Gretel Ehrlich, 2011 WINGS Elected Fellow

"Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are...there is nothing in nature that can't be taken as a sign of both morality and invigoration." — Gretel Ehrlich

Writer, Explorer

Born: 1946-01-21

Hometown: Santa Barbara, California

Education: Bennington College, UCLA Film School

Achievements

Expeditions: Throughout a 20 year period, Ehrlich has explored and lived in the Himalayas, Western China, Greenland and the Arctic. Her permanent home is in Wyoming.

Biography

Considered one of the great environmental writers of our time, Gretel Ehrlich is the author of 11 books, including This Cold Heaven and The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold, which focus on life in the Arctic in a time of global warming, and A Match to the Heart, which chronicles her ordeal and recovery after having been struck by lightning in 1991. Ehrlich received a National Geographic Expeditions Grant for the 2007 International Polar Year, and traveled the Arctic by skin boat, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopter, reindeer, and dogsled. She lived among the Inuit people who, as the Arctic warms and melts, are witnessing the destruction of their ecosystem and their way of life. In addition to educating readers with her scientific and cultural expertise, she probes the spiritual qualities of her subject with a pen that is both lyric and mystical. She has been awarded Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, etc.  

Read full bio on Gretel's website

"The thawing edge, Gretel Ehrlich’s Empire of Ice" NATGEO NewsWatch interview with Ford Cochran

Empire of Ice Video Interview on YouTube:

Fun Facts

Awards and Recognition

2010 PEN Henry David Thoreau Prize, Bellagio Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Whiting Award, Harold B. Vurcell Award, grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and two Expedition Council Grants from the National Geographic Sociey.

Publications

In the Empire of Ice: Encounters in a Changing Landscape, 2010; The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold, 2004; This Cole Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, 2001; John Muir: Nature's Visionary, 2000; A Match to the Heart: One Woman's Story of Being Struck by Lightening; Arctic Heart: A Poem Cycle, 1992; Islands, the Universe, Home, 1991; Drinking Dry Clouds: Stories from Wyoming, 1991; Heart Mountain, 1988; The Solace of Open Spaces, 1985