The book Bleu – Un océan de Solutions is a definatey a unique book, full of hopes and concrete solutions, which makes you dream and reflect at the same time. Maud Fontenoy and Yann Arthus-Bertrand came together to reveal the fragility but also the strength of our big blue oceans.
Few of us know it, but the services that the Ocean gives us are numerous: it tempers our climate, supplies us in fresh water and offers us more than 50% of the oxygen we breathe. Or did you know that AZT, the treatment for AIDS, comes from herring? As for marine energies, it could alone supply the entire planet with electricity. Without forgetting the predominant role of reefs, mangroves, marshes, beaches, which protect both our coasts and our homes from fury storms or rising waters ...
Big Lagoon, parc national François Péron, péninsule Peron, Shark Bay, Australie-Occidentale, Australie (25°45’8.22”S – 113°27’27.92”E). © Yann Arthus Bertrand
Yann Arthus Bertrand – an environmental activist
We know Yann Arthus Bertrand especially thanks to his magnificent book; ”Earth seen from Heaven” and the ”Planet Ocean” film.
© Quentin Jumeacourt
He moved to Kenya with his wife and together carried out a three-year study on a family of lions in the Massaï Mara reserve. He utilized the camera to capture his observations that would help him in making reports. While living in Africa, he worked as a hot-air balloon pilot. His first book, Lions, can be associated with his adventure in Kenya and he says that those lions were his “first photography teachers”. Gradually he became a reporter, dealing with environmental issues and teamed up with National Geographic, Paris Match, Life and Le Figaro Bertrand founded GoodPlanet Foundation with a motto to add to the awareness of the public on environmental issues, and to fight deforestation, by collaborating with local NGOs. He is considered an environmentalist more than a photographer. It was his dedication to work he became a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN’s Environment Program on the Earth Day on 22 April 2009. He started a TV series called Vu Du Ciel, a documentary dealing with a specific environmental issue. It was aired on a French television and was distributed for a broadcast in more than 45 countries. Motivated by this success, Yann Arthus-Bertrand took on the production of a complete feature film, HOME, highlighting the situation and issues of the planet Earth. The film was released the June 5th, 2009 on all media platforms including, television, Internet and in cinemas, all over the world and absolutely free of any charges. Yann took this venture ahead with two films for the United Nations: Forest and Desertification, in year 2011 and screened them during UN General Assemblies. In 2011, Yann initiated a non-profit production company “Hope Productions”, for World Water Forum and directed a film covering the historical aspects highlighting the challenge, related to water in current times. All of these the films produced by HOPE are accessible to all NGOs, nonprofits and schools in the framework of environmental education, and all free of cost.
Text by Annelie Karlsson
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