Climate change comes into focus with photographs of its effect on the Arctic in “Changing Ice, Changing Climate: Photographs by James Balog and the Extreme Ice Survey” currently displayed in Hodge Hall at the Kelley School of Business.
The exhibit is just one part of SustainIU Week, coming in February, according to an IU press release.
“For many of us, it is hard to visualize and personally experience how our actions are rapidly changing remote environments like arctic glaciers,” said Jeff White, director of the Integrated Program in the Environment and an Arctic scientist, in the release. “James Balog’s stunning photography helps transport us there. The experience is both wonderful and deeply disconcerting.”
The exhibit will be up until the end of March.
Balog and Extreme Ice Survey have collected more than 1 million images showing the melting of glaciers in the United States, Antarctica, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, France, Iceland, Greenland and Nepal, according to the University.
EIS uses dozens of Nikon D3200 digital cameras that are set to click every half hour of daylight year-round.
EIS is able to capture the receding glaciers with the cameras anchored on cliff faces above glaciers. The equipment is protected by waterproof Pelican cases and powered by a mix of solar panels and batteries, according to the exhibit.
Each unit weighs more than 100 pounds, and images are downloaded as frequently as every few months or as seldom as once every two years, depending on the camera’s location, according to the ?exhibit.
Office of Sustainability Project Coordinator Nancy Lethem said Professor Michael Hamburger and Director of the Office of Sustainability Bill Brown had the idea for the exhibit.
“He’s pretty well-known for his work in illustrating the effects of climate change,” Lethem said. “His work has been published widely, including in National Geographic.”
Balog has looked at global environmental change for 30 years, according to the ?release.
Balog’s photos in the exhibit are part of EIS, which is part of Earth Vision Trust, a nonprofit founded by Balog in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colo., according to the exhibit.
EIS is featured in the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Chasing Ice” ?in 2012.
“Chasing Ice” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 at the IU Cinema, according to the IU Cinema website. Balog will take part in a question and answer ?session after the screening.
Balog will speak at 7:30 p.m. the day before, Feb. 18, in the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana ?Memorial Union.
Balog’s visit is part of a collaborative effort by several groups on campus, including the Office of Sustainability with IU Cinema, the Center for Integrative Photographic Studies, College Arts & ?Humanities Institute, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Geological Sciences, the Integrated Program in the Environment, the Kelley School of Business and the IMU Board.
Balog will also speak with several student groups while he is at IU, Lethem said.
“I just think it’s so exciting that we can have someone of this stature, who has studied this particular question about climate change, and showing ... the ... truth of the changing climate,” Lethem said. “I think it’s really important.”
