Acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog, an alumnus of Boston College, presents four decades of his ground-breaking photography in the new book, The Human Element: A Time Capsule from the Anthropocene (‎Rizzoli, 2021). Balog has traveled well over a million miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and this volume presents 350 of his most iconic photographs, offering—literally—an unmatched view of the world. His photography and essays highlight that human needs, behaviors, and technologies are radically changing the nature of nature. The Human Element has been called Balog’s “magnum opus on the human impact on our planet” and “an environmental call to arms.” Balog writes: “In damaging nature, we are damaging ourselves. In protecting nature, we are protecting ourselves.” The Human Element features an essay by Anne Wilkes Tucker, curator emerita of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and foreword by James Fallows, longtime writer for the Atlantic and award-winning author. Balog is the author of eight books. His projects include the award-winning films “The Human Element” and “Chasing Ice,” and the Extreme Ice Survey, the most extensive photographic study of glaciers ever conducted.