James Balog, a regular teacher at the Summit Workshops over the years, continues to attract attention with his latest project using 30 Nikon cameras in all-weather housings to record some of the world’s shrinking glaciers.  His previous projects, which he has described at the evening sessions at the Summit have included an ode to the world’s endangered species followed by an innovative book of portraits of the nation’s greatest trees.

Balog, founder and director of the Extreme Ice Survey, represented NASA and the U.S. State Department at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 15. Over the course of the 12-day conference, he has presented a total of six times—five times on behalf of NASA and once on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund—about the Extreme Ice Survey’s ongoing photographic documentation of stunningly rapid glacial retreat and the implications of these findings.

“I am profoundly honored to participate in this landmark climate change conference and to share our work with government officials, policy-makers and concerned citizens from all over the world,” Balog says. “NASA’s sponsorship is a tremendous vote of confidence in EIS and its mission.”

En route to COP 15, at the invitation of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, Balog spoke at an event in New York City at the home of Susan and David Rockefeller, Jr. and made a live appearance on CNN Newsroom. Since arriving in Copenhagen, Balog has appeared in footage shown on CNN’s American Morning and was featured Tuesday on CNN.com’s Opinion Section.