The Greening of Antarctica

If Antarctica had a voice, it would be Jim McClintock. The marine biologist has been narrating the story of the changing continent for the past 30 years. A professor at the University of Alabama, McClintock studies the tiny marine invertebrates and crustaceans in the oceans around Antarctica. This research has taken him to Antarctica since the 1980s, when he first showed that Antarctic marine life has developed its own unique chemical defenses, some of which have medical applications in fighting AIDS, cancer, MRSA, and other human diseases.

McClintock has followed his far-reaching curiosity into marine ecology, climate change, and biomedical research. The small, strange creatures he studies—corals, sea sponges, sea butterflies, and other animals that form the basis of Antarctic ecosystems—are especially vulnerable to rising water temperatures and acidification as the Southern Ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. McClintock has seen firsthand the impact of climate change on the oceans, glaciers, and marine life, a story he tells in his book Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land. He has taken his storytelling approach all over the country, meeting with faith groups, campaigning for conservation organizations, and leading educational cruises to Antarctica for over a decade. Harrison Ford was so taken with McClintock’s book that he recorded a reading with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.