PARIS - Yann Arthus-Bertrand has sold more than three million copies of his book of photography “Earth From Above.” His latest Paris exhibit featured videos of 5,600 people in 78 countries, and it attracted 150,000 visitors in just one month. And his $16 million movie from 2009, “Home,” has been screened all over the world .

The film is a succession of images of stunning natural beauty from 54 countries, and a warning against human excesses .

“For several years, American movie theaters didn’t want to show it because the movie was free,”

Mr. Arthus-Bertrand said . Mr. Arthus-Bertrand, 64, has received some of France’s highest distinctions, including the Legion d’Honneur. He has had 12 schools named after him. In 2009 he was appointed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program.

But unlike many prominent environmental advocates, Mr. Arthus-Bertrand has no scientific background and is not a politician. And in France, where credibility generally depends on one’s level of training or education, successful careers like his are rare.

In conversation Mr. Arthus-Bertrand comes off more as a thoughtful adventurer than as a French intellectual. His office is a cozy cabin in a wood near Paris .

He is inhabited by a restless energy and is easily distracted. He says no one is a born environmentalist. “It is only your path, your life, your travels that awaken you.” Mr. Arthus-Bertrand discovered aerial photography working as a hotair balloon pilot in Kenya. From the air, he explained, you see the world differently; borders disappear.

In 1992 he stumbled across the idea of “sustainable development” in an newspaper article , and it changed his life.


His work on “Earth From Above” made him an environmentalist, he said. Over eight years, he photographed about 160 countries . Few publications would publish his work . He mortgaged his apartment to finance the book.

“Earth From Above” has come to be viewed in France as the bible of aerial photography. He has always favored sensational events to draw people to his cause, and his photography exhibitions are often held in unexpected places: “Home” was shown on a giant screen below the Eiffel Tower, with 25,000 people in attendance.

Mr. Arthus-Bertrand has often insisted on free access to his art . He publicly asked people around the world to show “Home” without charge.

“I told them: ‘I am doing a movie for free, I did my job. Now, do yours,’ ” he said.

The film is a nonprofit project, he said, which depends on the film distributor’s good will.

“It is an extraordinary approach,” said Luc Besson, the French film impresario, who produced the movie .

With the help of major donors like BNP Paribas, the French bank, Mr. Arthus-Bertrand started the Good- Planet foundation, which helps companies develop eco-friendly initiatives, compensate for carbon emissions and curb greenhouse gases. Most recently the company gained government help to distribute posters showing pictures of nature and sustainable development programs to 57,000 schools in France. He intends to develop an equivalent operation in the United States.

But many people here criticize what they see as a naive vision of environmentalism. For Jean-Michel Frodon, a French movie critic, Yann Arthus- Bertrand used his reputation to make “Home,” a “pretty and Pollyanna-ish movie.” “ ‘Home’ had many viewers but didn’t have much echo,” Mr. Frodon said in an interview.

Mr. Arthus-Bertrand makes no apologies . “There is something very utopian about what I do,” he said. “But utopia is nothing more than a truth that the world is not yet ready to hear.”


By MAÏA DE LA BAUME