Immortal Planet Project: New York City

Climate change is a real problem.  At the very least, the face of our planet will be changed forever, and many of its landscapes and wildlife populations will be deeply impacted.  At worst, millions or potentially billions of human lives will be adversely affected as the earth’s livable land space and food production capacity shrink.  In the United States, climate change in general is a "back burner" issue.  In recent years, the argument about the use of fossil fuels accelerating the warming of the planet has been coopted and transformed into an argument about dependence on foreign oil in an attempt to keep the majority of Americans engaged, and has simultaneously steered away from actually reducing the creation of greenhouse gases.  This has to change.  We as a country need to raise awareness within our borders about the reality, severity and immediacy of climate change.

Toward this end, I want to start by creating a 10 image photographic series capturing the most beautiful parts of New York City’s coastal landscapes as they are now, before melting ice and rising seas erase or change them forever.   I plan to create large color prints using the best archival techniques that will last for centuries to come, to serve hopefully as a reminder of the planet we preserved, but if not, as a memento of the planet we left behind.

Check out the working gallery here.

See also my Green Planet collection here.

If this project is a success, I plan to expand the scope to cover other sacred coastal areas of the United States, with the hope of one day capturing a complete representation of the coastline.