The global fix at the bottom of the world

By Ophelia Wong

It was a bright, sunny morning across icy Antarctica. The sun was high in the sky as Dr Cascade woke up. The sun was bright enough to hurt his eyes as he looked outside his bedroom window from the Ice-R-Us Research Station. November was technically summer time in Antarctica, but the temperature was still -44 degrees celsius! The sun is up all day round during the summer, so it was a relief to him that winter was over because he had spent March to October in complete darkness. Now he could go out more, do his research, work on his experiments, and observe his favourite animals, like Adelie penguins.

He walked over to his desk and gazed at the picture of Lizzie, his daughter. Lizzie was seventeen years old and loved animals, especially penguins. She had long, blonde hair and a smile that reminded him of sweet roses. Dr Cascade missed Lizzie very much and was looking forward to their weekly call today at four o’clock.

His work desk was covered with computers and data-filled papers because Dr Cascade was a scientist researching global warming. He was very happy that he had finally been chosen to travel to Antarctica because it was his dream to go there.

Continuing with his research, he noticed that the tourist numbers had been increasing. Peering through a window, he saw another huge ship in the distance. Dr Cascade was concerned.

“Oh no,” he thought. “Not more tourists arriving! With so many people here, the wildlife will surely be distubed!” Dr Cascade sighed. “I must tell Lizzie.''

After what felt like forever, the clock finally turned four o’clock. He clicked into the video chat app on his phone with determination and dialled Lizzie’s number.

Brrring … brrring, went the phone. He waited a few seconds.

“Hi Dad!” said Lizzie as she waved.

Lizze was in London living with her mum. She was on the balcony overlooking some beautiful, tall, green, English oak trees. It was a glorious day and she was smiling. Dr Cascade and Lizzie talked for a while and then he told her about the tourists in Antarctica.

“Can’t you do anything about it?” asked Lizzie.

“Sadly, no. I’m not in charge of tourism so I can’t do anything.”

“Well… there must be something we can do! The animals need to be protected! Surely there must be an organisation or NGO that could help?”

They talked for a little longer about the tourist situation and then said their goodbyes.

A few days later, Dr Cascade braved the freezing temperatures to carry out some experiments and monitor the wildlife numbers. He noticed patches of lichen, moss and liverwort growing. These were the only plants that grew in Antarctica because the summers were so short. They grew close to the ground because of the windy conditions — if they grew any taller, they would be swept away by blizzards. It was incredible to see some color and nature across the vastness of ice.

Along the coast, seabirds were arriving from their migration routes. The nesting grounds would soon be noisy and full of activity. Of the many species of birds that landed here year after year, Dr Cascade enjoyed watching the albatrosses and petrels soar across the sky the most.

While testing temperatures, he glanced over to the penguin colony nearby. The tourists were at it again, cameras everywhere. Click, click, click.

“How are we supposed to do real work here when there’s people everywhere?” Dr Cascade wondered. He continued mumbling to himself, “Antarctica is supposed to be a continent with no human population, just researchers.”

Returning to his office and rubbing his hands together next to the heater to warm up, he called his colleagues over and told them what was happening. “I’m concerned about all these visitors affecting the penguin colony.”

“Us too,” said the others.

“Do you think we should check the data for penguin populations over the last five years and see if there’s any unusual activity?” asked Dr Cascade.

The researchers spent the next couple of days looking over the data and noticed that the number of penguins had slowly decreased as the number of tourists had increased. This was not good news. Dr Cascade went out more often to monitor the situation. In a few weeks time, the scientists all noticed something very surprising. There was another meeting called.

“I wonder why half of the baby chicks are suddenly dying?” one scientist asked.

“Do you think this has anything to do with the tourists?” Dr Cascade responded.

“Let’s find out,” said the scientist.

They all came up with a plan. The researchers would collect some dead baby chicks for samples to carry out tests. While Dr Cascade collected samples, he noticed something stuck to the ice. Moving closer, he saw that it was a piece of clothing dropped by one of the tourists. He picked it up with his large tweezers and slipped it into a zip lock bag before turning and walking back towards the research station. Together, the scientists examined the dead chicks. They discovered that all of the chicks had the same type of bacteria and they named it ‘077.’ At that moment, Dr Cascade remembered the piece of clothing he found outside and told the others about it.

“With this,” he said, holding it with the tweezers, “we can see if the tourists’ clothing carries the same bacteria.”

“Good thinking,” responded the other scientists.

They placed the clothing under a scientific microscope which was magnified by the lens. Their hypothesis was correct. The clothing had the same bacteria!

“The tourists have spread bacteria from their own environments to Antarctica,” explained Dr Cascade, “so this must mean that something foreign has been introduced to the wildlife here.”

Everything was making sense now. The scientists were all in agreement. The population of penguins were decreasing because the baby chicks were dying from invasive species spread by the tourists. They all had an ah ha moment.

Before he knew it, four o’clock had come round again. It was time to call Lizzie.

“Hi Lizzy!” Dr Cascade said cheerfully.

He then proceeded to tell her everything that had happened and his ‘077’ discovery leading to invasive species.

“Oh no!” replied Lizzie, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Come to think of it, there is. You could spread awareness about tourism in Antarctica and the problem surrounding it.”

“Definitely! I’ll get right on it. I love animals so much and they don’t deserve to have tourists spreading bacteria on them!” said Lizzie.

“Thank you honey! Now, do you know what you're going to do?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me dad. I’ve got a plan,” she said confidently.

Dr Cascade needed to write his reports on invasive species from tourists for scientific magazines and websites. In the meantime, Lizzie was very determined to help the wildlife in Antarctica so she used social media to highlight this issue by posting articles, opinions, photos and even posters.

After several days, she received many comments on her posts and noticed that most people who followed her were also sharing her ideas with others. She was very happy to have inspired people to take action on this issue. As the days passed, the comments increased and she had an idea. “How can I reach out and inform even more people around the world?” she thought to herself.

Lizzie realised that the best way would be to contact an NGO who would help spread her message. She decided the World Wide Foundation, or WWF, was the one as they also helped other biomes in the world. She read some of the information on their website and sent them an email.

A few days passed but there was no response from WWF. Lizzie was disappointed, but she still checked her email more often than usual. In a week's time, there was finally a reply. Taking a deep breath, she opened up the email and read it very carefully. It said that she could Zoom with one of the staff members today at two o’clock.

“I better get ready,” she thought.

Lizzie wrote down her questions, jotted down news about invasive species in her note-book and prepared what she was going to say. It was finally two o’clock. With half of her feeling excited and another half feeling nervous, she clicked on the Zoom link.

“Hello!” said the staff member. He looked friendly and was wearing a WWF T-shirt. His office had stacks of papers beside him and some plants on the shelves. “My name’s Bob and I heard that you want to talk to me?”

“Yes,” said Lizzie, trying to sound like an adult. “Is WWF aware that tourists are bringing bacteria into Antarctica which is affecting the penguin colony?”

“Oh, really? Tell me more,” said Bob.

Lizzie explained the situation in as much detail as she could. Bob was interested and asked her to write an article for their website. After revising and editing her work a billion times along with getting feedback from her dad, Lizzie was finally ready to publish her work.

“I can’t believe dad’s discovery is going to be published on WWF's website!” exclaimed Lizzie.

Lizzie was successful in spreading her message around the world about how invasive species can affect different biomes. Her father was so proud of all that she had achieved. Many people, organisations and governments took action and slowly, but surely, tourism in Antarctica began to decrease which helped maintain the wildlife there.

“Wow! Look at us, dad. Look at how only two people can make a difference and change the world.”

“I always knew we could do it!” he responded.

And just like that, Dr Cascade and Lizzie Cascade became history… the Cascade family/scientist and daughter who worked together to take action by raising awareness and inspiring others to do the same.

Many years later, Lizzie applied for a job at WWF, helping to protect the wildlife in Antarctica. She became a scientist, just like Dr Cascade, and worked at Ice R Us research station to save many more lives.