Journey Statement
“Vanishing Places: A Climate Change Journey” is about a series of places that are all linked by a common thread — they are extremely imperiled by climate change. My journey focuses on the communities, landscapes and species being impacted. It’s an expedition of loss but also of resilience; exploring what people are doing or possibly neglecting to do to adapt, prepare, understand and fight against this loss.
I embarked on this journey because of a pull I could no longer ignore. For many years, I’ve been aware of the planetary changes we are experiencing through my decade-long career working on climate change issues. However, the shifts that we are seeing and their rapid pace are becoming more and more startling. The coverage of the planetary change, like so much of our news coverage these days, is numbing, overwhelming and impossible to digest.
I have deep unease with this numbness. People, communities, cultures, species, ecosystems, landscapes and entire countries are on the verge of disappearing. Some overcome by rising waters and temperatures while others altered so drastically that they’ll be unrecognizable.
The purpose of this journey is to experience these places and tell their stories through photography and interviews. I'm utilizing Instagram and Facebook as my primary outlet and hope to incorporate longer-form storytelling and writing via blogging or other articles.
People are already visiting places like the Great Barrier Reef or Glacier National Park precisely because they are rapidly changing. My journey builds upon this concept but instead of a piecemeal approach, I’m creating an entire expedition in this vein.
This pull comes from a deeply personal place as well — also a place of loss. My partnership of over 10 years ended; and as I spent the last year untangling myself from the inevitable financial and emotional ties that come from this type of separation, I found myself at a cross roads. As a woman in her mid-thirties looking to have children and partnership, there isn’t the endless amount of time that I once enjoyed. Do I spend my energy seeking partnership and children or do I follow this tug toward exploration, curiosity and creativity that may or may not lead to building a family?
Ultimately, I didn't want to bury this pull that I felt. This pull toward movement, challenge, and discomfort. This pull toward exploration, beauty and inspiration. This pull toward a planet shifting beneath my feet.
Therefore, I'm giving this pull, this stirring deep inside, breath — the oxygen to exist and become a path, a journey, an expedition.
I quit my job, rented out my apartment, and mapped out some of my steps here. But like all journeys, the way forward never actually follows the initial plan. This path will change and evolve as I meet people and experience new landscapes. But this is a path of some of the most imperiled places on earth from our changing climate, so I’ve started here.
I know a journey couched in (personal and) planetary loss might not sound terribly appealing, but I’m inviting you to join me. I’m inviting you to experience what we are losing, to experience how people are fighting to adapt, prepare and thrive, to experience healing and struggle, to experience beautiful landscapes and cultures, and to experience why we need to keep fighting for climate action. A bonus feature will be witnessing my inevitable failures as a solo traveler, which I’m sure will be many, and will hopefully involve more laughter than tears and no near death experiences.
I’m grappling with a thousand unknowns and I’m not sure what this journey will become or how much I can capture and share. But I’m creating the space to try and hopefully giving this journey a voice.
Lynn Englum
January 2019
I embarked on this journey because of a pull I could no longer ignore. For many years, I’ve been aware of the planetary changes we are experiencing through my decade-long career working on climate change issues. However, the shifts that we are seeing and their rapid pace are becoming more and more startling. The coverage of the planetary change, like so much of our news coverage these days, is numbing, overwhelming and impossible to digest.
I have deep unease with this numbness. People, communities, cultures, species, ecosystems, landscapes and entire countries are on the verge of disappearing. Some overcome by rising waters and temperatures while others altered so drastically that they’ll be unrecognizable.
The purpose of this journey is to experience these places and tell their stories through photography and interviews. I'm utilizing Instagram and Facebook as my primary outlet and hope to incorporate longer-form storytelling and writing via blogging or other articles.
People are already visiting places like the Great Barrier Reef or Glacier National Park precisely because they are rapidly changing. My journey builds upon this concept but instead of a piecemeal approach, I’m creating an entire expedition in this vein.
This pull comes from a deeply personal place as well — also a place of loss. My partnership of over 10 years ended; and as I spent the last year untangling myself from the inevitable financial and emotional ties that come from this type of separation, I found myself at a cross roads. As a woman in her mid-thirties looking to have children and partnership, there isn’t the endless amount of time that I once enjoyed. Do I spend my energy seeking partnership and children or do I follow this tug toward exploration, curiosity and creativity that may or may not lead to building a family?
Ultimately, I didn't want to bury this pull that I felt. This pull toward movement, challenge, and discomfort. This pull toward exploration, beauty and inspiration. This pull toward a planet shifting beneath my feet.
Therefore, I'm giving this pull, this stirring deep inside, breath — the oxygen to exist and become a path, a journey, an expedition.
I quit my job, rented out my apartment, and mapped out some of my steps here. But like all journeys, the way forward never actually follows the initial plan. This path will change and evolve as I meet people and experience new landscapes. But this is a path of some of the most imperiled places on earth from our changing climate, so I’ve started here.
I know a journey couched in (personal and) planetary loss might not sound terribly appealing, but I’m inviting you to join me. I’m inviting you to experience what we are losing, to experience how people are fighting to adapt, prepare and thrive, to experience healing and struggle, to experience beautiful landscapes and cultures, and to experience why we need to keep fighting for climate action. A bonus feature will be witnessing my inevitable failures as a solo traveler, which I’m sure will be many, and will hopefully involve more laughter than tears and no near death experiences.
I’m grappling with a thousand unknowns and I’m not sure what this journey will become or how much I can capture and share. But I’m creating the space to try and hopefully giving this journey a voice.
Lynn Englum
January 2019
