representatives of numerous political institutions attended an official opening ceremony for a new state of the art research facility. bryan: we can see that if we don't do anything, right? i mean we're going to continue to go up, right? so this represents warming that's already baked in, right? this warming is already going to happen because this is already in the atmosphere. so anything that we can do to change this, right? now, taking it down, we would have to actively remove, you know, the more we can bend it

down by not putting as much in the atmosphere, the better off we will be. reporter: experts often describe the arctic as the epicenter of climate change. in places like utquiagvik, that change is dramatic. and it seems there's no turning back. ♪ host: plastic bottles are practical, and availae everywhe. every minute, one million of them are sold worldwide. the number of bottles produced in a year would be enough to cover the distance from earth to the planet mercury. emptied and thrown away, very few bottles are recycled. most end up in the trash, or in nature. which is a huge problem because plastic kes about 450 years to decompose. the rld desperately needs ideas for how to deal with old plastic. we take a look at one in rio de janeiro. ♪

reporter: how can skateboards help rio's largest favela to reduce plastic waste? this question drives canadian arian rayegani, who is realizing his vision of sustainability here, in the midst of thousands of bottle caps. in his improvised open-air workshop, the 28-year-old has declared war on garbage... at least as far as the lids are concerned. arian: i've already gathered 400 kilos of caps. i haven't managed to recycle all of them yet. but things are progressing. reporter: the process begins with one of his helpers cleaning the lids. cleyton: here in our favela, rocinha, the lids used to be just thrown away. now, there's almost a kind of recycling fever that's broken out, since arian showed us that

you can make skateboards out of them. reporter: arian rayegani, a mechanical engineer, drew the plans up himself. at the heart of it is this metal mold, in which 500 lids are melted into a skateboard deck using this pizza oven. arian: skateboards are an ideal product, in my view, because they're relatively durable, and i can recycle quite a lot of bottle tops in one go. the first time i saw a plastic skateboard on the street i thought, man. i can produce that, sustainably. reporter: every day, he loads another tray of bottle caps in to be melted at 180 degrees celsius. eight years ago, arian rayegani traveled to brazil and fell in love with this area. the mounds of garbage generated by the favela's 100,000 inhabitants inspired him to

come up with a sustainability project. now, a small army helps him collect the caps -- the trash recyclers of rocinha. one of them is maria do rosario. from collecting plastic bottles, cans and glass, she earns the equivalent of 650 euros a month. she puts the lids to one side for arian rayegani. maria: for us, waste is valuable and brings in money. my son and i collect things for the recycling center. but the bottle caps, we usually take them home. reporter: many of her neighbors also drop their bottle caps off with her. andrea: we know the lids will be given a new life, that's why we give them to maria. we have a kind of local recycling economy here with plastic. reporter: social worker marcelo queiroz works with arian rayegani.

he leads the recycling network, in which maria also participates. marcelo: thank you, maria. this is great. and we can make some more skateboards. reporter: maria do rosario lives with her five children in a small apartment in rocinha. maria: there was a garbage recycling campaign here. that's why i started working at the dump. that was three years ago. reporter: marcelo queiroz helped her get started. marcelo: we showed maria how she can earn money by separating waste. a total of eight families now make a living from waste recycling at our 24 rubbish dumps in rocinha. like maria, they bring it all to the recycling center twice a week. reporter: the by-catch, the bottle tops, end up in arian rayegani's skateboard mold. the mold is dunked in water to

cool it down. arian: i'm really happy that we developed this sustainable product that should also be fun for people to use. reporter: the skateboard is trimmed with a sharp knife. arian rayegani reuses the excess plastic later. he still can't make a living from making skateboards. it's only recently that he's been selling his boards online for 90 euros each, which includes requests for personalized designs. the entrepreneurs use part of the proceeds to finance a social project -- food parcels for needy families, delivering sugar, pasta, flour, and rice. francisca: when my baby was born, i lost my job. now i'm unemployed. my husband works, but his salary only just pays the rent. carol:

i haven't eaten meat for ages. i can only afford rice, beans and eggs. reporter: the two men already have their sights set on their next goal -- the arrival of a second-hand robot that will take plastic recycling to a new level. arian rayegani paid for it with his savings. he's convinced that the project will soon pay off. arian: now i want to apply robotics and new technologies to engineering, architecture, and recycling to create sustainable products that are popular. i think it will work. reporter: the first tests for plastic tables and chairs are promising. this 3d printer should soon be processing six kilos of plastic per hour. good news for rocinha, the favela where more and more people are helping to transform plastic waste into useful

objects that are both colorful and fun. ♪ host: cities littered with plastic, clogged rivers, dead animals. according to india's ministry of environment, the country produces 3.5 million tons of plastic waste a year. but experts believe it's actually much more. now the country has banned single-use plastic. however, implementing the ban is proving to be a big challenge. reporter: student ashish kumar's role models are the thieves from the tv series "money heist," but he has a more sustainable goal in mind than holding up banks. he aims to make his home city of delhi plastic free, through what he calls plastic heists. ashish: we steal plastic from people.

some just give it to us, but others get angry and refuse. we often hear that companies need to stop producing plastic. only then will folks not use it anymore. reporter: india without plastic, until now hardly imaginable. but at the start of july the government introduced a strict ban on single-use plastic. anyone who continues to sell it faces being fined. vendor prakash chand gupta has already been targeted by the plastic heist robbers. prakash: the government is putting us under pressure, not the companies that produce the plastic. in the end it's the poor people who are being pressured and fined. we're being told to remove waste and not use any more plastic. we would do that, but as long as plastic is being produced we'll use it. reporter: cutlery and plates made from wood or cardboard are more costly, so they're not a viable

alternative for many. but the activists don't take that into account. they simply drown out any protest. >> look how much plastic this man has. let's get it. reporter: their leader sets the tone. he's called the professor, like the mastermind in the tv series. sankalp: people need to understand that the government alone can't change things. when the demand for plastic falls, there will be less on offer. until we all work together nothing will change. reporter: along with their plastic heists, the activists also organize theatre performances to illustrate just how big a problem plastic pollution is. and to give passersby pause for thought. sandeep: sometimes you think about picking up the trash lying around, but then you just leave it there. but when others take the initiative, that's quite

encouraging. it makes it easier to do your part. reporter: the plastic robbers say most people don't realize just how destructive plastic is. but ashish kumar hasn't given up hope of making a real difference , especially now the group has had some success. ashish: our many activities make a powerful impression. people talk about what they've seen at home, with their family and friends. naturally something like that has an effect. reporter: the group plans to conduct more plastic heists around delhi in the coming months. even in the face of great resistance, they plan to keep raising a ruckus until india's capital is plastic-free. ♪ host: and that's all from us at "global 3000" this week.

thanks for watching. and we love hearing from you, so drop us a line to global3000@dw.com and check out our facebook page too -- dw global ideas. see you next time. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its

♪ ♪ >> this is dw news. a reprieve for the former prime minister of pakistan as he is granted bail in a corruption case and he cannot be rearrested in other cases against him. also, the u.s. ambassador to south africa accuses the country of supply and weapons to russia in a naval operation. this drawing a rebuke