Documentary: Chasing Ice

Ah, it’s vacation again! Now I have a lot of time to watch good documentaries. Netflix on the tv, feet up, a good snack and let’s watch. The documentary I am sharing with you today is amazing and sad at the same time, like most documentaries about climate change. It’s amazing because the images are so beautiful! It’s sad because we probably will never see them again. Today I’m talking about the documentary: Chasing Ice. 

Climate Change

Let me clear about this: climate change is not an opinion. It’s a fact. There is no debate about it, just like there is no debate about gravity. Climate change is threatening us and saying it isn’t really is like saying the earth is flat. We are facing our own extinction. Luckily, I think most people know that climate change is a fact in the Netherlands. But this may be that’s because I live in a sustainability bubble haha. Anyhow, we know that climate change is a fact. But what does it mean for us as humans? Not many people know this. And that’s where James Balog comes in.

James Balog

Balog is a photographer. He says climate change is an abstract thing for most people, which is true. And to make climate change more tangible he decided to show it. In photos. Consequently, he hopes this will wake people up and makes them create a sustainable future. He goes to one of the places where climate change can be seen in one of the best ways: the ice caps. They get smaller and smaller each year but nobody seems to notice. It’s a hidden problem since not many people live near ice caps.

‘Climate change is a really abstract thing in most of the world.

James Balog

Chasing Ice

Balog starts a project with his team. During this project they position multiple cameras near the ice caps on earth. This is not an easy task since the weather conditions are extreme in these places. So, they are literally chasing ice. However, after struggling and failing, they manage to do it! The cameras make a photo every hour over a period of years. From these photos they eventually make a film to see what it is happening to the ice caps. The results are shocking. Balog and his team however share this with the whole world. The ice caps are melting, rapidly.

My Opinion

I think chasing ice is an important documentary. I tackles a critical subject: climate change. And even though climate change can be very complicated and abstract, they manage to show the world in an accessible way what is happening to the planet. Hard proof, for everyone. But besides that this is a very urgent subject, the documentary is also amazing because of the footage. Seeing the ice caps is just astonishing. I am seriously considering to travel to Greenland (in a sustainable way of course) the coming years, before it’s all gone. These places are beautiful! The documentary has won over 30 prices, of which an Emmy Award and a Doc Emmy Award. Seriously, you should see this!

Want to watch something alike? Watch Chasing Coral.

Yours sincerely, 
Romee