Author  │ Photographer │ Environmental Advocate

Gary Braasch presents a compelling and inspiring view of the world today through his exploration of our planet. He brings nature, science and our relationship with them into focus through a reporter’s eye and brilliant color photographs made from pole to pole.  He is a world-caliber environmental photojournalist who creates remarkable images and important documentation about nature, environment, biodiversity and global warming.

The culmination of his 30 years on assignment to alpine peaks, tropical forests, and coral reefs for the world’s greatest magazines is his 2007 book on climate change, Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World (University of California Press; updated edition 2009).  It was named one of the 50 Best Environmental Books and Media by Vanity Fair.  Al Gore said, "The power of Gary Braasch's personal witness to the climate crisis makes this essential reading for every citizen."

 “As a witness to climate change,” Braasch says, “I have felt the chill as huge icebergs separated from an ice shelf in Antarctica. I have seen the jagged fronts of receding Greenland glaciers and observed subtle changes on the tundra. I have tracked down Alpine glaciers depicted in 150-year-old images and rephotographed them to show them wasting away. Along the coasts I have seen rising tides and heavy storms erode beaches. I have heard the anguish in the voices of native Alaskans as they describe their village being washed away, seen Chinese farmers facing famine caused by drought, and spoken with Pacific Islanders driven from their homes by increasingly high tides.”  And he has the photographs to prove it, stunning and evocative records of a world in change that present his readers and audiences an unforgettable view of the greatest issue of our time.

These observations are part of a photographic project called "World View of Global Warming," during which Braasch traveled to 22 nations and seven continents, following scientists to their study sites and locations of rapid change. He saw the effects of rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and plant and animal changes on landscapes, water supplies, and the lives of people in the Arctic, China, Bangladesh, Australia and the United States.  Braasch presents a broad review of the implications of rapid climate change for our daily lives, corporations, cities and international relations, and creates a vision of how we can slow global warming and improve the lives of people everywhere.

In his book is a call to action to citizens, leaders, and governments: "Let me state the goal clearly: No policy should be promulgated, no program initiated, no alliance sealed, no purchase made, no machine built, no land use permitted, no product introduced, no law passed, no politician elected unless the action is a step forward to reduction and reversal of the effect of greenhouse gases.”

Gary Braasch was awarded the Ansel Adams Award for conservation photography by the Sierra Club and named Outstanding Nature Photographer in 2003 by the North American Nature Photography Association.  He is a "Legend Behind the Lens," an honor from the Nikon Corporation recognizing photographers worldwide, and a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.  These honors are the result of a career as an environmental photographer, reporter and explorer whose work has been commissioned by editors and publishers worldwide.

Major assigned articles and portfolios have appeared in Time, LIFE, Discover, Audubon, National Wildlife, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Natural History, Sierra, French Terre Sauvage, French Photo, Outdoor Photographer, Photo District News, BBC Wildlife, GEO and National Geographic. His other books include a children’s book with Lynne Cherry, How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate (Dawn Publications 2008); Photographing the Patterns of Nature (Amphoto-Watson Guptill 1999); and Entering the Grove (Gibbs Smith,1990), with essays by Kim Stafford. Braasch has covered major environmental stories like the eruption of Mount St. Helens; the battle over logging of ancient forests in North America; and the study of the rich ecosystems of Hawaii, the Everglades, forests, and tidepools.

Braasch’s photographs and reports on global warming have also been widely published, including exhibition at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC and the Field Museum in Chicago.  His photographs made up the entire 2007 calendar published by the United Nations Rio Conventions (climate change, biodiversity and anti-desertification), which was presented at the UN Climate Talks in Nairobi. The United Nations used Braasch's images exclusively for a set of six stamps about climate change in 2008. He is a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communications, a UN-affiliated body dedicated to preservation of wild places, cultures and creatures.

Selected Lecture Topics

• How Global Warming is Changing the World: a photojournalist reports on his globe-spanning witness of rapid climate change and what people are doing about it.
• Message from a Small Planet: the beauty of our world seen through the lens of an environmental photographer, who reminds us how important nature is to everyone its role in the issues of the day.
  
• Conservation Photography and Environmental Photojournalism: a new kind of nature photography combines environment, journalism, science, politics and human affairs.
  

Books

Earth Under Fire (University of California Press, 2009)

Media


To watch a slide show of Gary Braasch's photographs with narration by the artist on CNN.com, click here.

For more information about Gary Braasch and his work
visit www.braaschphotography.com