MISSION

To thrive in their challenging Arctic homeland, Inuit rely upon the wisdom and guidance of traditional knowledge passed down for millennia. This traditional ecological and adaptive knowledge, called Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in Inuktitut, includes not only a road map for navigating the physical landscape, but also guidance for safely negotiating the spiritual landscape as well. For Inuit the two are the same, encompassed by a sentient, animate, mystic power permeating all of existence they call Sila.

I have heard Sila described this way:

“Sila is our concept for the weather, the climate, the mind, consciousness. It is the universal order where man is in unity with nature. Sila is the shared life that the sea, wind, mountains, animals, and humans possess. When you share consciousness with nature you treat nature with respect.”

For more than three decades I have traveled with Inuit and Sami companions across the Arctic from Alaska to Canada to Greenland to Norway on foot, by dogsled, canoe, kayak, ski, snowshoe, snowmobile, fishing trawler, helicopter, and bush plane in order to document not only the land, people, and wildlife of the far north, but also the dramatic environmental and cultural changes taking place at the top of the world.

To tell these stories I needed to get to know the land, the people, and the wildlife intimately. I had to get close. I had to spend long periods living up there out on the sea ice, out on the tundra, out on the winter and summer trails. I had to participate, to listen, and be attentive.

Pursuing these stories and photographs I have spent nights waking to the sound of sled dogs howling, telling me that polar bears were sniffing around my camp. I’ve traveled over the sea ice through blizzards and subzero temperatures with Inuit hunters. I’ve frosted my fingers and toes and cheeks, been swarmed by billions of mosquitoes and blackflies, and come face-to-face with more grizzly and polar bears than I can count.

But in pursuing these stories and photographs I have also sledded into remote villages in the middle of frigid snowy nights and been warmly welcomed. I have camped on the sea ice at the floe-edge with narwhal and seal hunters. I have migrated with Sami reindeer herders through blinding snowstorms at the top of the Norwegian Arctic. I have learned traditional skills from elders who were born and raised in tents and igloos “out on the land.” I have stood in the snow at 30 below zero and watched with awe as the aurora borealis swirled and snapped across the inky night sky.

My mission is to bring back stories and images of still intact ecosystems and traditional cultures, for the two go hand-in-hand. Through these stories we can learn how to live wisely within biophysical limits, adapting to change while preserving the natural systems and the successful local traditions that are so vital to the health of the planet.

Through my words and images I hope the audience will feel kinship with the landscapes, the people, and the wildlife of the world's last wild regions. I hope they will take a good look, and get close. And if they see something that moves them, I hope they are inspired to take action, to learn from these people and adopt their worldviews, and strive to make sure these scenes and ways of life do not vanish forever.