Product Description

An intimate photographic expose on the fragile existence of the polar bear, paired with essays revealing our critical connection to life in the Arctic

200 full-color images of the polar bear in its Arctic habitat, taken over a six-year period

All-star roster of top nature essayists, including Richard Nelson, Steven C. Amstrup, Charles Wohlforth, and Theodore Roosevelt IV, among others

The Last Polar Bear Project is a book, exhibit, media, and educational outreach campaign funded through the generosity of individual donors and foundations.

Scientists agree that by the end of this century the polar bear will be the first mammal threatened with extinction due to climate change. The Last Polar Bear is the first book to fully document that story. The continued survival of these magnificent white bears in their warming, and melting, Arctic world is uncertain, yet their fate is also a wake-up call-compelling us to act now to stem global warming. Through Steven Kazlowski's unparalleled imagery, the most critical environmental issue of our time is brought to life.

The Last Polar Bear places the reality of climate change in our hands. We see the plight of the polar bear, an indicator species already feeling the detrimental effects of our reliance on fossil fuels, as its icy habitat melts.

Over the course of the last six years, wildlife photographer Steven Kazlowski has photographed the polar bear in its wild habitat, from Hershel Island in Canada to Point Hope in Alaska. The Last Polar Bear pairs his intimate images with anecdotes about his Arctic adventures, as well as authoritative essays about the polar bear in the context of climate change. Alaska based writers Richard Nelson, Charles Wohlforth, Nick Jans, and leading USGS polar bear biologist Steven C. Amstrup draw on decades of experience in the Arctic to cover the biological, cultural, and anthropological aspects of climate change. Daniel Glick, long-time correspondent for Newsweek, addresses the history of climate change while Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Theodore Roosevelt IV offer perspectives on activism and politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #247005 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Review
"A coffee-table quality hardcover." -- The Bend, OR Bulletin

"Kazlowski's photos, obtained over eight years at great risk and personal discomfort, compose a fascinating account.." -- --Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"Remarkably, Kazlowski manages not only to present a pretty picture of a photogenic animal in a starkly beautiful landscape, but also convey a great deal of information about the polar bears as a species... This beautiful, well-written photo essay book is well worth the time to peruse its pages, both for its insights into one of the world's most magnificent animals, and for the knowledge of the challenge it faces." --The Current Online

"The Last Polar Bear, published by Braided River, is an eye-opening look at the changing landscape in the arctic regions and what climate change means for its animal inhabitants." --Photomedia Magazine

"The color photographs are stunning--and the message is urgent." -- --Sunday Seattle Times / Seattle Post Intelligencer

"[Stephen Kazlowski, a] Seattle-based photographer collects his finest work [in this] dramatic volume." -- --Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"The clearest message a reader will gain from this book? Despair is not an option. Only through hope will we change the world." -- Foreword Magazine

Review
"An intriguing and heartwrenching presentation on the direct effects of human action on animal climates."

Review
"This is not just a cuddly cub coffee-table book. Rather, this is a cry from a heart wrenched by the dramatic changes the photographer has observed."

Customer Reviews

continuing an amazing tradition....
I met Steve in Deadhorse (prudhoe bay) some years ago, and we have been friends ever since. It was my privledge to pass him on to other friends as he immersed himself into the Arctic. Steve is continuing a proud tradition of naturalist explorers and photographers that extend back to John Muir. I was in the area when National Geographic blew into Kaktovik, took a few photo ops and blew out. In contrast, Steve, like Micho Hoshino did, actually lives with the animals. He staked out a polar bear den for a month waiting for the opportunity of a few photos. Thousands of hours have been logged watching and waiting, most of them in rather challanging conditions.
Even more so, the very act of living a life of meditation in the wild will transform one's spirit and vision. He has honed his eye and awareness to a sharpness that few of us will either have the time, opportunity or dedication to achieve. I am in awe of the amazing clarity that he has brought to not only the great northern bears of the arctic, but to the ramifications of the whole world about us as we continue to lose that which every ecosystem should treasure. Bravo Steve.

Beautiful images with a dire message
The public has grown accustomed to seeing images of polar bears, which only makes the pictures in this book all the more striking. Kazlowski has gone out to the edge of the northern Alaska arctic pack ice to capture these bears in their natural, and now threatened, habitat and has come back with images that allow the reader to experience the bears and the Arctic in a unique way.

Far from being a single-species exercise, the book addresses the range of other organisms (including humans) associated with the northern Alaska sea ice. His images of the Inupiat conducting their traditional subsistence hunts shows that Kazlowski is as gifted in gaining proximity to people as he is to polar bears. A number of experts provide text that discuss the bears, the Inupiat and the ice with examination of the causes and consequences of warming in the Arctic. The immediacy of the issues raised are apparent when one realizes that the book, which frequently mentions the increased rate of change in the Arctic, was completed before the unprecedented ice retreat in the summer of 2007, when summer ice was reduced to an area nearly 25 percent less than the previous low set in 2005. I recommend this book to anyone who loves seeing exceptional images of animals in nature and to those who want to learn more about one of the most rapidly disappearing habitats in the world.

The Last Polar Bear
As a fellow wildlife photographer and writer who crisscrossed the Arctic and lived with the Inuit in their fishing and hunting camps for many months, I am commanding Steve Kazlowski for this excellent, real and important book. Nearly all contemporary polar bear images we see in print or on video these days come from a couple of locations in Manitoba, where motorized buggies and professional guides transport well-heeled tourists and professional photographers to partake in controlled and safe "photo opportunities" which yield some excellent "iconic images" yet do not venture nearly far enough to portray the environment where the bears are born, play, hunt, travel and die. But while such photo opportunities are only a few steps removed from dragging the poor Ursus maritimus into a studio, Kazlowski's images tell a different story altogether. Acutely observed, passionately pursued, and honestly executed with no aid of PhotoShop's array of clever gimmics, they are a product of not only his professional skills and years of hard and dangerous work on the Arctic ice, but his large, adventurous and caring spirit. Such books about our natural world take us into its hidden realms and reaffirm its importance for all of us.