David Wiegand: More than one-third of the planet is actually frozen; many penguins freezing to death; planet allegedly overheating

'Frozen planet' review: Beauty, and sad irony

We hear so much about global warming these days that it's easy to forget that more than one-third of the planet is actually frozen. Granted, the ice is melting faster than is healthy either for the wildlife of the polar regions or all of humanity, no matter where we live. But that's just the most urgent of the reasons "Frozen Planet," a gorgeous new documentary series on the Discovery Channel, makes for such compelling television....There are places in the Antarctic, for example, where the katabatic winds are colder than anywhere else on the planet. Because it is heavier than warmer air, cold air descends and rushes across the coastal regions of Antarctica in the early spring just as thousands of male penguins arrive for mating season. The males stand at attention, trying to attract females by raising their beaks skyward and puffing out their chests. But many of the birds literally die for love, frozen in place by the onrushing wind....And yet, as beautiful, complex and magnificent as the frozen world may be, the underlying message of the Discovery Channel series is the sad irony of its title. Frozen though it may be, the frozen third of this planet is in peril. Much of the ice may melt every spring and return in the winter. But there is less and less of it. Because the area is so removed from civilization, it is easier to see the real effects of global warming, and harder to ignore them.