On Wednesday October 16th, the Prada Broadway Epicenter in New York City hosted a conversation on conservation photography between journalist and founder of the Women in the World summit, Tina Brown, and biologist and photographer Cristina Mittermeirer. Women in the World is a live journalism platform which highlights stories to spark action for the advancement of women across all continents. This recent discussion was centered around sustainability and environmental conservation. Mittermeier, a National Geographic photographer, co-founder and vision lead at SeaLegacy, and the founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), created the discipline of conservation photography which portray and draws attention to the Earth’s severe environmental change.

“A conservation photographer is the person who takes these images and puts them in front of the right person to create change,” said Mittermeier at the beginning of their discussion. She continued by explaining the purpose of her more striking images, “You show people the beautiful images, you want to be mindful with these photographs, then every once in awhile you punch them in the gut.” Mittermeier does just that, as her photographs range from a beautiful depiction of a shot of a woman casually strolling with a duck upon her head to her shocking image of a starving polar bear on an ice cap which she notes received 15 million views.

During their conversation Brown noted, “so much of this leadership is coming from these young people,” to which Mittermeier added “young women, yes exactly they are, but let’s be specific.” In response to an audience question regarding the current excess of plastics in the world’s ecosystems, Mirremmier said “to clean this up, to make it go back to the way it was, it really is going to take much more than us each doing our own individual thing. That is not enough.” According to Mittermeier, we must all work together to clean up pollution, call out the large corporations that continue to add to this problem, and vote for those who pledge to fix this crisis.

Prada is one company that is doing their part to mitigate their contribution to climate change. With their Re-nylon sustainability initiative, Prada’s “ultimate goal will be to convert all Prada virgin nylon into Re-Nylon by the end of 2021,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Head of Marketing and Communication, in a statement to Document. An instillation dedicated to their Re-nylon project was on display during this event, as well as a screening of What We Carry. This branded content series, produced by National Geographic, follows Prada and National Geographic reporters as they travel across the world charting the process behind sustainability initiatives. Bertelli concludes “This project highlights our continued efforts towards promoting a responsible business. This collection will allow us to make our contribution and create products without using new resources.”