News / Helena snaps under change
Supermodel and photographer Helena Christensen spoke out this weekend against the climate change that is destroying lives in the land of her ancestors.
With a Danish father and Peruvian mother, Christensen admitted her visits to the mountainous South American country have been infrequent. What she has noticed in her most recent visit is the devastating effects that carbon emissions have made.
Where enormous glaciers once stretched from mountain peaks all the way into the valleys below, providing reliable melt water for agriculture and drinking, Helena was shocked to be confronted with mere patches of white on the peaks of the range.
Glaciers high in the Peruvian Andes are melting fast, jeopardizing water supplies for the farmers and herders that live there. Helena Christensen has toured the worst hit parts of the country documenting their plight and is now exhibiting the photographs in London.
The Copenhagen Climate Conference will host leaders from all over the world and the power lies in their hands
"Next month I'll be going home to Copenhagen for what I believe will be our last chance for a long time to make the drastic changes Peruvians and the rest of the world desperately need," Christensen said. "The Copenhagen Climate Conference will host leaders from all over the world and the power lies in their hands."
Helena's photos are at the
Proud Galleries, London, until 29 November, admission free.
Ed Chipperfield
Helena is in good company, read more
celebrity features here.
