For many years, my landscape photography has served as an expression of my feelings about my relationship with nature. To put a finer point on it, there are times, when I am immersed in nature, when I feel an intense sense of awe and am humbled by the realization that I am but a tiny strand in the Web of Life. It is my feelings at such moments that I have tried to capture in my photographs.

However, I am increasingly aware that, over the course of my life, the Web of Life has been unraveling at an accelerating rate. Today, we are at a crucial point in the history of the planet. Certainly, Earth has seen extreme changes in its climate during its 4.5-billion-year history, and such changes will continue, apart from human influence. But the changes we are seeing today are unfolding at an astounding -- and sobering -- rate, relative to geological time, due primarily to human-caused emission of carbon into the atmosphere. Throughout human history, there has never been anything like what we’re seeing today. I am convinced that if we -- the human species -- don’t take drastic action to forestall climate change in the immediate future (and maybe even if we do), our grandchildren and subsequent generations will experience unimaginable environmental and social challenges.

These changes cast a different light on my photography. While it remains a form of deep personal expression, it is also evolving into a celebration of the natural beauty that still exists on this planet (albeit tenuously) and, I fear, a memoriam to the beauty and diversity that once was. If this sounds like an extreme or unrealistic view of our situation, I encourage you to read “Eaarth” by Bill McKibben, whose premise is that we now live on a new and unpredictable planet, and “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, a preeminent environmental scientist who connects the dots among the myriad changes that are now underway and will be unfolding over the coming decades. It’s not a pretty picture.

Yet, I continue to make pretty pictures. Why? I want to show others what we are destroying. I want to show people who might not have access to places of great natural beauty that Earth is precious, fragile, and -- as far as we know -- unique. I want to show that the Web of Life is in dire need of our attention, and that mankind must take action now, to protect it.

All life on Earth is interconnected. Everything relates somehow to everything else. In that sense, life is a system, a web. For the first time in the history of our planet, human actions are destroying that web at a global level. Earth's climate is changing at a rate that far exceeds plant and animal species’ ability to adapt, leading to rapid extinctions, crop failures, extreme weather phenomena, and rising sea levels. Protecting the Web of Life has become our number-one priority; doing so must transcend political, religious and geographic boundaries. This is a global concern, essential to our own survival. We, the people of Earth, must put aside our differences and join together across the globe to heal the Web of Life. My hope is that my photographs will contribute in some small way to heightening our awareness of the value of the Web of Life and the need to protect it.

I explain these views in greater depth here.