Photos show a climate change crisis unfolding—and hope for the future

Melting ice, wildfires, heat waves, floods: These images show life in a warming world, and solutions to address it.

A huge ice cone, called a conical ice stupa, towers over a man in the north Indian territory of Ladakh. As snow dwindles and glaciers recede, these stupas are being constructed to store water in frozen form. This 110-foot structure (33.5 meters), located near the village of Shara Phuktsey, won an ice stupa competition. It holds nearly two million gallons of water that will help irrigate fields in four villages.
Photograph by Ciril Jazbec, National Geographic
BySimon Ingram and Sarah Gibbens
October 29, 2021
11 min read

As the UN’s global climate change conference—COP26—approaches, ever-more-extreme weather has shown us climate change is here. Yet COVID-19 and the actions taken to control it have also shown us that cooperation can prompt dramatic global change.

Sometimes, all it takes is one photo to spark that action. Sometimes, it's a collection of vignettes that show us what is at stake, and more importantly, inspire ideas of what we can do about it. In short, pictures can change the world. And as our world comes to terms with the reality of climate change, never has that been more needed.

Some of these images offer an instant visual punch to the gut: a dying coral outcrop on the Great Barrier Reef, for instance, juxtaposed with an older photo of how vibrant coral can be. Some of the images inspire in their ability to show that change is not only possible, it is happening—and that we have the ingenuity and the skill to make a real difference. 

But amidst these odds, there is hope. Nature is resilient, and given the chance, it can recover, if we have the courage to make it happen.

In Kyuyorelyakh, Russia, local volunteer firefighter 37-year-old Oleg Shcherbakov pushes his motorcycle through heavy clouds of smoke as he sets out to fight a fire less than a quarter of a mile (400 meters) away.
Photograph by Emile Ducke, National Geographic
A woman faints from the heat during the Hinglaj, a Hindu pilgrimage through the desert of western Pakistan. Extreme heat is leading to more fatalities around the world. It’s highlighting the gap between who can afford to adapt and who can’t; some who can are leaving areas where the changing climate is making conditions unbearable.
Photograph by Matthieu Paley, National Geographic
A humpback whale mother and her calf swim past Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The humpback whale population was decimated by commercial whaling in the first half of the 20th century. Commercial whaling ended in the early 1970s, and the humpback population has rebounded, in some places to near pre-whaling numbers.
Photograph by Gabriel Barathieu, Biosphoto, minden Pictures
Melting water carves grooves into an iceberg in Antarctica. Icebergs have always been melting, but the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth. The region is expected to warm more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) in the next 20 years.
Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic
In Nairobi, Kenya, John Chege and Amos Kimani patrol Karura Forest, the city’s large urban forest. They ride new electric motorbikes recently launched as part of a pilot project to reduce air pollution, improve national energy security, and create green jobs. Their quiet hum is a welcome change for the forest’s visitors, whose tranquil walks were once interrupted by the loud “putt-putt” and noxious fumes of bikes with diesel engines.
Photograph by Nichole Sobecki, National Geographic
Workers fumigate in New Delhi, India, for mosquitoes,
Workers fumigate for mosquitoes on a city street in New Delhi, India to prevent the spread of diseases like dengue, malaria, and chikungunya. As temperatures rise, the risk of contracting a mosquito-borne disease will increase. An editorial published by prominent scientists in hundreds of medical journals called for fast climate action to protect human health.
Photograph by Raj K Raj, Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Riggers secure containers on the HVDC converter platform
The BorWin beta platform, part of the Veja Mate wind farm in the North Sea. The platform transfers energy to the German energy grid 70 miles away.
Photograph by Philipp Spalek, laif/Redux
The Carlen family has been managing an ice cave in Switzerland’s Rhône Glacier since 1988, but when rising temperatures began melting the ice, they came up with a novel idea—for eight years they’ve covered part of the glacier in fleece blankets that reflect sunlight. They hope it will preserve the glacier, a popular tourist destination.
Photograph by Ciril Jazbec, National Geographic
In August, the Caldor Fire blazed toward California’s Lake Tahoe Basin. Firefighters with CAL FIRE and other fire departments tried to protect homes and shelters. About 1,000 structures, more than 700 of which were homes, were destroyed.
Photograph by Lynsey Addario, National Geographic
a flooded landscape
Deadly floods, caused by historic rainfall, struck Germany in July. This photo, shared on Twitter by officials in Cologne, shows flooding in Erftstadt-Blessem. Nearly two month’s worth of rain fell over the region in a single day. Many homes were swept away, and 170 people died.
Photograph by Rhein-Erft-Kreis, picture-alliance/AP Images
Startling research suggests that by 2040, 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs will be dead. The culprit? Rising sea temperatures make it hard for corals to survive. Reefs exist in a delicate symbiosis with algae, which provide corals with nutrients. In warm waters, corals expel the algae and turn white—a process known as coral bleaching. Here, a 2010 picture from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is held next to the same reef in 2019. A 2016 spike in ocean temperatures is likely the cause.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
a handfull of house boats crowd a narrow canal of water in the depleted lake oroville with the rust colored sides of the former edge of the water towers above.
In September, houseboats sit in a narrow strip of water in California’s Lake Oroville. At the time, the lake was at just 23 percent of its capacity as extreme drought struck the region. Over the summer, the Western U.S. was gripped by deadly heat, severe drought, and massive wildfires.
Photograph by Josh Edelson, AFP/Getty Images
Family has dinner in flooded home in Central Java, Indonesia.
A family has dinner in their flooded home in Central Java, Indonesia. For over 40 years, they watched as their productive farmland slowly disappeared under the sea. They have physically raised everything in their home to cope.
Photograph by Aji Styawan, National Geographic
The Algae Cultivation Center, a 16,00-square-foot building inside the Technical University of Munich, is focused on using algae to create biokerosene and other chemicals. With highly-efficient LED lights and transparent glass, scientists can recreate the climate conditions of any location on Earth, in turn simulating algae’s growth cycle. Results here will be used to create lighter fuels and construction material for the aviation industry.
Photograph by Davide Monteleone, National Geographic
In Zurich, Switzerland, a machine made by the Climeworks company is directly capturing carbon dioxide from the air, an effort to mitigate climate change. First, air is drawn into the collector with a fan and a filter captures the CO2. Then, the gas is heated, which highly concentrates it, after which it can be collected and recycled or stored.
Photograph by Davide Monteleone, National Geographic
A local street coal seller in Bayankhoshuu, one of the worst polluted neighborhoods of Ulaanbataar.
Vendors shoveling raw coal used to be a common sight along roads in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia; a single family might easily burn three tons each winter. The government has banned raw coal in favor of briquettes—compressed blocks made from coal dust or biomass—but air pollution remains dangerously high.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY
Moving passengers through the skies without fossil fuels is enormously challenging, especially for long-haul flights. For shorter flights, many companies, including Wisk, a California start-up, are designing electric planes. Wisk’s plane, which flies without a pilot, can take off and land vertically, eliminating the need for a runway.
Photograph by Craig Cutler, National Geographic
At the Ford Ion Park in Allen Park, Michigan, batteries are researched and tested. Batteries are the heart of electric vehicles, and automakers are trying to make them lighter, faster charging, and longer lasting.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder, National Geographic
palm oil
A palm oil plantation grows in the Caimpugan Peatswamp in the Philippines. Around the world, there's a high demand for palm oil, made from the fruit of oil palm trees. The versatile oil can be used in everything from cooking to shampoo, but it's also a leading cause of deforestation.
Photograph by Gab Mejia
A rescue boat glides through floodwaters in Barataria, Louisiana. Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, struck southeastern Louisiana in August. The storm damaged homes and stores, caused widespread power outages, and led to flooding in some neighborhoods around New Orleans.
Photograph by Brandon Bell, Getty Images
A biologist becomes emotional as she calms a sea otter dying from toxic algae blooms on a gravel beach in Homer, Alaska. Like many northern regions, Alaska is warming twice as fast as the global average, providing nearby seas with the ideal conditions to spawn harmful algal blooms. The impact has been devastating on food chains, making shellfish toxic and killing the whales, walruses, birds, and other sea creatures that eat them.
Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic
The Global Himalayan Expedition is a project to bring solar energy to remote villages around the world. Here, expedition team members and residents of the Yal Village trek with solar panels, batteries, and other installation paraphernalia. The journey took two days of driving over treacherous roads and eventually finishing on foot.
Photograph by SAUMYA KHANDELWAL, National Geographic
an infrared map image showing a cool blue panel and the yellow and orange hot sidewalks with a red and orange medium hot building in the background
At Columbia University, a panel coated with a novel polymer film radiates heat through the atmosphere to outer space, making it dramatically cooler than its surroundings. Panels like this one could reduce the need for air conditioning.
Photograph by Jyotirmoy Mandal
water running over the edge of walkway with a city on background.
Floodwaters pour over a walkway at Montrose Beach near downtown Chicago. Heavy rains in 2019 raised Lake Michigan, one of America’s five Great Lakes, by almost two feet. Climate change, pollution, and invasive species threaten their complex ecosystems.
Photograph by Keith Ladzinski
A woman walk through a sandstorm in Beijing, China.
A woman faces heavy winds during a seasonal sandstorm in Beijing, China. Scientists believe that desertification and climate change are playing a role in their frequency and intensity. Emissions from burning fossil fuels and the resulting climate changes created toxic air pollution.
Photograph by Kevin Frayer, Getty Images

FREE BONUS ISSUE

Go Further

Animals

Environment

History & Culture

Science

Travel