We may talk about the polar regions as being the ‘last untouched wilderness’, but humans have been in the Arctic for thousands of years, and since almost our earliest contact the Antarctic was a place of environmental destruction. But these regions aren’t just objectively beautiful with amazing wildlife; they are critical in the climate system of our planet, controlling our weather, and through sea level rise indicating our future; they are key parts of a planetary system, and their degradation affects us. Polar researcher Mark talks about the beauty of the poles, why we should save them, and how we can do it.