Outline

Last Days of the Great Ice

Hardcover

150 Color photographs

13 3/4 X 10 3/4

There are three galleries of photographs:

Vanishing Point – This gallery contains photographs of The Great Ice itself - the underpinning of the entire Arctic ecosystem and the basis of polar bear and Inuit survival. From intimate portraits of magnificent icebergs to heartbreaking scenes of receding glaciers and of pollution smothering the Greenland Ice Sheet, the images capture both the vivid beauty and the haunting future of the ice. Far from being images of inanimate, monolithic ice blocks, these photographs capture the nuance, story, and character of each individual ice sheet, ice cap, glacier, iceberg, growler, and bergy bit. Vanishing Point closes with poignant photographs of places where the ice has already disappeared forever.

The Great Wanderer – The polar bear is an iconic species, symbolic of the Arctic and of a planet in peril. The bears are dependent on the sea ice to travel upon and to hunt seals; hence their survival depends upon good ice conditions. This gallery contains close, intimate photographs of bears that capture their unique personalities. Taken in remarkable proximity to these apex predators, many of the photographs are close-ups of animals that appear to be posing for their portrait.

In this gallery there are photographs of polar bear behavior that has never been recorded before. Some of these photographs are of bears stranded on High Arctic islands during the increasingly long ice-free summers. Others are of bears in conflict over scarce food sources. There are photographs of bears that are literally starving to death as a result of not being able to hunt. And there are photographs of how some bears are desperately yet cleverly adapting to the rapidly changing environmental conditions.

The photographs in this gallery show that many polar bears will not survive the ecological damage caused by climate change, but some will. The ones that are adapting, modifying their behavior, and coping with the new realities will endure. Perhaps we can learn from the bears and do that too.

Where Men and Bears Dance – The Inuit have intimately shared the ice environment with the polar bears for thousands of years, and like the bears they are dependent upon the ice for access to game and for travel. Modern Inuit hunting culture is strong, and I have chosen to portray Inuit culture as it actually is today, not as idealized and romantic, as somehow frozen in time long ago. Ever since the release of Robert Flaherty's landmark film Nanook of the North in 1922, the dominant culture's narrative has depicted the Inuit as noble yet archaic, a culture out of step with the rest of the world, doomed due to an inability to adapt to modern times. Nothing could be further from the truth, for it is modern industrial society that must learn - and learn quickly - from the Inuit how to avert the existential environmental crises we all face.

Rather than perpetuate stereotypes and cliches by creating images of Inuit posing in traditional clothing they have long since put away, in scenes that strive to eliminate any modern artifacts, these images show that Inuit traditional ecological knowledge - Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ is vital and strong, adaptable and resilient, transforming over time as the world and the landscape changes. What doesn't change is the Inuit's respectful use of the natural resources that sustain them.

Do modern Inuit build snow houses? Do they still use dog teams? Do they eat raw seal and walrus meat? Do they still have shamans? Do they move to hunting and fishing camps throughout the year? Do they speak their own language? Do they live in modern government housing? Do they go to church? Do they use the Internet? Do they speak English? Do they drive pickup trucks and snowmobiles? Do they buy food at grocery stores? 

The answer to all of these questions is yes.

Whether it be snowmobiles, rifles, or Facebook and Twitter, the Inuit have a remarkable ability to incorporate new technology without losing the essence of their culture. They are both modern and traditional, highly adaptable, practical, and pragmatic. Thousands of years of survival in the harsh Arctic environment have depended upon these very qualities. Like the polar bear, the Inuit are modifying their behavior and coping with the new ecological realities. The rest of us have a great deal to learn from them.

Sectional texts and extended captions will accompany each gallery.

A Note on Place Names

Nunavut, meaning "Our Land" in Inuktitut, is the newest and largest federal territory in Canada. Formerly a part of the Northwest Territories, it was officially created on April 1, 1999.

Nunavik, meaning "The Place to Live" in Inuktitut, comprises the northern third of Quebec. It is the Inuit homeland established in 1978 by the first aboriginal land claim agreement in Canada.

Nunatsiavut, meaning "Our Beautiful Land" in Inuktitut, is an autonomous area in northern Labrador adjacent to Nunavik established in 2005.

Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning “The Land of the People” in Kalaallisut, the Inuktitut dialect spoken in West Greenland, is the world's largest island and is most commonly referred to as "Greenland." It is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.