INTERVIEW | PAUL NICKLEN: INTO THE ICY REALMS
Intrepid photojournalist Paul Nicklen is bringing National Geographic Live to the Aotea Centre in Auckland for one night only to share some of his most thrilling adventures under the ice and his passion for polar conservation with his show Into the Icy Realms.
At just 4 years of age, his family moved to Northern Baffin Island, Canada, where they lived within a tiny Inuit community of only 200 people. There, his love for the Arctic and Antarctica developed. He was able to see firsthand how interconnected ecosystems are and the evolution of climate change.
“In the next hundred years, scientists project that we’re going to lose half the species on the planet. That’s devastating. If we can’t save these species, can we save ourselves?”
Originally a biologist, although it was rewarding to bring back valuable scientific data from the field, Nicklen found himself dissatisfied at the way the story from the data was being communicated. “And I thought, if I can just become a photojournalist and get a job with National Geographic magazine, I can bridge the gap between the important scientific work that’s being done and the public.” People weren’t reacting to the science, but they would react to a visual portrayal of the science–the data brought to life with vivid images.
“Not just identification images but they have to be close, personal, powerful, intimate–very intimate–images shot at super wide-angle lenses. You’re not just looking at a leopard seal, you’re in the mouth of a leopard seal.” Indeed, his tale of an encounter with a female leopard seal that tried for days to feed him penguins has become the story he is most famous for since his well-received appearance as a guest speaker for TED2011.
Because of his background as a biologist, Nicklen found himself doing more scientific articles for National Geographic, until one day when he asked his editors to let him do an emotional plea to the readers. He admits they “were all a little bit nervous” about doing a piece that strayed from the unbiased middle line of hardcore journalism. However, they were pleasantly surprised when a survey revealed that the article had received the highest readership score in 14 years at National Geographic. “At that point it validated what I needed to do as a journalist. It was okay to do these sort of emotionally driven pieces if I’m going to get people to care.”
Nicklen is certainly doing just that, having received over 20 international awards for his photography. These include awards from World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater the University of Victoria and the first Biogems Visionary Award from the National Resources Defence Council.
After receiving first prize for nature stories in 2010 from World Press Photo, Nicklen felt he needed to go even further. “So, what I’ve done now is I’ve launched an organisation called SeaLegacy.org, and it’s very simple. It’s using the power of photography and visual storytelling to connect people back to the oceans.” SeaLegacy is now aligned with The Humpty Dumpty Institute, a charity whose mission is to put the pieces back together by fostering dialogue between the United Nations, US Congress, universities, the financial community and the artistic community. This also involves participation in their Global Creative Forum, a star-studded event aimed at advancing US foreign policies by building bridges between the United Nations and the Hollywood entertainment industry.
95% of the big pelagic fish are gone already. Only 1% of the ocean is protected…after a while, the numbers all blur together and lose whatever effect they had. Nicklen aims to overcome this by creating “an emotional connection to the things that we’re losing in the ocean.” He goes to extreme lengths to do so, frequently pushing his body to hypothermia and putting himself within mere feet of large marine creatures. Although he would never claim to be fearless, it’s just a normal day in the icy office for Paul Nicklen. “Everyone always likes to talk about the risks that I take, but I don’t see it as risk. I see it as my job,” he states with conviction.
Perhaps the best representation of the disconnect between what people think they know and the actual state of the environment is what Nicklen terms “the Thin Blue Line”. The oceans may appear pristine on the surface, however, “all you have to do is lower your mask about 3 inches…all of a sudden you’re looking at coral bleaching, you’re looking at ocean acidification, you’re looking at the loss of species. You’re seeing the effects that we’re having on the oceans.” In many areas of the world the human footprint is just becoming too big to hide. He vividly recalls walking on the beaches of Mexico just last week where giant sea turtles were digging their nests. “They were creating huge piles of plastic on either side of their nests that they were moving because the beaches were so full of plastic. You couldn’t walk without stepping on plastic.”
In contrast, Nicklen is full of praise for New Zealand, calling it “an example of what’s being done right in the world of conservation.” Although, the past 2 years have seen New Zealand’s government deal heavy blows to our carefully cultivated “clean, green” image. This includes New Zealand being the only country to vote against extending protection to our critically endangered Maui’s dolphin at the world’s largest conservation summit in September 2012, the government’s reluctance to re-commit to the Kyoto Protocol and a highly controversial law passed under urgency earlier this year banning protestors deemed to be interfering with oil exploration vessels. However, he remains steadfastly optimistic about the ability of the few to do a great amount of good. “You have a right to have a voice in Antarctica…Just a small country can have a huge voice, and I think New Zealanders need to step up and say this is in our backyard.”
Nicklen admits he is conscious of sounding too much like a radical environmentalist and turning people off, but his burning passion for marine conservation is all too apparent. One event in particular is currently stoking the flames. “Why does Russia get to have the one voice that can shut down a marine protected area, you know? It should be a democracy.” He is referring to the failed meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to implement proposals for marine protected areas in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean because, out of 24 countries, a single nation said no. The proposals were meant for the Ross Sea, often called “the last ocean” because it is one of the only untouched marine ecosystems left on the planet.
The benefit of marine protected areas to all species, including humans, is something he puts significant emphasis on. Nicklen has just worked on a small one of 10 square kilometers in Cabo Pulmo, which the fishermen themselves fought for. “There’s so much breeding going on that the spill out over the barriers of this breeding area is where the fishermen now just fish and patrol, and they’re getting more catch than they’ve ever had because it’s producing so much life. When you dive in there, it’s just like diving in an aquarium where it’s just so full of life you can’t believe that a place like that still exists. I mean, nature is very resilient, but you have to protect it. You have to create little pockets of marine protected areas.”
As for the climate change skeptics, Nicklen says he does not get upset anymore. “The people with the biggest opinions [refuting climate change] are the people with no education,” he says dismissively. “The best scientists in the world will say that of course climate change is real…I can take solace in knowing that what I’m doing is the right path. And everywhere I go and everywhere I talk about it, people are becoming more and more receptive. Obama started to talk about it at his inauguration speech. He’s now saying, ‘Screw you, Republicans. It’s real and we’re now taking action for the environment’. It gives me little glimmers of hope that we’re headed in the right direction.”
In fact, a recent bipartisan poll shows that three-quarters of young voters in the United States find views that reject the science behind climate change “ignorant, out of touch or crazy”, which may pose an obstacle for Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate, over half of whom deny climate change exists.
Despite the knowledge of climate change, the level of global apathy exhibited towards taking any action to combat it never ceases to amaze Nicklen, although he can understand it on a certain level. “In some ways, I don’t want to have to deal with this. We have all these problems in life…Also, now I’m supposed to worry about polar bears? And even though people know this, they’re not altering their behaviour. It’s like we’re sort of quietly turning a blind eye to what’s disappearing around us. What I’m trying to do is I’m trying to motivate politicians. I’m trying to motivate lawmakers. I’m trying to use my visuals to sway the public. I’m trying to get people to care…When I meet a climate change naysayer, I say ‘give me your data’, because I don’t want to have to care about this. If it’s a natural cycle and it’s going to start cooling tomorrow and polar bears are going to be fine, then, great! I’ll go do something else for a job…Even National Geographic, I’m embarrassed to say, even though we’ve lost 95% of the bluefin tuna in the ocean, National Geographic has a TV show called ‘Wicked Tuna: the last of the big bluefin tuna hunters’. I find that extremely discouraging.”
If Paul Nicklen is ever discouraged, one could never tell. An emotive, intelligent speaker and a talented wildlife photographer, he advocates tirelessly in the name of environmental conservation.
“We are going to lose a lot of species, but, for myself, on my deathbed, I need to know that I did everything that I could.”
First published for Mac+Mae 2013.
