Chasing Ice
In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic:
to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing
climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic
about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the
biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that
would put his career and his very well-being at risk.
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change
the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing
planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer
conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey.
With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying
revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a
multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
As the debate polarizes America and the intensity of natural
disasters ramps up globally, Balog finds himself at the end of his
tether. Battling untested technology in subzero conditions, he comes
face to face with his own mortality. It takes years for Balog to see the
fruits of his labor. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years
into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they
disappear at a breathtaking rate. Chasing Ice depicts a photographer trying to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.