Cashing Ice: Analyzing The 2012 Film

In this film, James Balog tries to find what he could photograph about climate change. The only thing he could think of was ice. He ended up doing a National Geographic story, and was on the cover of the magazine. “BIG THAW, Ice on the Run, Seas on the Rise”. Ended up being the most popular and well-read story in the last 5 years. Solheim glacier is where he first thought of idea because it had been receding several hundred feet per year, which is a lot. James stated that there was a real sense of a glacier coming to an end. He said it looked very old, and that he never imagined such big features disappearing in such a short amount of time. He kept tabs on the glacier because it is a big piece of history, soon disappearing. He explained that it changed so much in 6 months. He shows pictures 6 months apart with ice completely melted.

The Impact of Extreme Ice Survey

Extreme Ice Survey place 25 cameras near glaciers to show how landscape was changing. Putting really delicate electronics into some of the harshest conditions in the world is a feat. Hurricane force winds, negative 40-degree temperatures threaten the cameras. The 1st camera installation is at Solheim glacier. When glaciers break, giant pieces off into ocean. This is called calving.

Documenting Calving Events

Store glacier, Greenland is next, and it is five football fields long, and 300 feet above the surface of the water. With the camera rolling, large scale calving takes place, all within a one hourr period of time. They captured an event that is seldom caught on film. Greenhouse gas emissions contribute to changes in atmospheric conditions by making climate much more susceptible to extreme weather.

Raising Awareness through Photography

James is looking to make a global worldwide impact with his photography and spreading of awareness. His photo assistant checks on cameras every few months to make sure they are not broken. Some end up broken from extreme conditions. “The camera’s memory card is the memory of landscape because the landscape is now gone, stored on a chip.” Glaciers are retreating and thinning at the same time.

Geological Changes in Our Time

We are in the midst of geological scale change, and we humans are causing it. This climate change intensifies impact of hurricanes and typhoons. Peoples land will be flooded out. Examines changes over only a few years, end up being gigantic changes occurring. People think large-scale geology changes are in the past but they’re actually happening in our time, every single day, way quicker than we think. “Glaciers were literally dying in front of my eyes, makes you aware.” James climbs down into crevasses, there is something special about photographing glaciers at night, says James. He also says it places your mind on the surface of the planet. We as a culture have forgotten that we are natural organisms and we totally depend on nature.

The Legacy of Extreme Ice Survey

Photography is raising awareness, through cameras. The cameras become vehicles of awareness, the photographers are the messengers. Colombia glacier in Alaska majorly calved throughout only 3 months, retreating through winter because it is an unhealthy glacier. The Colombia glacier retreated so much that they had to move camera, had to pivot again, and again. One crack can cause massive calving. Huge calving event took place within 75 minutes, it was as if the entire lower part of Manhattan broke off but with buildings that are 2 or 3 times higher than they already are. From 2000-2010 retreated 9 miles, 1 mile more than the previous hundred years.

The great irony of our time is that science is still arguing about climate change. People have a hard time understanding so the work that he is doing allows us to actually visualize change. The Extreme Ice Survey will go down in history as the evidence that we knew what was going on. We have a problem with perception. James wants to be able to tell his daughters 25 years down the road that he did everything he could to spread awareness about global warming.