Take a trip through the Arctic Permafrost with Sydney mum and eco-documentary filmmaker, Liz Courtney. Liz and her film crew are on a mission to save the planet, and here, Liz shares her exclusive behind-the-scenes story of her six part TV series The Tipping Points. Be inspired….

Liz Courtney, director of The Tipping Points, and her crew venture to some of the most fragile regions in the world – all ecological tipping points, where the slightest environmental change could impact the entire globe and life as we know it. In the first three episodes, Liz and her team explored the explored Greenland, the Amazon Rainforest and Africa’s droughts and floods. Follow Liz’s behind-the-scenes journey as she filmed and directed The Tipping Points each week on www.thecarousel.com and tune in to watch the show on Sunday nights at 8:30pm on Channel 34 (NITV/SBS).

Episode 4: The Arctic Permafrost Peril

“In episode 4, we head to Alaska to investigate the ticking time bomb of the Permafrost Melt, where a 2-4 degree temperature rise this century is threatening to release tonnes of Carbon dioxide and methane, and thaw the permafrost – which would be an ecological catastrophe. Permafrost is frozen soil that is at or below the freezing point of water 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, although ground ice is not always visible. The Permafrost accounts for around 0.022% of total water on earth and exists in 24% of exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere, and the climate change occurring here could impact the whole world.”

Learn about methane and the effects on the permafrost and environment here.

What was the Alaskan trek like for the film crew?

“We arrived in Fairbanks, central Alaska, after a 30 hour journey. We expected freezing weather, but were instead shocked by the balmy 22 °C! So much for packing the thermals, long pants, boots and wind jackets! After a good night sleep in a charming little cottage by the river, we packed the crew van, stopped for coffee and gumboots, and then set off. We headed north for Toolik Lake Research Centre located along the Dalton Highway, which is better known as the ‘Ice Truckers’ highway – and the only road North!

We drove all day before stopping at the Red Hot Café for dinner, which is where they shoot Ice Road Truckers, a TV series based on the truckers who drive heavy loads along the dangerous icy roads for a living. The crew all chose Betsy’s Big Hot Burgers (no idea why!). After dinner, we set off for our last leg, a six hour drive across the Atigun Pass, the highest mountain pass in Alaska, but as we drove the weather started closing in. Near midnight, we stopped to refuel at Deadman’s Log, a one station town, which was an unusual experience – it was a very strange and creepy place where all the truckies stop. We walked in to a diner and the floorboards creaked and we felt all of these eyeballs on us – it was like we were on a movie set. We had to decide whether we wanted to stay overnight in portable containers or keep driving another three to four hours, then across the pass. We were all exhausted – the weather was changing, fog was rolling in, but we decided to push on rather than stay!”

“Driving across the Atigun Pass freaked us all out. As we started climbing, the fog rolled in and it was so heavy we couldn’t see two feet ahead – and we were at the peak of the pass! We stopped to a crawl until one of the crew got out and walked in front of the van to guide us – we literally could not see. Luckily, the fog began to lift just as we started to cross the top of the pass and from then on, we were able to see our way down. The view was spectacular – it was 1.30am and the sun was setting and rising over the northern horizon – it was literally 20 minutes from sunset to sunrise!

The most extraordinary sunset and sunrise in the Northern Hemisphere.

“Along route we met the night road truckers, who were working on a huge stretch of the gravel road. We waited 30 minutes for a ‘support car’, which we had to follow through the gravel roadwork area. To keep the crew awake, I decided to play the DJ game! Everyone got out there IPhones, selected their favourite song, told us about the band, and then we listened to their favourite song. We did this for hours as it kept everyone focused. We laughed at Rob’s selection of Paris Café style music versus Ian’s Australian Crawl, and my pick, Beyonce!

We finally arrived at Toolik Lake at 2.30am. We had been invited to stay at the Toolik Field Station – a remote science station in the far north of Alaska. We found instructions to our accommodation – tents, no heating and no toilets… Girls, this was not a good look at 2.30am! I unpacked my sleeping bag and fell into bed, despite the wind banging our door open and closed all night. It’s amazing what you can sleep through when you’re that exhausted…”

The campsite at Toolik Research Centre.

“Our welcome board!”

What was the hardest thing you had to endure at the remote science station?

“There were no flushing toilets and a ‘one shower per week’ ration – that was a huge challenge for me. I managed to get a shower pass after four days, but only after I fell into the Permafrost mud! For three long minutes, at 1.30am, in the morning I was in heaven!”

Your most amazing shoot in Alaska was…?

“We took off on an adventure of a lifetime, across the remote Tundra in the far North-East of Alaska for Stinky Bluff. It’s known as the time warp – a place where you can step back in time, to 45,000 years ago. After one hour flying over the remote landscape, brown bears below, we came across a silver mountain rising out of the Tundra – a sheer steely grey ice-cliff rising 40 metres from the earth. It looked like a Star Wars movie set, and totally out of context in the rolling hillsides of far North Alaska. We landed our helicopters, and just stood there in amazement – everyone was really speechless and that says a lot for my noisy crew! We ate 10,000 year old ice. It actually tasted far different to the ice in the freezer at home.

You don’t get views like this in Sydney… 

The crew….

 “We travelled into the Permafrost via a special tunnel.”

“This is 50,000 year-old grass that was snap frozen – you’re looking at a lake that flipped upside down and froze instantly.”

What ecological concerns did you discover in the Tundra?

“From the base, we were observing 45,000 years of ice history. From the top, a rapidly falling and melting permafrost releasing CO2 into the atmosphere and at the bottom where the stream was, it was releasing Methane, both at speeds up to 60% more than the current climate models predict. For those who want to know the difference: Methane is permafrost which thaws and is released in water, streams and ice-pools, while CO2 is released from thawing permafrost that is in direct contact with oxygen. Methane is the really wild card as it’s much hotter initially in the atmosphere than CO2. We were all totally spellbound by this location and spent most of the day filming here, with the helicopters on the ground. We took off the doors and did some low passes, with Ian, our cameraman, hanging out the door. It was really exciting and we shot some amazing footage with Bernice and Prof Ben Abbott, the most interesting and enthusiastic soil scientist you will ever meet.”

Tell us about the extraordinary cliff face? 

“The cliff face was a Thermocast, or frozen organic ice cliff, created due to climate change and rising temperatures in the Arctic zone, which are accelerating at three to four times the global average. We set down our helicopters on the adjacent pebble river bed and checked for bears before getting a thumbs-up from the pilot that it was good to go! Wow, what a site – I was looking at frozen ice from the last inter-glacier period and from the bottom to the top I was witnessing 45,000 years of history. To get to the ice face of the cliff to film, we had to hike around the Tundra and then navigate our way across the melting Permafrost, which was oozing mud like substance equivalent to quicksand. I stepped onto the wrong place, and that was it – my gumboots started to sink and I totally panicked. There was no way to get out. Luckily, I was wearing my gumboots so I was pulled across, but my gumboots where left behind to sink. The mud acts like a suction cap, pulling everything down with it. Thankfully I had a spare pair of lace-ups to boots with me! But getting covered in mud gave me a green card to the shower room – so it did have its advantages! After being pulled out, it was our sound engineers turn to be rescued!”

‘Quicksand mud’ and film crews don’t mix.

Liz exploring effects of climate change on the soil.

“We finally arrived at the face of the ice cliff, which is called ‘Stinky Bluffs’, as it smells like rotting garbage. The only difference is, this is 45,000 years old. I touched the ice cliff at its base, and looked up, at around 30,000 years, we saw a set of old animal horns sticking out of the ice cliff. They were large, and as if they were suspended in time. I felt like I had gone back in a time machine! To top it off, we were all alone, it was silent except for the sounds of the melting and carving of ice from the face of the cliff, intensifying as the sun progressed across the day. I decided to do a Jurassic Park style sequence and jumped into the helicopter with our lead cameraman and slowly took flight for the top of the cliff face, over the top and then did a vertical drop down the side of the cliff face – it was amazing.”

The crew at Stinky Bluffs.

What ecological concerns did you discover?

“Things are rapidly changing in the Tundra – the climate system is getting hotter and causing the permafrost to thaw at accelerated rates. This is really a location at the frontline of our changing climate system, where it’s all happening, and where there is nobody around to witness it. I hope people will watch this episode as it was such an eye-opener to the domino effect – rising temperatures in the Arctic, thawing the permafrost, accelerated levels of CO2 and methane being released into the atmosphere, and a tipping point of only 0.5 degrees away from an irreversible thaw. We are talking about billions of tonnes of CO2 stored across the High Arctic from Alaska to Siberia, with over 1,000 lakes forming across the far north of Alaska, releasing methane into the atmosphere. All the scientists we met said the same thing – this is really a ticking time bomb, and once it starts to thaw irreversibly, there is no way to turn it off.

“I am more convinced than ever that this is the critical decade where we commit ourselves to the cliff or not – it will only take all of us to reduce our carbon footprint by 5% to make a huge difference, so I think that’s achievable, and in our lifetime something we can all work towards.”

What can we do to help save the planet and prevent further climate change?

If we could work to reduce our personal carbon footprint by just 5% then collectively we could make a huge difference and start to turn the tide around. It takes a combination of a collective way of thinking and living that can become a new carbon footprint for all of us to aspire to, achieve and then live. Changing a carbon footprint could include:

• shopping locally, buying produce that’s grown locally.
• turning off all power plugs overnight.
• not leaving lights on during the day
• using low wattage globes
• walking to the shops when possible
• taking public transport where possible
• purchasing bikes and using them before a car to travel around the local area
• working on reducing your electricity bill  by 5%
• recycling clothes with friends rather than always buying something new ( how many of us have things in our wardrobe we have not worn, impulse purchase, or been given and it’s the wrong size or colour)
• read the labels on clothes and avoid chemicals -synthetics that are full of chemicals take up to 30 years to breakdown in landfill
• wear clothes more often before you wash them
• explore solar power panels on your roof and start making your own power
• explore recycling grey water  for the garden
• start a community Carbon Zero group and meet quarterly to explore ways you can reduce the carbon footprint in your area.

Take a leadership role in your family, with friends open the dialogue and explore new ideas and ways you can reduce your footprint by 5% and make a pledge to try for the next three months to make a difference. Put out the pledge on Facebook and see how many of your friends will join you on this quest.

Get involved

Tell us how you have tried to reduce your carbon footprint. It could be as simple as turning lights off at night, or limiting your tumble dryer use. Every little bit helps, so let’s start the discussion here and make a difference together.