Antarctica: The Global Warning, Sebastian Copeland's photography

Sebastian Copeland Antarctica: The Global Warning

Farewell, 2006

The Whale and the Skua, 2006

Ice Floes, 2006

SOS, Passengers of the Ice Lady, 2006

Ice Floe, 2006

Gentoo Penguin, 2006

Stormy Weather, 2006

Ice Graveyard, 2006

Gentoo Rookery, 2006

Artist's statement

The fate of Antarctica foretells the fate of the earth. Temperatures have risen on the western slope of this most southern continent by over 2.5ºC during the last fifty years alone. And icebergs four and ten times larger than Manhattan broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000 and 2002 – a sure sign of increased ice melt caused by global warming. The rapid changes in this stark yet fragile icy realm may sound the last warning before the destruction of our environment as we know it today.

Sebastian Copeland witnessed the accelerated devastation of the Antarctic ice shelf while aboard the research vessel The Ice Lady Patagonia in 2006 and 2007. His journeys were taken on behalf of Global Green. Photographer Copeland captured both the awesome beauty of Antarctica and documented signs of the alarming changes that the continent isundergoing. In Antarctica: The Global Warning he presents these images of otherworldly glaciers, fields and fjords, and also photographic evidence of the massive inroads that climate change has already made on the continent. 

In addition, Antarctica features text by Copeland detailing scientific data and his personal insights about climate change, including how and why the arctic regions North and South continue to melt at an increasingly rapid pace. Rounding out the book is commentary from Stanford professor and global warming expert Stephen Schneider; Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green; The Ecologist magazine director and editor Zac Goldsmith; as well as polar adventurers David de Rothschild and Will Steger.

About the photographer

Born

1964, United States

Nationality

British/French

Based in

Los Angeles, United States

About Sebastian Copeland

Sebastian Copeland is a photographer, lecturer and environmental activist. He serves on the Board of Directors of Global Green USA, an affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International. Global Green has spearheaded such programs as the sustainable rebuilding of New Orleans, as well as Green Schools, Affordable Housing and the Global Solar Fund.

Copeland’s portrait work has appeared in hundreds of publications worldwide, including GQ, Marie Claire, The Face, Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair. Copeland won the 2007 Professional Photographer of the Year Award at International Photography Awards (IPA) for his book Antarctica. In 2006 Copeland won two first place awards at the (IPA) for his images of Antarctica.