Journey to Planet Earth: The State of the Ocean’s Animals
By Elizabeth M. Lukan to Reviews on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008.Journey to Planet Earth: The State of the Ocean’s Animals aired on television on March 21, 2008. Marilyn and Hal Weiner made the film and it was narrated by Matt Damon. According to the PBS web site: “Nearly half the world’s marine animals may face extinction over the next twenty-five years. Global warming, over-fishing, and habitat destruction are emptying the world’s oceans.” You can find more information on the program by visiting the Journey to Planet Earth site. The site also offers a video introduction.
I watched this once and made some notes on it in order to write up this review. I went back to watch it again to clarify my thoughts and perhaps get more details and barely made it through fifteen minutes. I cannot bear to sit through this for another hour, knowing what awaits me, the sounds and images of what mankind has done and continues to do to the animals that live in our oceans, the creatures that share our planet, our lives, and I’m not talking just about the ones that we rely upon for food.
This is not a show that I would allow my children to watch. My son saw parts of it when I watched it the first time and I found myself explaining that there are those on this planet that do not care the harm they do in order to make a buck. If you want to see it, and you probably should see it, I recommend you do it when your children are not around to watch with you unless you know they are old enough to handle what they will see. I’m an adult and found myself crying at several parts, granted I’m an adult with an affinity and love for the sea and the beauty it brings to the world as a whole. I only hope that this show can perhaps touch some of those that are not so easily moved.
How do I feel about the state of the ocean’s animals? Simply horrified! Mankind continues to efficiently destroy both entire species of animals with shark fin and dolphin hunts and so much more as well as entire communities’ ways of life with local fisherman all around the world being out competed for their livelihoods and sustenance by giant 400 foot long killing machines that clear-cut the sea and toss what they don’t want to die and rot right back into the ocean. I don’t think I will ever forget the images of the sharks being finned and the dolphins crying for their pod mates as they lie dying. This is not what man’s legacy is supposed to be!
It was not all horror, I have to admit, and we have managed to do some good and live side by side with some ocean creatures like the sea otters of Monterey Bay and the tourists and turtle nests sharing Melbourne Beach. Unfortunately, in my eyes, the good we have done is so far outweighed by the horror we inflict that I don’t know if we can recover. I certainly hope that we can and that we do and that we get moving on it soon!