SAN FRANCISCO – MakersPlace, the premier marketplace for rare and authentic digital artworks, announced in collaboration with Ioconic, the company integrating global brands into Web3, that it will be offering the genesis NFT collection From the Flames of Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario. The photographs were featured in a National Geographic series on the California wildfires of 2021, one of which was a cover for National Geographic’s Year in Pictures, will be released exclusively on MakersPlace on June 1st, 2022 at 3:30PM PT. The carbon neutral From the Flames NFT Collection will be offset using Aerial, a sustainability platform that calculates the carbon emissions based on associated energy use.

From the Flames calls to attention the serious environmental effects of ongoing drought in California coupled with climate change through two poignant photographs from the frontlines of the Caldor and Dixie Fires. Addario is a Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years as named by American Photo magazine in 2015. Her work is often centered around important social and environmental issues such as human rights and climate change.

Through this drop, Addario wants to raise global awareness of the severe effects of climate change, while honoring those affected by the 2021 fires by donating 10% of proceeds to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides assistance to fallen firefighters’ families and to firefighters injured in the line of duty. Addario has covered conflict zones across the world, including the current crisis in Ukraine, and in 2021, documented the causes and effects of Climate change across three continents: from the floods in South Sudan to deforestation in the Amazon to the wildfires in California. It was especially important to Addario that these NFTs be carbon neutral.

The collection consists of:

  • An auction of one 1/1 artwork with reserve of $2,000 USD: CALDOR FIRE, BURNING CABIN

○     The owner of this NFT will also receive a signed version of the National Geographic cover, a signed archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper and a 30 min Q&A with the creator.
○     The photograph was taken near the Sierra at Lake Tahoe Lodge along Highway 50, in California, August 29, 2021. The image was featured on the cover of National Geographic’s 2021 Year in Review (released Dec. 9th) and January 2022 special edition cover.

  • One limited edition (5/5) photograph, DIXIE FIRE, BUTTE LAKE CAMPGROUND, taken of firefighters monitoring the fireline (the periphery of the fire) as dry winds increase in the Lassen Forest in Northern California. Addario shot these images over a two-week period on the Dixie and Caldor fires, and both were featured in National Geographic‘s powerful photographic series. According to CALFIRE, The Dixie Fire started July 13, and as of October 2021, had burned roughly 965,000 acres

“This collection is especially powerful, because it demonstrates how climate change is destroying our environment across continents,” said Lynsey Addario. “Showing people, not just telling them, why this is an urgent global issue is my primary goal; and I chose MakersPlace to launch my first NFT collection, because of our shared values. The company is committed to the environment with its carbon neutral drop program, and they are all about supporting creators who are looking to express themselves in new ways.”

The offsets from this drop will be allocated to high-quality forest conservation projects verified by American Carbon Registry and to emerging technologies such as Charm industrial that capture carbon from biomass waste and permanently store it underground.

Source: MakersPlace