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Global South Solutions / Geographical

Citizens of the global south have done the least to cause global climate change, but are at the greatest risk from its bad tail effects.

This August and September I had the honour of speaking to seven leaders, scientists and activists from Bolivia, Brazil, Easter Island (Chile), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, East Timor and Indonesia.

Each of them told their own countries story of how climate change is biting, but there was an underlying theme to all the interviews I carried out. Developing nations are being called on by the global north to preserve their forests to help reduce global emissions and develop on a different pathway to the denuded and exploited landscapes of the global north. But the developed nations are not willing to foot the bill for this mitigation of their own pollution.

The 4000 word story ran in the special COP26 November issue of Geographical magazine. You can read a full online version here.

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Taking the ego out of adventure / Geographical

I wrote this feature story for @geographical_magazine recently, asking what expectation we should have of modern explorers in the wake of the climate and environmental crisis.

I got to interview both Ernest Shakelton’s and Neil Armstrong’s biographers about what role historical explorers of land, sea and space felt they had to report on its problems as well as its beauty on their return to civilisation.

I then turned to today’s explorers with the help of my friends at @shefadvfilmfest to ask if modern explorers are bringing back stories about our troubled planet as much as selfies.

The conclusion was that planetary advocacy by today’s adventurers is still in a nascent state, but the public appetite is growing. I think we are going to see a lot more expeditions into the world’s wild places in the coming years that put the planet rather than the self at the centre of the story.

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#adventureactivism #enviroadventures#adventure #adventureforourplanet#enviornmentalism #freelancewriter

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Queremos Parque / Runner’s World

Runner’s World doubled-down with this double-page spread from our clandestine October 2020 expedition into the Río Colorado Basin this March. Over the last two years I have been working to help draw international attention to the Queremos Parque (We Want a Park) campaign that seeks to create a high-quality national park for Santiago’s  disenfranchised and concrete-crowded citizens. The possible imminent success of the campaign has been described as potentially the biggest conservation story in Chilean history.

 

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Anglo American evalúa comprar todo el Santuario de la Naturaleza Los Nogales / Interferencia

This story for Chilean investigative news house Interferencia was a collaboration with journalist Diego Ortiz and was the culmination of several years of researching the multinational mine company´s plans to expand operations, effect glaciers and threaten water supply in the pre-cordillera above Santiago with ramifications for half of the nation´s 17million people who live in the Metropolitan area. 

You can read it here. (Spanish language only).

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Democratise the mountains / Thomson Reuters Foundation

A feature story and photo package for Thompson Reuters Foundation today about the Chilean grassroots campaign Queremos Parque that is on the brink of convincing the government to create a 1,420km2 national park on the doorstep of the capital. 

The campaign’s plan is to create recreational opportunities in this rampantly unequal country for the majority who are geographically and economically excluded from accessing the national park system. Also Queremos Parque believes the park creation will protect the glaciers and Santiago’s water supply from the advance of the mining industry. 

You can read the article here. 

Storytelling and photography from an Earth Rise Productions expedition. 

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Investigation. Anglo American’s error undermines its promise of no glacier impacts for $3bn Chilean copper project / Desmog

For the last year I have been investigating a local glacier contamination story, with an impact that is experienced by Santiago’s 7million. 

When mining company Anglo American released a “Fake News” statement partly in response to my previous investigation into the CO2 emissions associated with their Los Bronces operations, they added that their glacier contamination was “less than 10% of the Swiss norm.”

I followed up with the Swiss Office for the Environment and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research. The finding was that the ambient limit values for glacier contamination that the mining company has been using to justify current operations and their future Los Bronces Integrado expansion – don’t apply to glaciers at all.

Following the publication of the article, the local mayor Cristóbal Lira announced an investigation into the compliance by Anglo American with its environmental commitments.

I would like to express deep thanks to the glaciologists, air pollution scientists, environmental lawyers, NGOs and members of Chilean civil society who supported this investigation.

You can read the article here as originally published by DeSmog; or here for Chilean investigative news site Interferencia, in Spanish.

 

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