James Balog is a climate warrior. A few years ago, the acclaimed environment photographer launched the Extreme Ice Survey [EIS]. The mission of the EIS is to create a visual record of the human induced destruction of the world's great ice fields. These glaciers are a critical source of fresh water during the dry season in many parts of our planet. What Balog's EIS documents is the extreme rapid melting and destruction of this seriously underappreciated resource. The cause of this melting is well known. It is the massive human consumption of fossil hydrocarbon fuels like coal and oil. The pollution from the burning of these fuels causes too much of the sun's radiant energy to be trapped in our atmosphere rather than reflected back into space. As a consequence of this greenhouse effect, atmospheric temperatures are elevated; sea levels rise, storm systems become more extreme, and glaciers that have been in place for a thousand years begin to melt away. We humans are caught in a downward environmental spiral of our own making. Too many of us remain in denial.
The primary focus of the EIS is to create a visual documentation of climate change's impact on glaciers. James Balog and his team set up time lapse cameras to document the rapid changes taking place with glaciers in Iceland, Greenland, and Alaska.
The first result of this multi-year effort is a remarkable, feature length documentary titled, Chasing Ice. It's stunning imagery presents a clear and unambiguous picture of the frightening impact of climate change.
Here is a link to a video tease of James Balog's, Chasing Ice...http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eIZTMVNBjc4
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