OUR MISSION

Integrating art and science to reveal environmental change and inspire a balanced relationship with nature.

ABOUT EVI

Earth Vision Institute (EVI), founded by photographer, author, and scientist James Balog in 2012, is a donor-funded organization dedicated to creating groundbreaking insights about the relationship between humanity and the rest of the natural world. Through unique visual storytelling and concepts, EVI bridges the divide between art and science.

We collaborate with worldwide experts and distribute our work via a network of educational, media, non-profit, government, and corporate partnerships.

One of EVI’s flagship projects, the Extreme Ice Survey, is a research affiliate of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

JAMES BALOG

Founder & Director

For nearly 40 years, photographer James Balog has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of nature.

To reveal the impact of climate change, James founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) in 2007. It is the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. The project was featured in the Emmy-winning documentary Chasing Ice, in the 2009 PBS/NOVA special Extreme Ice, and in National Geographic magazine in 2007, 2010, and 2013. His 2018 film, The Human Element, which captures the lives of everyday Americans on the frontlines of climate change, has been screened worldwide and won many awards.

James has presented his work at major public institutions like the White House, U.S. Congress, and United Nations; corporations like Apple and Qualcomm; and universities like MIT, Cornell, and Boston College. Balog’s photographs are housed in dozens of public and private art collections, including the Cantor Museum at Stanford University, Agnes Gund Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Denver Art Museum, International Center of Photography, and Gilman Paper Company. They have been extensively published in most of the world’s major picture-oriented magazines, including National Geographic, Life, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine.

James is Cornell University’s A.D. White Professor-at-Large and is the recipient of dozens of awards and academic accolades. An avid mountaineer, he is the author of nine books; his latest is The Human Element: A Time Capsule from the Anthropocene.