James Balog: scientist, adventurer and photographer
On April 1, we will be holding a conversation with James Balog, founder of the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) and producer of the recent film 'Chasing Ice'. James will be discussing his film, his ongoing work (providing new and never-seen-before footage) while talking with Inside the Greenhouse (ITG) co-founder Beth Osnes. EIS work is not only highly relevant to the ITG project, but is also at the forefront of considerations of climate change in the Boulder community.
This event seeks to inspire members of the campus and area communities to engage with the challenges and opportunities associated with 21st century climate change. After this pilot show, we plan to hold similar ITG events for engaging the university and wider community one to two times a season (or semester).
More information on the class-based parts of the project is available here and www.insidethegreenhouse.net.
The pressing issue of 21st century climate change cuts across numerous disciplines within and outside of academia.  Deep currents of ideologies, values, culture, and worldviews underlie and fuel climate change deliberations, debates and discussions surrounding how to respond to causes and consequences.
This project steps in to complement ongoing research from the natural and social sciences as well as humanities in order to provide a creative communications platform for ongoing engagement. As ITG co-founders Osnes, Safran and Boykoff have examined these issues now for over a decade, they recognize that present science, policy and public conditions provide great opportunities to effectively pursue this work that creatively expresses climate issues through video, theatre, dance, and writing, to connect to a broad audience.
The chosen title of the project - Inside the Greenhouse - acknowledges that, to varying degrees, we are all implicated in, part of, and responsible for greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Through the development and experimentation with creative modes to communication, we treat this 'greenhouse' as a living laboratory, an intentional place for growing new ideas and evaluating possibilities to confront climate change through a range of mitigation and adaptation strategies. ITG also draws on the highly-successful James Lipton-led model called 'Inside the Actors Studio'.
While some people continue to ask 'why don't people just get it?' and 'why can't people make the 'right' decision?', this project seeks to provide useful ways to acknowledge and embrace the complexity of these issues - meeting people 'where they are' while also encouraging people to re-consider their present contributions.
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