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Margot Raggett - Remembering Wildlife

12/22/2017

Interview with creator of the project 'Remembering Wildlife' raising funds for Born Free Foundation.

Front Cover of books 'Remembering Elephants', (2016) and 'Remembering Rhinos' (2017) raises funds for conservation efforts through the The Born Free Foundation to projects in Africa.

Remembering Wildlife

I had been thinking about doing something in conservation for a while at that point because I felt like I’d been given so much happiness by wildlife and it was only right that I gave something back. But there was a particular trigger, which was seeing a poached elephant in Northern Kenya, which made me feel utterly compelled to launch this particular project. I was so upset and impotent I decided I had to find a way to channel that emotion into something positive and proactive. By that point I had quite a few wildlife photographer friends and I started asking around if any of them would be interested in donating images to a book on elephants and every single one said yes. My ambition was to create "the most beautiful book on elephants ever made” and then sell that to both raise awareness of the plight they are facing and funds to help tackle that. I had no idea quite how successful it would turn out to be - we ended up raising more than £135,000 for our charity partner The Born Free Foundation to spend on elephant protection projects. Because of that success, I felt there had to be a follow up and Remembering Rhinos was born. That launched at the end of October 2017 and in less than two months has overtaken funds raised by elephants, with a total that currently stands at £140,000 and rising.

Margot Raggett pictured photographing wildlife with her Nikon.

Interview

It has been quite a journey! My first ever safari, when I was working in marketing in London, was in the year 2000 and I became hooked after that, returning to Africa many times. But it wasn’t until 2010, when I met world-renown photographers Jonathan & Angie Scott, that I became drawn to wildlife photography itself. I became so inspired by their work that I set out to try and learn how to take pictures as beautiful as them. After an intensive few years of courses and self-teaching, I struck a deal with a camp in the Maasai Mara called Entim Camp, working with them as a resident photographer from time to time. Angie has remained a mentor to me throughout that time and her and Jonathan’s very strong views on conservation have influenced me greatly.

The power of social media

Initially as I learned the new trade for me of wildlife photography, I was concentrating on building up my personal social media following on various platforms. I was lucky enough to get on board with Instagram relatively early and that has helped in the following I was able to build there, for instance. And I also learned a lot during that period about what works and doesn’t work on social media. That has undoubtedly helped when it then came to promoting the Remembering project, starting with Remembering Elephants of course. I always say that that book is a project for a social media age - it would not have been the success it is if we had run it before social media.

Photograph by Margot Raggett from the 'Remembering Rhino's Project.

Purpose of visual communication

To be very black and white about it, I think there are two very different kinds of routes you can go to educate people through photography about conservation issues. The shocking, brutal pictures of wildlife crime certainly make people stop and think but they also, certainly on social media, turn people off. If you upset people with images then many turn away, which is the last thing we want. So my theory has been to try and draw people in through beautiful images and when you have them, introduce the underlying conservation messages in a way that engages and keeps their attention.

Advice

As I know is the case for many other wildlife photographers I meet, it hasn’t been a straight path! For twenty years I worked in marketing in the city of London, promoting big multi national brands and products which earned me a lot of money but left me increasingly dissatisfied. But If I hadn’t had that training then the conservation work now that I’m driving, would never have been as successful as it has. In terms of advice, I guess it would be once you have alighted on a cause you want to try and make a difference to, be strategic and think long term. The first book took 18 months in the planning to get right and that format is now an established template for the project going forwards and for future books. What I’d also say is try and be original and do something no-one else has done before. It is so easy just to copy when you see something else being successful but if you truly want to stand out and catch attention, go about it in a way that is new if you can.

Celebrities and Supporters of Remembering Rhinos pose with the book to show support. Including Chris Martin, Ricky Gervais and Gordan Buchanan.

The picture is Margot Raggett and ambassador Dan Richardson meeting 'Sudan', the last male Northern White rhino left on earth. Knowing that mankind has poached this particular species to the brink of extinction was the catalyst for me to start the Remembering Rhinos'

Hopes for the Future

One thing that I very quickly came to realise when I started seeing the funds we’d raised being used on the ground, is that such money runs out very quickly. Conservation projects need sustained, regular income if they are to succeed, not just one-off donations that come and go. For that reason I feel compelled (again) to keep this series going, because as we grow in reach and awareness each year, new people come into the franchise and want to buy the previous books. That means we can continue to generate funds from previous books in future and continue to support projects in that area. I’m thrilled for example that the reprint of Remembering Elephants (the original 2500 sold out in two months) has already generated another £10,000 which we’ve been able to send to an anti-poaching project in Mana Pools in Zimbabwe which we’d previously supported. So, my hope is that I can continue to make a success of the series because it has so much potential to do good. I feel a great weight of responsibility to get it right!

To find more about Margot's work visit :

Instagram Website

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John Novis - Greenpeace 'Photo Activism'

12/19/2017

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Exclusive interview Greenpeace Director Of Photography (1995-2015)

The pristine forest area is under threat from multinational development to degrade and drain the land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations. (John Novis, Greenpeace)

The Real Price of Palm Oil

Clearing last remaining intact area of peat swamp forest by fire in Riau, Sumatra. The pristine forest area is under threat from multinational development to degrade and drain the land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations. Peatland forest is critical for maintaining biodiversity and it's degradation releases vast stores of carbon thereby contributing to global climate change.

The rapid conversion of forests and peatlands for oil palm and pulp plantations, and logging, is a major driver of deforestation in Indonesia. The carbon released by these activities make Indonesia the third largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet. The majority of Indonesia's palm oil exports are destined for China, Europe and India. Greenpeace states that it is crucial that Indonesia's forests are protected from the rampant expansion of the palm oil and pulp industries in order to combat climate change, stop biodiversity loss and protect the livelihoods of forest-dependent peoples. Greenpeace is calling on the Indonesian government to implement an immediate moratorium on all forest conversion, including expansion of oil palm plantations, industrial logging, and other drivers of deforestation.

Greenpeace action against multinational companies exporting palm oil world-wide for use in consumables and cosmetics. Greenpeace is calling for the Indonesian Government to implement a moratorium on deforestation. (John Novis, Greenpeace)

John Novis Interview

I began my career in photography in June 1966 at the age of 16. I joined a large commercial studio based off Fleet Street, London EC1, as a studio assistant where I learnt large format photography, tungsten and flash lighting, studio set design etc. The high-end photography knowledge and experience I gained from these early years set the foundation of my photographic career throughout my life. After working through almost all aspects commercial photography; fashion, food, portrait, film processing, printing etc. I attended a ‘creative photography’ university course which changed the direction of my career. Shifting from commercial I was awakened to journalism, photography as art, history and culture. What followed was a job offer from Greenpeace Media in 1998 which later lead to me becoming Head of Photography for Greenpeace International. The type of imagery Greenpeace commissioned was mix a of journalistic style with commercial branding. My university studies and commercial background gave strong grounding to make the Greenpeace Picture Desk a success and come up with a new genre, ‘photo activism’. The objective was to produce photography that would inspire concerned people to act on critical environmental and human matters.

Climate Change Education

One of the great challenges in educating people about climate change is photographing a phenomenon in a transient state and not a fixed event. We must accept, without images climate change communication would be a series of talking heads, scientific reports, data, graphs data etc. Pictures of hurricane devastation, wildfires, forest destruction, flooding, drought, extreme weather, climate refugees etc. cannot in themselves be wholly contributed to climate change because these events occur naturally but images makes the argument dynamic and compelling . However, these images can be shown, not as evidence but as an illustration of what climate change will look like more and more frequently as it intensifies. Indeed, beautiful images in contrast to devastation are a powerful educator too, such as glaciers, arctic landscape, animal species like the polar bear, coastal areas, coral reefs can be predicted to be lost in a few decades unless climate change is brought under control. Another role of photography and video are stories of activism. People taking action, breaking the law in protest. Peaceful protests against coal plants, oil pipelines, fracking especially with local people makes for compelling news. Images of alternative solutions such as wind farm production, solar farms create a sense of future and establish questions over climate denial. Over the last 10 to 15 years as these global climate related images have begun to penetrate media, web, social media etc. climate change has entered the human consciousness. Man-made climate change is now widely accepted world-wide as manifested, for example in the Paris-Climate Accord and the many huge renewable energy projects currently in progress.

A Jaguar looks into John's camera in the Amazon rainforest. (John Novis, Greenpeace)

Advice for photographers/campaigners

First don’t expect to be paid much for your stories. Environment and ethics doesn’t sell like celebrities, scandal and sport. Most of the photographers I know that get the most interesting stories and get commissioned regularly are the ones aligned to NGO’s. My advice would be to make two or three interesting local/national stories on how people are coping with environmental injustice or natural problems, fracking, extreme flooding, industrial pollution etc. are examples. Stories about people affected are important, not just a series of unhappy landscapes. Make sure your story information, captions are in-depth and factually accurate and if you can produce small video version more’s the better. Then present your work to the NGO production teams and don’t take no for an answer keep pestering them. I had a young photographer once when I was Head of Photography for Greenpeace who wanted freelance work from the organization. I told him to go away and get more stories and a name for himself. But he kept pestering me till I eventually gave him a small local commission. He now works consistently with WWF, Action Aid, Greenpeace, Red Cross etc. and regularly gets photo spreads in the Guardian.

Ndomon Albert, 21, Farmer working in a cocoa farm in the village of Esam, Molongo. As industrial agricultural techniques spread into Africa, and especially into forests of the Congo Basin, Greenpeace identifies farming alternatives that can both benefit farmers, consumers and to the protection of natural resources. (John Novis, Greenpeace)

The Future

I am an optimist at heart and I believe photography is playing an important role informing and forcing people and governments to act to halt the progress of climate change and other environmental injustices. I see a change already happening now but we still have a long way to go. Photography has undergone huge changes in the last few years especially with rise of social media, the smart phone and globalisation. This has changed the profession dramatically. Everybody’s a photographer now! As medias merge, citizen journalism has emerged and gained a place in the way news is reported and although the source can sometimes be questioned we now receive many images and stories breaking outside the ‘official’ news agency sphere. As climate change intensifies we can expect to witness events reinforcing the problem as it unfolds.

Glaciers in Retreat at Glaciers in Retreat at Mount Everest Everest

Greenpeace China activist Zhong Yu shows a photo of the Middle Rongbuk Glacier taken in 1968 to the camera to illustrate the 2km retreat and deterioration of the glacier in just under 40 years. (John Novis, Greenpeace)

A Greenpeace investigation team at Mount Everest bear witness to melting glaciers which are most probably caused by climate change. The Rongbuk Glaciers are one of the prime sources of water feeding into the major rivers of China and India. Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world as a result of global warming. Two years later I travelled to the base camp (China side of Mount Everest) to a make a comparison photo of the Rongbuk glacier to show how over 40 years the glacier had retreated 2 kms by juxtaposing a China scientific photo from 1968 with my photo from the expedition taken in 2007 from the same viewpoint as the 1968 picture.

The Greenpeace team hold signs saying "Protect Our Water Source Stop Global Warming!" in a climate change campaign to protect the glaciers in the Himalayas are they are receding faster than any others in the world. (John Novis, Greenpeace)

As individuals and collectively we need to work on protecting these magnificent animals, alongside all wildlife to sustain a future for all of us. Thank you for reading. You can find out more about Greenpeace here:
Greenpeace

Find more information John Novis's work at:
Instagram Website

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Andrew Suryono

12/18/2017

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Andrew Suryono is an award winning photographer based in Indonesia capturing beautiful moments.

The "Orangutan in The Rain" I shot it at a park in Bali, Indonesia. It was about to rain and most of the people were busy finding a place to cover themselves from the rain. I was about to put my equipment away but then decided not to. I saw this baby Orangutan picked up a Taro leaf from the floor and as soon as the rain starts pouring, she covered herself with the Taro leaf. With this photograph I want to show that Orangutan is a very clever animal. They can use tools. In fact, in terms of DNA, they are 98% identical to humans. But unfortunately, this "advanced" species are endangered because more and more of their habitat are destroyed by human for oil plantation. The gesture of the Orangutan shielding herself from the rain represents her willingness to survive on our planet. We must be made aware that this is happening and only us can stop them from facing extinction.

Background

I got into photography by accident. I was in college and I was experimenting with selling stuff on eBay to make some extra cash. One thing that I noticed was that the exact item can sell for a higher price if it has better photo. So, I decided to learn a bit about photography. Once I tried photography, I was hooked on the process. I began researching and learning about exposure, composition, lighting, post processing. Basically everything that can make a photo stand out. After I got familiar with product photography, I continued my experiment by taking photos of my family and loved ones. Landscape, wildlife, street and travel followed afterwards. I try to expose myself to as many different kind of photography as possible because I enjoy the learning process from various fields. One of the hardest question for me to answer is what kind of photographer I am. But if I'm pressed to answer, I consider myself a travel, street and portrait photographer.

I am currently working on a project to explore my home country, Indonesia. Not many people know about this country even though it's the planet's 4th most populous country. I seek to photograph the vanishing culture, the endangered animals and the untamed landscape.

'This time it's inside the Introduction section of the fabulous "Hidden Earth" book. I feel blessed that my work is displayed along with other world class photographers in this book' (Andrew Suryono)

Threats to our planet

I think the primary threats to our planet is human ignorance. As a species, we have the most ability to impact the planet for the better or worse. How we want to impact the planet will be largely determined by our awareness of our role in this planet. The more we are educated to what actions are harmful and what actions are beneficial to our planet, the better off our planet will be. Photography, combined with the internet can be a good tool to educate people to care about the planet and to minimize human ignorance.

The purpose of photography

I think photography has 3 main purposes:

1. To preserve

Things are constantly changing. I change, you change, our kids change, society change, the whole world change. Photography gives us the ability to freeze any moment in time which we can access again in the future. Also, we store our emotions as well with the photograph. That's why when we look at old photographs, we can imagine what it was like in the past and get emotional.

2. To communicate

Drawings and symbols have been part of human communication long before we invented words. Photography can replace drawings as a method of communication. We can look at a photograph briefly and get a lot more meaning compared to reading a long text. With the rise of the internet and digital photography, photography has become a crucial element in our day to day communication.

3. To inspire

I think this is the most important purpose of photography. Some photographs, the really strong ones can really inspire people to take action and make changes. Some photographs can to inspire people to care about the planet, protect endangered animals or change political viewpoints. I think this is the ultimate goal of photography and what all photographers should strive for.

Surrounded by magnificent landscapes above and below ground (Andrew Suryono)

A memorable experience?

On my trip to New Zealand, I went to Queenstown. I was so excited to explore this place because of all the photographic opportunities there. It was my dream to travel to as many countries as I can when I still can. I arrived at the hotel in Queenstown and was greeted by the receptionist. She was a lady in her early fourties and she was very friendly. "Where are you from?" she asked and I said "Indonesia. know anything about the place?" I assumed she knew nothing about Indonesia because foreigners rarely do. She then asked "Which island?" Now this is a very are question that I did not expect. Not many people know that Indonesia has more than ten thousands island. I answered "Java island." She then said "Oh wow! I've been there for 6 months exploring the island! I rented a motorcycle and traveled through the island's perimeter. You have some of the most beautiful landscape and culture!" She then told me very local places that she went to in my island that I've never heard of. My equipment changes frequently but I always use three things: my brain, eyes and heart. Without them, I cannot make great photographs, no matter how expensive my equipments are. The equipment that I use will be dictated by those 3 things according to my needs.

To me this was quite shocking. I didn't know as much about my island, let alone my country as this hotel receptionist does. My desire to explore have surpassed my desire to find a deeper meaning in my photograph. This encounter made me change my approach to my travel photography. Now I am on the quest to explore my home country as much as I can and share my findings to the world.

I think this is a great lesson for other travel photographers out there. Too many photographers want to get lost and explore the world, away from their countries. They do this before even knowing what their countries have to offer. Then traveling becomes this superficial things that you do just to impress people and sooner or later, they will find "emptiness" in their travel journey. If you want to travel, start with your home country. Explore it and know it deeply. Find your roots. When you've done that, get ready to explore the land outside your home country. Tell stories of your home country and inspire people you meet along the way. Listen to theirs and relate to your story. This way, you'll find a really deep meaning in your travel journey.

You can find more information about Andrew's work here:

Instagram Website

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Jayaprakash Bojan - 'Face to Face'

12/15/2017

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A National Geographic competition winner highligthing this important issue.

This critically endangered large male orangutan stares into the lens of Jayaprakash while crossing a river in Tanjung Putting National Park, Indonesia. Photograph taken by Jayaprakesh Bojan in August, winning $7500 and International recognition in the Nature Photographer Of The Year competition 2017 by National Geographic.
"I'm happy because the organgutan deserves the prize more than me."

Threats

In the Malay language, orangutan means 'Person Of The Forest' suggesting the amazing similarities we have to these primates, sharing 96.4% of our genes. These animals are under threat due to deforestation, specifically with palm oil that in more than half of packaged products in supermarkets around the world, with 90% of palm oil coming from plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other threats facing organgutan include illegal timber harvest, mining and road development and the illegal pet trade.Less than 150,000 of these animals remain with about 104,700 Bornean orangugtan, 14,613 Sumatran and 800 Tapanuli are remaining, making them a critically endangered species. (WWF, 2017) We need to limit production of unsustainable palm oil and continue to create safe spaces for these beautiful animals to live.

"Adorable to see him walk with his hands in the air to ensure he does not wet his hands, This is completely against their natural instincts! probably adapting to the changing and shrinking habitat due to palm oil farming. They are doing their best to survive under the circumstances." - Jayaprakash Bojan

Face to Face
Words by Jayaprakesh Bojan

Palm oil farming has depleted their habitat and when pushed to the edge these intelligent creatures have learnt to adapt to the changing landscape. Across the world habitat destruction for the purpose of human settlements and growth is probably directly or indirectly driving a lot of species to the edge. Climate change and global warming are basically the side effects of habitat destruction which creates an imbalance in the ecosystem. The primary reason for my personal focus on primates in Asia is that I love them - they’re so human in their behaviour - I love observing them - they’re very expressive and show emotions endearingly and I feel I’m able to connect with them. I look at photography as a form of art to tell stories so if I’m able to tell stories of their plight to create awareness and emotionally move people to help and support causes of conservation, this would give me a lot of purpose and satisfaction.

Behind the scenes when Jayaprakash gets into the water to get closer to this large organugtan.

Photography

Nature and wildlife photography is something that came naturally to me as I initially grew up in the hills of South India surrounded by birds and wildlife. I got more interested in it about a decade ago, started learning and experimenting about 4 years ago and took a break from my career in the IT/ITES industry about 2 years ago to pursue my passion for travel and nature photography. I’m still a hobbyist photographer but I’ve been published in magazines in India and internationally and have received a few awards prior to this. I’m currently working on a personal photo book project on primates in Asia and hopefully publish it by end 2018.

Overall I look at photography as a form of art and my constant endeavour is to tell stories through my pictures. My passion comes from the very fact that I genuinely enjoy spending time with nature in the wild and, it’s a combination of my curiosity and eagerness to see some of the endangered species in the wild - not easy to come by but fulfilling. I want to be more involved in the area of conservation. I still need to figure out how and what I’d be doing in this space, it’s a path I’ve started to walk on I want to make sure that I can add value.

"Meet this adorable one that was rescued from a palm oil plantation and later released into the park. He likes to hang around the rangers office in the afternoons. I was really moved and saddened by the plight of these amazing primates living in the fringes of the palm oil farms and the shrinking habitats!" - Jayaprakash Bojan

"I guess he is meditating with his eyes closed or may be he is praying before he crossed the river I Getting into the river with him to get these perspectives was completely worth it" - Jayaprakash Bojan

As individuals and collectively we need to work on protecting these magnificent animals, alongside all wildlife to sustain a future for all of us.

Find more information about the cause at:
WWF Oranugtan and The Orangutan Project

Photographs and Text by Jayaprakash Bojan, find out more via:
Instagram Facebook Website

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Caroline Power - A Plastic Ocean

11/26/2017

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“Our planet is choking with trash and no number of beach or waterway cleanups can stop it. We are treating the symptoms, not the disease. As a country, as a species, as individuals we need to stop consuming single use plastics.”

Caroline Power is an environmentalist and passionate photographer whose photographs recently went viral, highlighting the global issue of plastic in our oceans. Equipped with her Olympus OM-D EM-5 and underwater housing she takes to the oceans to document the beauty and destruction of our marine life, witnessing orcas hunting and eating a tiger shark and playing tag with sea lions. In this exclusive interview with Caroline Power for In Focus we discuss the issue, how we can address it and the power of visual communication.

"Our planet is choking with trash and no number of beach or waterway cleanups can stop it. We are treating the symptoms, not the disease. As a country, as a species, as individuals we need to stop consuming single use plastics."

Plastic
Words by Caroline Power

The facts are shocking. Over 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic are already in the world's ocean. That number is predicted to double by 2025. Each minute, one dump truck of trash enters the oceans; by 2050 it will be three per minute and the number of plastic pieces in our seas will outnumber fish. Over 480 billion plastic drinking bottles were used globally in 2016, the equivalent of 20,000 per second. Per second! That is enough to reach half way to the sun. Only a small percentage were recycled. More than 5 trillion plastic bags are used and discarded annually. The United States uses 500 million plastic straws every day and 60 billion plastic drinking bottles per year -1500 per second. Even though the majority of bottles in the USA are recyclable, over 80% end up at landfills. Our planet is choking with trash and no number of beach or waterway cleanups can stop it. We are treating the symptoms, not the disease. As a country, as a species, as individuals we need to stop consuming single use plastics. Collectively, we need to write to our politicians, restaurant owners, super market chains, etc and ask them to ban single use plastics. France just banned all plastic dishes, cups, and utensils. Rwanda and Kenya have banned plastic bags. It is possible.

Photography

People know there is a global plastic trash problem, they know overfishing is depleting the oceans, global warming is killing off our coral reefs, deforestation is robbing animals of their homes, overpopulation has reached critical levels, the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs is underway, etc . But reading about something is not the same as seeing it. Seeing invokes emotion, stirs passion, and inspires change. That is the power of photography.

I started using a Canon However, a few years back I began hearing whispers of a small mirrorless camera from Olympus that could match the image quality of DSLRs. While the size of modern DSLRs is relatively small, everything becomes bulkier when modified to go underwater. I did not want to drag around the microwave sized chunk of machined aluminium required to make my DSLR water proof. When the Em5 came out, I jumped on it. It is so light weight and compact, I can easily out swim DSLR shooters when photographing fast swimming marine creatures. Plus my entire setup including strobes, tray, housing, and port fits in a regular sized backpack. At the moment, I am upgrading from the EM5 to the EM1 mark ii (both in Nauticam housings) as the 4k video ability is just too good to pass up.

What can we do?

There are so many simple every day things people can do to cut down on plastic use:
-
-No more bottled water - buy a reusable bottle.
- At restaurants, specify tap water, not bottled and ask for no straw
-Buy drinks in cans or glass bottles as they are easier to recycle than plastic.
-Don't put plastic lids on your to-go cups and buy a reusable coffee cup.
-No more plastic bags. This means Ziplocks, produce bags, and dog poop bags. There is no excuse. Inexpensive, easy-to-carry eco-alternatives.
-No more cling film. There are several companies that now make reusables.
-Switch to bamboo toothbrushes. Widely available online or at Whole Foods, they are competitively priced.

We also need more financial support for local charities and NGOs that are working tirelessly to protect our oceans. The Roatan Marine Park works with the local schools to teach better environmental practices. Go Blue Central America works with businesses to educate and offer eco alternatives. Plastic Free Cayman is doing similar work. There are countless other small organizations all over the world that work at a ground level. But they need funding and support.

The Future

Never give up. It is so easy to become disheartened by increasingly depressing news reports and grim scientific studies but we cannot stop trying. The advent of social media has given unknown photographers such as myself now have the chance to reach large audiences and have a platform on which to inspire change. The reaction to these photos has given me hope. I have been utterly blown away by the response. In the last two weeks, I have been inundated with emails and calls from publications and organisations all over the world. Countless environmental groups, anti plastic campaigners, engineers, inventors, and government agencies have contacted me. All of them want to spread awareness of this issue. Some have offered help. It seems I was wrong.

People do care. There may still be hope for this planet.

All photographs by Caroline Power

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Protecting The Amazon

11/9/2016

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What is 'Dam Peoples Amazon'?

The prevention of dam construction is important for preventing the industrialisation (synonmymous to destruction) of the Amazon region. The displacement and ethnocide of native populations that will be a consequence will deprive the forest of its protectors. Once the dam is built, the unemployed population will resort to land grabbing, deforestation, cattle farming, illegal logging, and mining, along with displaced natives who usually resort to the same out of desperation.

I am working on a dam project for the area of the Bala Dam on the River Beni in Bolivia, and a social project for education and social development with the poor in Porto Velho, a capital city in the Brazilian Amazon.

The Amazon is a unique ecosystem which, if lost (like other rainforests), will endanger human life on this planet.
The 'silencing of rivers' of the Amazon by dam building, the source of 20% of the world's fresh water is like blocking the arteries of the human body, and will produce similar symptoms in Gaia to artheroschlerosis in the human being.

You can find more information about this important project below.

https://www.facebook.com/Dam-Peoples-Amazon-960926977296517/?fref=ts

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An Interview with Tim Shieff

11/9/2016

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Hi Im Timothy Shieff, Professional parkour athlete and founder of Ethics & Antics an ethical clothing company.

What is the importance of water in our body?

As most of us know water makes up around 60% of our body. The source, quality and amount of water we intake on a daily basis is of upmost importance! All water can look the same from ocean, to tap, to bottled to stream, but water can mask dissolved solids so can react differently within our body. Getting pure water with as little dissolved solids in is key for optimum health. Get minerals and alkalinity from food. Get h2o from your water.

Why is nature/environment important?

Nature is what gives us life, not just the air we breath the water we drink but the nourishment that comes with looking at a tree, smelling a flower, listening to birds chirp and the taste of sweet fruits!

What can we do as individuals/collective to help the sustainability of the world?

The easiest an most important thing I think we can each do is to go vegan as its far more sustainable lifestyle and as we eat sometimes 3 times a day each time we can be supportive of the environment or support harm to it with this simple choice.

http://www.ethicsandantics.com/

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Enele Sopoanga, Prime Minister of Tuvalu

11/7/2016

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Enele Sopoanga, Prime Minister of Tuvalu

Interview with Prime Minister of the Tuvalu Islands.

What is your expectation for COP22?

I understand COP22 is a really important meeting. It is the first COP after the Paris Agreement entering into force and will be the milestone for the world to achieve the long-term temperature goal. I know we didn’t have enough time to set down rules and procedures to implement Paris Agreement. All negotiators including Tuvalu recognize that we need to set those rules down and agree procedures at COP22. If we don’t fix this step, we will never advance to next step. Paris Agreement is a universal agreement. So, we need to work together and to implement together. Especially, we must work hard to reduce our contribution of GHGs to reach the target of 1.5 degrees. Moreover, we need to help countries like Pacific island States including Tuvalu, Caribbean, Indian ocean, and African island States that are already suffering from salt damage because of the sea level rising, salt damage. The mountainous countries like Switzerland are also suffering from the impact of climate change. They need help as well. So, all Parties needs to works together to reduce GHGs. In Marrakesh, we must get an agreement on rule and procedure for implementation of Paris Agreement and move forward. And, we have to review our actions and enhance them. We should not forget about the long-term goal that we have to achieve. Otherwise, Paris Agreement will be an agreement without actions.

What do you request for other countries to implement Paris Agreement?

Many countries including pacific island States will ratify Paris Agreement. But the contributions of those countries for GHGs emissions are very small. Therefore, I want to encourage big GHGs emitting countries like United States of America, China, India, New Zealand, EU, and Canada who have already ratified Paris Agreement to implement it to achieve the long-term goal. I expect that these countries will demonstrate a very strong leadership. We can’t go back. We have to take this opportunity to move forward. This is the time to take actions. I strongly believe that everybody will come on board.

Please give message to countries have not ratified Paris Agreement

87 Parties have already ratified of 197 Parties to the Convention (as of October 5th 2016). And the agreement will enter into force on November 4th. I believe that the countries that have not ratified Paris Agreement will display their strong leadership. I know those countries need more time to adjust. I encourage those countries to ratify Paris Agreement soon. It is clear that they will have more disadvantages if they do not ratify the agreement.

What else do we need to do for Tuvalu’s future?

Although Paris Agreement is not perfect, it will be a vehicle or road map to protect and to save people of the world. In addition, people who are displaced by the impact of climate change need a legal framework to protect their human rights and security, which we do not have now. Not only sea level rise, but also cyclone, drought, and flooding are getting severer and more frequent, especially people who live in the atoll nations like us need it.

Some people argue that those people can be covered under the 1951 refugee(1) convention. However, I totally disagree. First of all, people who are displaced from sea level rise such as like us, Tuvaluan, are not determined as refugee under the Refugee Convention. Second, I will never accept Tuvalu people will be called as refugees.

We do not want to leave our sweet home island because of the impacts of climate change that are caused by industrialized countries. They can’t force us to be refugees. We, Tuvaluan try to implement Paris Agreement. At COP22, we agree on rules and procedures to implement Paris Agreement as fist step and clear the pathway to achieve 1.5℃ long-term temperature goal.

Although it is touch and difficult path, I believe that we can achieve it together. At the same time, we work hard to develop a legal framework to ensure the human right and security of people who are displaced by the impacts of climate change. I have already proposed to adopt a UN Resolution on the establishment of a legal framework to ensure the human rights protection and security for people displaced by the impact of climate change at UN General Assembly this year. I hope we can get a wide support from international community.

20/OCT/2016 at Prime Minister private office.
interviewer: Katsuhiko Matuura / Supervisor: Kyoko Kawasaka
More Tuvalu information below
https://www.instagram.com/tuvalu

To find out more visit: http://www.tuvalu-overview.tv/eng/topics/enele-cop22.html
http://www.tuvalu-overview.tv/

(1) In general, “Refugee” is defined as the people who are across border and seek asylum in other county. However, according to the 1951 Refugee Convention’s definition on “Refugee” that are stated under article 1, people displaced cross border by climate change and natural disaster is not “refugee”. Therefore, there are no people called “Environmental Refugee” or “Climate Refugee”.

1 Comment

Ali - Environmental Activist

10/4/2016

2 Comments

Ali, film maker and environmental activist and a good friend of ours at IF has been documenting important issues evolving around the sea. It's inspiring seeing people selflessly fight for those who do not have a voice. Did you know 70% of our oxygen comes from marine plants in the Ocean? This shows how important it is for us to maintain the balance and not pollute, destroy and deplete ocean life. We caught up with him recently in an exclusive interview below.

Introduction

My name is Ali, I’m 23, and I’m a filmmaker focused on sharing the truth about the impact people are having on the lives of animals and the environment. A lot of what I have been doing over the past year has been documenting the plight of our oceans (a subject that has been keeping me very busy), and has involved going to places around the world where people are involved in the slaughter and trade of sea life; whether sharks, dolphins, whales, fish, and more (most of which being endangered).

What sort of activism do you do?

For two years I ran a YouTube channel that was pretty popular, and I made educational videos that discussed ethical topics. But for the past year I have been working on a documentary about the human impact on our oceans. The problems the ocean face are vast and complex. However, solutions can be fairly simple. This documentary will educate people about what we can do to resolve the issues at hand.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to minimize their ecological impact?

It’s incredibly easy to make small simple changes that have MAJOR results. I recommend starting with what you are comfortable doing, and then week by week seeing if you can do more. For example, adopting a healthy vegan lifestyle and enjoying the same delicious flavours that animal based foods may have (with the huge amount of growing vegan alternatives like plant based milks, yogurts, cheeses, chicken/beef/pork/fish style meats becoming available in most supermarkets these days), can help cut our personal environmental impact massively. This will also reduce to virtually zero the number of animals killed for our nourishment; that includes domestic and targeted species in land and sea farms, as well as non-targeted species as a result of land clearing and by-catch. Combine that with reducing plastic consumption, and switching to a green energy company to power your home, such as Ecotricity, and you are on your way to being one of the most awesome people in the world! Ha-ha.

Why did you decide to go plant based?

It was more of an obvious progression for me over time, rather than a clear-cut decision that happened at once. But once I made the connection that a lot of what I was wearing and eating was in fact coming from animals who did not want to be killed, I had to make a change. I looked deeper and did more research and what I saw shocked me. All the pain… the worlds of pain these individual poor animals go through just to make a meaningless snack for me made no sense. If I can, I’d implore everyone to take half an hour out of their day to research the ethics of using animals for food. It’s really life-changing. The first thing I noticed after going vegan pretty much instantly after becoming vegan, was that my health had gotten so much better. I had more energy, lost the extra weight, and I felt like I could breathe better than ever. I also gained a lot of mental clarity that came along with questioning something society and myself had been doing for so long. It was a catalyst for learning so much more about people, animals, and the greater environment. Becoming vegan even helped refine my critical thinking. It’s the best decision I have ever made, several years ago now.

Who inspires you?

There are many people who inspire me, many of which I am lucky enough to call friends and people I am in contact with for activism purposes. But I shall give a short list here: Keegan Kuhn is a major inspiration of mine, simply because of his tireless passion for animal rights, environmentalism, and human equality, as well as for his skill in filmmaking. Kip Anderson has done so much to bring the debate about animal agriculture to the environmental table so to speak, and I am so thankful for his inspiration. My family are of constant support, and encourage me to do what I need to do even in at times of risk on the other side of the world. And last but not least my girlfriend Lucie, who has travelled the world with me and is a major source of wisdom, support, and patience even in locations where we are witnessing extreme brutality against animals and the environment.

You can contact Ali on [email protected]

2 Comments

Forward>>

​Remembering Wildlife

Interview

​The power of social media

Purpose of visual communication

Advice

​Hopes for the Future

​To find more about Margot's work visit :Instagram Website

​The Real Price of Palm Oil

​John Novis Interview​

​Climate Change Education ​

Advice for photographers/campaigners

The Future​​

​Glaciers in Retreat at Glaciers in Retreat at Mount Everest Everest

​As individuals and collectively we need to work on protecting these magnificent animals, alongside all wildlife to sustain a future for all of us. Thank you for reading. You can find out more about Greenpeace here:Greenpeace​​Find more information John Novis's work at:Instagram Website

​Background​

​Threats to our planet

​A memorable experience?

Remembering Wildlife

The power of social media

Hopes for the Future

To find more about Margot's work visit :

Instagram Website

The Real Price of Palm Oil

John Novis Interview

Climate Change Education

The Future

Glaciers in Retreat at Glaciers in Retreat at Mount Everest Everest

As individuals and collectively we need to work on protecting these magnificent animals, alongside all wildlife to sustain a future for all of us. Thank you for reading. You can find out more about Greenpeace here:
Greenpeace

Find more information John Novis's work at:
Instagram Website

Background

Threats to our planet

A memorable experience?