Documenting Climate Change

This is the second part of my interview with Sean Gallagher, a British photographer and filmmaker, who has lived in China the past 15 years, and during that time has explored a broad diversity of stories on the frontline of the climate crisis in China and the wider Asian region. Sean is one of the few people who from the outset of his exploration of climate change took a human-centric approach - whether documenting the impact of rising sea levels on coastal communities, or desertification and drought.

From chasing timber poachers with armed policemen through the jungles of Cambodia, to photographing undercover in secretive North Korea, Sean produces diverse stories for some of the world’s leading news outlets.

Sean focuses on creating photography and documentary film projects that highlight stories from the front line of the climate crisis and other important and under-reported global environmental issues.

This week’s guest is one of the few people who from the outset of his exploration of climate change took a human-centric approach - whether documenting the impact of rising sea levels on coastal communities, or desertification and drought.

He’s Sean Gallagher, a British photographer and filmmaker, who has lived in China the past 15 years, and during that time has explored a broad diversity of stories on the frontline of the climate crisis in China and the wider Asian region.

From chasing timber poachers with armed policemen through the jungles of Cambodia, to photographing undercover in secretive North Korea, Sean produces diverse stories for some of the world’s leading news outlets.

Sean focuses on creating photography and documentary film projects that highlight stories from the front line of the climate crisis and other important and under-reported global environmental issues.

NOTE - This episode is in two parts, as my interview with Sean went on longer than expected, but I wanted to share all the advice, thoughts and experiences that Sean shared.

This week’s guest has spent the last sixteen years travelling to every continent on the planet to document the impacts of climate change and the rise of renewable energy. He’s Ashley Cooper, an environmental photographer who has witnessed an incredible amount of in terms of the impact of climate change to communities across the globe, and the mitigation and adaption efforts.

As you can imagine Ashley has amassed a vast collection of images, which he licenses through his own photo agency dedicated purely to climate change/renewable energy at globalwarmingimages.net

Ashley has also published a book with 500 of the best images from his epic journey around the planet, which he’s sent to people like Al Gore and the Pope as a way of raising awareness about the impacts of climate change that are currently being felt by communities around the globe, and is available to buy at imagesfromawarmingplanet.net

I speak to Afsaneh Angelina Rafii – founder and Editor-in-Chief of the independent magazine Icarus Complex. A bi-annual publication that Afsaneh launched last year, that offers and in-depth look at the issues surrounding climate change.

In the first issue there are stories on economics, food, energy, decarbonising and much, much more packed within 140 pages. The second issue is due later this year, and will be on the theme of nuclear energy.

I wanted to find out about Afsaneh’s experiences trying to single-handedly set up, manage and grow an independent magazine, and so we talk about what motivated Afsaneh to devote her time and savings into producing Icarus Complex, the challenges she faced, what she would have done differently if she were to start again, and other practical insights to setting up an independent magazine covering the issue of climate change.

To find out more about Icarus Complex magazine, visit icaruscomplexmagazine.com – where you can read their journal, explore their database of organisations working on the issue of climate change and submit work for consideration.

If you’re doing something to document the issue of climate change, and would like your work to be featured on the podcast and website, please get in touch with me via email at [email protected]

In  this episode,  I speak to Damon Gameau – award-winning documentary  film-maker, and the person behind a recently released feature-length  documentary on climate change called 2040.

​​Motivated by his  4-year-old daughter and concern for the planet she will inherit, Damon  embarks on a global journey to meet the innovators and change makers  pioneering the best solutions already available to us today to improve  the health of our planet and societies.

Drawing on some of the  best minds from around the world focusing on climate, economics,  technology, civil society, agriculture and sustainability, 2040 maps out  a pathway for change that can lead us to a more ecologically  sustainable and equitable future.

We  discuss the impact of a solutions-based approach to communicating on  the issue of climate change, and the power it has to influence and  motivate action in a way and to a level that disaster-focused stories  struggle to do.

We also talk about the impact and motivations for  developing an online platform for the audience to engage with. Going  well beyond just informing people who watch the film, Damon and his team  have strived to create an accessible and effective means by which  people can channel their desire to act afterwards. This has resulted in  some amazing initiatives being supported and implemented, and an  ever-growing and engaged network being formed.

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To kick things off I’m really happy to share with you a conversation I had with Toby Smith – an award-winning environmental photographer, and Programme Lead for Climate Visuals.

We talk about how visual storytellers can better document and represent the issue of climate change, in the hope of addressing the political and general inertia that exists to taking the significant and meaningful action that is so desperately needed.

We also talk about Toby’s work as a photographer and his many years of experience exploring long term projects include a study of hydroelectricity in Scotland, renewable energy technology across China and India, illegal logging and mining in Madagascar, and documenting water scarcity across the Himalayas – to name but a few. He works internationally on personal, commissioned and collaborative projects concerning landscape, the environment, and industrial and science-related stories.

You can support the production of the Documenting Climate Change podcast by becoming a patron.