‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’ Recap: ‘Antarctica’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

​When the words wildlife and Earth come into our minds, some quick images appear. We see lush jungles, or healthy and green prairie lands, teeming with life as apes swing through the trees, or there’s buffalo and bison roaming those epic ranges. Or we think of the mountains and the vast forests that cover them, where bears roam free and eagles soar through the sky. And those thoughts come to our minds simply because these are familiar things we’ve seen in some form or fashion during our time upon this beautiful planet. In fact, documentaries such as Seven Worlds, One Planet have reinforced these images of places teeming with seemingly endless life and what’s fascinating about our understanding of the world in association with particular words, is that other phrases about our planet engender vastly different images in our minds.
 
For when someone hears or thinks about the arctic, desolation is what comes to mind, or the image of a lone animal wandering through a wintery wasteland, simply because these places are hostile to life, to the point where humanity isn’t a fixture there. But while there is some merit to those images, life on Earth always finds a way to thrive and survive and that is the case in even the most hostile of environments, as was evidenced during last night’s episode of this phenomenal documentary. For this time around, the show took us on a grand tour of Antarctica and while life is indeed thriving here, surviving in an icy world is no easy task. For example, the Weddell Seal that lives here tends to spend most of its time under the sea, simply because its warmer in the water than it is on the surface. But to continue their family line, they have to give birth on the freezing ice and sadly, when blizzard conditions arrive, there are no guarantees that their pups will survive those first few days.
 
Yet while this is a harsh and difficult place for wildlife to live, it is important to find the beauty in all things and this documentary did a phenomenal job of that. For we were able to spend quality time with the King Penguin and see their massive colony, one that is bustling with young chicks that are often waiting for their parents to return with food. But while that segment of the story featured some painfully cute moments, since those baby chicks were curious about the world surrounding them and were happy to explore every corner of it within their reach, this particular tale did feature something quite breathtaking and impressive. For we came to learn that beneath all of that ice, a beautiful and magnificent marine ecosystem is outright thriving, one that is complete with its own coral reef and it was just incredible to see the creatures that live here go about their day and to be able to bask in the sheer majesty of this part of our world.
 
However, this is a series that has yet to let up on its message in regard to how our world is changing like never before thanks to mankind’s impact on the climate and this particular episode offered up some incredibly harsh reminders of that fact. Because the ice that is now breaking off of this continent, is starting to impact how these animals gather food, since there are penguins that are now unable to quickly get to out sea since their shores are surrounded with icy flotsam and the ever changing weather patterns are costing young animals their lives. For the grey-headed albatross, a species which only breeds every couple of years, is seeing their precious young be lost to exposure and winds that knock them out of their nests before they are ready to leave them and that’s putting their species in a perilous place, since these changes to the climate may potentially wipe their kind out if something doesn’t change soon.
 
If anything, these segments were harrowing and heartbreaking to watch, but important as well. For they truly put a tangible consequence for climate change on display and that, combined with the closing chapter of this tale serves to remind us in bittersweet fashion that we can make a difference if we put in the work. For the southern right whale is starting to thrive in this part of the world once again after being hunted to near extinction decades ago, all because mankind stepped in and said enough and hopefully, we can do the same when it comes to our climate and our carbon footprint. In the end however, this was quite the powerful story. For it truly put the harshness of the world on display, all while showing us how even the most desolate places on the planet can host great beauty and well, it really is a shame there is only one episode left in this magnificent documentary since it has done a phenomenal job of teaching us about our world and our impact upon it. And it should be interesting to see how this journey around the world wraps up next week when we venture to Africa for the finale. Until then.   

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