Editor’s note: Call to the Earth is a CNN editorial series dedicated to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, along with solutions. Perpetual Planet by Rolex The initiative is partnering with CNN to bring awareness and education around key sustainability issues and encourage positive action.
CNN
–
Originally a term used by African trophy hunters, the “big five” describes the animals that are the most challenging to shoot and kill: lion, elephant, rhino, and buffalo. Today, it’s more used to refer to some of the biggest and most recognizable iconic animals.
However, Forish Photographer Grameeme Green is changing the narrative, creating a global “new big five” for wildlife photography. In 2021, 50,000 people around the world will vote for the five animals they want to photograph, or see a photograph of, in the wild. Five animals were crowned winners: the elephant, polar bear, lion, gorilla and tiger.
This week saw the publication of “The new Big 5“The photo book, with images of animals and other dangerous legallife such as AMI Vitale and Paul Nicklenist and activists including Jane Geedall and Paula Kahumbu.
Green says the book celebrates wildlife and is a global call to action on issues affecting wildlife, including habitat loss, habitat loss, overcrowding, pollution and change.
Green was on assignment in Botswana at least a decade ago when he had the idea for a project to encourage people to “shoot a camera,” he said.
“I thought it was a way to get people to focus on wildlife, think about the wildlife they love, think about the animals that are at risk.”
In total, the book includes the work of 144 globally famous photographs of wild animals from Ecuador to India. The end of the images taken in almost two years of work, as green.
“I think these are some of the most beautiful and creative images I’ve ever seen put together in one book,” Green said. “These are the species we are in danger of losing.”
According to Until the UNnature is declining at an unprecedented rate, with a million animals and plants facing extinction. The “new Big 5,” all threatened, act as ambassadors of what is happening in the natural world, as green.
As well as a powerful reminder of what we stand to lose, the book also points people towards potential solutions. Featured essays explore the benefits of restoration and the importance of indigenous communities to conservation.
A chapter on endangered species from bees to blue whales describes the alarming effects of climate change on animals outside the “New Big 5. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg – I could have thousands of photos because of how bad the situation is,” said Green.
Jane Goodall, a leading conservationist who also wrote the Perfect Answer book, said in a press release that “we have a window that we start with the natural world, but we have a window that we start with the natural world, but we have a window that we impose on the natural world, but we are only together in the natural world, but only if we come together and together now.
“I hope that the photos will bring people to the beautiful world of these iconic species. Perhaps, other people will be involved in helping generations to enjoy,” he said.
“The New Big 5: A Global Photography Project for endangered wildlife,” by Graeme Green, published in earth editions on April 4, 2023.