Imagine you’re a pro photographer with an unlimited travel budget and your editor says he needs some pics for a story on global warming.

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Sure thing, you say. Just tell me the intersection and what time to show up. Well …. huh. Where do you go? Who do you look for? What’s the most arresting and memorable way to depict an event that’s both global and gradual?

Photographer Gary Braasch has the enviable job of trying to figure it out. His advice: People connect with images of large animals (ah, that explains the ubiquitious polar bears) and with photos that show humans already at risk. Don’t hate him because his work is beautiful.

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Braasch spoke today in Washington at the Center for American Progress.