How a Climate Skeptic Became a Glacier Witness
From Doubt to Discovery
James Balog, a conservationist and environmental photographer, spent decades doubting climate change. Since the 1980s, he scoffed at warnings about the planet’s drastic shifts. But one Arctic assignment changed everything. In the early 2000s, Balog and his National Geographic team visited glaciers up close. Seeing the ice collapse before his eyes flipped his worldview. From that moment, he dedicated his life to documenting glaciers around the world.
Understanding Glacial Calving
In 2007, Balog’s team captured half-melted remnants of a glacier at Uummannaq Fjord, Greenland. Calving occurs when large chunks of ice break off glaciers, forming icebergs. Though natural, glaciers are now shrinking at alarming rates.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, glacier collapse ranks as the second-largest contributor to rising sea levels. Excessive calving also threatens freshwater supplies downstream and can trigger floods and other disasters. WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo emphasized, “Preservation of glaciers is not just an environmental, economic, and societal necessity. It’s a matter of survival.”
The Assignment That Changed Everything
Balog’s journey began with a 2007 National Geographic cover story, The Big Thaw. Until then, he believed climate change effects were exaggerated. “I didn’t think humans could alter the physics and chemistry of this entire planet,” he said in the documentary Chasing Ice (2012).
But the glaciers spoke for themselves. Carbon monoxide trapped in ice bubbles revealed rising temperatures compared to historical levels. Returning to previously photographed locations in Iceland, Balog and his team found landscapes transformed beyond recognition in just six months. This dramatic change inspired the creation of the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS).
Capturing Real-Time Ice Loss
From 2007 to 2020, Balog’s team used time-lapse cameras to track glaciers in Greenland, Alaska, Iceland, and Montana. Custom-built cameras photographed the same landscapes hourly during daylight.
“The stunning thing is seeing massive changes in astonishingly short periods,” Balog told National Geographic in 2009. “As a technically educated layperson, I expected slow changes. Instead, the cameras showed rapid, abrupt shifts. That was the revelation.”
The Ilulissat Glacier Collapse
Among the many calving events, the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland stood out. In 2016, Guinness World Records recognized it as the largest glacier calving ever captured on film. On May 28, 2008, Adam LeWinter and Jeff Orlowski filmed ice plunging into the water, melting entirely in two hours. Balog described it as “if the lower tip of Manhattan melted away in 75 minutes.”
Expanding to the Southern Hemisphere
After the success of Chasing Ice, Balog expanded EIS to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia Island. By 2022, the project had captured 1.5 million images over 15 years, archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
Donna Scott, programs lead at NSIDC, highlighted the project’s value: “These images help the public see climate change in real-time. They also improve our understanding of glacier retreat, which computer models alone cannot fully predict.”
James Balog’s journey shows the power of evidence. From a skeptic to a witness of the planet’s icy transformations, his work provides undeniable proof of climate change. Through breathtaking photography and meticulous documentation, Balog has given the world a stark, visual reminder: glaciers are melting, and time is running out.
