Pete McBride is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker whose work is regularly featured by National Geographic, Smithsonian, The Nature Conservancy, and other renowned institutions. His most recent book is titled Seeing Silence: The Beauty of the World’s Most Quiet Places, and it features photographs and stories from more than two decades of his adventures on all seven continents. Seeing Silence uses stunning imagery and engaging storytelling to highlight the importance of places free of man-made noise, and it educates the reader on just how quickly silence is disappearing from the world.
For more than twenty years, Pete has been using his skills as a storyteller to inspire action on a wide variety of conservation issues. He has highlighted the multitude of threats facing the Grand Canyon in both his documentary Into the Grand Canyon and his book Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim. He’s also documented the West’s ongoing water crisis by focusing on the myriad of challenges affecting the Colorado River basin–making the important but sometimes confusing topic of water in the West accessible to a broader audience. And now, with Seeing Silence, he’s turned his focus to noise pollution and natural sounds, and I personally learned a lot from the book and this conversation.
This is Pete’s second appearance on the podcast, so if you’d like to learn more about his personal backstory and adventures in the Grand Canyon, you can find a link to that conversation in the episode notes. In this conversation, we go deep into Pete’s new obsession with silence and natural sounds, and why noise pollution is such a critical conservation issue. We started out talking about Pete’s expedition to South Georgia Island back in March of 2020 and how he had to make a hasty escape from the island when Covid descended on the world. We talk about his experience during Covid, and how the pandemic shifted his interests from the visual to the auditory. We discuss how artificial noise affects wildlife, why Pete feels a responsibility not to share specific wilderness locations on social media, how Pete’s family keeps him grounded, the larger purpose that drives his professional work, his recent trips to Lake Powell, and we also included some sounds that Pete recorded during his South Georgia Island expedition.
It was great to chat with Pete again, and I’d encourage you to check out Seeing Silence– it’s an excellent book. And be sure the check out the episode notes for a complete list of all the topics we discussed and links to everything. Thanks to Pete for taking the time, and thanks to you for listening. I hope you enjoy!
Header photo and headshot courtesy of Pete McBride, book photo by Ed
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EPISODE NOTES
Topics Discussed:
- 3:30 – Where Pete was during the start of the pandemic
- 5:30 – Thousands of King Penguins
- 10:15 – How Pete, as an outgoing person, adjusted from a career of traveling for films to pandemic isolation
- 13:30 – An example that Pete observed of how pandemic silence affected wildlife
- 23:30 – Pete reflects on shifting his focus from more visual media to auditory
- 26:45 – Pete discusses a search for quiet and how human-made sound and industry impacts wildlife
- 32:30 – Pete and Ed discuss the impact of human-caused light pollution along with the impacts sound has on humans
- 36:45 – Pete describes why he became interested in sound
- 40:00 – Pete discusses the responsibility he feels as a photographer to not inspire destructive over-visitation of beautiful natural places
- 44:45 – Pete discusses how he and his family keep him humble and grounded despite widespread attention
- 49:45 – Pete talks about weaving adventure into work for conservation, and follows up on our first conversation regarding the state of water in the western US
- 59:30 – Pete gives us some conservation optimism
Information Referenced:
- Pete’s first visit on Mountain & Prairie
- Seeing Silence by Pete McBride
- South Georgia Island
- Ernest Shackleton
- King Penguins
- Falkland Islands
- Drake Passage
- Kevin Fedarko
- Roaring Fork Valley
- Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger
- Jaque de Vos
- Svalbard
- Herring
- Swim bladders
- The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim
- Colorado River Delta
- Gordon Hempton
- Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness
- Independence Pass
- The End of Night by Paul Bogard
- San Juan River
- Pete’s NPR 1A interview
- Rick Ridgeway
- Yampa River
- Lake Powell
- Jonathan Wright
- Glen Canyon
- Lake Mead
- Flaming Gorge
- Len Necefer
- Glen Canyon Institute
- Desalination
- Kris Tompkins
Enjoy this episode? Then you might like these too:
- Rick Ridgeway – Purpose-Driven Adventurer
- Heather Hansman – Demystifying Water in the West
- Chris Burkard, Part 2 – Seeking Beauty Through Adventure
- Betsy Gaines Quammen – A Fascinating History of Public Lands in the West
- John Branch – Seeking the Extraordinary in the Ordinary
- Monte Burke – Exploring Obsession
- Mike Foote – Perfection is in the Process
- Steve Casimiro – Voice of Adventure
- Gabe Vasquez – Advocate for Equity in the Outdoors
Visit the podcast page for a full list of episodes where you can filter episodes by topic and guests’ vocations.
