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I consider it my life's mission

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to convey the urgency
of climate change through my work.

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I've traveled north to the Arctic
to the capture the unfolding story

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of polar melt,

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and south to the equator to document
the subsequent rising seas.

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Most recently, I visited
the icy coast of Greenland

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and the low-lying islands of the Maldives,

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connecting two seemingly disparate
but equally endangered

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parts of our planet.

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My drawings explore moments

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of transition, turbulence,

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and tranquility in the landscape,

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allowing viewers to emotionally connect

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with a place you might never have
the chance to visit.

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I choose to convey the beauty

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as opposed to the devastation.

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If you can experience

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the sublimity of these landscapes,

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perhaps you'll be inspired
to protect and preserve them.

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Behavioral psychology tells us
that we take action

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and make decisions based
on our emotions above all else,

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and studies have shown that art
impacts our emotions

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more effectively than a scary news report.

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Experts predict ice-free Arctic summers
as early as 2020,

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and sea levels are likely to rise
between two and 10 feet

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by century's end.

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I have dedicated my career
to illuminating these projections

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with an accessible medium,

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one that moves us in a way
that statistics may not.

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My process begins with traveling
to the places

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at the forefront of climate change.

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On site, I take thousands of photographs,

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and back in the studio, I work
from both my memory of the experience

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and the photographs to create
very large-scale compositions,

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sometimes over 10 feet wide.

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I draw with soft pastel, which is dry,

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like charcoal, but colors.

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I consider my work drawings,
but others call them painting.

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I cringe, though, when I'm referred to
as a "finger painter."

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(Laughter)

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But I don't use any tools and I
have always used my fingers and palms

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to manipulate the pigment on the paper.

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Drawing is a form of meditation for me.

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It quiets my mind.

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I don't perceive what I'm drawing
as ice or water.

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Instead, the image is stripped down
to its most basic form of color and shape.

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Once the piece is complete, I can finally
experience the composition as a whole

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as an iceberg floating
through glassy water,

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or a wave cresting with foam.

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On average, a piece this size

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takes me about,
as you can see, 10 seconds.

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Really more like 200 hours,
250 hours for something that size.

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But I've been drawing ever since
I could hold a crayon, really.

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My mom was an artist, and growing up,
we always had art supplies

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all over the house.

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My mother's love of photography
propelled her to the most

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remote regions of the Earth,

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and my family and I were fortunate enough
to join and support her

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on these adventures.

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We rode camels in northern Africa

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and mushing on dog sleds
near the North Pole.

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In August of 2012,
I led my first expedition,

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taking a group of artists and scholars
up the northwest coast of Greenland.

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My mother was originally
supposed to lead this trip.

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She and I were in
the early stages of planning,

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as we had intended to go together,

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when she fell victim to a brain tumor.

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The cancer quickly took over
her body and mind,

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and she passed away six months later.

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During the months of her illness, though,
her dedication to the expedition

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never wavered, and I made a promise
to carry out her final journey.

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My mother's passion for the Arctic

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echoed through my experience in Greenland,

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and I felt the power

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and the fragility of the landscape.

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The sheer size of the icebergs

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is humbling.

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The ice fields are alive with movement
and sound in a way that I never expected.

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I expanded the scale of my compositions

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to give you that same sense of awe

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that I experienced.

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Yet, while the grandeur
of the ice is evident,

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so too is its vulnerability.

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From our boat, I could see the ice

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sweating under the unseasonably warm sun.

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We had a chance to visit
many of the Inuit communities in Greenland

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that now face huge challenges.

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The locals spoke to me
of vast areas of sea ice

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that are no longer freezing over
as they once did,

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and without ice, their hunting
and harvesting grounds

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are severely diminished,

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threatening their way
of life and survival.

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The melting glaciers in Greenland are
one of the largest contributing factors

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to rising sea levels,

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which have already begun to drown
some of our world's lowest lying islands.

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One year after my trip to Greenland,
I visited the Maldives,

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the lowest and flattest country
in the entire world.

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While I was there, I collected
images and inspiration

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for a new body of work:

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drawings of waves lapping
on the coast of a nation

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that could be entirely underwater
within this century.

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Devastating events happen every day

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on scales both global and personal.

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When I was in Greenland,
I scattered my mother's ashes

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amidst the melting ice.

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Now she remains a part
of the landscape she loved so much,

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even as it too passes
and takes on new form.

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Among the many gifts my mother gave me
was the ability to focus on the positive

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rather than the negative.

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My drawings celebrate the beauty
of what we all stand to lose.

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I hope they conserve as records
of sublime landscapes in flux,

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documenting the transition
and inspiring our global community

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to take action for the future.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)