Per Breiehagen
Per Breiehagen (“Paper Chase”) canoed Canada to photograph the paper industry’s impact on the boreal forest. “Flying from Thunder Bay towards our drop-off on the Albany River, we were immediately exposed to the devastation on the forest below,” he says. “The scale was beyond anything I have ever seen or imagined.” Breiehagen has won several international awards for his work, which has appeared in National Geographic and Men’s Journal, to name a few.

Steve Brodner
To depict Congress as it embraces a green energy future, satiric artist Steve Brodner (Field Notes, “Turning the Page”) personified Capitol Hill as a dowager bedecked with solar panels and wind turbines instead of heirloom finery. As an illustrator, “you’re taking ideas and making them clear, concise, compelling, beautiful—and funny,” he says. Widely published in magazines such as Harper’s and Esquire, Brodner’s work regularly appears in The New Yorker.

Susan Cosier
Inspired by the thought of turning her leftovers into rich, dark fertilizer, Susan Cosier (“Green Guru”) decided to work such magic in her apartment. “Anybody can compost—and it’s easy,” she says. “Finding ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle is challenging and exciting.” In addition to being Audubon’s Green Guru, Cosier is also an associate editor. Her work has appeared in Scientific American Mind; E, the Environmental Magazine; and other publications.

Jeff Rubin
Penguins might appeal to first-timers, but after nearly 20 visits to Antarctica, Jeff Rubin (“Life on Ice”) finds wonder elsewhere. “The ice really started to fascinate me,” says Rubin, who is a speaker on tours to the southernmost continent. “I started to get little glimmers from different scientists that maybe icebergs played a role in the biology of the ocean.” A science and environmental journalist, Rubin is also the author of Antarctica, Lonely Planet’s best-selling guide to the region.

Alexa Schirtzinger
 “At first I was shy about meeting New York’s premier heirloom tomato farmer, but Tim Stark was humble and genuine,” says Alexa Schirtzinger (A Day at the Green Market with Tim Stark), who has tended tomatoes herself. “We talked about varietals and pruning and those nights you stay up praying for rain because you’ve invested too much in your tomato seedlings to lose even one.” Schirtzinger has written for Plenty and Audubon and is a recipient of a Baker Award for Magazine Journalism.

Mike Tidwell
Meat eating should go the way of the cavemen, as far as Mike Tidwell (“Low-Carbon Diet”) is concerned. “We have tons of information confirming that meat consumption contributes mightily to the problem of global warming—basically as much as our car driving,” he says. “It’s time for a little dietary evolution.” Tidwell, the founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, won the Audubon Naturalist Society’s Conservation Award in 2003.