Raising Awareness of Climate Change Through Photography
Jan 16, 2023
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Documentary photography occupies that grey area between art and fact, between the subjective and the objective. Even with so much complexity surrounding global issues, such as the climate emergency, a single frame can capture the weight and emotion of a situation better than a thousand words, give or take.
Photographers are raising awareness about social and environmental issues through their work, although sometimes with unexpected consequences - the plight of the Celebes Crested Macaque springs to mind.
The planet is heating up, and it’s easy to feel doom-laden and helpless in the face of political and industrial deadlock. But there are many individuals and groups currently working to raise awareness and financial support for issues and initiatives related to climate change, and using photography as a powerful and positive force. We’ll take a look at three examples.
Esther Horvath
Polar photography has long captured the imagination--from early images of Victorian and Edwardian era expeditions to the work of contemporary photographers such as Paul Nicklen and timelapse ‘ice chaser’ James Balog -- it's a fascinating and hostile environment many of us will never explore.
The Arctic is often held up as a stark indicator of the climate emergency, with melting ice caps and rising water levels some of the best-documented effects of rising global temperatures.
With an ever greater and more urgent focus on climate change, many photographers are using their images to highlight the problems the region faces, with some dedicating their careers to the preservation of nature.
One such photographer is Esther Horvath, who has been documenting life and scientific research in the Arctic since 2015 and whose photograph Polar Bear and her Cub took first prize at the 2020 World Press Photo Contest.
After abandoning her economics career in favour of photography, the Hungarian was assigned to a US Coast Guard vessel conducting scientific research in the Arctic Ocean. Her two weeks onboard the ship fostered a strong bond with the surrounding landscape and its wildlife, and Horvath has since dedicated her career to documenting the beauty, fragility, and marked decline of the far north.
In the Arctic, the ice is like soil: there is life above and beyond. If we take out the ice, an entire ecosystem can collapse and become extinct. - Esther Horvath
One notable and ongoing project is Icebird, which consists of research into the shrinking thickness of ice - a 30% decline over the last 20 years. During the same time frame, Arctic air temperature has increased by 2 or 3 times. Horvath’s photographs are not only beautiful, but they also serve as a reminder and a warning of the catastrophic effects of climate change.
Ed Kashi
I deeply believe in the power of still images to change people’s minds. I’m driven by this fact; that the work of photojournalists and documentary photographers can have a positive impact on the world. - Ed Kashi
An acclaimed photographer and filmmaker who has dedicated much of his career to documenting the pressing geopolitical issues of the modern world, Ed Kashi has created some of the most beautiful yet haunting images in contemporary photojournalism. Notable among many acclaimed collections, Curse of the Black Gold documents the devastating impact oil production has had on Nigeria and other West African nations.
Photographs of dead farm animals poisoned by groundwater sit uneasily next to those of sunken homes in the Niger Delta, flames leaping from gas flares that pollute the air and decrease local life expectancy, and geometric pipelines crossing a body of water on which used to lie an equatorial forest. Trees torn down, homes destroyed, extreme poverty and factional fighting - Kashi takes us on a journey through hell, highlighting fallout we don’t often associate with the production of fossil fuels.
Vital Impacts
As well as individual photographers, organisations too are rising to challenge the climate emergency. Non-profit group Vital Impacts seek to raise money as well as awareness through their initiatives - bringing together many of the world's foremost wildlife photographers to donate prints and amplify their stories of crisis and conservation issues.
With support from the Jane Goodhall institute --the legendary conservationist has provided signed prints from her sixty-year career protecting chimpanzees--as well as notable photographers from National Geographic and fine art galleries worldwide, Vital Impacts has raised millions of dollars, 60% of which are distributed among such organisations as Big Life Foundation, Great Plains Conservation's Project Ranger, SeaLegacy and Direct Relief (40% goes to the photographers).
The initiative was founded by award-winning National Geographic photographer and documentary filmmaker Ami Vitale, and Eileen Mignoni, a journalist and filmmaker who has focused extensively on the science behind climate change.
Several of Vitale’s images are available for purchase, including her celebrated and heartbreaking photograph of Sudan, one of the last White Rhinoceroses, being euthanised after an illness.
Her work is shown amongst many other striking shots, some directly linked to climate change, others not. The prints are high quality, and available in a range of sizes, and all aspects of the production and packaging process are carbon neutral.
Vital Impacts also runs a mentorship program, currently supporting 40 Kenyan conservationists with their efforts. It also believes in amplifying issues with diverse voices, promoting a nuanced worldview, and supporting new work by women and non-binary people of colour.
Photographs may not always explain the complexities of climate change issues. And they won’t single-handedly compel governments and industries to make the drastic and necessary changes that will aid our planet’s recovery. But photographers can do what they have always done - capture good and bad, harmony and discord, beauty and brutality, and offer a unique perspective on the problems of the world.