WVPE is your gateway to green and sustainable resources in Michiana. Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is accomplished by finding a balance between businesses, the environment, and our society (people, planet, and profit).State, National and International resources on sustainability include:The Environmental Protection AgencyThe Natural StepSustainability Dictionary45 Sustainability Resources You Need to Know Explore ways to support sustainability in the Michiana area through the Green Links Directory.Sept. 17, 2019 from 2-3:30pm"Global Warming: A Hot Topic"Sept. 17, 19, 24, and 26All sessions are from 2-3:30pmGreencroft Goshen Community Center in the Jennings Auditorium1820 Greencroft Blvd.Goshen, IN 46526The event will look at possible solutions and suffering as well as consequences beyond warmer weather. The event will examine what other civilizations have or haven’t done when faced with environmental problems. Plus there will be an exploration of the biggest unknown in the climate system: What will the humans do? Paul Meyer Reimer teaches physics, math and climate change at Goshen College. The events are presented by the Lifelong Learning Institute. The Institute can be reached at: (574) 536-8244lifelonglearning@live.comhttp://life-learn.org/
Their lands are oceans apart but are linked by rising, warming seas of climate change
Editor's note: As the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Summit convenes, NPR's Picture Show is taking a look at work by artists and visual journalists that highlight climate change.
Vlad Sokhin's interest in climate change came from his own global upbringing.
Born in Russia, and having spent formative years in Portugal, Sokhin made a career as a documentary photographer capturing health and human rights issues in Europe, Africa and Asia. Yet it was a 2013 assignment to cover deforestation in Papua New Guinea that convinced him to train his lens onhumanity's impact on the planet.
"I saw how the environment was changing because of illegal logging," Sokhin tells NPR. "But the big picture wasn't there. I thought, 'What if I extend a little bit?'"
Eight years and thousands of miles later, the result isWarm Waters, (Schilt Publishing, 2021) an exploration of climate change traveling across 18 countries and off-the-map territories seen by seldom few.
Within his native Russia, Sokhin, 40, spends time with communities on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Across the Barents Sea, he photographs native Inupiat and Yupik settlements in Alaska. Both are confronting the same coastal erosion and melting permafrost — the once-frozen soil layer now fast disappearing throughout the Arctic region.
Mostly, Sokhin explores Oceania —the South Pacific — where rising tides have inundated communities in places like the Aleutian Islands, Micronesia, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Tuvalu. Some may recover, others may soon be lost to the sea forever. Yet Sokhin's lens is constantly drawn to locals trying to adapt the best they can.
As a book, Warm Waters is no straightforward travel narrative. Sokhin eschews the traditional format of photos with captions and location information,and instead opts for what he calls"tonal narratives" — unexpected visual connections across cultures, countries, and, of course, bodies of water.
"You can see what's happening there and it doesn't matter which island it is," says Sokhin. "This is affecting everyone."
At its core, Warm Waters is one photographer's attempt to show how global warming is connecting seemingly disparate lives across vast distances.
What Sokhin finds is cause for extreme worry, of course; but also moments of resilience and wonder.
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