Chasing Ice Analysis

Summer Ziebarth Chasing Ice covers the long debated topic of global warming and whether or not human activity is currently causing global temperatures to rise. Evidence suggests that increased carbon dioxide emissions over the past couple hundred years are responsible for the warming of the Earth’s surface, and thus increasing the levels of the ocean due to an accelerated rate of ice melting. We discussed this same topic in class and how humans are contributing to the greenhouse effect which plays a large role in trapping these unnatural amounts of gases such as carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and causing a rise in the number of natural disasters around the world.

In the documentary, we are shown visual evidence of this effect taking place through videos and photographs captured by EIS. We see enormous glaciers, which have been present for hundreds and thousands of years, actively dying off before our very eyes. In one instance we are shown a scene from a press conference

The entire time I was in awe of the breathtaking photographs and videos captured by James Balog and the rest of the EIS team, and I often found myself pausing the film at different points to marvel at the beauty of these winter wonderlands, only to be greatly disheartened upon watching huge pieces of them plummet to the ocean only minutes later. Michael, on the other hand, explained how he found himself taken aback by James Balog’s resilience and determination to see his mission through to the end, despite multiple surgeries and protests from his doctors in regards to him hiking in such extreme conditions. I felt a great sadness in telling my boyfriend that if human behavior does not change dramatically over the next few decades, I would like to see some of these landscapes together with him in person before the irreversible damage is entirely