James Balog states in the beginning of his extraordinary film that the most powerful interaction known is between mankind and nature. We are surrounded by endangered wildlife and we are the cause of the endangerment. Chasing Ice is such an eye-opening film that demonstrates how powerful climate change is. Setting up multiple cameras in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and Montana results in shocking imagery of the disappearance of glaciers. The imagery that is captured is beautifully terrifying that offers the evidence of greenhouse gases destroying our planet.
James Balog starts off in Iceland at the Solheim glacier which retreats 100 feet every year. 100 feet a year is not expected conduct. James Balog describes glaciers expeditious diminishing
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rate as unnatural, “…glaciers coming to an end. They are falling into the earth and dying just like an old man. This is not normal behavior” (Balog, 2012). In the film, you could see the Solheim glacier’s features disappearing over such a short period of time. James Balog states that the glaciers diminishing are powerful pieces of history just melting away. The Solheim glacier changed drastically; within six months it was unrecognizable. “People need visual evidence not statistics” (Balog, 2012). James Balog placed electronics in the harshest environments to capture the most breathtaking images within three years. What he found from these cameras was astonishing. Greenland is dumping more ice and water into the ocean than ever before. This is the process known as calving. Calving is the infringement of ice at the edge of a glacier. It is usually a large mass of ice disruption that is suddenly released and broken away into the ocean. Ice has always calved off, however it is more than usual calving amount. Massive blocks are being released into the ocean that are the size of Manhattan. Another major calving scene James Balog caught was from the Store glacier in Greenland. This calving experience was the size of five football fields that just cracked and fell into the ocean within one hour. This alone is a major threat to our planet, humanity, and all living things on earth. James Balog states that the history of ancient climate is embedded inside the all glaciers (2012).
Glaciers conserve climate records just as tree trunks preserve historical climate levels from hundreds of years ago. Researchers are able to pull out the core of glaciers in order to examine the ancient bubbles. These ancient bubbles contain levels of carbon dioxide content and past air that is from our ancestors. What they found was atmosphere dioxide never being higher than 280 parts per million. Now, atmosphere dioxide has raised to 390 parts per million within a matter of a couple of years. This change has already been affecting us. James Balog states that air is changing and basic physics of air is changing. This particular change has a great influence in: plants, animals, food, water sources, weather, and mankind. All species are endangered at this moment. All species are going into a mass extinction due to hot weather and climate change. James Balog states that we will lose half or three quarters within the next 20 years. The plants at risk will cause our air to be unfiltered. These plants are what keep our water and air clean. There is also high mortality in forest areas with larger forest fires that are almost impossible to control. More extreme fires are burning which is the cause of extreme changes in the environment. Our environment is more extreme since the greenhouse gases are raising at deadly
amounts. “Everything is a failure without a picture” (Balog, 2012). Glaciers are diminishing and thinning at the same time. Vertical changes in height go from the empire state building to complete thin melted ice. These drastic changes should not be happening at all or in this short period of time. James Balog calls this a geological scale change. He declares that geological scale change is happening very quickly and we are the cause of this geological disaster. Melting zone, where sheet is melting and stored water from ice sheets are running out to sea, is raising to higher levels than ever before. Edges of ice sheet is melting off Greenland to the point where the bottom surfaces that were never seen before are now visible. James Balog states that melting zones are followed by ice melting down from little to big channels and eventually everything drops vertically into the ocean. If it gets too warm and ice continues to diminish then the climate at this point is irreversible (Balog, 2012). In conclusion, climate change matters all over the world. Eventually a minimum of 150 people will have to relocate due to ice melting and oceans raising higher on land (Balog, 2012). There will be greater storms than the ones we are experiencing now due to more water being pushed out from melted glaciers. Balog ends his documentary with climate change being real and science is no longer at a debate with this issue. Global warming is real, and is happening rapidly within our eyes. This film puts a very frightening visual of the geological change that is happening on this planet right now. While some may not be wholly convinced after watching this film, yet it is hard not to be in awe at the sight of a glacier the size of Manhattan crumbling into the ocean. Something needs to be done and can be done.
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
INTRODUCTION The winter season can be a major hassle for some people while others just have to deal with a slight cool down in temperatures. Over the northern portions of the country, people are faced to deal with the harsh conditions that Mother Nature has in store. Some winter seasons are less brutal than others. Besides the typical storm systems that come through the area and drop different types of precipitation whether it is snow, sleet, or freezing rain, there’s another weather event that affects not everyone in the country, but primarily around the Great Lakes.
Today I will be writing about Otzi the Iceman. Otzi was discovered frozen in the ice by German hikers. When he died he was around the age of 45. This report will cover where he lived, his lifestyle, how he died and methods of investigation. The purpose of this report is to give you an understanding of what life was like for Otzi the Iceman and how scientist used methods of investigation.
Earth’s average temperature has increased about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880 and another degree could cause even more problems than there already are. Climate change is an important issue to be aware of because it is real and it affects you and the things around you each and every day. Every day animals lose habitats and die because climate change caused there home to burn, or their food sources started to deplete, etc. Along with these, more and more CO2 is being released into the air due to wildfires burning which is causing the atmosphere to heat even more. With the temperature increasing the oceans will become warmer and evaporation and rainfall patterns will change which will affect humans and animals, because we all work together in a system. There are many consequences of climate change like human health issues, and more animals becoming endangered, but the most important consequence is the rising amounts of wildfires.
Capps, D., Clague, J.J., Pelto, B., Pelto, M. “Rising ELA and Expanding Proglacial Lakes Lead to Initiation of Rapid Retreat of Brady Glacier, Alaska.” 69th Eastern Snow Conference. Nichols, 2012. Web. 9. Feb. 2014.
Survival and Love in Charles Frazier’s "Cold Mountain" I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
Species are decreasing and becoming extinct over time due to climate warming. Animals and plants have developed and diversified from earlier forms to become more complex organisms. Not only have living organisms changed, but so has the Earth. Over time, the world itself has changed drastically, not just the climate but the way it looks as well. The ice on the arctic is melting, causing oceans to become more acidic, oceans became deserts and pollution from our everyday lives are affecting the ozone. It all adds up and changes the world negatively. When the world changes, so do the animals within it. Climate warming has been a big part of the change we see in the population of different species. The speed of climate change is excelling, which
Climate change, otherwise known as global warming, has grown more apparent in recent years, with increased natural disasters, significantly warmer temperatures and unreasonably long seasons. Global warming is one of the main concerns that scientists have been researching for the past century. Scientific evidence shows that global warming is caused by human behaviors. Due to the amount of human-induced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been released into the air, the earth is becoming a highly poisonous place to live on. Earth’s climate has been constantly changing ever since the Industrial Revolution, when innovations began and factories were built, which emitted mass air pollution. As more technological advances continued the years after, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air also increased. According to the UPI Space Daily News, “Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the main cause of global warming - increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes in 2010” (Writers 1). The 1900s through the 2000s is the time period in which humans caused the most air pollution by creating vehicles and other industrial machinery. In the contemporary time period, human activities that contribute to climate change consist of hydraulic fracturing, rice cultivation, the increase of fossil fuel burning, and the rise of deforestation.
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society faces today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today, the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been the slowest” (geocraft).
Our world is always changing, so is our climate. Some changes are apparent, others not so much. Climate change is an important issue of concern in the twenty-first century. Environment, if it changes at all, evolves so slowly that the difference cannot be seen in a human lifetime (Wearth, 2014). Mostly all scientists predicted that it would take thousands of years for the planet to warm up due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels called greenhouse gases. But in the past 200 years, things began to change. The rate and the amount of warming that is happening on this planet are unprecedented. Wearth says, “People did not grasp the prodigious fact that both population and industrialization were exploding in a pattern of exponential
ICE HAUSEN is an environmental, military action thriller. It examines relevant issues in today’s society and explores the possibility of what could very well occur today. This story mixes the serious issue of ozone depletion with a suspenseful military thriller to create a unique story. Driven by the protagonist’s desire to save the ozone layer and the penguins in the Antarctic, the plot keeps tension high.
Climate change has become of the world’s major issue today. The earth’s climate is always changing in a very fast and also in different ways. Climate changes affect our lives psychologically, emotional and also physically. Climate change is defined as a long term change in the earth’s climate, especially a change due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperatures. Due to this change in temperature, a lot of changes has occurred in our environment, these changes include rising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice caps, hotter days, colder nights and heat waves. These climate changes plays an important role in shaping our natural ecosystem, our human economics and also the most important, it affects the human race. For
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing on Earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years, leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries.
Our planet has managed to survive and thrive for about 4.54 billion years. In the last 2 million years we have caused enough damage and destruction to make our world “broken” beyond repair. We will not be able to get back the world we once had. The reason behind this is global warming, specifically, the increase of the global temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere. If we do not make the issue of global warming a priority in today`s society, our entire way of life will be at risk. There are many reasons why so many people believe global warming should be a concern. Thoroughly examined points include: scientific predictions, rising temperatures, human causes, drastic climate changes and animal adaptations. Though there are several points arguing how global warming should not be a concern, the reality of the matter is that it needs to be taken into consideration on a global scale before it is too late, as to do nothing would have devastating implications on humankind.