A fishing festival in Sanjou, Pendjari National Park, Benin. The park is the largest remaining intact ecosystem in West Africa.
In 2019, the United Nations declared that the natural world was declining at an unprecedented rate. At the time, approximately three-quarters of the earth’s land mass, two-thirds of its oceans and eighty-five per cent of crucial wetlands had already been extremely altered or lost. Waters were suffocating with pollution from the 300 to 400 million tons of heavy metals, toxic sludge and solvents that were dumped every year. More plant and animal species were threatened with extinction than at any other period in the history of humanity. Urgent change was needed, to not just protect and restore the planet, but secure the future of human life. It is still needed.
As scientists have posited, we have entered a new geological epoch driven by human impact: the Anthropocene. This new geological era is the result of the drastic and now irreversible, influence that human actions have had on the global environment and its species.
Realizing that we have arrived at an unparalleled moment in the history of human life on earth, we wanted to do something to respond positively to the challenges we all now face, so we turned to perhaps the most powerful form of communication: photography. We decided to engage with twelve of the world’s most respected and influential contemporary photographers working at the intersections of humanity and nature today – photographers who are documenting some of the key issues affecting our planet: species extinction; deforestation; ocean degradation; human migration, poverty and conflict; industrial pollution; food supply chains; mass consumption; and globalization.
The twelve photographers in this book were each chosen for a reason. That they are experts in their fields and that they have produced extraordinary, compelling and unique images is clear. But equally, their commitment to and passion for, their work struck a chord. These photographers have dedicated their lives to capturing the crisis our planet faces, they are front-line witnesses to what is happening. They are out there now, in the deserts and the forests, on the mountain tops and the ocean floor, under the ice and in the air above our land and cityscapes, chronicling, writing and sharing their stories. It is thanks to them that we can both admire the magnificence of nature and understand the reality of what we need to do if we want to save it – and ourselves.
Through first-person original interviews, we asked each photographer to address the biggest issues of our time: what really matters now for humanity and the planet? What do we have? What do we stand to lose? And what we must change in order to create a better, brighter future for all species on earth? Their answers, combined with their powerful images, are at once confronting and illuminating but, ultimately, provide us with an inspiring call to action.
Brian Skerry captures the richness of marine life and emphasizes the importance of protecting our oceans; Frans Lanting illustrates the interconnectedness of all species through sweeping landscapes and raw portraits; J Henry Fair captures the astounding effects of industrial pollution through aerial photography; Paul Nicklen documents the heartbreaking effects of global warming on wildlife in the polar regions; Cristina Mittermeier underscores the critical conservation issues impacting oceans and indigenous cultures; Brent Stirton, with devastating clarity, provides an urgent wakeup call to address animal poaching; Ami Vitale encapsulates the fundamental connection between human communities and wildlife; Steve Winter documents the magnificence of big cats and why preserving their habitats is as important to us, as it is to them; Tim Laman reminds us of the beauty of the natural world and all its creatures; George Steinmetz goes behind the scenes of industrial food supply chains and explores the pressing issue of feeding the world’s population; Richard John Seymour reveals the widespread repercussions of consumerism and opens our eyes to the vast economies behind the global dependence on plastic; and Joel Sartore highlights the astonishing vastness of the world’s animal species and their intrinsic value.
These photographers all share one important similarity: they remind us that each and every one of us holds the power to create change through the everyday choices that we make: what we choose to eat, what we purchase, how we get to work, who we vote for, which businesses we support. We all have a role to play. But, we all must begin to act and act now.
It is our hope that these stories and images will not only educate and move you, but inspire you to take action. One person can make an incredible difference. The remarkable movement inspired by climate activist Greta Thunberg began as a one-person protest with a hand-painted sign and has become of beacon of hope in times that have often seemed hopeless. With a simple school strike, she has succeeded in mobilizing millions of people around the world to fight and care for the planet. As she says, ‘You are actually capable of making a difference. The step from one to two is always the hardest and once you have passed that step, you’re not far from creating movement.’1
Geoff Blackwell and Ruth Hobday