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

during which James Balog reveals a clip showing the largest ever recorded calving incident, as well as a demonstration of how one particular glacier receded farther back in the past ten years than it had over the course of hundreds of years prior. In class we discussed how glaciers have a natural tendency to advance and recede as a way of maintaining balance in the environment, however, in more recent years we are seeing a dramatic increase in glaciers receding to the point where they are unable to recover, and are permanently lost to the ocean.
Such a rapid change can be contributed to human activities such as burning fossil fuels for energy and raising livestock for food production. Greenhouse gasses have been present in the Earth’s atmosphere throughout the entirety of recorded history, however, until around the start of the industrial revolution, the Earth had a natural way of maintaining these levels and keeping them at harmony through the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle is made up of two main processes: cell respiration and photosynthesis, and until humans began pumping excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, photosynthesis and cell respiration worked inversely of one another to limit the amount of these gases present in the air at any given time. However, because of the rate of humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions, the planet’s method of recycling these gases has been thrown off balance and we are now witnessing the catastrophic results of our interference with the natural order.
As discussed in both the documentary and in class, these hazardous levels of carbon dioxide are affecting not only Earth’s glaciers and oceans, but the planet as a whole. Hurricanes and typhoons are becoming ever more frequent with the receding of coastlines, and natural wildfires are traveling farther and are lasting up to two months longer than ever recorded in history. The planet has been experiencing more droughts, floods, and other forms of natural disasters over the past few decades than ever before, and increasing severities in such disasters are having traumatic effects on both human life and the environment as a whole.
I watched this documentary with my boyfriend, Michael, who tends to enjoy scientific documentaries and articles and things of the like.

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

done.