Alaska on Ice. For Now.
“Extreme Ice”. That’s the name of an amazing photographic odyssey and scientific documentation of climate change in the Arctic.
Once a climate change skeptic, [James] Balog here presents stirring time-lapse images of melting bodies of ice. By placing cameras throughout the Arctic and programming them to shoot one frame every daylight hour for three years, he and his team were able to capture unprecedented footage of the world in flux. The gathered evidence points to extreme melting in polar regions. But it also suggests that the effects of climate change are occurring at a much more accelerated rate than previously thought. Extreme Ice explores the potential implications of this undeniable “big melt.”
The footage is absolutely breathtaking, and features a segment on Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier. Of course, if people had been listening to Alaska Native Elders, they’d have believed in the existence of climate change long before now.
Balog calls the melting of glaciers “the most visible, tangible manifestations of climate change on the planet today.”
A documentary film crew accompanied Balog, and their footage along with Balog’s work will be featured in the Mar. 24 NOVA and National Geographic special Extreme Ice. Balog’s photographs are also on display in his new book Extreme Ice Now: Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report.
Alaska Newsreader published a link to an interview with Balog on NPR HERE. The
And if all this is too much for you, and you find yourself worried about the fate of the arctic ecosystem…just take some advice from our leadership here in Alaska. If you just ignore all that annoying melting ice, maybe it’ll go away.
this is scary. They say that the Northeast coastline will suffer the worst effects. Heck, I may have beachfront property in my lifetime!
I fear it is too late to turn the bus around here. We need to start planning ahead.
The artwork put a big smile on my face !! The story…….not. sigh……again you bring the truth AKM……even when it ain’t pretty. thank you.
austintx (16:33:34) :
The artwork put a big smile on my face !!
ditto..oops!…me too. Always enjoy the flyinureye, also.
Let’s hope that being “sciency” about global warming counts as ‘accountability to the tax payer’.
“If you just ignore all that annoying melting ice, maybe it’ll go away.”
…but …wait… we don’t want it to go away…can’t ignore, must ignore… head imploding…
^ What they said!
For anyone who doesn’t believe our glaciers are receding VERY QUICKLY, I invite you to look at my photo album starting in 1979 when I moved to Juneau. Everybody visiting and living here takes a million pictures of our gorgeous Mendenhall Glacier. There are at least three great hikes you can take also, too on either sides of the glacier to get different views. Way back when, the East glacier trail took you right to the edge of the ice where you could crawl down to visit ice caves and see all kinds of cool formations from below – instead of the usual views taken by aircraft from above.
There is a point of land that was barely showing when I moved here, that is now completely exposed and you also can no longer scramble down to the glacier walls from the east side since the ice has receded so greatly. Over the years I have taken so many pics of the glacier, and the lake, that if I put them together in flip-book format I would have visual time line of the glacial recession in just a couple of minutes. I stumbled across some of these older pics a couple of years ago after a hike near the glacier, and I was stunned at the difference in my pictures between then and now. Wow.
ooops. the west, not east, trail took you to the glacier walls! I’m directionally challenged sometimes.
If you just ignore all that annoying melting ice, maybe it’ll go away.
Yes practice “magical thinking”
Thank you flyinureye for a awesome pic.
Little surfin’ polar bear….Bardette, I hear a song there!
“You betcha boys” (her minions)
If only it wasn’t such a serious problem, that some people refuse to acknowledge!
Martha, please consider doing just that with your photos (and those of your friends) — put them in a slide show in chronological order and post them on a shared photos website. Link to the forum and get the word out otherwise. Make it go viral!
While this project (Extreme Ice) is a really great one, that will capture a terrific amount of footage, three years is not enough to “prove” a trend to many doubters. I really hope they can keep it going for longer.
I saw, a couple of years ago, a set of pictures from Greenland that stunned me: http://earthslot.org/ipy/geassets/mccall.jpg I’ll see if I can find the original article.
OT – Talis Colberg is NOT disappeared! What to make of it? from ADN:
Colberg wants to run for Mat-Su mayor
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: March 18, 2009 – 4:57 pm
Comments (5) | Recommend (0)
From the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:
PALMER — The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is set to hold a special election June 9 to choose Curt Menard’s successor as mayor and at least one familiar face has already declared his intent to run — Talis Colberg.
Colberg said he filed his intent to run with the Alaska Public Offices Commission this morning.
“I think I have the experience, the ability and the desire to be a good mayor,” Colberg said.
Martha Unalaska Yard SignNo Gravatar (16:53:28) :
For anyone who doesn’t believe our glaciers are receding VERY QUICKLY, I invite you to look at my photo album starting in 1979 when I moved to Juneau.
—————————–
Oooh,oooh….I would certainly like to take a gander at your photo album! Do you perhaps have your images posted online?
And thanks AKM for again bringing these real issues to the forefront….for these are very interesting times in which we live…and photo-documentaries truly tell the story which transpires daily, right before our very eyes.
…… sigh ….. I went to planetsave to look and this was the 1st thing on the site………….
http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/03/18/alaska-to-kill-over-75-of-wolf-population-in-new-aerial-hunt/
The thing which scares me the most about climate change – aside from the neocon nitwits who scorn the concept – is the increase in extreme weather events. Massive deluges, huge storms, extended dry periods, increased frequency of tornadic activity at odd times of the year, etc. I probably won’t mind owning ocean front property in 20 years, but I will learn to greatly dislike the malaria the misquitos will bring to my front porch while I am working hard at getting that perfect tan.
Talis has the desire… well, big whoop.
Timmy McVeigh had the desire, too. And look where that got us and him.
GD it, the message is right, the research is right, the result are right – in respect to supporting global warming, but WTF? Are we going to just spend the next 50 year watching cultures, the environment and animals die and arguing with these end time fruitnuts or are we going to do something about it?
Angry to tears.
Off topic….sorry
Head on over to the Progressive Alaska Blog.
Saradise Lost-Book 2-Chapter 35
Famed Poetry Slammer Jeanann Verlee Slams Sarah Palin.
Poem: Brooklyn’s Coming….it’s an open letter to Sarah Palin after her comment regarding the Real America is small town America.
Very, very good….sorry to go off topic…back on topic now.
Listened to Balog on Fresh Air while I was cooking dinner tonight. He mentioned a new field of science (name?) that deals with the idea that humans are now the #1 change agent on the planet. It’s no longer Nature itself. (Think about the term ‘natural resources’. Resources implying that they’re ours to exploit. I guess because we have dominion over the earth. ‘Scuse me while I go puke.)
Talis for Mayor of Mat-Su?! Can you say Glutton for Punishment?
Yes, photo albulmn link please.
OT:
Cultural attitudes may be a more likely explanation. Morgan noted the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, the unmarried teen daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The young woman had a baby boy in December, and plans for a wedding with the father, Levi Johnston, were scrapped.
“She’s the poster child for what you do when you get pregnant now,” Morgan said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/18/baby-boomlet-us-births-in_n_176474.html
on line poll report card…vote now!
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/category.asp?C=81466
austintxNo Gravatar (17:50:49) :
…… sigh ….. I went to planetsave to look and this was the 1st thing on the site………….
*********************
These heinous acts have not gone unnoticed….
“Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s administration increased its aerial wolf killing program this past weekend, which the group Defenders of Wildlife says violates current state regulations….”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/18/sarah-palins-aerial-wolf_n_176496.html
Continue beating the drums…
austintxNo Gravatar (17:50:49) :
…… sigh ….. I went to planetsave to look and this was the 1st thing on the site………….
http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/03/18/alaska-to-kill-over-75-of-wolf-population-in-new-aerial-hunt/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks Austintx for that link….I hope DoW can stop the hunt ASAP, oh and I wasn’t aware they are killing seals in Or. Wa? Course not b/c the media has been banned!
People come to SF and Monterey Pier’s to see the sea Lions, that hang out here…!
What is with these people?? Kill, baby, Kill! Until there’s none left. Oh I guess its ok with them, because all the weird weather conditions, like Saurkraut said, can be attributed to the end tiimes….
I guess I’ll drift off to sleep to nightmares of drowning polar bear cubs and gased wolf pups. UGH.
from this site:
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10025317
This has a date of Mar 17 (Tues).
“FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The state has started shooting wolves from helicopters in Alaska’s eastern interior in an effort to turn around an unsuccessful aerial predator control program there.”
(“Unsuccessful?” Then why on earth are they continuing it?)
“The focus area is the Fortymile Caribou Herd’s calving grounds adjacent to the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, where predator control is not allowed.”
(Sooo, they’re lying in wait until a wolf sticks its nose out the front gate?)
Good heavens, each sentence has something that could be said – but the comments are truly unbelievable. But apparently I’m a lousy liberal L-48er who has no idea of what life is really like in AK.
Hey, MF’rs, I’m looking for images of my sign & costume from the Park Strip anti-Sarah rally -way back when. I was the hulked out Hillary Clinton with the Sarah Palin doll wrapped in the US flag surrounded by her bullet point beliefs. Please send large format images to lonetreeone@yahoo.com
THX
Those photos of glaciers are stunning.
YES @Martha Unalaska Yard Sign, we’d love to see those photos.
Palin skipped science class and is an expert now? Does she think the Board of Game is a board game? Stacked the game too probably, amiright?
Where will the food for that many caribou come from? Guess why they haven’t reached those numbers since the 20th c? DUH.
Will they send them some cookies and evangelists with pamphlets too?
58 wolves have been killed since Sat. March 14, 2009. Those shooting wolves, are they required tags? Is there a fee involved?, because I’d like a list of names of those whom have shot them to date with updates.
Really when will this Madness STOP!? I have just seen a picture over on the Immoral Minority Blog , a Wolf shot from a Helicopter. Why is she so manic in her extreme responses to everything? I know she has to be on some type of meds to try to stay somewhat normal. I am picturing her moods swinging like a “Pendulum” Everything about her and her actions or responses to situations seems so exhausting to me. I have had enough of her antics today, the Wolf picture is the icing on the cake……how truly sad. Bad, bad Sarah. sick.
Environmental issues and animal rights, crooked game boards, manipulating “scientific findings” all need to be directed to Ken Salazar and the Obama administration. I urge you to share what you think with them. I have.
Bust those that have it coming.
@Say NO to Palin in Politics (04:54:40) :
“Environmental issues and animal rights, crooked game boards, manipulating “scientific findings” all need to be directed to Ken Salazar and the Obama administration.”
>>> Yep, it was Salazar who caved and followed through with Dubya’s plan re: endangered species. (BTW, Salazar’s coming to AK in April ……)
@Nan (19:36:34) : RE: WOLVES
(”Unsuccessful?” Then why on earth are they continuing it?)
>>> I live there. ‘Unsuccessful’ meant that they’ve been shooting from fixed-wing planes; now they have an ‘improved’ tool – the helicopter. They’re still using planes for spotting, though.
(Sooo, they’re lying in wait until a wolf sticks its nose out the front gate?)
>>> not far from the truth. The packs in Yukon-Charley National Preserve have been studied for the past 20 years, and at least one individual in each pack is wearing a radio collar. The F&G rep said if one of these wolves is spotted outside the preserve, they cannot guarantee it wouldn’t be put down, but they would try not to (whatever that means). And of course, any member of these packs not wearing a collar is fair game.
Martha Unalaska Yard Sign (16:53:28) :
You are so right – I was just going through some old pics from when we moved to Juneau (1961) and all the visits to the glacier. It is amazing to see the change in just 45 years . . . very obvious to anyone that there is something going on, I can’t believe that there are non-believers . . . .
The photographic adventure witnessing this ongoing event is priceless…beautiful, but foreboding
No doubt the warming has been going on for some time. I’m a former Alaskan who grew up in Anchorage in the 50′s and 60′s. I took a contract job there in 2001 and couldn’t find Portage Glacier….folks there said it’s “over there around the bend”… I have pictures of my family playing on the edges of it where it was right up next to the parking lot.
Also, several flooded areas in the Kenai area from swollen creeks caused by melting glaciers while I was there in ’01.
Even though we still have periods of cold during the winters, it’s pretty obvious to me, that overall the climate is warming.