Thin Ice

Climate science movies

I held a screening of Thin Ice: The Inside Story Of Climate Science on Earth Day in April 2013, the day the film was released. The response from the students was good – they liked seeing Earth scientists working on complex data collection related to improving our collective understanding of the Earth system. thiniceBased on a written survey I asked many to fill out, I would say that the most general concern was that Thin Ice did not show enough data analysis – a great initial exploration into climate data is the National Academy of Sciences documentary on youtube called Climate Change: Lines of Evidence. I personally really appreciated the work of the Thin Ice film makers in showing not only how cohesive seemingly disparate problems in Earth sciences actually are, but also how enthusiastic Earth scientists are about their work. This enthusiasm, this love of their world and trying to understand it, is in my experience “the norm” amongst scientists studying some aspect of the Earth, whether that research is about the climate or climate change or weather or whatever (Earth sciences is a big topic). We love actively trying to solve these mysteries and understand how the physical world works. So I heartily recommend Thin Ice to anyone thinking about majoring in Earth Sciences or Meteorology or Geology or Geography. chasingiceYou may not work with ice cores or ocean-based research or even climate models, but you will have the chance to work with a group of highly dedicated people on problems that are interesting and sometimes poorly understood. Let your passion lead you!

Thin Ice the movie is available for mp4 download for only $10 through June 15 and you can watch from any device that plays mp4s. I will almost certainly screen Thin Ice in the Fall and Spring semesters of the upcoming academic year in my courses (Global Environmental Change and Applied Climatology). I am planning on buying another movie that visualizes change in a much different way called Chasing Ice. I haven’t watched this one yet, but I’ve heard very good things about the sweeping and powerful images of ice melting away before our eyes as the globe continues to warm.

Why is ice the theme of both movies? Well, actually Thin Ice is more about the scientists studying climate and my understanding of Chasing Ice is that it documents the ice as it is now with the implication that the ice will not be this way in even another generation. So, two ice-themed movies, but much different messages. Buy the mp4 of Thin Ice or watch for my screenings announcements. I’m 90% sure I’ll screen Chasing Ice in at least one of my classes as well. Visualizing global warming and seeing what scientists do (and LIKE to do!) is really important.

Thin Ice film screening

I watched the soon-to-be-officially-released new film about climate science and climate scientists called Thin Ice today. I read about Thin Ice on the RealClimate blog, where the blog author (an Atmospheric Scientist who is interviewed in the film itself) posted that screenings of Thin Ice were being planned for Earth Day 2013 (22 April). Great idea! The film makers say

Join us on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2013 for the global launch of Thin Ice: The inside story of climate science. The film will be available for free online here or can be seen in person at various screenings around the world from April 22nd-23rd.

Since I teach a course about global warming in the Spring and Fall semester here at UNC Charlotte, I immediately thought that this would be a valuable multimedia way to incorporate more than just me talking about the world of climate science with my 12 students. Turns out the documentary-style film is really accessible. A geologist named Simon Lamb starts the movie by talking about his motivation – kind of like you would if you were writing a scientific paper intended for publication. Namely, Lamb poses the hypothesis that climate scientists are “peddling a lie” – a hypothesis that any person in the world could arrive at fairly easily given the way that climate science is discussed outside the scientific world at times. Lamb tests his hypothesis by talking with climate scientists and learning about what they do and, more importantly in my opinion, WHY. The answer to why isn’t stated explicitly, but I think it is the common thread linking the scientists working on understanding the amazing climate system. Certainly, the movie and the conclusions resonate with me. The Earth is an amazing place, and humans working for the greater good truly raise the collective level of optimism about the future.

If you want to sit in on the UNC Charlotte screening, I will show the movie from 11:00-12:15 on Monday April 22 (Earth Day). No admission. Send me an email if you plan to be there. I signed up for the screening via the Thin Ice website, so you can see the official screening annoucement here if you search Charlotte.