Photo project will focus on green heroes.
A photo project promoting individuals who act as role models in the fight against climate change has been co-founded by a Gates alumnus.
Climate Heroes was founded by two photographers, Stéphane Parnis and Gates alumnus Maxime Riché. It aims to highlight the work of outstanding individuals who can act as “inspirational models”. It seeks to:
– Highlight positive actions that bring actual solutions
– Offer the public a new vision of climatic issues which is more readily accessible through examples taken from a widerange of stakeholders, including ordinary citizens, scientists and industrial figures
– Provoke thought, inspire and foster behavioural changes.
Working with research institutes, the photographers want to promote positive action. Riché says: “We are aware of the victims of climate change, and the vulnerable populations paying a high price for current climate upheavals. They are the witnesses of what is in store for all of us if we do not start acting now. We are deeply convinced of this. However, how to act and where to start? The scale of the task paralyses most of us. But it does not discourage the Climate Heroes, those men and women who have decided to start acting.
“We aim to promote these individuals in the hope that their example will have the power to inspire us. They are heroes who fight to understand, anticipate or limit the impacts of climate change. The Climate Heroes photo project highlights their daily struggle, along with the solutions they try to promote. Their example gives us the necessary strength to answer the question “how can I start acting now?”
Climate Heroes will culminate in a final exhibition in December 2012 (the date of the Earth Summit, Rio+20) and will include scientific texts supporting the portraits showcased.
The project is currently building an advisory board comprised of renowned photographers and scientists (UN ambassadors, World Press award recipients and NGO founders). It welcomes feedback from scholars or top climate scientists who would be interested in acting as an advisor to the project.
Maxime completed his MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise in 2006.
For more information about the project please visit www.theclimateheroes.org.
