Endangered: From Glaciers to Reefs is a superb example of Diane Burko's attempt to merge her art with the public engagement side of her practice. This volume is less like a catalog and more like an informative book to complement Burko's exhibit, Endangered: From Glaciers to Reefs, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC (August 15, 2018 - January 30, 2019). This is an edition that stands alone, like Burko's 2017 publication of Glacial Shifts, Changing Perspectives, Bearing Witness to Climate Change, published to accompany her exhibition at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville Arkansas. Endangered: From Glaciers to Reefs features over 40 color reproductions covering images in the exhibition as well as other works of art, illustrations and informative maps. Endangered: From Glaciers to Reefs features an introduction by the curator, Alana Quinn and two short essays, one by Tad Pfeffer from INSTAAR on glaciers, and one on coral reefs by Nancy Knowlton, head of Marine Biology at the Smithsonian Institute. The core of the text features a conversation between artist Diane Burko and anthropologist Ben Orlove, of Columbia University. This far ranging exchange includes not only commentary on the work in the exhibit but integrates ideas about climate change, geography, history, the human condition and the creative process in a readable, accessible manner. By providing images throughout, some enjoyable learning will take place.

The Philadelphia painter-photographer compounds art and science in near-abstractions layered atop oceanographic charts... Burko's art can be read as representing general issues of change and fragility, but the maps underneath the paint hitch the pictures to specific places and a particular threat.--The Washington Post

Diane Burko has placed herself at the intersection of science and art. Her work focuses on monumental geological phenomena, which merges a vision that is panoramic, intimate and provocative. Her images of melting glaciers and threatened coral reef ecosystems reflect research and visual data from scientists and her own on-site experiences. Burko's paintings, photographs, and time-based media are urgent reminders of the vanishing beauty and peril of a warming planet. Included in over 100 exhibits thus far, her works bear witness to changes in our environment, translating data into compelling imagery. Joining expeditions in Svalbard, Norway, Argentina, Greenland, Antarctica, and most recently, Hawaii and American Samoa, she has seen firsthand the rapid transformation of landscapes essential to life on earth. Her creative response, represented in these pages, compels us to take notice and action. Along with her photography and painting, this book is comprised of related imagery, installation shots, and general information that is important to anyone interested in our planet's survival.