Turning Point: The teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg sails across the Atlantic on an emissions-free yacht ahead of her arrival in New York on Aug. 28 for a tour of the Americas.

I have always had a deep connection with the natural world.

Before I picked up a camera, I was first and foremost a student of Mother Nature. I spent summers during high school studying wildlife biology with the School for Field Studies, an environmental study-abroad program. As I learned about ungulates in Kenya and seals in Alaska, I developed a long-lasting fascination with nature. And though I left the field of environmental science to pursue film, a deep awe for our planet continues to inform every aspect of my work.

As a director, I’m in constant pursuit of the right image. And I’ll admit that I’ve often fallen prey to cynicism when looking for a visual to best convey the current state of the world, confronted as it is with such terrifying environmental challenges. It’s hard to be optimistic about the visual encapsulation of our dying planet.

Yet, as soon as I saw an Instagram photo of Greta Thunberg staging her first environmental protest in August 2018, I knew. There she was, a 15-year-old girl, sitting outside the Swedish Parliament, on strike from school to bring attention to climate change. Here was the image — one of hope, commitment and action — I needed to see. An image that could spark a movement.