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Ideas Radio Documentary: "In Praise of Ice," Parts 1 and 2
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
1-2 December 2008

The CBC Ideas documentary 'In Praise of Ice' will air next Monday and Tuesday, December 1st and 2nd, on CBC Radio 1, after the 9:00pm news.  It can also be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio 137 and around the world at www.cbc.ca. Unfortunately, 'In Praise of Ice' will not be available as a podcast but it may be heard, after broadcast, as streaming audio by visiting the Ideas website (http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/index.html), clicking on 'Past Shows', then '2008, December'.
 
For further information on the program, see the description below.

Sincerely,

Gita J. Laidler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Carleton University
Department of Geography & Environmental Studies
Ottawa, Ontario

In Praise of Ice, Parts 1 and 2

For more than four billion years, ever since comets first crashed into the Earth, ice has been inextricably linked to life on this planet. From cold-hardy microbes to freeze-resistant frogs - and humans, who learned, thousands of years ago, how to survive in the deepest cold with the help of technology - nature has evolved many tricks for survival with ice. As glaciers shrink and ice vanishes, In Praise of Ice, takes us back to our icy roots, on a journey that rekindles our wonder for this alluring, frozen water.

Part 1: Ice and the Evolution of Life

Through the first half billion years of its existence, the still-building earth was a searing ball of solidifying rock, torn by volcanic eruptions, pounded by asteroids and meteorites. The young planet was too hot for life, too hot for liquid water and far too hot for ice. Then, for 300 million years, a hail of icy comets delivered much of this planet's water as well chemicals, which, many scientists believe, sparked the origin of life. Since then, through the influence of 4 billion winters and numerous ice ages – some so extensive, they enveloped the entire earth, on and off, for millions, even billions, of years - ice has played a huge role in the evolution of life on this planet, from its beginning to the emergence and growth of our own brain-blessed, brain-cursed species.

Part 2: Makers, Breakers, Shapers, Traders, Investigators: Ice in the 21st Century

We make it, break it, shape it, trade it, build with it, play our favourite games on it - as we hunt for it in the depths of the earth and on worlds other than our own. Ice in the 21st century can still be our master – ask anyone whose home has been flooded by a burst water pipe or by an ice-dammed river, who's skidded on ice or broken through the surface of a frozen lake on a snowmobile - but, over the past couple of centuries, we've managed to tame, to an extent that if we are not careful, we risk losing it altogether. If that loss ever happens, we'll lose the company of a substance that does much to define us, a substance that is at once mysterious and familiar –the ice we know and the ice we don't know.