Academic Year 2013-2014

chasing ice

 Panelists (from left to right) Jennifer Francis, David Robinson, Oscar Schofield, Dena Seidel and Asa Rennermalm

On October 23, 2013, Rutgers Climate Institute, in collaboration with six other groups, co-hosted a film screening of Chasing Ice which drew 150 students, faculty, and members of the public. Chasing Ice is the story of James Balog’s mission to change the tide of history by setting up cameras around the Arctic ice sheet in order to gather undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Attendees also viewed the Rutgers Film Bureau’s trailer of their upcoming documentary, “Beyond the Ice,” which focuses on scientists conducting climate research in the Antarctic region.  According to the Daily Targum, Dena Seidel, director of the Rutgers Center for Digital Filmmaking, and an “outside film crew spent six weeks in the Antarctic collecting footage of the scientists.”

 

The film screening was followed by a panel discussion that featured Rutgers faculty working on understanding the changing polar environments and how they are connected to New Jersey.  Panelists included Åsa Rennermalm, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, who leads expeditions to the Greenland ice sheet; David Robinson, Professor in the Department of Geography and the New Jersey State Climatologist; Jennifer Francis, Research Professor at the Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, who researches the influence of Arctic warming on the United States; Oscar Schofield, Professor of Oceanography, who researches the impacts of changing oceans on the earth; and Dena Seidel, who is working on the earlier mentioned feature film about climate change science in Antarctica.

This event was a Let Us Talk About Water  event and part of the Rutgers Series Polar Perspectives on Art and Science. Sponsors:  Dep. of Geography, Rutgers Climate Institute, Consortium of Univ. for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sci., Inc, Let us Talk About Water, Cook Campus Dean, Centers for Global Advancement and International Affairs (GAIA Centers) Global Health! Theme , and Zimmerli Art Museum.