Three years to the day of when I arrived at the Blue Glacier in Olympic National Park, my latest documentary will premiere online and be accessible to the world. After nearly a dozen film festival submissions, 1 official selection, 1 honorable mention, and 1 award, I am truly proud of how far I have come as a filmmaker and the stories that I have been able to tell.
As someone who had never been to the Pacific Northwest before, this was a trip of a lifetime to a new part of the country and an ecosystem I had only seen photos and videos of before. From landing in Seattle to taking the ferry over to Bainbridge Island, and then the several hour drive to the Hoh Rainforest Trailhead, it was all beautiful and such a fun adventure.
I did not fully comprehend the gravity of the situation until later in post-production how valuable a resource glaciers and snow-packs more generally are for the health of ecosystems and communities downstream. As a new resident in Salt Lake City, Utah, nearly 95% of our fresh water comes from snowpack in the Wasatch Mountains. As the global climate continues to warm and our winter season shortens, this has significant implications for the health and wellbeing of this region.
Blue Glacier Then & Now is about more than just the environmental impacts to the glacier as a result of climate change, it is also about finding your personal connection to nature and the effect our species is having upon it. The numbers and data are an important part of story, but it is missing the human element. Everyone connects to the natural world in a different way. Therefore we need to tell a variety of stories that allow many different people to identify with.
I believe it is particularly poignant to premiere this film this year as the United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. Going forward each year, the 21st of March will be designated the World Day for Glaciers to “bring awareness, attention, and “to raise global awareness on the critical role of glaciers, snow and ice in the climate system and the economic, social and environmental impacts of the impending changes in the Earth’s cryosphere.”
We have already seen examples of glaciers completely melting away in Iceland, and that is a foreshadowing of what will happen here in North America in the near future. Even if we meet our climate goals, the Earth will continue to warm for a period of time before it begins to reverse course. I would go to figure it is not a matter of if, but when our glaciers will cease their permanence in this world and only return seasonally.
I hope that you take the 30 minutes to watch this film and think about what your climate story is or could be. Maybe is something related to something you did as a kid, or maybe its what’s happening in your neighborhood? Often times you do not have to travel very far to find your story, just take a step back and have a real good look around you.
Take care of each other. We will get through this together.
– Will
Will Freund 
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