Our Beautiful, Fragile World

Our Beautiful, Fragile World features a career-spanning look at the images of photojournalist Peter Essick taken while on assignment for National Geographic magazine. In this book, Essick showcases a diverse series of photographs from some of the most beautiful natural areas in the world and documents major contemporary environmental issues, such as climate change and nuclear waste.

Each photograph is accompanied by commentary on the design process of the image, Essick’s personal photographic experiences, and informative highlights from the research he completed for each story. Our Beautiful, Fragile World takes the reader on a journey around the globe, from the Oulanka National Park near the Arctic Circle in Finland to the Adelie penguin breeding grounds in Antarctica.

Our Beautiful, Fragile World will interest photographers of all skill levels. It carries an important message about conservation, and the photographs provide a compelling look at our environment that will resonate with people of all ages who care about the state of the natural world.

Foreword by Jean-Michel Cousteau.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Trobriand Islands: A Microcosm of our Dwindling Resources
3. The Golden Grain: Before a Tarnished Image
4. Creating a New World: Wasting Water Along the Way
5. No Dam Good: Too Many People
6. Inner Japan: Zen and the Art of Living Close to Nature
7. On the Environmental Beat: Finding a New Voice
8. Fish Story: Clean Water and Well-to-Do Anglers
9. California Desert Lands: The Sublime and the Desolate
10. Our National Forests: Spotted Owls and Smog-Stressed Trees
11. The Colorado: A River Not Quite as Grand
12. Mother Nature: The Perfect Collaborator
13. Easy Ways of the Altamaha: Time to Reflect
14. American Wilderness: A System Like No Other
15. Dangerous Work: A Close Call in Tracy Arm, Alaska
16. A Trip to Mars: Exploring Wilderness in the High North
17. Mining Hard Rocks: Polluting, Royalty-Free
18. Butte, Montana: Long After the Boom Went Bust
19. New Caledonia: Endemic Plants and Nickel Mining
20. The Boreal: A Great Forest Under Threat
21. Three Mile Island: Where Nuclear Hopes Melted Down
22. Photographing the Infinity Room: Timing is Everything
23. Global Freshwater: Not Enough to Go Around
24. Pink Waters: Along the Yellow River
25. The Most Beautiful Place in the World: IMHO
26. The Carbon Cycle: Reporting on Disturbing News
27. The Amazon: Lungs of the Earth, Burning
28. Climate Change: The Atmosphere Doesn’t Lie
29. Climate Change: Bugs Like it Better than Frogs
30. The Maldives: A Coral Paradise Slipping Away
31. Adélie Penguins: A Boat Ride to Remember
32. Climate Scientists: Our Modern-Day Prophets
33. The Chesapeake: Why Can’t We Save the Bay?
34. Afternoon Thunderstorm: Nonpoint Source Pollution
35. Modern Chemistry: Convenient with some Side Effects
36. Nicaraguan Grown: Cigars with a Touch of Fungicide
37. The Eyeless Child: Looking for Justice in a Dark World
38. Chance Encounter: A Symbol of Technology Gone Wrong
39. Plastics: Cheap, Durable, and Hard to Recycle
40. An Ozark Snowstorm: Worth the Drive
41. Darwin at 200: An Extraordinary Voyage and Place
42. Canadian Oil Sands: Money Can Justify Anything
43. A Tragic Beauty: Two Wings to Fly
44. Finnish Moonlight: Sometimes it All Works Out
45. Adapting to Change: An Example from Greenland
46. Midday Light, Low Tide: The Best Time to Photograph
47. Fraser Island: Pure Dingoes and Dunes
48. Ansel Adams Wilderness: Let the Mountains Talk
49. Lake Erie: A Not-So-Natural Summer Green
50. The Mermaid Show: Florida Before the Sprawl
51. Fertilizer: Can’t Live Without It or With It
52. Afterword
53. Acknowledgements
54. Technical Information