For the last two days I have had a serious case of Goosebumps. Never before have I heard and been a part of so much inspiration.

I have been documenting PowerShift in Washington DC. Over 12,000, yes, 12,000 youth, converged on Washington to take part in POWER SHIFT! The largest event ever for youth acting to prevent runaway climate change. It has been two days of incredible workshops and inspiration. Tomorrow, the largest day of lobbying in US history will take place on Capitol Hill. Over 300 meetings have been scheduled here in Washington with representatives of Congress to ask for bold and strong targets on climate legislation. Amazing!!

And yes, the moment we have been waiting for in the Climate Movement has arrived here in Washington DC.

Hundreds of young and old citizens of the US and the international community are putting their bodies on the line tomorrow and risking arrest as they shut down the Capitol Coal Plant here in Washington. The Capitol Coal Plant has been burning for over 100 years and is a prime example of the unsustainable world that we are currently engaged in and how the burning of coal must stop now! Tomorrow, Monday, March 2nd will go down in history as the first major non-violent action ever for the climate. It is super exciting. We are expecting thousands of people to join and march through downtown Washington and occupy the coal plant. The action has been endorsed by Bill McKibben, James Hansen, Darryl Hannah and tens of other amazing people and celebrities. (if you don’t know those three, look em up.)

Check out powershift09.org and Capitol Coal Action

I am sitting here in the Energy Action Headquarters in Washington D.C. All around me the enthusiasm of the PowerShift team is crackling in the air like electricity. It is phenomenal and very very exciting. Over the next four days a conference of 12000 students is going to take place in the Washington Convention center. On Monday, they have scheduled over 300+ meetings with their Congress Reps. Simply put, this conference has the potential to change the world.

And of Course, images are going to be here. CLICK

I especially like the exclamation mark.

An image from the Incredible Natural History Museum in London.

The exhibit at the British Council headquarters in London featuring images from the Cape Farewell Youth Expedition was a resounding success.

Over 150 people, including politicians, diplomats, climate scientists, climate activists, and interested individuals, showed up to see the images. They were given the opportunity to meet some of the voyagers, the staff members of the expedition, and the British Council employees that made this possible.

A huge thanks goes out to Eleanor Land from the British Council. She and I spent hours looking at images, asking for opinions, and choosing. Then I spent many hours in front of a computer to make these images ready. Currently their are 10 images at the address on Spring Garden road. The exhibit launched a multimedia presentation that will now tour over 100 Council offices around the world. The Council has recently made Climate Change one of its’ big three priorities and this exhibition will serve as an example and launching pad for hopefully many more exciting projects from the British Council.

Among those in attendance during the evening was the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Ed Milliband. Mr. Milliband graciously gave his time for a discussion with the voyagers regarding the UK position and the state of Climate Change negotiations. Although it was disappointing to hear Mr. Milliband talk so much about Obama, Obama, Obama, when he is the leading man for the United Kingdom.

Also attending was Mr. Neil Kinnock, famous British Politician and current Chair of the British Council. Mr. Kinnock made wonderful comments on the current need for political and civil society action on climate change and, several comments on my hat, mentioning that he couldn’t understand why those with hair wore hats but that he was envious of my style.

The exhibit will be up for a month and from there will hopefully tour to other locations. If you have a suggestion for a location and would like to see this show near you, please drop me a line.

This Wednesday, Feb 4th at the British Council head quarters in London a launch of an exhibition of my Arctic photography from British Council Canada’s Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008.

Last September British Council Canada took 28 high school students on a voyage from Iceland, round the tip of Greenland, to Baffin Island in Canada to witness the effects of climate change firsthand. They worked on board with both artists and scientists to understand the fragility of the environment they were in and develop a new, creative language of communication.

Every year in January the halls of the World Press Photo in Amsterdam is a hive coming out of hibernation. Fueled by thai and indonesian food and Grolsch beer, an army of photographers and students takes on the monumental task of sorting through the 85,000 images from the year before.

The World Press Photo competition is THE competition in photojournalism photography. Being free to enter it currently receives over 85,000 images and 4500+ photographers. The best of the best (and plenty of the worst) floats through cyber space to land on one of the 16 computer screens at World Press where it will be checked and cataloged. The whole process takes over 3 weeks. Afterwards, the jury will arrive and begin selecting the World Press Photo winners of 2008. Such a venue where you can see so many incredible photographers and their work throughout the year doesn’t exist anywhere else. Nachtwey, Pellegrin, Nicklen, Sinclair, Moore, Platon, these names and many others float around the room with awe and amazement.

It is a unique opportunity to rediscover the events of 2008 and discover new ones. It is inspiring and shocking, funny and thought provoking. I reckon that I have seen all of the Beijing Olympics, more angles of Obama then I thought possible, accurate and devastating images of Cyclone Nargis and the earthquake in China, I have seen countless cats and many farm animals, the odd kids party and graphic war images.

Inspiring are the people that put their bodies and lives on the line to fight for their beliefs, think Kenya. And I have been amazed by the photographers covering untold stories and striving to help those without the means. I have also been shocked by the amount of liberal toning and digital manipulation on ‘photojournalistic’ images. It seems to me that many photojournalists try to incorporate the techniques of darkroom masters such as Ansel Adams without any respect for the zone system or taste.

Excessive digital manipulation was a comment that came from the jury last year. We will see what the jury, chaired by MaryAnn Golon, will have to say this year when they announce the winner on February 13.

Canadian Geographic covered the Cape Farewell Youth Expedition in their most recent magazine. It features three photographs, interviews and a general synopsis of the voyage. Located in the section called Inside Story, check it out.