Ice and the Sky Page #5

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of cold and warm phases...

...80,000 years of Ice Age...

...followed by a 20,000-year

interglacial, or warm period.

In that respect, the Vostok

ice corer was revolutionary...

...allowing the theory

to be confirmed...

...through complete cycles.

But we went much further.

In 1998, in Vostok,

we reached...

...a depth of 3,603 meters,

i.e. 420,000-year-old ice.

Twenty years of endeavor!

I remember the emotion

I felt when I saw rising...

...the first bubble of

fossil air...

...in our chain of analysis.

An amazing journey,

both for the air and for me!

My colleagues and

I tirelessly deciphered...

...the messages in

the ice from Vostok.

As the first results came in,

it was obvious...

...they were going to hurt.

The results of a career

of research appeared...

...a life of intuition, mistakes,

decisions, both good and bad...

...shared knowledge,

sacrifices...

...and immense joy.

I faithfully watched

the print-out of the climate...

...four cycles of glaciation...

...taking shape

in identical forms...

...testifying to variations

in temperature...

...and sea level...

...plus levels of carbon-dioxide

and methane in the atmosphere.

I had before me

indisputable proof...

...that climate and concentration

of greenhouse gases...

...have always been

closely linked.

The Vostok graphs showed...

...temperature variations

on Earth...

...of up to 5C...

...between its naturally

occurring warm and cold periods.

Also that sea levels varied

by up to 120 meters...

...depending on whether water

is frozen in icecaps...

...or free in its liquid form.

We would return to Dome C

a few years later...

...and go back 800,000 years...

...taking in eight

climate cycles...

...that tied in with

the Vostok graphs.

But wherever you are,

whichever graph you look at...

...the conclusion is

always the same.

Over the last 100 years,

the CO2 produced by man...

...is behind an unprecedented

rise in temperatures on Earth.

We are altering our

planet's climate...

...at a rate never before

seen in history.

The message is incontestable.

This work earned me

international acclaim...

...and deep wounds,

inflicted by the skepticism...

...of those who, out of self

interest, contested results...

...corroborated by my peers.

No matter...

...other researchers

worldwide have...

...refined and confirmed

the results...

...obtained from the ice at Vostok

and Dome C over 30 years ago.

How can an ice core indicate

what the temperature was...

...10, 20 or 30 thousand

years ago?

As a simple summary...

...the Antarctic is an

excellent witness...

...if we want to predict

how the climate evolves.

The layers of ice offer

a unique opportunity.

It is now certain that man

is upsetting ecological evolution.

The planet is becoming warmer...

...as a result of increased CO2

in the atmosphere.

In the long term, man is

changing the Earth's climate.

We have here with us

a range of scientists.

Claude Lorius first.

You're telling us

that 100 years hence...

...levels might rise

by at least 50cm...

...covering entire tracts of land.

-Absolutely.

We went looking for

this little bubble of gas...

If we carry on, in

a century or two...

...it will happen

but we have time to turn back.

Catastrophic forecasts about global

warming and the ozone layer...

...may be flawed.

What exactly is your

scientific opinion?

Mr. Cavada, you are one of

those men who think short-term.

The rise is increasingly rapid.

It doesn't rise like this,

rather like this.

Stabilizing the levels of CO2

in the atmosphere...

...temperatures will continue

their upward trend.

Could this reality be dangerous

for humanity?

It's vital.

When will the Earth's

next cold cycle be?

As you know, man is changing

the rules of the game.

The blueprint for the climate...

...may have been disrupted.

Is it worse now?

Is it more worrying now?

What I mean is...

...my children's

children will see it.

I'm not as young as I was!

1992, 1995, 1997,

Rio, Berlin, Kyoto...

One conference after another.

Words pour forth,

treaties accumulate...

...and yet with every

passing day...

...the predicted scenario

continues to takes shape.

A hollow victory.

What good recognition

when the warning goes unheeded?

I sometimes fight the feeling

of having served no purpose.

Once upon a time

there was a garden...

...a fertile and generous land

where life flourished.

My name is Claude Lorius

and I shall be forever 23.

I think of the first man,

who had the idea...

...of striking stones together

to make fire.

I think of glaciers melting here

and islands drowning over there.

I think of the Earth

not having time to...

...adapt to the changes

forced upon it.

I think of triumphant

man, who must now...

...stop appropriating

the entire world.

Not for the Earth

and its creatures.

They will survive us.

For our children.

They're the ones I think about...

...when I look back on

the fullness of my life.

I hope that knowledge and

solidarity will enable them...

...to overcome the

blizzards of history...

...that our generations

have unleashed upon them.

I have faith.

Man is never so sublimely

in his element...

...than when faced

with adversity.

That's it. My story is over.

All we have to do now is act.

Now that you know too...

...what are you going

to do about it?

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