Sebastian Copeland

Author, activist, extreme athlete, environmental advocate, Arctic explorer, and award-winning photographer, is on a mission to educate the world,aboutthe world
By Marlene Caroselli

OREN KIERKEGAARD once observed that education without bias is like love without passion. His bias: the urgent need to create a sustainable future. His love? His passion? The work he does, work that includes Antarctica: The Global Warning, which won him the 2007 Photographer of the Year Award, and Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul, a breathtaking documentary of his Arctic expedition that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Helping people fall in love with the world is a catalyst to wanting to save it, Copeland asserts. His own love aair began when he was a child, fortunate enough to be inuenced by his grandfathers. His maternal grandfather, a surgeon working in India, was an avid hunter who, by midlife, had traded his gun for a camera. Copeland grew up seeing those slides of amazing jungle animals. My grandfather, he acknowledges, communicated his love of animals to me. The grandfather on his fathers side was a philanthropist. He strongly impressed on Copeland the need to give back. Although the two forcesenvironmental awareness and altruismdid not coalesce until he was grown, Copeland was shaped by the moral imperative that asks each of us to maintain our mode of existence in a way that does not negatively impact the world around us. Urgency is apparent in his voice as this director on the board of Global Green USA speaks of the power each person possesses. Granted, he moves among the rich and famous that walk the red carpet one day a year and drive green cars on the

other days. Noting theres a synergy between sustainable living and savings in the pocketbook, Copeland cites some big-city initiatives such as Los Angeles Green Building Resource Center and the City Carbon Index. Yes, there will be the costs associated with initial green-investment, he says, but the conservation measures denitely pay o in the long run. Copeland says individuals, tooeven those at the other end of the nancial spectrumcan express concern for the environment. Energy conservationletting laundry dry in the sun instead of in a clothes dryer, for exampleis but one suggestion. He also points to urban farming, which is catching on all over the country, as well as the need to establish a legal code for the rights of nature. Copeland applauds small towns, where residents use their own resources to create food sources. Hes fascinated by what people do to save money and save energy, especially when facing dire conditions. Each of us can take small steps, he urges. To illustrate, we can all take shorter showers. But we have to do some mental shifting. We have to think sustainability every day. There are big issues, of course, involved with collective mind-sets being rearranged. Weve been conditioned for generations, Copeland worries, to operate within one mode of energy consumption. Comfort, though, doesnt have to be at odds with the environment. The thinking-shift is aected by awareness, by training, by making small, easyto-do changes in our daily pattern of living. These changes, he hopes, will start the process of impacting our elected ocials. Copeland remembers the days when the concept of global warning was met with blank stares. People simply didnt

associate it with anything detrimental. The phrase made many think of longer, lazier summers. That momentous shift in universal consciousness, he believes, will continue. And we inhabitants of the earth will become more and more intolerant of unacceptable behaviors that harm ecosystems and future generations alike. In speaking of the two sustainability factorshumanity and the environmentCopeland envisions a future in which neither one comes at the expense of the other. He fears, if we fail to make necessary changes, that humanity itself will be eclipsed, and not the environment. To prevent that possibility, Copeland knows the future lies with the children.

And hes doing his part: in concert with Green Cross International, he took nine teenagers into the high Arctic. While he admits there was some frustration as he tried to share his passion for full integration with nature, he also realizes that the concept of climate-change awareness is a slow-growing seed with teens. But, he oers, hope evident once again in his voice, these kids are not stupid. Yes, they have other concerns at this age, but ideally the impact of the Arctic experience will be realized as they mature. We have to continue to inuence their sensibilities. My walks with my grandfather made a strong impression on me. But I didnt come to completely appreciate nature until I was much older.

Getting young minds to evolve into selessness is no easy task. Having them understand what Einstein meant when he said the environment is everything that isnt me takes work. But professional and accidental educators dont mind such work. They live by Henry Millers exhortation to love this world, which is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures. Miller also said we have to forget ourselves in order to fulll a higher purpose. Moving young people from ego-centrism to eco-awareness will take considerable teaching and learning. Asked if hed consider working with educators to development curricula aligned with his photographs and documentary, Copeland has a one-word response: Yes!

SEBASTIAN COPELANDS ANTARCTICA | WWW.SEBASTIANCOPELANDADvENTURES.COM

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