Viral Image Captures A Heartbreaking Look At The Future

"Climate change" can sound like an abstract problem - but photographs of the very real environmental tragedy put a face on the fearful future.

A photograph of a deceased polar bear believed to have died of starvation shows exactly what climate change means for animals who live on vanishing ice.

From "Arctica: The Vanishing North." Sebastian Copeland

From "Arctica: The Vanishing North." | Sebastian Copeland

Rising temperatures have caused sea ice in the Arctic to melt, making hunting seals more and more difficult. This contributes to the beginning of what scientists are calling the sixth mass extinction - an unprecedented loss of life caused by human impacts on the planet.

And the heating up of the Arctic is staggeringly unprecedented, according to new data from NASA.

The bleak image is just one of many breathtaking photographs in Arctica: The Vanishing North, by Sebastian Copeland. Copeland's aim is show the devastation caused by climate change - in the grim and terrifying specificity.

Sometime soon, it might be that all we have left are these photographs.

Learn what you can do to cut down on your impact on the planet here.