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
1964, United States
British/French
Los Angeles, United States
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.
Water shortlist
Benoit Aquin, The Chinese 'Dust Bowl', 2006-2007
Edward Burtynsky, Selected works, 1996-2007
Jesus Abad Colorado, Landscapes and Battles: Two wings wait for the end of the tragedy, 1995-2002
Thomas Joshua Cooper, The World's Edge - The Atlantic Basin Project, 1998-2006
Sebastian Copeland, Antarctica - The Global Warning, 2006
Christian Cravo, Waters of Hope, Rivers of Tears, 1995-2008
Lynn Davis, Ice, 1988-2007
Carl De Keyzer, Moments before the Flood, 2006-2007
Reza Deghati, War and Peace, 1994-2006
Susan Derges, Eden & The Observer and the Observed, 1991-2008
Malcolm Hutcheson, Lahore's Waste Water Problem, 2008
Chris Jordan, In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster, 2005
David Maisel, Terminal Mirage & The Lake Project, 2001-2004
Mary Mattingly, Second Nature and Time Has Fallen Asleep, 2004-2008
Robert Polidori, After The Flood, 2005-2006
Roman Signer, Body of Work, 1976-2000
Jules Spinatsch, Snow Management, 2004-2008
Munem Wasif, Water Tragedy: Climate Refugee of Bangladesh, 2007