The Pregnant Messenger, (left), 2005, by David Buckland (right) Planet Green
- buckland The Pregnant Messenger, (left), 2005, by David Buckland (right) Planet Green
- snowball Ice Lens, 2005, by Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey. Courtesy Cape Farewell
- kt tunstall Musician KT Tunstall during a safety briefing. Nathan Gallagher, courtesy Cape Farewell
- vanessa carleton Musician Vanessa Carlton boarding a ship. Nathan Gallagher, courtesy Cape Farewell
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David Buckland is an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker, and designer whose work has appeared in venues such as the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. But Buckland’s latest project has taken him far from the halls of high art and into the lands and seas of the High Arctic to explore the effects of climate change.
Inspiration struck while reading a newspaper article, and in 2000, Buckland created (and now directs) the Cape Farewell Project. To date, he has led five voyages on board the schooner Noorderlicht to the High Arctic, taking with him artists, scientists, and other big-thinkers, in an effort to a make connection between the effects of global warming and the people—such as KT Tunstall, Rachel Whiteread, and TreeHugger founder Graham Hill (who is on the current trip)—who have the power to help establish the fight against climate change as a "cultural responsibility." While guests are invited with no strings attached, the results of their trips have led to a range of outcomes, from art to music to musings, many of which are captured on the Cape Farewell blog, which is kept by the travelers during their voyage. For Buckland, Arctic inspiration has unfolded in the form of a book, Burning Ice: Art & Climate Change; a film, Art from the Arctic; and various other works.
We caught up with Buckland just before he departed for his most recent adventure, which launched last week (check out images in the slideshow at right), to talk about his heroes, environmental "thuggery," and making the atmosphere a World Heritage site.
How did you get into this line of work?
I was sitting in a cafe in Venice in 1999 reading the Guardian. I had just finished an all-nighter photographing the sculpture of Sir Anthony Caro for a book called Trojan Wars, and I came across an article that described the work of a mathematician named Dr. Richard Wood who had made a "model" of the whole of the North Atlantic Ocean. I thought this was really wild because being a passionate sailor, I know how complex the oceans are.
On my return to London I contacted Wood. He had also made one of the first climate mathematical models—it took four months on a super computer just to crunch the numbers. One thing led to another and, within a year, I got to know all the climate scientists in the UK and many abroad.
What was your a-ha moment?
When I realized that the climate scientists couldn't get anyone to listen to them because they were talking in graphs and data, I started the Cape Farewell project. Initially, the brief I gave to all the creative minds participating in the project was to engage, talk to scientists, and come up with new ways of communicating that would inspire and empower others. The green bug has now become a virus, and the Cape Farewell project reaches out and virally inspires others.
Who is your green hero?
My heroes are the artists, writers, musicians, architects, filmmakers, and educators who have given their time, creativity, energy, and bravery to travel with Cape Farewell into the High Arctic. They have created and continue to create fantastic work that really does inspire the cultural shift that is necessary if we are going to find a solution to the climate challenge.
What is your ultimate green goal?
To give to my children a society that is exciting, visionary, fair, and sustainable. The alternative is unimaginable and not an option.
What is your motivation?
Breathing. Humans are just extraordinary; we have such an amazing life force with the capability to create an awesome existence. To throw that away with cynical thuggery would be so, so stupid.
What is most important to you, ecologically speaking? A Californian artist, Amy Balkin, was on last year's expedition in the Arctic and she came up with the simplest and most eloquent idea: "Lets make the atmosphere a World Heritage site." We only have life on this planet because we have a totally unique life-giving atmosphere, which we currently use as a dumping ground for all of our waste. We have to put the investment in place to clean up our act. Two hundred years ago, we used to throw all of our bodily waste into the street, until we learned that this was the cause of typhoid and cholera. It cost a fortune to put in the infrastructure to clean up our streets and our lives. Now we have to bite the bullet and pay to clean up our atmosphere.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
As director of Cape Farewell, the most difficult part was to shift the "climate" emphasis away from the sciences and make it a cultural responsibility. The scientific body has done and continues to do an incredible job in flagging up just how important climate change is, but science doesn't cause the problem; the way we have evolved our lives is the cause of over-heating the planet. We desperately need a cultural shift that is physically sustainable. No easy objective, but it is attainable and the prize is a much more exciting way to live with a whole new set of values and deeper emotions.
What is the most rewarding?
This comes often: every time one of the Cape Farewell artists creates a new song or artwork that is so damn elegant and beautiful.
Of the people you have worked with, who impresses you most?
I enjoy the company of scientists and my biggest personal pleasure is seeing the creative meeting of scientific and artistic minds. It happens very often on the expeditions and always gives a thrill of new possibility. Why have these two communities moved apart? Maybe one of the benefits of the climate challenge is seeing the amalgamation and social power of combining these two essential creative forces.
What green thing do you do everyday?
I love to sail, but, alas, this doesn't happen every day. The photovoltaics solar panels on my roof inspire me every time I see the electricity meter run backwards and I become a power exporter.
What do you wish you could do?
What I am doing. It's stressful, hard work, and challenging, but I get to live and work with the company of some incredible people and I have the privilege of working in the Arctic. That place is just so awesome and beautiful and overpowering.
What is your eco-sin?
I have a BMW motorbike to get around London and to and from airports. Hey, BMW guys: Why can't you make me a nice electric throbbing machine?
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Political will. It is calculated that the Iraq war has cost the US and UK taxpayers more than $2 trillion. Just think of the place we could now live in if that money had been invested in developing sustainable energy sources and a creative and unstoppable force of change.
What is your best green advice?
Create a cultural shift. Let’s all work toward making what is a mess into what is sustainable.
Change Makers is series of interviews with people famous and obscure who are creating a more sustainable world through their work. Meet more Change Makers here.
Related Content on the Arctic and Climate Change from TreeHugger:
Cape Farewell: A New Expedition Sets Sail
Climate Change Archives on TreeHugger
Arctic Climate Tipping Point Happening Now! Sea Ice in Its "Death Spiral"
TreeHugger Arctic Archives
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