Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The last time Hollywood got this excited about climate change, Al Gore was picking up an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. Six years later, an unlikely new eco-warrior is winning plaudits: a 60-year-old nature photographer.
When James Balog first set off on an Arctic expedition in 2006 for National Geographic, he realised it was a "scouting mission" for something much bigger. This was to be Chasing Ice, an Oscar-nominated documentary using time-lapse photography to showcase the disappearance of the world's glaciers, to be released in cinemas this week.
"I never thought this film would get done at all," Balog told The Independent on Sunday. "I always thought, if it did get made, it would be shown in the basements of universities, not around the world."
The photographer and his team set up the Extreme Ice Survey five years ago. He and his team battled with some of the harshest conditions on Earth to document the changing landscape in Greenland, Iceland and Alaska, which the film explains as the consequence of climate change.
The composite images, which are made up of still photographs taken every hour, show how the glaciers have shrunk or, in some instances, completely disappeared, over three years. Balog, who admits he used to be a "sceptic", said he was "stunned" by what he saw.
The survey is ongoing, and there are now 34 cameras spanning 16 glaciers from Canada to Nepal. "It was only meant to last three years, but I've realised we can't ever stop; the historical monument we are creating is too substantial," he said. "Ice is the place where climate change is made manifest."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments