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Some trees may 'social distance' to avoid disease. These forest canopies maintain mysterious gaps, known as crown shyness, that could help trees share resources like light and stay healthy by preventing the spread of infection. Pictured are Borneo camphor trees known locally as Kapur trees in the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). #natgeo #frim #plantsocialdistancing #crownshyness #malaysia https://www.instagram.com/p/CVQVYEvpPPs/?utm_medium=tumblr

Sunrise! Morning coffee before starting the day. And I’m having fun filming our sun kissed plants as they sit by our window soaking it all up. #houseplants #kualalumpur #roomwithaview https://www.instagram.com/p/CU8zNYOpFJD/?utm_medium=tumblr

From the archive, swipe left for more. 1/ A young sapling recently planted in the Kubuqi Desert Park, an eco-tourism park. The park has a 5-star hotel, lakes, a golf course and a variety of activities such as camels and off-road desert cars for visitors to ride on. 2/ The Kubuqi Desert lies to the north of Ordos Plateau in Inner Mongolia and is the seventh-largest desert in China. It was one of the three primary sources of sandstorms that would engulf the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei areas and was known locally as the ‘Dune of Death’. Today the ochre sands of Kubuqi are a scene of greenery, home to around 100 species of plants and wild animals through a tree-planting program driven by a local self-made industrial billionaire, Wang Wenbiao. 3/Nearly 20 per cent of China is desert, and drought across the northern region is getting worse. One recent estimate said China had 21,000 square miles more desert than what existed in 1975. As the Tengger desert expands, it merges with two other deserts to form a vast sea of sand that could become uninhabitable. #desertification #greengreatwall #china https://www.instagram.com/p/CU7m08lJo_S/?utm_medium=tumblr

On some mornings, my partner takes the plants in our home and places them by the window, sunning and tending to them. Some days she has to save them, those attacked by insects or have arrived badly damaged through mail order. I wouldn't trust myself to tend to them, and I she wouldn't either! They would all probably die a painful death in my hands. But I get to watch in admiration and enjoy them! #houseplants #gardening #home #coviddiaries #kualalumpur #malaysia https://www.instagram.com/p/CUyr_4qpLnI/?utm_medium=tumblr

@coalandice_exhibition In early iterations of COAL + ICE, photos were intentionally displayed on the floor. The audience was invited to meander through landscapes documenting the downstream effects of climate change, and featured photographs by @iantehphotography, @nadavkander, and @jonasbendiksen. -- Exhibition view at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing 2011 #CoalandIce #VisualizetheClimateCrisis #photoexhibition https://www.instagram.com/p/CUaKICLJB5H/?utm_medium=tumblr

Yesterday is ten years since COAL + ICE first opened at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing. The show, a collection of works from 40+ photographers, some contemporary, and others going back into the photography’s deep past, looks at humanity’s relationship with the environment. The show has travelled widely from China to the US and the COP21 Paris Climate Talks. As the urgency for climate action grows, using art to inspire change has never been more critical. I’m deeply honoured to have my photographs among such stellar company and to have been able to contribute in some small way to this urgent conversation on the climate crisis. This exhibition was co-curated by @susanmeiselas and @jeroendevries1 // Swipe left to see more. Images alternate throughout from installation shot to my photos — they are from a series of works exploring China’s coal industry from the year 2006-2010. https://www.instagram.com/p/CUP7CAiJPfD/?utm_medium=tumblr

From the archive: New Zealander, Peter Beck sitting inside a rocket built for space by his company Rocket Lab. The opening to the Businessweek article by Ashlee Vance aptly describes his teenage adventures tinkering on his first rocket engine: “In 1999, at 18, Beck did something most people would consider very stupid. After checking out books from the library to learn how to make his own fuel, he set up a laboratory in a backyard shed and set to work on a rocket engine. Lacking a hazmat suit, he wrapped himself in plastic bags and put on a welding helmet as he distilled peroxide and other chemicals. After successfully testing one of his engine designs, he decided it was time for a proper adventure. He strapped the engine to the back of a custom-built bicycle, dressed himself in a red jumpsuit and white helmet, and fired up a trial run in a local parking lot. Leaning forward in a near-prone position, he managed to reach about 90 miles an hour. To slow himself down, he first sat upright, allowing wind resistance to do some of the work lest the brake pads or wheels melt. “Only a few people on the planet have put their legs inside a rocket,” Beck says. “It’s a very good feeling.”” #spacerace #rocketlab #peterbeck #newzealand https://www.instagram.com/p/CSrgQykJJoI/?utm_medium=tumblr

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has just resigned after a tumultuous 17 months in power marked by rising public anger as Malaysia grapples with its worst Covid-19 outbreak despite months of lockdown while its economy struggles. CNBC reports Malaysia’s Covid cases per million people to be the sixth-highest globally and the top in Asia. As many as 150,000 small and medium-sized enterprises have shut down resulting in 1.2 million job losses since the pandemic broke out last year. 1/ A man wanders inside a small shopping mall recently shut down in central Kuala Lumpur. 2/ The same mall last September. #kualalumpur #malaysia #covid-19 #coronadiaries https://www.instagram.com/p/CSo9cqRJ5CF/?utm_medium=tumblr

Look what came through the post! World Press Photo yearbook showcasing this year’s 2021 winners. I’m honoured to have been involved in the judging process for 2020 and 2021. Massive congratulations to all winners. The excellent front cover image is by @madsnissenphoto from @panospictures Thanks @worldpressphoto for having me. #WPPh2021 https://www.instagram.com/p/CR--tELJ2G0/?utm_medium=tumblr

Since June 1, Malaysia continues to extend tight lockdown measures to contain the rising spread of COVID-19. As a strategy to beat the pandemic, the country now boasts one of the fastest vaccination rates globally, achieving over 400,000 doses a day. Once seen as a positive example for South East Asia in containing the virus, the country is now one of the worst affected in the region. Last Monday, the government announced it would not extend the coronavirus state of emergency beyond August 1. The disputed seven-month parliamentary suspension essentially allowed the state to rule without legislative approval amid a worsening pandemic. In the last nine weeks of the current national lockdown, Malaysia's total cases have risen 77% since its commencement. With at least 150,000 small and medium-sized enterprises shutting down, the economy has taken a beating, resulting in 1.2 million job losses since the pandemic broke out last year. These were taken on a recent walk in central Kuala Lumpur, exploring some well-known areas popular with locals and tourists. Swipe left to see more. 1/ A man prays inside a block of flats; 2/ Shuttered stores; 3/ Long-distance bus station; 4/ market area near Petaling Street; 5/ Sundry store; 6/ Takeaway restaurant; 7/Closed Kopitiam or coffee shop; 8/ Closed office building; 9/ Shuttered clothing stores and; 10/ Closed local Chinese primary school. #KualaLumpur #Malaysia #Covid19 #CoronaDiaries https://www.instagram.com/p/CR8y5tMJq6f/?utm_medium=tumblr

The sea glows as phosphorescent waves surge towards the coastline on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc. Caused by bioluminescent plankton, the waters shimmer like tiny suspended stars. A throwback from a travel assignment. #phuquoc #vietnam #bioluminescence #phospherescence https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ8_6-JMDnw/?utm_medium=tumblr

A chance encounter followed by a warm embrace on London’s Savile Row. The street is justly famous as the home of men's tailoring, being the only road in the world synonymous with this type of clothing. It’s the beginning of summer, it’s pre-covid, and I was wandering her streets on assignment. #savilerow #london #lovestory #summer https://www.instagram.com/p/CQoL1RZsqTD/?utm_medium=tumblr

From the archive: Sheep at Stanage Edge in the Peak District. I followed in the footsteps of the renowned English novelist Jane Austen, visiting locations she wrote about and lived. She referred to there being “no finer county in England than Derbyshire” and features “all the celebrated beauties of Chatsworth, Dovedale and the Peaks”. Previously shot on assignment for @geo_france #stanageedge #janeausten #derbyshire #unitedkingdom https://www.instagram.com/p/CQlppm0Mm_F/?utm_medium=tumblr

“Without knowing it, he had constructed a gigantic vertical zoo, its hundreds of cages stacked above each other. All the events of the past few months made sense if one realised that these brilliant and exotic creatures had learned to open the doors.” J.G. Ballard, High-Rise. From the archive: a shoot in London’s Canary Wharf. #canarywharf #highrise #london #office #skyscraper #officearchitecture https://www.instagram.com/p/CQbSH6YsZJx/?utm_medium=tumblr

An iPhone capture during a recent hike near my home. Hiking trails are something I’ve had more of a chance to discover since when we aren’t in lockdown, I’m exploring local climbing crags or travelling for photo assignments. Kuala Lumpur, unlike the rest of Southeast Asia's sprawling megalopolises, still boasts pockets of lush, bio-diverse greenery. These spaces in the Malaysian capital are green havens for wildlife—some of it unique, much of it endangered— and the city's residents regularly recharge on the community-maintained hiking trails. Forest advocates point out that these areas play a critical role in the long-term sustainability and survival of Kuala Lumpur and its residents. These urban forests serve as an essential green lung to the greater metropolitan area and provide carbon sequestration, flood mitigation during monsoon season, a way to lower ambient temperatures and catchment areas to ensure clean water supply. Despite all this, real estate developers and the state continue to aggressively pursue new development projects in the remaining green spaces. A Mongabay report quotes a Global Forest Watch (GFW) study stating that between 2000 and 2018, Kuala Lumpur suffered a 24% loss of tree cover, a total of 1184 hectares or roughly 1190 baseball fields. #greenlung #saveoururbanforests #kualalumpur #malaysia #environment #climatechange https://www.instagram.com/p/CQaRBX2sqok/?utm_medium=tumblr

As many parts of the world emerge from their COVID-19 pandemic struggles, Malaysia has simultaneously had to implement tight lockdown measures to contain its continuing spread. Once seen as a positive example for South East Asia in containing the virus, it has become one of the worst affected in the region. Frustrated Malaysians using the hashtag #kerajaangagal trended on Twitter as netizens vented over the government's incompetence on matters relating to the #COVID19 situation and the country's battered economy. Lockdown measures seem to have curbed Covid-19 cases, as the national rate of infections declined to 6.61 per cent from its previous 7.28 per cent in the past week. Swipe left to see more. 1/ Kuala Lumpur skyline with a view of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers; 2/ Empty roads during one of the lockdowns; 3/ My local mall, all closed except for the supermarket and pharmacy; 4/ communal facilities like the swimming pool and gym closed at my condominium; 5/ Public announcements on giant LCD screens in the city centre in between lockdowns, and; 6/ Construction in central Kuala Lumpur - many factories and construction sites are deemed as essential and allowed to work at 60% capacity - this is despite the statistics showing that the highest infection rates come from these sectors (Code Blue - shorturl. at/ejCO4). #KualaLumpur Malaysia #Covid19 #CoronaDiaries https://www.instagram.com/p/CQLS15OMdKE/?utm_medium=tumblr

Last year, I contributed an essay to a book, Tales of Two Planets, a collection of short stories on climate change and inequality in our divided world edited by the brilliant John Freeman. In it, I described some of my experiences when I explored China’s vast industrial crescent during a period of accelerated economic development. Here is an excerpt, “A year later, thousands of miles away in a northeast industrial town, I watch coal fed into a large furnace; giant machinery helps fill multiple cavities from the top of a platform, filling each available space via a funnel. Each slot is an oven designed to cook coal and turn it into coke, fuel modified to burn at higher temperatures for steel production—the essential raw material for China’s skyscrapers and its ever-expanding megacities. Clouds rise as hot coal, cooled rapidly in water, emits a searing sound, and a rising plume engulfs workers and buildings nearby. As it reaches rain clouds high up, wind currents blow the vapours east and west, north and south, causing the toxic mass to shift and change, mimicking its innocent cousins before travelling to unknown lands. Back on the ground, an entourage of Range Rovers, luxury four-wheel-drive vehicles owned by coal-mine bosses, leave a cloud of grey-yellow dust in their wake. They drive between the metal structures of this large industrial complex, past the coking plant and the steel plant, before turning the corner to exit into the surrounding countryside.” @freemanreads #ClimateChange #environment #China #coal https://www.instagram.com/p/CQBl4q3ML80/?utm_medium=tumblr