American photojournalist James Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey is definitely not the first rousing call to a world that is ignorant about the effects of global warming. But, thanks to graphic manner in which it demonstrates how anthropogenic activities increase the Earth’s temperature, the Survey compels a fresh look at the issue.
With videos and time-lapse photography, the Survey shows the glaciers melting due to greenhouse gases. The images come form Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, British Columbia and the Rocky Mountain range via 27 time-lapse camera, programmed to take pictures once every hour for three years. When dovetailed and converted into video animation, these images present a telling picture. Viewers of National Geographic can watch this ‘unfolding Survey’ encapsulated in a programme called Extreme Ice, one in a series presented on April 22, as “Earth Day special” (from 4 p.m. onwards). The programmes are enriched by actor and environmentalist Edward Norton’s classy narrative style. The a five-programme series starts with “Seed Hunter”, in which Dr. Ken Street goes around the Middle East and Central asia in search of the ‘genetic origins’ of crops that provide our staple food. Climate change is believed to have a dramatically bad effect on these crops; the good news is that in some places these crops still retain their genetic robustness. These healthy carops alone a can withstand the harsh climatic conditions expected in the future.
“Strange Days on Planet Earth; Oceans-Dangerous Catch” lists a litany of woes (such as olive baboons in Ghana going berserk –“ransacking crops and terrorizing villagers”; and the coastal waters near Namibia “spewing greenhouse gases into the air”) and explains how all of these events are linked to over-fishing.
“Strange Days on Planet Earth – Dirty Secrets” shows how natural water systems are despoiled because of anthropogenic excesses. While man suffers on account of this, it is the immediate inhabitants that are the hardest hit. Examples include the seabirds that are out of food in Hawaii, the striped bass falling prey to flesh-eating bacteria in the United States and coral reefs that are in losing battle against invisible, but powerful contaminates. “Earth Report: State of the Planet” chronicles natural events in the last year-some evoke wonder and others alarm. On the “news list” are: The discovery of primate (believed to have disappeared for 85 years) in Indonesia; how scientists came upon a freakish ant in the Amazonian forest; how it was discovered that the typhoons and hurricanes that took many lives in Myanmar c actually reshaped the United States’ coastline; and a study that shows that the world’s gorilla population has tripled.
www.rajagiriworld.com
[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG]
No comments:
Post a Comment