S2 Ep3 | We've Got a Problem

This is Our Time

Cold Open- Walking with penguins

[1:02] SAM VO NARRATION - Ok, last time I promised that we would get off this ship….out of these heady conversations and deep soul searching. Get out there. Go see some things, get a cold nose and make a snowball and throw it at someone.

Antarctica hits everyone differently, but it doesn't’ miss a shot

[1:47] SAM VO NARRATION

We’re on Paulet Island this day

Sam Tape:
Oh! Here’s a flash of green. This is moss!

We’re on Paulette Island this day

[3:13] SAM VO NARRATION

Only 0.0001 of the world’s population ever get a chance to come here to Antarctica. And for me, every step I took was a reminder of just how lucky I was.

Sam VO NARR [4:07] Everything about being here was hitting that day.

Antarctica is the fastest warming continent on our planet except for Greenland. But in some ways when you’re here, it’s hard to see, because it’s still very cold, and you see lots of ice. It’s just deceiving. Because the change is happening, it’s just can’t not there in front of you.

That’s where scientists come in.

Antarctica is often called the “canary in the coal mine” for climate change, because what is happening there will tell you about the problems that will happen elsewhere.

[5:31] The skua symphony

[6:34] Prof Mary-Anne Lea talks about the Adelie penguins on Paulet Island

[9:03] TRANSITION - Sfx- zodiac heading back to boat

SAM VO NARRATION

[9:47] Outside was a sea of white...it looked more like land, than water. Actually, it looked like giant white bed sheets had blown off the clothes line and been forgotten on the lawn.

Except that this was supposed to be water. And now it was ice.

And this ship, does not have the jaws of an icebreaker.

As the day progressed, the focus began to shift, and the reality settled in.

Something was going to need to change.

[11:19] TAPE - WITH CAPTAIN

… In order to sail in Antarctica, or in ice waters, you need to have experience and competence, and also, you train to sail in ice

[13:05] ]SAM VO NARRATION

The Captain had been charting a course through an inside passage, called The Gullet Straight. But the winter was closing in fast and the water was freezing behind us quickly.

[14:34] SAM VO NARRATION

Our trip plan had been to get all the way to Rothera Base Station, which is the fabled British Antarctic Research Station, and it’s so remote and hard to access, that it’s almost an illusion.

[14:46] Fabian - tape

We've made a decision to bring a vote to you all, which is not common in this sort of context, but it seems fitting because upstairs we became paralyzed with a very important decision.

{15:Q5] Tape- Greg

Um, incredible day….if you’re on the bridge, or got any sense of what was going on. The Captain, the Chief Mate, the Second Mate and the Third Mate….so all the navigators were there,

[15:51] TAPE - Greg

If we want to go to Rothera, it requires us to go out into open water tonight, to go around Adelaide Island.

[16:36] Our decision is quite straight-forward….

[17:07] TAPE - FABIAN

There’s no reason in isolation to do this

[17:37] SAM VO NARRATION

You see, there’s no good way to answer this question. THere is not just ONE answer. THere are way too many. There was no way to appease all the sides.

[18:17] TAPE - Open Frame - discussion before the vote