The Last Glacier is a collaboration by three artists that spent three summers hiking in Glacier National Park to gather information and to create artwork that accurately portrays glaciers and the impacts that humans are having on them. Todd Anderson, Bruce Crownover, and Ian van Coller’s, The Last Glacier, 2010-2016, captures the many negative effects that humans have had on glaciers, considered by some to be the “last remnants of a distant ice age.”
The Last Glacier is a piece of art presented through photographs and detailed woodblock prints. Combined, the multiple pieces of art form a fifteen print, large-scale book that is meant to parallel the large scale of the Glacier National Park landscape. A purpose of the artwork is to cause viewers to think about how large and powerful the glacial landscape is. The photographs of the glaciers in Glacier National Park capture the park’s beauty and vastness. However, it is evident in some photographs that some parts of
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The photographs in the book make the viewer feel as if they are witnessing the glaciers firsthand, due to the quality of the cameras that were used for the project. The woodprints showcase the minute details of the glaciers that may otherwise go unnoticed. The three artists that collaborated for this project are attempting to communicate the large impact that humans have has on glaciers, specifically those found in Glacier National Park. When the park was originally founded, in 1910, it had over one hundred and fifty glaciers. Presently, there are less than twenty-five glaciers present in the entire park. Climate change is a huge issue that is causing destruction the environment in many ways. The Last Glacier is meant to convey the idea that even something as large as a glacier is subject to human impact. Human actions that contribute to climate change and global warming are causing an impact on things much larger than humans
While describing his trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, President Carter paints and appealing picture in the minds of Americans. He mentions a “brilliant mosaic of wildflowers, mosses and lichens that hugged the tundra” (paragraph 2). As these words roll off this tongue, a beautiful landscape rolls into the minds of Americans. Furthermore, President Carter details “As the never-setting sun circled above the horizon, we watched muskox … lumber along braided rivers that meander toward the Beaufort Sea.” (paragraph 2) After hearing this description, an elegant sunset and with innocent animals roaming about pops into mind. Picturing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in this alluring manner will greatly decrease the desire to harm it. By utilizing imagery, President Carter convinces Americans of the beauty of the reserve and therefore the need to preserve
Glaciers are an integral part of the world’s climate. In fact, as Richard Armstrong of the University of Colorado says, “Glaciers are key indicators in monitoring and detecting climate change” (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, 2003, p. 1). Not only are they an important part of monitoring current climate, they can hold many keys to the past. Glaciers are in fact, “a source of paleoclimate data…” (Meier and Dyurgerov, 1980, p. 37). This paleoclimate data can give geologists information on the conditions that were present at the time of the glaciers birth, as well as the approximate age. This has an important role in the geologic time scale of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. These Glaciers played a role in the carving of the present day Rocky Mountains in Colorado, which will be the primary focus of this paper. In addition, glacial formations will be discussed to give the reader background information and the future of the Glaciers in Colorado will close this paper.
In his essay, “Global Warming is Eroding Glacial Ice,” Revkin is arguing that global warming is constantly changing the ...
The environment has become a popular topic this year due to our on-going drought. It has always been a serious issue; something Saukko informs us in her sarcastic essay “How to Poison the Earth”. She uses sarcasm and irony in her essay hoping her readers will do the complete opposite of what she is saying because of the stress she puts on the harming chemicals we use every day. We do not appreciate our environment and take it for granted. This ideal is what Ehrlich's essay “Chronicles of Ice” focuses on by using analogies and scientific definitions to describe aspects of glaciers. The melting of the glaciers introduces us to the topic of global warming and how our society is doing nothing to stop it from getting worse. Gawande’s “The Cancer-Cluster
Traveling north on an Indian trail, the first sign of the area’s cataclysmic past would have appeared out of place from the rolling hills typical of the Western Pennsylvanian landscape. Peering down into a valley over 400 feet deep, the mighty gorge was littered with enormous boulders, framing the Slippery Rock Creek. These relict boulders of rock types foreign to the area are known as “glacial erratics” and are indicative of the strength of the encroaching glacier. As defined by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, “Glacial erratics are stones and rocks that were transported by a glacier, and then left behind after the glacier melted. Erratics can be carried for hundreds of kilometers, and can range in size from pebbles to large boulders.
“How Dangerous are Glaciers?: Glaciers Have Their Own Warning Signs.” Alaska Satellite Facility. University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014. Web. 17. Feb. 2014.
book which I was interested in certain parts of it, such as his ideal of wanting
Glaciers are a big part of life in Oregon. Glaciers supply drinking water, they irrigate crops and they help generate hydroelectric power. They are also a tourist attraction in areas that have more mountains. Glaciers are a natural resource that are so rare that people all over the world are trying to get these “frozen streams.” People want the power of glaciers because they can provide drinking water and people living in the city of La Paz, Bolivia rely on the melting of the glaciers. Glaciers irrigate crops and thousands of years ago people in Russia and Asia knew that dark colors promoted melting. This is how they watered their crops during dry periods. Even though this method has been proven very costly, India has created artificial glaciers to provide people with more water. Scientists have been damming glacial meltwater to help generate hydroelectric power. Glaciers supply drinking water to the community and are running low because they are continuing to melt.
Thomas Moran’s painting captures the essence of the true spirit of the Yellowstone Canyon and overwhelms any viewers who go up to it. With a size of 7’ by 12’ and a mastery display of vivid colors with hues of orange and yellow contrasted with the dark cold colors of the shadows, anyone would be overwhelmed. Under the cool shade, the path extending in front invites the viewer to join the tiny figures in the distance who seem to overlook the grand valley of the canyon below. The view from where those people are in the distance could be quite breathtaking, and this adds to the painting’s value. Moran captured the public and the government’s fascinations with the beauties of America’s Wild West. Moran’s mastery of composition within landscape
People are responsible for higher carbon dioxide atmosphere emissions, while the Earth is now into the Little Ice Age, or just behind it. These factors together cause many years discussions of the main sources of climate changes and the temperature increasing as a result of human been or natural changes and its consequences; even if its lead to the global warming, or to the Earth’s cooling. In their articles, “Global Warming Is Eroding Glacial Ice” by Andrew C. Revkin and “Global Warming Is Not a Threat to Polar Ice” by Philip Stott, both authors discuss these two theories (Revkin 340; Stott 344). Revkin is right that global warming is taking place. Significant increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is due to human activities combined with natural factors such as volcanic emissions and solar radiation – all together they lead to climate changes and temperatures rising. At the same time, other factors such as deforestation contribute to environmental changes for some glaciers not less than air pollution. However, during global warming not all regions of the planet are affected in the same way, local warming and cooling are both possible during these changes.
The glaciers have been through a minimum of four glacial periods. They’ve been through the Little Ice age, which commenced around 4,000 years ago. Marks of retreating glacier ice are seen in the rock-strewn and sculpted peaks valleys. The land and bodies of water that the retreating ice has created a new display of animal and plant communities. Ice fields, expansive river and stream systems, and tidewater glaciers significantly determine the likelihood of animals and plants to
In the foreword to "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, A Photographic Journey," former US President Jimmy Carter voices strong opposition to proposals that aim to industrialize areas of natural tundra in Alaska. He urges readers to look beyond short term financial gain and to protect nature’s innate beauty. In order to persuade his audience that the Arctic Refuge should be preserved, Carter develops pathetic appeal through the use of personal anecdotes, precise word choice, and evocative imagery.
Through portrayal of the Stikine Icecap as both terrifying and beautiful, Krakauer’s ambivalence towards his journey is revealed. Upon looking at the aerial photograph of the Devil’s Thumb, Krakauer describes it as “particularly sinister” (135) and “dark” (153). By personifying the mountain as evil, Krakauer’s fear intensifies because the mountain is hard to climb and there is an underlying metaphysical danger. Furthermore the mountain’s tangible “blade-like” (135) summit ridges indicate the mountain is hazardous, dangerous, and capable of killing climbers like a knife. During the second ascend, Krakauer crosses a " Gothic cathedral" (152). Krakauer is uncertain of what to make of the Alaskan scenery. At times, he views the mountain as ...
I was the first person to ski off of the chairlift that day; arriving at the summit of the Blackcomb Mountain, nestled in the heart of Whistler, Canada. It was the type of day when the clouds seemed to blanket the sky, leaving no clue that the sun, with its powerful light, even existed anymore. It was not snowing, but judging by the moist, musty, stale scent in the air, I realized it would be only a short time before the white flakes overtook the mountain. As I prepared myself to make the first run, I took a moment to appreciate my surroundings. Somehow things seemed much different up here. The wind, nonexistent at the bottom, began to gust. Its cold bite found my nose and froze my toes. Its quick and sudden swirling movement kicked loose snow into my face, forcing me to zip my jacket over my chin. It is strange how the gray clouds, which seemed so far above me at the bottom, really did not appear that high anymore. As I gazed out over the landscape, the city below seemed unrecognizable. The enormous buildings which I had driven past earlier looked like dollhouses a child migh...
Glaciers have disappeared due to increasing in global temperatures because of which the water level had drastically increased and its causing flood all over the world