Global warming in the Arctic

Large tranches of the Arctic ice cap are melting. For the first time it is possible to sail all the way around the islands of Svalbard – the world’s most northerly civilisation. These islands provide the best demonstration of how global warming is affecting Arctic wildlife. The film-maker’s journey around these harsh coasts brings him uncomfortably close to the polar bears that are starving as their hunting grounds melt away. We also meet walruses, polar foxes and many birds, all of which are feeling the climatic changes.

This is the first filmed circumnavigation of the Svalbard archipelago, a journey that would was impossible only a couple of years ago. Svalbard, the largest of the arctic ice-sheets, provides stark evidence of how rising ocean temperatures is bringing about the melting of the polar ice-caps.

Travelling on a Russian ice-breaker with a cargo of scientists, the film-maker records the beauty of the changing environment and the wildlife that lives there. Paying particular attention to the polar bear, he films several species of animal and birdlife up close in their natural habitat and examines the impact that global warming is having upon their lives and survival prospects.

The narrator combines the enthusiasm of someone who clearly loves these creatures with the pragmatism of a human being who must carry a rifle when on shore in case he needs to defend himself from starving predators. We witness up close polar bear attacks on both the film-maker and a seal (both attacks are unsuccessful).

The viewer is left with an impression of a starkly beautiful region of our planet, one that today’s schoolchildren will probably outlive.