24 hours on Earth -- in one image | Stephen Wilkes

Transcriber: TED Translators Admin Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs

Nature reveals itself to us in unique ways,

if we stop and look at the world through a window of time.

Over the last decade,

I've observed endangered species and habitats around the world,

using a photographic technique that captures the passage of time,

literally from day to night,

all within a single image.

It has allowed me to witness

the fleeting moments between wildlife and the natural habitat

as time changes over the course of a single day.

In the Serengeti, during a five-week drought,

I discovered a watering hole and watched, for 26 hours,

diverse and competitive wildlife

calmly share our planet's most precious resource:

water.

On Lake Bogoria in Kenya, I photographed the great migration of flamingos.

This happens normally during the peak of dry season,

but climate change has created evening thunderstorms,

turning normally dry hills green

and creating freshwater streams in which the flamingos joyously bathe.

Our planet is changing before our eyes.

But to witness that change

is also to witness the remarkable relationships between all of nature,

to see the infinite beauty of it,

to learn how much bigger than us it is

and why it is worth fighting for.

In 2019, the Greenland ice sheet was experiencing its largest melt

in recorded history:

200 billion tons of ice liquified into the ocean.

When glacial ice melts,

caving icebergs release sediments and particles into the seawater,

initiating our ocean's food chain.

Plankton feed on the sediment,

krill eat plankton,

and the humpback whales feed on the krill.

This photograph is the result of witnessing with my camera

a 36-hour feast by humpback whales.

We assume that the greatest threat of glacial melt

will be sea level rise,

which will certainly have major impacts on coastlines

and populations around the world.

But within this image,

we discover that perhaps the greatest threat from glacial melt

might be our ocean's ability to feed itself.

Without ice,

the ocean food chain may break.

Creating this photograph opened my consciousness.

I hope through your willingness to look and see,

it may open yours.