Seeing Our Interconnected Nature

Collectively humans are influential enough that we are changing the climate. Yet, individually we are vulnerable to the storms, droughts, heat waves, and freezes that result from climate change. No matter how much of our lives we spend inside, we are still a part of nature.

At a time when Americans, on average, spend 93 percent of their lives indoors, I photographed organizations and industries that bring people into contact with nature. I also photographed the people who are helping us see our connections with the larger living community: Neuroscientists researching the beneficial effects of spending time outside, and climate scientists measuring the degree to which human activity influences the atmosphere. According to climate science, there is no place on Earth unaltered by people. Yet, neuroscience suggests that wild places are integral to our health and happiness. From literal urban jungles to so-called untarnished wilderness, my work examines our relationship to the natural world and the desire for “wild” places—even when those places are human constructions.