Planet Earth

Elise touched on the 24-hour/African stink ant in her blog, so I decided that now is a good time to do the entry I wanted to about Planet Earth. I have the whole BBC/David Attenborough series on DVD and I love it all (kind of a requirement for envs students...) I have to say, my favorite episode is "ocean deep" mostly because it is all so unfamiliar and from a science standpoint, it is extremely difficult to live in low-light/high pressure/very cold/limited resource environments. Some animals can go months without seeing one another or have to rely just on marine snow or chemosynthesis to survive. It's difficult to imagine such a solitary, sun-less life. The most shocking thing for me is the size of some of these creatures like the spider crab and tube worms.

There is a surprising amount of life at the bottom of the ocean concentrated in little oases and I just think it is amazing that we have a chance to see it. Some creatures look extremely prehistoric and some are so evolved they look futuristic.

I think this quote sums it up:
"Our planet is still full of wonders. As we explore them, so we gain not only understanding, but power. It's not just the future of the whale that today lies in our hands: it's the survival of the natural world in all parts of the living planet. We can now destroy or we can cherish. The choice is ours."
– David Attenborough, in closing