ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: HOLLY MORRIS
For two decades Holly Morris has told, and championed, pro-woman, cross-cultural stories on the global stage. She is an internationally known filmmaker, author, and presenter (Adventure Divas, Globe Trekker, Treks in a Wild World). Her last feature film, The Babushkas of Chernobyl (“Beautiful, affectionate and stirring”–The New York Times) premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Directing, the first of nearly two dozen awards received before being broadcast world-wide. The film, based on her print journalism, is about a defiant community of women who live inside Ukraine’s radioactive “Exclusion Zone. ” The story is also the basis of her popular TED Talk.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: SEA ICE AND THE NORTH POLE
The North Pole is the northernmost point on the planet Earth. Located within the Arctic Ocean, it is not on any permanent land mass. Thus, all expeditions to the North Pole are excursions across frozen sea ice. The total area of the Arctic sea ice varies over time, making exploration difficult and sometimes unpredictable. NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado use satellites to observe sea ice extent. Over the past several decades, Arctic sea ice extent has been steeply declining year-round, especially in late summer when it reaches its minimum for the year. Sea ice forms in the cold winter months, when seawater freezes into massive blocks of floating ice, then partially melts away in the warm summer months. This cycle repeats every year. NASA began tracking sea ice levels in 1978, and though figures vary from year to year, the Arctic is losing sea ice year-round. This is a problem because sea ice plays an important role in reflecting sunlight back into space, regulating ocean and air temperature, circulating ocean water, and maintaining animal habitats. Unlike glacial melting, sea ice melt does not contribute greatly to sea level rise. Because it forms from the seawater it floats on, it behaves much like an ice cube in a glass of water. Melting land ice such as the Greenland and Antarctice ice sheets, do contribute to sea level rise.
A still image visualizing Arctic sea ice on Sept. 16, 2021, when the ice appeared to reach its yearly minimum extent. On this date, the extent of the ice was 4.72 million square miles (1.82 million square kilometers). Credits: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
Adapted from “Five Facts to Help You Understand Sea Ice” (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2021/five-facts-to-help-you-understand-sea-ice)
Questions to Consider: 1.
What unique challenges would be present when attempting an expedition and film production to the North Pole?
2.
Though it doesn’t contribute to sea level rise, how might changes to Arctic sea ice levels affect other parts of the globe?
Exposure Curriculum Guide | CFI Education
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