"Polar Obsession"
NPR has a fascinating article about National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen who has spent 20 years documenting inclement polar regions through his astounding photography. Having been raised in the Canadian Arctic he is quite familiar with extreme temperatures, the volatile dangerous nature of leopard seals, grizzly bears, and elephant seals, and a life of solitude. Despite endangerment to his life, Nicklen says that it is all worth it. '"How are people supposed to care about the environment when they're living in a cement jungle?' he wonders in the interview. To make them care, he goes to extremes. Nicklen is on a mission to bring these remote habitats to those of us who may never see them, to make us care about the endangered polar ecosystems and the animals that inhabit them. His photos appear in a new book, Polar Obsession, published by National Geographic. "
My comments: There is finally a person championing the cause of environmental awareness through photography (art) with the focus on animals in realms that are on the perilous edge annihilation. When the peat moss in the Arctic starts to thaw and begins to release huge quantities of carbon emissions, humans-gluttonous, self-satisfying and congratulatory, greedy and consumptive creatures-will not be the only organisms to suffer. Paul Nicklen is a refreshing anomaly, a person who is risking his life to capture beautiful, fleeting moments of natural animal behavior.
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