Katie Orlinsky

Katie Orlinsky, for National Geographic

Wild horses roam in Pleistocene Park located along the Kolyma River, near Chersky, Siberia, on 3 August 2018. The Pleistocene Park is a nature reserve, research station and large-scale scientific experiment established by geophysicist Sergey Zimov and his son Nikita. They believe that by recreating the ecosystem of the Pleistocene era, which was dominated by grasslands and large mammals, they can slow down permafrost thaw.

Across nine million square miles at the top of the planet, climate change is writing a new chapter. Arctic permafrost is thawing much faster than expected, releasing carbon gases that could reshape the planet and drastically speed up global warming. It is already transforming the landscape and changing the lives of people and animals from Alaska to Siberia.

Photographer Katie Orlinsky’s work focuses on the human stories of our changing planet, exploring how the climate crisis has transformed the relationship between people, animals and the land.

Katie is a regular contributing photographer to National Geographic Magazine and is a National Geographic Explorer. She is also frequently published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Le Monde, and Smithsonian Magazine. Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States and Europe, and has been awarded by World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, The Alexia Foundation, Visa Pour L’image, PDN and the Art Director’s Club.

Katie teaches photojournalism as a visiting professor at New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study and was the 2018 Snedden Chair of Journalism at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She received a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College.