This post is part three of our climate change blog series, Clean Energy Girl Goes to Norway. Click here to find part one and part two.

Before continuing with a further recap of the meetings we’ve been having in Norway, I wanted to pause and give you some background to explain why we have all come together for this project. Those concerned with climate change and its impacts are constantly thinking about how to ensure that science is informing policy decisions. That’s why Florida scientists recently met with Governor Rick Scott: to share climate science in the hope it will inform policy decisions.

This is also the point behind the Arctic Program and the overall work of The Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP). The idea is to bring US and Norwegian citizens together for an expedition to the Arctic. Participants will see with their own eyes how climate change is altering this fragile environment.

Of course, melting sea ice and glaciers can already be viewed second-hand now, and have already been documented in many ways. Photographer James Balog has filmed phenomenal images of retreating glaciers made with time lapse cameras. And a couple years ago, scientists reported a nearly five-fold increase in ice loss from Greenland since the mid-1990s. So why have we not moved to action more rapidly? Given that we already have the ability to see these impacts, why is real action on climate change is still elusive?

The ISGP Arctic Program is attempting another approach of consensus building aboard the Lindblad-National Geographic vessel. The program involves rigorous debates and discussions with experts to help citizens understand how climate is relevant to them as individuals and their communities. I hope this is a way to overcome the stalemate.

The ship sets sail in the Summer of 2016. The trip is soon, but not soon enough. How much more ice do we lose between now and then?