"Shrinking glaciers are...the most visible, tangible manifestations of climate change on the planet" |...

Just a taste of this man's work | Extreme Ice Now: Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report | James Balog

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	• Extreme Ice Now: Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report James Balog Focal Point, 2009 - 120 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Had Awesome Potential But Ended Up as Average

This book, with its photographic evidence of climate change had the potential to be a fantastic learning tool for the average reader. That potential was lost in a number of ways, including weak text and a size that didn't allow all of the detail of the photographs to show through.

The photography that is present in the book is superb, but at times it is difficult to see what the author is trying to show due to the small frame size of the photos. Making the book a larger size would have provided a remedy to this problem. In addition, the writing is weak and either should have been reduced, or the photographer should have been paired with a better and more knowledgeable writer.

A good look at what is happening in the Polar Regions, but I am not sure it is worth the price charged. I would tend to view it in a library setting first to see if it meets expectations.

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"Shrinking glaciers are...the most visible, tangible manifestations of climate change on the planet"

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"First, the ice shows that when the atmosphere contains more carbon, temperatures rise; when it contains less, the temperature cools off. Second, when the climate reaches a tipping point, it can flip-flop from dramatically colder to dramatically warmer regimes in as little as 1 to 3 years. Third, natural processes have made atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuate between 180 and 285 parts per million by volume (ppmv) from 800,000 years ago to 250 years ago. In all that time, it has NEVER been above 285 ppmv...Today, the global average is 385ppmv. In many urban areas the carbon dioxide level hovers near 500 ppmv...This information changed me from being a climate change sceptic to a climate change believer."

The above is what you'll find in this interesting, slim book by James Balog. Balog is a nature & science photographer and author.

This book consists of two intermeshed parts:

(1) color photographs of ice in the form of icebergs, glaciers, etc., all photographed by Balog. There is a brief explanation given for each photo.

(2) text in the form of brief essays.

The photographs are in a word--stunning. Balog travels all over the world (like to Switzerland, Greenland, Alaska) for his spectacular photographs. On some of these photos, Balog indicates on the photo itself what he wants you to see. Unfortunately, for a few photos I had a difficult time seeing exactly what Balog wanted me to see. (I found this frustrating.)

I found the text, contrary to what other reviewers say, very informative. It is succinct and does not bog down the viewer with excessive detail. The text is not referenced (though a list of "Bibliography Weblinks" is given) but since this book was published by the National Geographic Society, I trust its contents to be accurate. (If I had a choice though, I would have preferred proper referencing.)

Finally, I found the last chapter very informative. It gives tips on "personal action" the reader can take to help curb climate change.

In conclusion, this is a unique book proving that "Shrinking glaciers are the canary in the global coal mine."

(first published 2009; preamble; introduction; 11 chapters; personal action; main narrative 115 pages; acknowledgements; about the author; publishing information)

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Just a taste of this man's work

First of all, this is a good book and definitely worth buying. Apart from the science involved, many of the photos are quite beautiful. It is surprising that this man's project does not get even more attention than it does. Balog is providing definitive and comprehensive scientific evidence of glacial retreat and should be required reading for every consumer and voter. The book itself is quite short and is small in size, and provides just a little sample of what was shown in the PBS television showing or available on the [...] website. Not ordinarily a fan of coffee table type books, I would have preferred a larger, thicker publication that would show the photos to greater effect, accompanied by more scientific explanation of the regional time sequence photography. The survey group should consider a second edition when they have another few years of data.

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Visualizing global warming is key to building public understanding

Jim Balog's book is a must see (and read). He takes the abstraction of global warming and shows its impact visually. By illustrating the disappearance of arctic ice he is alerting us to the reality that will creep south to our backyard in the coming decades.

Book Description Using both time-lapse and conventional photography as well as digital video, the Extreme Ice Survey is the most extensive visual study ever conducted to illustrate the catastrophic melting of glacial ice. The result is a dramatic and timely demonstration of global warming?s dangerous consequences from Alaska to Iceland to the Alps. Serviced via foot, horseback, dogsled, skis, fishing boats, and helicopters at 15 sites in the Northern Hemisphere and programmed to shoot once an hour, every hour of daylight, each of the 26 cameras captures approximately 4,000 images per year. This stunning collection of photographs will form a companion exhibition traveling to museums all over the world as part of an urgent outreach campaign aimed at educating the public about global warming and providing irrefutable scientific evidence of how rapidly our planet?s climate is changing.

Launched in the fall of 2006 and scheduled to continue until late summer of 2009, the remarkable Extreme Ice Survey archive will ultimately total more than 300,000 photographs--a treasure trove of data for researchers and a portrait of nature as arresting and unforgettable as it is ominous.

A Look Inside Extreme Ice Now (Click on Images to Enlarge)

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