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Environment Committee
Charge:
Keep NANPA members informed and motivated toward using their skills and
knowledge for environmental issues. Review applications and make
recommendations to the Foundation Board for the Philip Hyde Grant.
This was one of the first committees established. Few groups know more than
nature photographers about the beauty, complexity, and endangered status of
nature. Many members have stated the obvious importance of being active in
environmental protection since our photographic subjects and locations are at
risk.
Issues this committee is concerned with range from the use of photographs as
conservation and activist tools, the ethics of how pictures are made and
captioned, to questions of photography's contribution to pollution.
Past Projects -
- The Environment Committee conducted a survey
of members about the most important environmental issues confronting and of
interest to them. This has been used by all of NANPA to help guide programs and
policies.
- The mission of the North American Nature Photography
Association, adopted by the Board of Directors in 1995, includes the charge
"...to promote nature photography ... as a medium of communication for the
sciences, nature appreciation, and environmental protection." The
Environment Committee prepared an Environmental
Statement that expands on the NANPA Mission Statement regarding
environmental protection. The NANPA Board of Directors approved the Environmental
Statement in January 2002. The Environmental Statement describes
the member attributes that will allow us to individually further the NANPA
mission and collectively make a difference. The statement specifically
encourages independent environmental activities on the part of NANPA members.
- The committee encourages member involvement
in environmental issues. Environment Committee members have published articles
in Currents, including the recent "Photography
is still a powerful tool for activism" and participated in
programs about how to use pictures for environmental action and how to work
with conservation groups. "Fax on Demand" or mail-out packets have
been available for distribution from the NANPA Resource Center, since spring
1997. These include a list of "Hidden Forests" in need of photos and
friends, the packet on local nature camera clubs and using photos in
environmental campaigns and information on silver recovery from spent
photographic solutions.
- The Environment Committee recommended and
the Board approved NANPA joining the Alaska Coalition via the Alaska Wilderness League. The
Alaska Wilderness League endorses the goal of protecting the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and supports efforts to add its 1.5
million-acre Coastal Plain to our nation's wilderness preservation system. They
also support efforts to protect the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.
- The Environment Committee worked with the
Ethics committee on the NANPA Statement on Captioning and continues
to provide important guidance to other NANPA committees and members on issues
of environmental ethics and actions.
- We are active in coordinating NANPA's
interaction with environmental groups and other service organizations (Society
of Environmental Journalists, etc.). Among the tangible results of this is a
growing environmental issues discussion at annual Summits.
- We developed the application process for
the Phillip Hyde Grant Award, a $1000 grant made by NANPA's Foundation
to photographers working on environmental projects.
Current and On-going Projects -
- 2007 SUMMIT EVENT - The NANPA Environment Committee invites all 2007 NANPA Summit attendees to a Community Outreach Event celebrating the work of conservation photographers and their collaborators. Admission will be charged to the public to raise funds for a conservation project; NANPA members will be admitted free. For more information see the Community Outreach Event Page.
- Discover Life in America (DLIA) is the
non-profit organization that is overseeing the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory
(ATBI) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. DLIA's mission is to
discover every species that exists in the Park and make this information
available to the public via various web sites. NANPA is supporting DLIA by
developing a partnership to link NANPA members with ATBI scientists and to
support the ATBI Photo Workshops. To learn more, see the DLIA web site at http://www.dlia.org/. There is also training and registration
information for volunteer photographers at http://www.dlia.org/dlia/volunteer.html.
- The committee develops recommendations to the Summit Advisory Council
regarding environmental agenda items for future Annual Summit meetings. The
recommendations are designed to ensure that environmental topics will be a
regular feature of keynote addresses and breakout sessions.
- We are active in promoting and coordinating NANPA's interaction with
environmental and conservation organizations. Among the tangible results of this
is a growing environmental issues discussion at annual Summits.
- At the 2004 Annual Summit in Portland, the Environment Committee
set up the Environmental Corner in the Exhibit Hall. The Environment Corner
provided informational materials from environmental and conservation
organizations in the northwest United States. This information served to inform
to our members about local issues and demonstrated the fact that these
organizations have an on-going need for high quality images. We intend to have
an Environmental Corner at the 2005 summit in Charlotte and at the 2006 summit
in Denver. The goal is to encourage the creation of more linkages
between our members and these organizations.
- The Environment Committee wants to promote information sharing among
our members. Many of our members are involved with professional and pro-bono
projects for environmental and conservation organizations or budget-constrained
government organizations. If members who have done projects can share
information about their projects with others, then we assume that our members
will learn about why these projects are rewarding and how to go about doing such
projects. Moreover, we hope they’ll be motivated to do their own projects. Over
the next few years we hope to use member surveys, web site message boards, web
site informational pages, guidance documents and Annual Summit breakout sessions
to further this goal.
- The Environment Committee provides regular
Environmental Alerts to our members via the
Environmental Alerts
page on the NANPA web site. These alerts are meant to inform members of critical
issues affecting the environment that we photograph. We encourage members to
research the issues and make their own decisions.
The Future -
The Environment Committee is at the heart of NANPA. It's not about making
money or getting published or the latest equipment but rather about our mutual
love for nature and the Earth that drew us into nature photography. Each of us
is already doing our part, but there is more to do, more to learn, more to
teach, and more to protect.
What we really need are active leaders for the environmental projects we'd
like to do. The projects we hope to undertake will be focused on:
- Networking among members regarding their environmental
projects, as noted.
- Naturalist and natural science training for
photographers.
- Continuing to develop connections between NANPA
members and local environmental organizations that need help with photography,
as noted above.
- Providing NANPA volunteer assistance in parks and
refuges that have significant public photography opportunities or projects.
Site Index Search Disclaimers Contact Us
North American Nature Photography Association
10200 West 44th Avenue, Suite 304
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033-2840, USA
Phone: 303-422-8527
Fax: 303-422-8894
E-mail: info@nanpa.org
© 2001 All Rights Reserved
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