TIBET: Culture at the Edge Devotion, Development & Climate Change by Phil Borges, March 16, 2012

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TIBET: Culture at the Edge Devotion, Development & Climate Change

by Phil Borges, Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers March 16, 2012No Comments  Columns, Earth View

Itook my first trip to Tibet in 1994 to collect interviews and portraits for my book Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion. When I returned in 2009, I could barely believe the amount of development that had happened. When I flew to Lhasa fifteen years before, my 737 from Katmandu was nearly empty. This time I arrived from Beijing on an Airbus 330 with every seat filled! The road from Lhasa’s new modern airport was now paved and went through a new tunnel and set of bridges that cut 45-minutes off the trip. As I approached Lhasa, the highway divided. What I remembered as a rough two-lane road, which ran through town and hosted an occasional vehicle, was now a six-lane highway full of taxis, SUVs, trucks and buses. Other than the Potala Palace that loomed above the town, I hardly recognized any of the buildings.

Life on Thin Ice™ by Jenny E. Ross, February 16, 2012

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Life on Thin Ice™

by Jenny E. Ross Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers February 16, 2012 No Comments  Columns, Earth View, Top Read

Human-caused atmospheric warming is fundamentally altering the climate system that supports life on Earth as we know it. Nowhere is this fact more apparent – and more globally crucial – than in the Arctic, where temperatures are heating up more rapidly than anywhere in the world. As vast expanses of Arctic sea ice melt and disappear, ice-dependent species are facing dire threats to their continued survival, and the entire planet is losing an essential air-conditioning system. In addition, the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is already causing sea level to rise worldwide. By the end of this century, if emissions of planet-heating pollutants continue at the current pace, this is expected to result in flooding of major coastal cities and inundation of low-lying countries. Furthermore, thawing permafrost beneath the tundra and on the arctic seafloor will ultimately release huge quantities of powerful greenhouse gases, potentially causing runaway climate warming on a scale unprecedented for tens of millions of years. The long-term consequences will be catastrophic not only for life in the Arctic but also for life across the globe.

The World of Wild Orchids by Christian Ziegler, January 19, 2012

Christian Ziegler

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Christian Ziegler: The World of Wild Orchids

by Christian Ziegler, Fellow of the International League of Conservation PhotographersJanuary 19, 2012 No Comments  Columns, Earth View

Confucius called them the “king of fragrant plants,” and John Ruskin condemned them as “prurient apparitions.” Across the centuries, orchids have captivated us with their elaborate exoticism, powerful perfumes and sublime seductiveness. But the disquieting beauty of orchids is an unplanned marvel of evolution, and the story of orchids is as captivating as any novel. As acclaimed writers Michael Pollan and National Geographic photographer Christian Ziegler spin tales of orchid conquest in Deceptive Beauties: The World of Wild Orchids, we learn how these flowers can survive and thrive in the harshest of environments, from tropical cloud forests to the Arctic and from semi-deserts to rocky mountainsides, and how their shapes, colors and scents are, as Darwin put it, “beautiful contrivances” meant to dupe pollinating male insects in the strangest ways.

To the Arctic Intimate Photographs of Arctic Wildlife by Florian Schulz, December 26, 2011

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Florian Schulz’s To the Arctic Intimate Photographs of Arctic Wildlife

by Florian Schulz December 26, 2011 No Comments  Columns, Earth View

Throughout the course of several years, award-winning wildlife photographer Florian Schulz has traveled to remote locations in the American and European Arctic to photograph their astounding diversity of life. His new book, To the Arctic, includes expansive images showing the incredible size of the Arctic wilderness as well as some of the most intimate photographs of Arctic wildlife ever taken. To the Arctic is the official companion book to the upcoming IMAX® film To the Arctic 3D – a co-production of Warner Bros. Pictures, MacGillivray Freeman Films and IMAX Corporation – to be released in 2012.

Ocean Soul by Brian Skerry, November 26, 2011

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Brain Skerry Ocean Soul

by Brian Skerry, Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers November 26, 2011 No Comments  Columns, Earth View

Iam certain it was love at first sight, though I honestly cannot remember the first time I saw her. What I do know is that I fell in love with the sea as a child and from that early age my course was set for a lifelong voyage more wondrous than even my wildest, childhood dreams. Growing up in a small, working class town in Massachusetts about an hour’s drive from the ocean was not a place that would seem to inspire such passion. But days spent on the beaches of Rhode Island, Cape Cod and New Hampshire were a taste of something magical, an unusual blend of adventure, mystery and calmness that stirred my soul and sealed my fate. I think for those that are drawn to the sea, the attraction is not something that can be easily explained. It is an unseeing force, a siren’s song that lures us to the water.