Facing Climate Change

Illustrating Global Change through Local People

Photographer

Benjamin Drummond with multimedia stories by Sara Joy Steele

Concept

Climate change is a global problem, but every community has a local story. Whether the impacts are direct or make existing challenges worse, these are the stories society needs to know. We have to learn them from each other, see them in the news, make art about them and discuss them in our schools. After all, people cause, face the consequences of, and must collectively stop this climate crisis. But to mobilize global effort we must generate local will.

Facing Climate Change is a long-term documentary project that tells the story of global change through local people. From semi-nomadic reindeer herdsmen in the Arctic to wildfire fighters of the American West, Benj and Sara use photography and multimedia to document the lives of people around the world as they confront and adapt to the complex issues surrounding global warming. This project began with a series of stories about Sámi reindeer herders in Norway, volunteer glacier monitors from Iceland and fishermen of the North Atlantic. Benj and Sara are currently working in the American West.

Biography

As a documentary team, Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele have been telling stories about people, nature and climate change for almost a decade. Over the last two years their personal project, Facing Climate Change, has been featured in Photo District News, Orion Magazine and Mother Jones, in exhibitions from the Ansel Adams / Mumm Napa Fine Art Gallery to Houston Center for Photography, and as a multimedia presentation shown at a variety of venues, from colleges and prisons to art galleries. Their work has been awarded Nau's Grant for Change, a Blue Earth Lottery Project Grant, and the Our World Portfolio Review Orion/PhotoAlliance Award. Benj and Sara are currently based in Seattle, Washington.

www.facingclimatechange.org

Project Updates

Fall 2009:

Benj and Sara have been awarded Nau's first-ever Grant for Change! Over the next year, this $10,000 prize will help them create a new series of stories for Facing Climate Change.

Facing Climate Change was featured in September's Photo District News. The issue is devoted to "photographers making a difference."

The Ansel Adams Gallery and Blue Earth are proud to host an inspiring photo exhibit and lecture series called “Changing Earth: Photographer’s Call to Action” at Mumm Napa Fine Art Photography Gallery through March 13, 2010. Join Benj and Sara for their lecture on Saturday, November 7th at 10:30am.

The exhibition Sara curated for the Three Degrees climate change conference last May has returned to the University of Washington School of Law. Visit the Facing Climate Change events page to learn more.

Visit Benj and Sara's new Web site, bdsjs.com. You can now view their comprehensive portfolios, browse their latest climate change stories or check out their services, among other new features.

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