SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28: KEYNOTE EVENT SCREENING
CHASING TIME (2024)
6:00pm · Cornell Cinema
40 min. short documentary, followed by Q&A discussion with James Balog, A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell
Free tickets: cornellcinema.eventive.org/films/68b74aceb692b2dce7c02ec6.
Free popcorn and drink included! Open to all.

Watch the trailer. About the film: The team behind Chasing Ice reunites for one final mission to close out the Extreme Ice Survey project: an unprecedented 15-year photographic record of the melting glaciers.

If a single photo can inspire change, how influential are a million images? Over the course of the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project, photographer James Balog and his team brought some of the world’s first and most compelling visual evidence of climate change to the global stage as he depicted the rapid melting of glaciers around the world. Thoughtfully helmed by acclaimed director Jeff Orlowski-Yang (Chasing Ice, Chasing Coral, The Social Dilemma) and first-time filmmaker Sarah Keo, Chasing Time is a meditative exploration of time and mortality, following James and his crew as they bring the decades-long project to a close, cataloging more than one million images in the process.

The short documentary reunites James and the Emmy-award-winning team behind Chasing Ice to capture the end of the epic undertaking and spotlight the power of an intergenerational effort to seed hope and inspire action toward a sustainable future. A beautiful tribute to the power of images and the importance of mentorship, the team examines the legacy their efforts have made on the world.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29: WEST CAMPUS ENGAGEMENT
Dinner & Discussion with James Balog
6:00pm · Keeton House
7:15pm · Discussion
Open to all.
Hosted by Lindsay Anderson (Associate Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering, CALS)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30: CLIMATE SPEAKER SERIES
“Finding Earth: A Quest for What Makes Nature Natural in a Changing World”
5:00pm · 121 Atkinson Hall and e-Cornell livestream
Reception to follow in Atkinson Hall lobby. Open to all.

Abstract: For more than four decades, environmental photographer and filmmaker James Balog has documented the profound ways human activity is reshaping Earth’s landscapes and climate. In this talk, Balog will share striking images and film clips from his global expeditions, revealing the visible signs of climate change — from receding glaciers and rising seas to floods and raging wildfires. Drawing on his experience at the intersection of art and science, Balog invites us to confront the human story within the Anthropocene and consider how creativity can illuminate paths toward environmental sustainability.

All events are cosponsored by the College Scholar Program and Dept. of Communication.
Kendra Bischoff (Director, College Scholar Program; Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology) serves as faculty host.
Neil Lewis, Jr. (Associate Professor, Dept. of Communication) serves as faculty co-host.

James Balog is the Founder of the Extreme Ice Survey and Earth Vision Institute. For 40 years, as a photographer, Balog has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of nature. An avid mountaineer with a graduate degree in geography and geomorphology, Balog is equally at home on a Himalayan peak or a whitewater river, the African savannah, or polar icecaps. 

His 2018 film The Human Element  is an innovative look at the intersection of humanity and the rest of nature. It has received numerous awards and been screened worldwide. 

To reveal the impact of climate change, Balog founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) in 2007. It is the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. The project was featured in the internationally acclaimed documentary Chasing Ice  and in the 2009 PBS/NOVA special Extreme Ice. One YouTube video clip from Chasing Ice has received more than 58 million views. Chasing Ice  won an Emmy in 2014 and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. It has been screened at the White House, U.S. Congress, Great Britain’s House of Commons, the United Nations, and major international science and policy conferences, including COP-15 in Copenhagen and COP-21 in Paris. Full bio.