Ice and the Sky

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Ice And The Sky

Claude Lorius,

you were first to prove...

...man's role in climate

change 30 years ago.

Claude Lorius, you are 82.

We welcome Claude Lorius...

...director emeritus of research

at CNRS in glaciology.

You decoded messages

in the ice.

There is no progress.

Your 30-year-old predictions

have been proven.

Why me?

Is it luck?

Is it fate?

Meeting people, without whom

I could have done nothing?

My name is Claude Lorius.

I'm now 82, and staggered

to see the impact...

...our discoveries can have.

I have seen...

...that man, in the

space of a lifetime...

...by burning oil, wood and coal

is changing the Earth's climate.

I went back thousands of years

to check that...

...what I had discovered

wasn't just a quirk of nature.

I sought hard, to sweep away

any lingering doubts.

I am now an old man, sad to see

that history has proved him right.

All our predictions

are coming true.

Polar ice caps and

glaciers melting...

...islands submerged by water,

burning forests...

...redirected sea currents...

...storms, more of them,

and more violent.

And behind them all, the men

and women who suffer.

Science allows me

to see the future.

I'm going to tell you

what I have seen.

I'm going to tell you my story.

It all began for me

on 31 October 1956.

French polar expedition

seeks young student...

...for a year-long scientific

mission in the Antarctic.

Candidates must be in excellent

physical condition...

...and have a taste for adventure.

When I see myself now...

What a stroke of luck!

At the age of 23,

I was off around the world.

I got to know the strange

community...

...I was to live with for a year.

A great challenge lay ahead...

...studying an entire continent,

the Antarctic.

The Middle-East had closed Suez...

...so we had to cross two oceans...

...carrying out the rites

of passage...

...observed since

the dawn of time.

It's hard to describe the fervor

gripping my shipmates and I.

The war was over, we had a

thirst for life and knowledge.

A fierce competition was

growing between nations...

...to reach and claim the

world's last virgin territories.

It seems amazing now...

...but 60 years ago,

when we set sail...

...we knew nothing about

the Antarctic.

The first wave of heroic

explorers had been and gone.

Now it was time for

the scientists to move in.

I realize with hindsight...

...that this was a unique

moment in human history.

Never has man felt so powerful

as he did in the 50s and 60s...

...when I began my service.

Machines invented for war...

...were put to use by science,

opening the doors...

...to unexplored lands.

The highest peaks were being

conquered, one by one.

Legends gave way

to sensationalist articles

and tales of exploration,

20,000 leagues under the sea.

The Anthropocene era

was beginning...

...in which humans have

sole rule over the planet...

...unaware that "progress"

comes at a cost.

The world seemed vast

and inexhaustible.

Yet unbeknownst to us,

the natural balance...

...had already been shattered.

Man was about to

have his first view...

...of the Earth from space

unique and fragile.

And I thought I was heading off

on an adventure.

It took us a month and a half

to reach our first port of call...

...Tahiti.

I spared a thought

for the sailors...

...who first came here

200 years ago.

After weeks at sea,

I could see why the charm of

these islands moved some to desert.

From this moment on...

...I would be 23 till

the end of my days.

Forever consumed

by this unforgettable sight.

I can still feel the cold

I refused to yield to...

...and smell the salt and burnt

diesel that lifted my heart.

You don't see the Antarctic

coming, you fight your way in.

The endless coastline

blurs into the horizon.

Dumont d'Urville,

the French scientific base...

...built alongside

the Antarctic cliffs.

Everything was astounding.

First, the welcome from the locals.

Just one step on

a voyage so long...

...that nothing ever seemed

far away again.

Many more weeks of travel...

...lay ahead before reaching

the Charcot base.

It's odd to see a year of one's

life in just a few crates.

A year in the world's largest...

...wilderness with

no supplies available.

I fretted

I might have forgotten something.

Thinking about Charcot now...

...its where my vocation

as a glaciologist began.

Mostly it's where I discovered...

...my lifelong passion

for polar expeditions.

My posting was part of

International Geophysical Year...

...a huge, global study campaign.

There was particular focus...

...on the Antarctic.

More than 40 scientific

observatories...

...had been specially constructed.

Mine was probably the smallest...

...and most remote.

The hitches came thick and fast.

A veritable baptism of fire.

After one mishap,

I was ordered to lighten our load.

I understood the meaning

of the word "renouncement".

I remember the tumbling

temperatures.

Doors were opened...

...to prevent condensation

freezing on the windscreen.

I soon realized the gulf here...

...between the possible

and the feasible.

Stretching the legs

was an ordeal...

...with every step leading

further into oblivion.

On the 7th day,

the wind speed exceeded 200km/hr.

Sleep was impossible.

The temperature in the cabin

was -18C.

It was ten days

before the skies cleared.

The work-out did me good.

I felt ten years older.

One sled became unusable.

No time for repairs.

Its load had to be abandoned:

scientific equipment

and some personal effects.

The track disappeared...

...as we groped our way along

the Antarctic plateau.

It sometimes took hours

to find beacons.

After a 28-day trek...

...I finally saw the Charcot masts.

Charcot was more like a termites'

nest than a scientific base.

But it was well

equipped and in order.

24m, heated to barely 8C.

A veritable palace

after a month spent...

...in cramped, freezing

snow vehicles.

Only three of us stayed on.

The others were

anxious to get back...

...afraid of being trapped

by the winter.

I had a strange lump in my throat.

Bye.

See you in a year, all going well.

I could hear the wind,

the bell atop the mast.

The sole remaining familiar sounds.

For the first time,

I felt master of a kingdom.

In our hurry to press on

with our studies...

...we neglected our base.

We were starting from scratch.

No scientist had ever gathered any

meteorological or geophysical data.

We had the faith of pioneers.

Every reading, every observation

brought me intense pleasure...

...heightened by the pride

of being the first.

It was breathtaking.

The soundings revealed

the outlines...

...of valleys and mountains

buried for millions of years...

...beneath 2,000 meters of ice.

A continent engulfed.

I grasped the scope

of the power...

...of science, of the invisible.

I was hooked

on the thrill of discovery.

My fate was sealed.

After a few weeks

we noticed with horror that our

gear was sinking into the snow.

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