“By virtue of the environment we’ve lived as teenagers—been wasteful and acting without consequence—it’s time to mature in this state of adulthood.” – Eco Explorer Sebastian Copeland

Los Angeles is located some 3,500 miles from the North Pole, a region that can easily hit negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit and has experienced fewer than 150 visitors in the last century. And while not a top travel destination per se, the North Pole is neither something to overlook, despite its outlying distance from us. Environmental Director Sebastian Copeland is making sure that never happens with his documentary, “Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul,” which features Copeland’s on-foot venture to the North Pole.

“The story is really my journal,” he says. “I’m happy and proud to come back with a product that makes people experience the North Pole just short of being there.”

Copeland, an environmental photographer and filmmaker who’s also explored Greenland and the Antarctic, spent eight hours a day skiing, hiking in Runyon Canyon and doing yoga (“The meditation combats isolation,” says Copeland) to prepare for the two-month, 400-mile trek through the arctic.

“The Arctic region is warming at a rate three times faster than the rest of the Earth,” says Copeland, who shares the theory that if humanity is not careful, we might lose the glacial region for good, adding, “If the Great North goes, so does humanity.”

While Copeland enjoys being a Los Angeles resident for its proximity to nature, he acknowledges its disconnected side. “It’s convenient [in L.A.] to think the problems will take care of themselves,” he says. “There’s a sense of disconnect because it’s such an urban environment—it’s an easy place to be distracted.”

With its release last month, the film is aimed to share the message that the planet is forwarding a warning (ice around the world is receding by 95 percent) and that early indicators of what will happen globally are happening right now in the North Pole. “It’s more visceral because it’s melting ice,” he says.

“I hope people will realize the fragileness [of the North Pole],” he says. “Ultimately this is about protecting ourselves from ourselves.”

Check out SEDNA, a foundation Copeland launched in 2010, which discusses global climate change and its damaging effects to our planet’s fragile polar regions.

Image via Sebastian Copeland Adventures.