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It is relatively easy to convey how the loss of ice will damage the planet, but it is more difficult for people to value the stark beauty of glacial ice when so few have seen it first hand. Photographs are a pale substitute for direct experience, but I hope that my images can spark interest and understanding—and an appreciation for the pure beauty of ice.
—Jim Martin

Images of glaciers from around the world document the beauty and power of ice and its role in revealing the changing condition of our planet

Photography by Jim Martin, essays by Yvon Chouinard, Ian Stirling, Richard Alley, Gino Casassa, Gretel Ehrlich, Nick Jans, and Broughton Coburn

Ice is critical to the health of our world—and we are making it disappear. By burning fossil fuels and altering our delicately balanced climate, we are contributing to accelerating glacial and pack ice retreat—in the mountains and at the poles.

Himalayan glaciers, the earth’s “third pole” and the sources of Asia’s largest rivers, are melting. Ice retreat in the Arctic—evident through later freeze-up and earlier breakup—may lead to ice-free summers within fifty years. Greenland’s ice cap is shrinking, and perennial snowfields in mountains the world over have vanished. Sea levels are predicted to rise as a result.

The impacts of this vast transformation to the surface of our planet will reverberate throughout human communities and ecosystems worldwide. It is too early to accurately draw out the intricate, infinite web of cause and effect, but as long as everything remains interconnected, no plant, animal, or person will be immune to the effects of climate change—made obvious through our planet’s rapid loss of ice.

Pairing striking photography by Jim Martin of ice around the world—amassed over the course of fifteen years—with essays by noted authors, conservationists, and scientists, Planet Ice will examine the characteristics of polar, mountain, and tropical ice; the human conception of ice and wilderness; the far-reaching effects of climate change; and our responsibilities as stewards of the natural world.

Planet Ice will form the cornerstone of an extensive outreach campaign that will include photographer presentations and a traveling museum exhibit. Throughout the duration of this project, Braided River will collaborate with grassroots organizations working on climate change campaigns, providing communications support where needed.

For the latest on climate change and glacial melt, click here.

For more information on Jim Martin, click here. For more information on the contributing essayists, click on their names above.