"Polar Extremes" (2020 release; 115 min.) is a documentary about the drastic changes that Planet Earth is currently undergoing at both the Arctic and Antarctica. As the documentary opens, we get to know Kirk Johnson, Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and of course a scientist (as in: paleontologist). Johnson gives a 30,000 ft. big picture introduction as to the overall situation, and then takes us on a global journey to look for the facts as they are buried (and waiting to be found) in nature itself.
Couple of comments: as to the documentary itself, it literally takes us on a global journey to seek answers as to what is happening to Planet Earth's climate: we go to both the North Pole and the South Pole (of course), but also a number of places in the US, Canada, Russia, Greenland and elsewhere that can shed light on these issues. The amazing thing is that the scientific evidence is there to be found, and then explained to us by Johnson and others in a way that we can relate to, without being lectured to or patronized a la Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" documentary, as big a turn-off as there ever was in the climate change debate. As to that climate change debate: I'll admit that I have been skeptical about the argument that this is all a result of man-made activities. Here's the beauty about this documentary: first, it reminds us that it's been 3 million years since there has been that much carbon dioxide (CO2) releases in the earth's atmosphere, and we then get a close review what the earth was like back then, giving us an indication of what we can expect. Second, the earth's climate does evolve naturally over the millions of years (causing the ice blankets from the poles to expand drastically and then to reduce drastically over thousands and thousands of years), but the current changes are coming at a far quicker pace than the prior natural evolution, and in fact can be traced back to the last 150 years or so (around when the industrial revolution took off).
"Polar Extremes" premiered last week as the season opener of NOVA on PBS, and is now available on demand and on streaming services, with a DVD release coming in May. If you have any interest in what is causing the earth's climate to evolve over the thousands and millions of years, and what is happening today, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion. Even if you don't agree with some or all of the findings presented in this documentary, I am quite certain that you will nevertheless find it compelling viewing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Couple of comments: as to the documentary itself, it literally takes us on a global journey to seek answers as to what is happening to Planet Earth's climate: we go to both the North Pole and the South Pole (of course), but also a number of places in the US, Canada, Russia, Greenland and elsewhere that can shed light on these issues. The amazing thing is that the scientific evidence is there to be found, and then explained to us by Johnson and others in a way that we can relate to, without being lectured to or patronized a la Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" documentary, as big a turn-off as there ever was in the climate change debate. As to that climate change debate: I'll admit that I have been skeptical about the argument that this is all a result of man-made activities. Here's the beauty about this documentary: first, it reminds us that it's been 3 million years since there has been that much carbon dioxide (CO2) releases in the earth's atmosphere, and we then get a close review what the earth was like back then, giving us an indication of what we can expect. Second, the earth's climate does evolve naturally over the millions of years (causing the ice blankets from the poles to expand drastically and then to reduce drastically over thousands and thousands of years), but the current changes are coming at a far quicker pace than the prior natural evolution, and in fact can be traced back to the last 150 years or so (around when the industrial revolution took off).
"Polar Extremes" premiered last week as the season opener of NOVA on PBS, and is now available on demand and on streaming services, with a DVD release coming in May. If you have any interest in what is causing the earth's climate to evolve over the thousands and millions of years, and what is happening today, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion. Even if you don't agree with some or all of the findings presented in this documentary, I am quite certain that you will nevertheless find it compelling viewing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!