The Arctic Melt: Photographer Diane Tuft offers a beautiful, frightening look at the disappearing Arctic
posted Monday, April 24, 2017 at 1:35 PM EDT
April 22 marked Earth Day, an occasion to bring special attention to the worldwide movement to improve the health of our environment. Currently, climate change is one of the biggest threats facing our world and fine art environmental photographer Diane Tuft has spent much of her career traveling to remote areas of the globe and documenting the impact of climate change on the environment.
Tuft’s latest book, “The Arctic Melt: Images of a Disappearing Landscape,” is being published by Assouline and showcases Tuft’s incredible work in the Arctic Circle. Regardless of your personal take on why the tundra are disappearing, they are and Tuft’s photos serve as a beautiful reminder of what is being rapidly lost.
Tuft began her exploration for “The Arctic Melt” in 2015 in Norway, where she photographed melting mountain glaciers. She then travelled from Russia through the Arctic Ocean via a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker to see the impacts of warming Arctic air on the ocean, witnessing ice breaking apart and leaving wildlife struggling to survive. In 2016, she visited Greenland, which looked vastly different than it did when she visited nine years prior.
“The effects of climate change in the Arctic are drastic," Tuft says. "It is more important than ever to curb carbon emissions in order to slow down its rapid melt. I hope that my images of this fragile landscape will stimulate discussion and influence policy that will focus on protecting life on Earth.”
Imagery plays an important role in not only encouraging changes in policy, but also making people aware of what is happening in places far from their homes. One of the biggest dangers of the melting Arctic ice, however, is that it doesn’t impact just that region. Very few of us will ever will visit the Arctic in our lifetime and Tuft offers a stunning look at the faraway region. Unfortunately, unless the situation changes, the impacts of climate change on the Arctic will drastically and negatively affect millions of people throughout the entire world because of rising sea levels due to thermal expansion and the melting of land-based ice. You can read more about the impact of melting ice on rising sea levels and the potential consequences in this National Geographic article.
To purchase a copy of “The Arctic Melt,” click here. To see more of Diane Tuft’s work, visit her website.
Note: I received a digital copy of The Arctic Melt prior to its publishing to read for the purposes of this article. No additional compensation was received.