Having watched my fair share of David Attenborough narrated shows about oceans, I knew phytoplankton are the starting point in the marine food chain.
Here’s what I didn’t know – these tiny oceanic organisms produce over half the oxygen we breathe.
Even more remarkably, they absorb more carbon dioxide than all the trees on Earth combined.
Floating on the sunlit surface of the sea, phytoplankton not only sustain the marine food web, they regulate our planet’s climate – one breath at a time.
In his latest masterful 2025 documentary “Ocean,” Sir David Attenborough points out that these creatures might be what separate us from a climate catastrophe.
Once you internalize their impact on our lives, it is easier to understand why.
