Chasing Ice – a documentary
James Balog
Review by JZ Murdock – Part I [The original for this article was for PerihelionSF.com]
THE MULTIPLE AWARD WINNING documentary, “Chasing Ice” explores a topic so massive that many people cannot realistically grasp its significance. It is, after all, much easier to stick one’s head in the sand and deny its existence. Noted photographer James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) team have attempted to get those people to pull their heads out and to explain to the rest of us just what is happening to our world, using facts and hauntingly beautiful imagery. Difficult subjects are always easier to understand when they involve pretty pictures. “Chasing Ice” artfully uses the imagery of our planet’s disappearing glaciers like a velvet sledgehammer to drive that reality home.
Balog’s filmic poem to the devastation that we are undeniably heading into is directed and produced by Jeff Orlowski, and beautifully edited by Davis Coombe. The film first reminds us of the storms that have flooded Texas and the Gulf waters, events all the more poignant after the devastations of Katrina and “superstorm” Sandy. Articles in recent years in magazines like “Scientific American” have regularly pointed out that although we may not see increases in the numbers of storms, we will surely see a rise in their size and power. These destructive weather patterns are not going away and we will be paying attention to them whether we want to believe in them or not. Melting glaciers are a major element in those changes.
Chasing Ice Crew at Sundance 2012
Still, this film is not so much about climate change as it is about one man’s life and career exploring what is happening to our ice fields and sharing that information with the world. It’s about the effect this journey has had on James Balog, on his family, on those in his crew and their efforts to chase down these disappearing glaciers over a period of years, in mind numbing temperatures and through severe weather. Yet amidst all those frozen ice fields we feel a heartfelt warmth and at times, some refreshingly honest humor. All the while carrying us to a fearful, underlying message.
Ice is beautiful. Balog discovered this back in 2005, and through the eyes of such an artist, ice is magnificent. While in Iceland on a National Geographic assignment about climate change, he became fascinated by the ice and intimately aware of the speed at which those glaciers were leaving us. We have all heard about the ice melting but to see it in a film such as this with your own eyes is really another thing altogether. It is so much more poignant. With painstaking care and a driving passion, we see the jaw-clenching risks the team took to capture these videos and the devastation they felt when technology failed them and time was lost.
At one point in the film the EIS team travels to where thousands of Icelandic glacial ice core samples are stored. Extrapolating data from the cores, we are shown a graph charting the course of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, over hundreds of thousands of years. Glaciologists use these layered core samples to track, year by year, air quality and give us a carbon history of the planet. Glaciers trap carbon in the form of soot from such things as forest fires, and more recently from manmade wastes such as car exhausts, factories, jet fuel exhaust, and on and on.
When the film presented the chart I actually heard gasps from the audience. Maintaining steady cyclical levels, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere rises dramatically starting from the industrial revolution up to present. Records from the Antarctic aren’t any better. Disturbing projections for the future show that at these rates things can only get worse if we don’t do something about them. From this point on the film only got more interesting.
If I have to criticize the film on any one point that would have to be for lack of even mentioning the southern Antarctic ice fields. In a joint study published in November 2012 by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), a component of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, they have shown how, though the ice is melting in the Arctic, it seems to be relocating around some parts of the Antarctic. They have also shown that the Antarctic is actually growing slightly. These changes appear to be due to wind patterns and yes, due to climate change.
What “Chasing Ice,” James Balog, and his EIS team have done is to bring awareness of this situation painfully and beautifully into focus. They lay it out in full context and in terms that we can all appreciate, capturing some amazing, first time ever events in HD video clarity. The last ten minutes of this film are not to be missed.
At the conclusion of the nearly packed Seattle premiere that I attended, after the titles ended, after the images faded to black and the appropriately beautiful, original song, “Before My Time,” written by J. Ralph, sung by Scarlett Johansson, with the brilliant Joshua Bell accompanying on violin, the audience paused a moment in humbled silence. Then the theater erupted in applause. You could feel the emotional wave passing through the theater and not for the first time that evening. I have to admit that I was a little stunned by the film. I think everyone was. That, I believe, is the firmest testament I can offer to the quality and impact of this film. It deserves, at last count, its 23 awards. After 75 minutes of being taken to what seemed like a tragic, magical world it was, in the end, all real.
We will have to bring the magic into play now, ourselves.
If I really need to say any more than I already have, it would have to be simply this: see this film. (Directed by Jeff Orlowski. Produced by Submarine Deluxe. Rated PG-13.) —J.Z. Murdock
Review by JZ Murdock – Part II The world as we know it is coming to an end.
The ice caps are melting, the ocean levels are rising. And humans one might conjecture are purposefully increasing the speed with which this is all happening. At very least it IS all happening. There really is no question about that and these are not contentions up for debate. These-- are facts. That is what the documentary "Chasing Ice" is all about. That and sharing with us an unbelievably beautiful dance of time and nature in the form of video and photographs of a type which have never been seen before.
James Balog, creator and Director of the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), is a scientifically oriented documentarian. He is a long time, world renowned photographer famous for juxtapositions in his photographs using elements of nature and displaying them in ways that make them impossible to ignore. His photographs have graced the covers of The New Yorker, National Geographic, Life, American Photo, Vanity Fair, Sierra, Audubon, and Outside, and others. To give an example of what they found on the EIS over these past years, James Balog has said that regarding Glacier National Park in Montana, which used to have 150 glaciers, it now has twenty-six remaining. By the time our kids are in their fifties, it will need a new name. Perhaps, "Glacier Nostalgia Park" or as Balog has suggested himself, "Glacierless National Park".
“Founded in 2007 by James Balog, the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) is an innovative, long-term photography project that merges art and science to give a “visual voice” to the planet’s changing ecosystems. EIS imagery preserves a visual legacy, providing a unique baseline—useful in years, decades and even centuries to come—for revealing how climate change and other human activity impacts the planet.” From the Extreme Ice Survey web site - http://extremeicesurvey.org/
On Friday, November 16, 2012 at 7:30PM, I attended the premiere presentation of “Chasing Ice” at the perfect venue; the lovely, old fashioned Egyptian Theater in Seattle, WA. Introducing and essential to bringing the film to Seattle, was Bill Donnelly, a current Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Conservation Northwest; current Board President of Basel Action Network; and previous Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Washington Environmental Council (2000-2010).
Introduction by Bill Donnelly of “Chasing Ice”, the documentary by James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey (EIS).
“I'm Bill Donnelly and I've been working with my partner and cohort, ? on this effort, taking months getting to a moment like this. Thank you all for turning out. It's really remarkable that we've been sitting on having a couple of good events. We turned out about 1600 people for Bill McKibben a little over a week ago, for 350.org and December 13th is another opportunity that we have a hearing for Power Past Coal might be at the Convention Center.
“We're going to have seventy-five minutes, seventy-six minutes of what I think is a dazzling film and a very good message of some beautiful cinematography, it's an adventure story, it's got pathos in it, and of course it tells us something about what is happening to our planet. At the end of the film, I hope you will stay with us for a few minutes because Svavar Jonatansson, who is a member of the crew, you will see him minimally, will be here to talk with you about the film, about the development of the film, and answer questions, hopefully, to your satisfaction.
“Thank you all for coming and watching this film.” The film was shot with astounding precision and artistry. The editing was superb. The music, perfectly matched up. The end title song was sung by Scarlett Johansson with accompanying violin by world renowned Joshua Bell and left everyone in the theater sitting there in stunned silence watching all the way through the end credits until the lights came up. This film is pure class with adventure, humor, pathos, and jaw dropping footage never seen before anywhere, by anyone. After seventy-five minutes of this incredible journey, we had the opportunity for our question and answer session with Svavar. At approximately 9:15PM Bill Donnelly introduced this guest speaker to us and the Q&A began.
Question and Answer session with Svavar Jonatansson, Field Assistant, Iceland (EIS - 11/16/2012 9:15PM approx.
Note: this recording was transcribed and had moments lacking in clarity where the best effort was made to accurately portray here what had been said.
Crew with Svavar Jonatansson (on right)
Svavar:
When I first met James in 2004, outside an aluminum plant in Iceland, I didn't know I was singing up for standing in front of a full theater of all the people and this would be part of that work. It's an incredible thing to see the project in perspective and to see that people are seeing the result and a lot of James is coming from that.
But we're just going to do a quick Q&A session and if there are any questions? Anything related to the film, I'll do my best to answer. Audience:
"How long will it take for all the ice to melt completely?"
Svavar:
[chuckle] “I don’t know.”
Audience:
"What was the question?"
Svavar:
"How long will it take the glaciers to melt completely?”
It depends on glaciers. Some of them are disappearing quite quickly, just in front of our eyes. We've seen them go from small to smaller and to almost nothing. But uh, I don't know. Depends on glacier. But dramatic changes for most of them."
Audience:
"What's the view in the rest of the world in terms of climate change?"
Svavar:
"Well, I’m from Iceland and we’re an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and sometimes it feels like we’re like just very hind sighted in a lot of issues. Often you don’t hear anything about global warming and these issues. In Europe I think there is an awareness, there is an awareness, yes. But it’s a relevant question in terms of how much is being done, what is the focus and etcetera. But an easy answer is it is probably more so recently …. So, next?"
Audience:
"What were the lenses used for the cameras in consideration of scope and range?"
Svavar:
"In Iceland we were using 24mm and 20mm so each are rather wide lenses, but they’re not full frame cameras so it’s not super wide at all. It depends on where the cameras are and how close to the glacier. But 24 and 20, that’s very possible. Some are 28, I think 20 is the widest that’s used. Yeah."
Audience:
"Is there any film available of that full seventy-five minute recording of the calving of the glacier to view?"
Svavar: "I’ve often pitched the idea that James should do an art exhibition, just like, a full stage, just blasting on every wall with the sound. That’d be amazing. There’s not at this moment but I think it could be a beautiful idea. I mean, this whole film is about changing perception. That’s a valid point about putting it into a format where you even have a different perception from “this”, ya know?"
Audience:
"After working on a project like this, what do you want to do next?"
Svavar:
"Personally? I’m very honored and happy to be able to continue with that. So we just came from Slovard. [unintelligible] But the project’s carrying on, with distributing, not just carrying the message with the film, but we keep on looking at these changes. For me that’s a great chance to participate. On my own I mean, I do my own thing, my good thing. "
Audience:
"What about putting cameras in the southern hemisphere?"
Svavar:
"I know there is a great desire just to put out more and more and more. But at this moment there is not a steady one. They do key photography in Bolivia. So far there is nothing down in the Antarctic, it’s all a question of manpower and money. But, there’s desire there."
Audience:
"Tell us what concerns you in your own country now?"
Svavar:
"In terms of the glaciers we have kind of a double relationship because all around the world you see glaciers which all are melting, but we have a relationship of violence with the glaciers because we have glacier floods, there’s geothermal activity, there’s a big lake that floods and so we see changes in our glaciers, not just through the climate but through the annual regular events.
But, I know two old brothers who are self-taught scientists, they live by the base of the [unintelligible] glacier, we’ve spoken to them many times, I visit them often. And so when I visited them when I was interested in glaciers, they would point out rocks where they were appearing and so through that you get a sense of these.
You know, our work is from 2004, these guys are in their 90s, so they’ve seen the changes through decades and decades. There’s a lot of canyons in the glaciers. I don’t think that the public accepts it so much where, there’s awareness but…. You know it’s about trying to change the perception of people’s minds, but it’s a very difficult thing to answer. You know? People aren’t really worried about it. But there’s an awareness there. Worrying that the glaciers are shrinking. Or that they might disappear. Though they are. "
Audience:
"How are people taking the viewing of the film?"
Svavar:
"You know it just premiered so, so recently, so I’ve not gotten the feedback on that. But I think that’s a valid point that people should see it and of course we should get their feedback on it. I think that should be coming in the next uh, couple of days." [Audience laughter]
Audience:
"How far do you have to go to put out the cameras and how heavy are you packs?"
Svavar:
"If you know Ansel Addams, he could be standing photographing, some of them are actually taken, just standing by the side of the road. I wouldn’t say we go that far, except for a couple of places in the Swiss, in the Alps, it was quite a few feet. Some of it was just helicopter rides in Greenland and Alaska that I’ve done, it’s relatively easy. We did take some that we could reach without too much trouble. So I would say, it’s a couple of hours to get into some of these places sometimes and the packs would get pretty heavy when you have to carry the car batteries, the big car batteries to power these things, so the first, original trip was pretty heavy. But, after that it was really just a walk in the park." [audience laughter]
Audience:
"How much time did James [Balog] spend in Iceland?"
Svavar:
"I don’t know. A lot, a lot. I don’t know how many trips James has made to Iceland. They were quite a few. We spent a lot of time. We were busy, it’s working, working, every minute of daylight. And even if it was bad weather, I mean, he really, I don’t mean to repeat the sentence, but he really pushed it, us, all the time. One more question?"
Audience:
"How was this received at the Global Climate Summit, how was his presentation received?" http://wclimate.com/world-climate-summit-2012/
Svavar:
"Very well, very well. I mean he [James Balog] has a lot of experience presenting his work. As I understood it, it was received very well. It was a great venue. A great opportunity. Both by the public and well wishers, and by people in important positions who were listening to this. Not just appearing, but proceeding and understanding, hopefully just what you’ve been experiencing here. It does make an impact. It kind of makes you stop and think and perceive it, it does have an impact. "
Bill Donnelly:
We really should have had a lot more time this evening but of course, as you know we got started a little late and we have another show taking place in just a few minutes. There’s a web site, chasingice.com (http://www.chasingice.com/make-a-difference/spread-the-message/), I encourage you to go look at it, with resources on it where you can find a link to things that you can do. I’d also like to mention again that there will be an event at the Convention Center on December 13th. Thank you.
Svavar:
“Thank you so much.” [Audience applause]
END