Story 6 of 6 - Apr 30, 2024 - Washington DC

Announcing the new Global Storytellers Fund cohort

Featuring

The newest cohort of National Geographic Explorers

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Asha Stuart on environmental justice storytelling

Climate Change

Hilary Sparrow cover photo alt.

Hilary Sparrow

Communications, Social, and Editorial Lead

The Climate Pledge

Together, the National Geographic Society and The Climate Pledge support five National Geographic Explorers who are inspiring audiences to learn and take action for climate issues.

National Geographic Storytellers help shed light into some of the most important stories of our time—how climate change is affecting different aspects of life in all corners of the planet. This group of Explorers is bringing a new lens to climate storytelling and we are proud to be kicking off a third year of this exciting program.

Sally Fouts

Global Lead, The Climate Pledge at Amazon

The National Geographic Society and The Climate Pledge today announced the third cohort of National Geographic Explorers who will document the global climate crisis and its solutions funded by the Society’s Global Storytellers Fund. Together, the two organizations are supporting a global community of photographers, writers, filmmakers, cartographers, and multimedia artists.

The five Explorers to be supported through this collaboration in 2024 include:

  • Doel Trivedy, an Indian director and producer, who will use film to document northeastern India’s unique ecosystems, its farmers, and the indigenous communities impacted by climate change.

  • M’hammed Kilito, a Moroccan photographer, who will use photography to showcase the diversity of West Asia and North Africa’s oases and their inhabitants by shedding light on the overlooked issues of oasis degradation.

  • Nichole Sobecki, an American photographer and filmmaker, who will use photography to document how climate change is transforming women’s reproductive lives and the nature of motherhood across a web of women’s stories from the Sahara to the Arctic.

  • Paolo Verzone, an Italian photographer and filmmaker, who will explore the potential of nuclear fusion through the use of photography and mapping that documents the potential promise of emissions-free energy becoming a reality.

  • Brent Stirton, a South African photographer, who will examine and photograph the intersections of humans, animals, and habitats on a global scale that constantly interact and affect each other in a quest for better planetary health.

     

“We established the Global Storytellers Fund to recruit, support, and elevate the very best climate storytellers in the world who are cultivating empathy and understanding of real crises across the globe,” said Kaitlin Yarnall, the Society’s Chief Storytelling Officer. “We’ve accomplished great strides over the past three years with support from The Climate Pledge, which shares our passion in the power of story to address urgent global issues. This cohort of five National Geographic Explorers each bring a unique perspective to this critical work as they bring their stories about the global climate crisis to the forefront.”

The collaboration between the National Geographic Society and The Climate Pledge advances early-career and established storytellers with the funding, training, and exposure necessary to bring their stories about the global climate crisis to the forefront. This is the third year the groups are supporting a cohort of climate-focused photographers, writers, filmmakers, cartographers, and multimedia artists. Between 2022 and 2024, the partnership will have empowered a total of 15 National Geographic Explorers to document climate issues through visual storytelling, illuminate the world’s most critical challenges, and identify long-lasting solutions to protect the health and wonder of our world.

 

The newest cohort of National Geographic Explorers

Ten other Explorers have previously received funding from this collaboration — Lynsey Addario, a U.S. photojournalist; Pablo Albarenga, an Uruguayan visual storyteller; Malin Fezehai, an Eritrean, American, and Swedish photographer, filmmaker, and visual reporter; Gab Mejia, a Filipino conservation photographer, environmental storyteller, and engineer; Davide Monteleone, an Italian visual artist and researcher; Ciril Jazbec, a Slovenian documentary photographer and filmmaker; Luján Agusti, an Argentinian visual storyteller; Miora Rajaonary, a Malagasy documentary photographer; Kiliii Yüyan, a Nanai/Hèzhé (East Asian Indigenous) and Chinese American photographer; and Asha Stuart, an African American documentary photographer and filmmaker. 

 

Read about our 2022 cohort projects here and 2023 cohort projects here.

 


The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories, and content. To learn more, visit www.nationalgeographic.org or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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