Everyone should be watching Our Planet on Netflix.

With everyone sitting inside and killing time, there is no excuse as to why you aren't able to take the time to watch at least one episode of Netflix’s new Docuseries “Our Planet”.

Netflix has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to bring us the new docuseries to explore the beauty of the earth and study how climate change is impacting the living creatures on it. The music composed by Steven Price, who is most known for his scoring in gravity which received him the Academy Award for Best Scoring, immerses you into the beauty of the cinematography from Silverback Films.

Silverback specializes in producing high-quality wildlife films for television and cinema, Which is not a secret when watching this film or there other works like the DisneyNature series. “ The ambitious four-year project will take viewers are taken to never-before-filmed wilderness areas from the ice caps and deep oceans to deserts and remote forests, Introducing them to the most precious species in places that must withstand the impact of humanity so generations to come can enjoy the bounties of the natural world.” Silverback explains on their website the effort that went into filming for them, Netflix, and the WWF. “ using the latest in 4K camera technology, the series, and a range of specially produced storytelling for Multi-media platforms will bring millions of people into intimate contact with some of the worlds rarest animals and most precious natural habitats.”

The series is narrated by David Attenborough for English-speaking viewers, Salma Hayek for Latin American Viewers, and Penelope Cruz for Spanish Viewers. David Attenborough is the most famous nature storyteller on television; the 92-year-old producer, narrator, and documentarian essentially invented the genre of television nature documentaries in his decades-long career at the BBC. Attenborough is now coming into a different role of advocating for the fleeting biodiversity and ecosystems of our planet in this series.

Episode 1: One Planet. 

One planet is the first episode in the series and sets the stage for what to expect from the rest of the series. The episode takes you on a riveting journey through the biodiverse sites of the series. The show starts with a desolate view of the moon's landscape panning up to see the lush green and blue ball that we call home in the distance. This symbolic message shows that a world as dystopian as the moon might seem quite a distance away, but might actually be just beyond the horizon for us. Attenborough goes on to explain that 10,000 years ago when humans first began to settle, the world around them was much different; with lively ocean reefs and lush pristine forests. He makes a reference to even call it an Eden, a place from the Bible of untouched and abundant natural beauty.

“In the last 50 years, the wildlife population has declined by 60%. But nature is resilient, great riches still remain. And with our help, the planet can recover. Never has it been more important t understand how the natural world works, and how to help it.” Attenborough goes on to implore the listener just before the title slide is shown.

Our first trip of the series is the Peruvian coast of South America to learn of the Seabirds that congregate here by the millions to breed. We then get to witness the daily migration of 5 million birds as they feast on the most abundant grouping of anchovies. We see thousands of birds diving and swimming through the waters where they feed on the fish that have journeyed to the coast, like 90% of ocean life does.

Away from the land, we see the blue desert of the deep ocean and a transition to deserts where two billion tons of dust is swept into the sky each year. Eventually, a quarter of this dust will end up in the ocean and will provide nutrients for microorganisms, like phytoplankton.

We then get a visual food chain of dolphins eating mackerel, that are feeding on krill, that are feeding on the micro plant-life. This chain of feeding moves the mackerel to the top of the ocean where the seabirds are able to feed on from the sky.

An ecosystem in balance with the organisms that live in it.

We now move on to see an ancient lake in Africa that is now a desolate salt pan, unforgiving to life. We get some heartbreaking shots of animals desperately searching for water. Occasionally, when rain does fall, we see the landscape transform, as water is poured into the ecosystem.

Flocks of flamingos begin to arrive from thousands of kilometers away. The algae that they feed on comes to life once the water has flooded the area and the flamingos are able to feed on them. We then learn that the flamingoes are also here to breed, which they may only get to do once every decade. The nests that the flamingoes build are safe from predators due to the high salt content of the islands and water around them. We get some heartwarming shots of baby flamingoes hatching and beginning their lives. As the last of the babies hatch, we see the land around them has dried up once again, and the babies follow the adults for up to 50 kilometers to find fresh water to drink. We get an extremely heart-wrenching scene of how some of the baby flamingos are unable to keep up with the flocks because, as they run, the salt will harden around their ankles and making it almost impossible for them to run. This scene is not for the faint of heart and left me sobbing on my couch for a solid 5 minutes. But in the end, eventually, most of the chicks will reach the freshwater.

Once again we see an ecosystem in balance, this one with the rain.

We move on to the biodiverse life of the rainforest, where we see different birds and their mating rituals. This section was my cat's favorite. She sat in front of the television the whole time watching them fly across the screen.

We are then taken away from the warm tropics of the planet and move to a completely different climate, somewhere cooler. The boreal forest of North America and Eurasia is home to only a few species that can manage to survive here. We see caribou migrating to the forest to seek shelter from the snow and wind. In the forest, the caribou are susceptible to wolves that specialize in hunting them during the winter. We get some aerial views of the wolves hunting and tracking the paths left by the caribou. The caribou stop and rest on a frozen lake where they can spot approaching danger in the open areas around them. The caribou are able to escape the wolves and with spring approaching they are preparing to head north where they can mate.

A balance of seasons and life that has been affected by 70% in the last 20 years.

Lastly, we travel further to the polar reaches of Antarctica and the Arctic, where in the last 70 years, temperatures have risen faster than anywhere else on the planet. We are shown polar bears that struggle with shorter hunting seasons, as the ice they walk on is seasonally melting sooner and sooner in the year. A mother bear and her underweight cubs trek the frozen wasteland in search of food, but with sea and land ice melting, the bears' ways of life are changing rapidly.

The ice on earth reflects rays from the sun and keeps the earth from overheating, but with temperatures warming quickly and the ice caps melting, a vicious cycle of warming is occurring. We get some inspiring shots of glacier ice falls breaking into the sea. The grandeur to the shot is unimaginable and awe-inspiring. Watching the catastrophe unfold makes you feel almost powerless.

Despite the uplifting spirits for much of this episode that shows us the delicate balance between different ecosystems and animals that live in them, the first episode ends with a very serious and heavy reminder that our time on this planet is finite. Examples like the iceberg breaking up and flooding the sea with fresh water is an insight into what’s happening at our poles and that we need to take action now to prevent things from getting worse.

The first episode does a really great job of setting up the rest of the episodes that looks much closer at the different ecosystems on the planet and is a fantastic way to begin this nature documentary series to inspire us for change.