Warm reception for cold facts on climate change

Warm reception for cold facts on climate change

The people of Warsaw and delegates attending international climate talks will have the chance to hear directly from scientists at the frontline of climate change, including a number from Victoria University of Wellington.

The 2013 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began in the Polish capital this week, and today the documentary Thin Ice – the inside story of climate science will screen with Polish subtitles at the nearby Palace of Culture and Science.

The film was made collaboratively by Victoria University, Oxford University, and London-based DOX Productions and shows the range of human activity and scientific endeavour that continues to be applied to the effort to understand the world’s changing climate. A full narration and much of the cinematography was provided by Dr Simon Lamb, Associate Professor of Geophysics at Victoria.

Dr Ann Smith, CEO of Enviro-Mark Solutions (home to carboNZero, CEMARS and Enviro-Mark environmental certification programmes) helped Professor Peter Barrett of the Antarctic Research Centre, an executive producer of the film, to secure funding from New Zealand’s Tindall Foundation to provide Thin Ice to board chairs and CEOs of 250 top Kiwi businesses.

“The Tindall Foundation’s grant is an acknowledgement of this film’s quality, significance and direct relevance to New Zealand business,” says Dr Smith.

“The credibility of the scientists in Thin Ice and their simple, engaging stories of first-hand observation of our changing climate is compelling. It is a wake-up call: New Zealand business will be seriously impacted if we pass the two-degree threshold and we can still save that from happening if we take decisive action now.

Professor Barrett says: “The feedback from many parts of the world says there is nothing quite like Thin Ice that can explain so clearly to people why and how the climate is changing. The film provides a human face to the work of climate scientists, and adds credibility to key scientific results linking burning of fossil fuels with global warming and its consequences.

“The final words of the film also send a positive message to young people ‘to be the best scientists and engineers you can’ and we can deal with this problem.”
NOTES:

1. Thin Ice – the inside story of climate science was launched on Earth Day this year at over 200 sites on all seven continents—see www.thiniceclimate.org for more about the film, the trailer and the people in it.

Thin Ice can be viewed for a small charge via streaming or download from the website for both personal use and for free screenings to community groups and in classrooms.

3. A DVD, with subtitles in six languages, is now available through the Thin Ice website. It includes an hour of additional footage shot over the six years the film was in production.

4. Thin Ice has screened at international film festivals including the Sheffield Doc-Fest, the 12th Baikal International Film Festival in Russia, where it was awarded Best Popular Science Film, and the Bergen Film Festival in Norway. Next year’s invite list includes festivals in the United States, South Africa and Indonesia.

A Thin Ice screening and panel discussion will take place on December 9 at the American Geophysical Union’s meeting, which annually attracts over 20,000 geoscientists to San Francisco.

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