Photos of climate change on show

CHICAGO — For the last decade, American photographer James Balog has been on a mission to document climate change through his camera lens.

His effort has taken him to the farthest reaches of the world, from Antarctica to the northern ends of Greenland, where he has captured the movements and melts of immense glaciers.

The results of his work are on display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry at the show Extreme Ice.

“Ice is the manifestation of climate change in action,” Balog says.

That change, often imperceptibly slow, is invisible to the eye. But, through timelapse photography, Balog reveals how 24 glaciers around the world are evolving — showing giant bodies of ice moving in currents, and crystal blue or green water pooling as melting accelerates.

A scientist by training, Balog’s work has already garnered attention and been the subject of two documentaries.

This latest exhibition in Chicago, which juxtaposes photographs of glaciers taken years apart to show their rapid decline, offers updated images and new locations, such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

“(The images) make this subject alive and resonant in people’s hearts and minds, in a way that just pure art or pure science wouldn’t do alone,” Balog says.

More than 90 percent of the world’s glaciers are melting, with 75 billion tons of ice lost in Alaska alone every year. The scale of the problem can be hard to comprehend, but Balog’s photographs make it more understandable.

Two juxtaposed images of the Bridge Glacier in Canada — a thick sheet of ice covering a vast valley — show its substantial retreat over a period of just three years.

A section of the Trift Glacier in Switzerland, the height of a mid-rise building with beautiful white, blue and brown hues, appears shriveled to almost nothing over a nine-year period.

When you string together a whole set of those images, suddenly you’re stunned.” James Balog, photographer

“People (who) don’t believe in global warming and climate change, they need to see this exhibit. Because it’s real,” says Sharonya Simon, who is stunned while viewing the photographs.

Simon, a teacher, brought her elementary school class to the museum on a field trip.

The children were enthralled by the photos and the giant wall of man-made ice which they could touch.

Patricia Ward, director of science and technology at the museum, says: “These photographs, these films, these interactives, these are bringing people closer to the science.”

“It’s about making people more aware. People understand that climate change is happening, but it may not always be front and center in their mind.”

Balog’s images surprised even him back in 2007, when he first started placing specially outfitted time-lapse cameras in remote parts of the world.

“When you stand out there, you don’t see any of these changes,” Balog says. “When you string together a whole set of those images, suddenly you’re stunned.”

Through the exhibition, Balog and the museum are putting a stake in the ground on the side of climate science.

“I see this as being a broad, broad issue that applies to everyone regardless of their partisan political interest,” Balog says.

He is now embarking on his second decade of gathering images of the world’s glaciers.