Thin Ice—the Inside Story of Climate Science is an award-winning documentary—co-sponsored by Victoria University, Oxford University and DOX Productions—that shows the astonishing range of human activity and scientific endeavour going into the race to understand the world’s changing climate.
The film was launched globally on Earth Day 2013 at over 200 locations around the world. The team behind the film is now aiming to reach an even wider audience by editing Thin Ice into a shorter version for television.
Using the crowd-funding site Kickstarter, funds are being raised to pay for editing to the shorter length for broadcast on the America Public Television network. Once completed, the 57-minute version of the film will be available for broadcast on television in New Zealand and in other countries.
The initial target of $27,500 has been reached and extended to $37,000 to cover promoting the film to a wider range of television stations.
The Thin Ice project began in 2006 in response to climate sceptics and takes a compelling look at the changes taking place in the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and ice sheets.
The film follows a personal journey of discovery by Dr Simon Lamb, an associate professor in Victoria’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, as he meets and interviews 40 scientists working at the front line of climate change research in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean, New Zealand, Europe and the United States.
Since its launch, a DVD with subtitles in six languages have been released, representing half of the world’s population. The film has also screened at film main festivals, picking up several awards, including the Audience Favourite at Princeton.
One of the film’s executive producers, Professor Peter Barrett from the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University, says: “Contributing to the Thin Ice Kickstarter project will extend the reach of world-leading climate scientists, including those at Victoria, to people world-wide. The scientists do a wonderful job of explaining the science behind the unambiguous message from the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report which clearly shows the need to act now.
“As United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has noted recently, ‘time is not on our side’.”
He says by supporting this crowd funding initiative for as little as $10, donors can help others understand why the climate is changing, and give them the understanding and confidence to respond.
For more information on the Thin Ice project visit the Kickstarter website.