Seeing firsthand the changing landscapes of the polar regions, especially the Arctic. That is what the new book The Planet of Melting Ice: Interviews with Czech Polar Explorers describes. It was introduced to the world by documentary filmmaker and cameraman Zdeněk Zvonek. It contains a collection of 19 interviews with scientists, including graduates of the University of South Bohemia and individuals who currently work or have previously worked there and have long been active in the Arctic. Some of them for several decades—specifically Josef Elster, Oleg Ditrich, Jitka Klimešová, Miloslav Devetter, Jana Kvíderová, Jakub Žárský, Martin Hanáček, Michala Tůmová, Martin Lulák, Anna Stehrer Polášková, and others.
The author’s motivation was to clarify the issue of climate change, understand global processes, and see how scientists—from the most senior to the youngest—perceive them. The book offers not only authentic perspectives from Czech polar explorers but also reflections on the impacts of global climate change, on the behavior of modern society in terms of sustainability on Earth, and on the possibilities for remedying damage caused by human activity.
According to the author, one thread unites the book: the consensus among scientists that humanity and our civilization bear responsibility for current global changes. He also noted that, when it comes to the future, researchers differ—older scientists tend to be more pessimistic, while younger ones are more optimistic.
The book is accompanied by an extensive selection of photographs from both the Arctic and the Antarctic, capturing the natural environment, fieldwork under these conditions, and the changes these regions are undergoing.
The book is dedicated to the prominent Czech polar explorer Josef Svoboda (1929–2022), who conducted long-term studies of the Canadian Arctic. The Czech research station on Svalbard also bears his name.
Czech Television covered the ceremonial launch of the new book by the University of South Bohemia Press in České Budějovice, airing a report about it on October 26, 2025, in the Věda 24 program. The report can be viewed here.
