Your book is a piece of sustained beauty. I treasure it.

Arundhati Roy

I read Hard Rain over the weekend. Dylan's lyrics and your images are amazing. Lloyd's essay is really thoughtful. It's a powerful combination.

Jonathon Porritt

Hard Rain is magnificent. The photographs illustrate Dylan's words almost uncannily. It is as if Dylan had taken them himself.

Raymond Briggs

The Government works with businesses, the voluntary and community sector, and the people themselves who give this government its legitimacy. The Government is playing its part and I hope that Hard Rain encourages others to do so too.

Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister of Great Britain
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Here is our world as for most of humanity it has become, and as the world's leaders would rather not acknowledge. It is brought to us through a poem that cuts as poetry must through the facts to the meaning of things, and by photographs that capture the passing scene in one sharp permanent image – and also the emotion of it, and the reasons that lie behind it. We doubtless need statistics and learned analyses if we are to get to grips with the world but most of all we need to give a damn, and here we can see, if we take just a few minutes, why we should. This is the power of art.

Colin Tudge

I saw An Inconvenient Truth last night, and I can honestly say that I think Hard Rain highlights the earth's plight so much more succinctly, emotionally and artistically. Your presentation left a tear in my eye.

Mel Trievnor, London

Jesus... When you have seen this exhibition, life stops for a moment. I don't know how people can go on like this. I listened to the song as well. It was so moving. Even at the age of twelve, I find it hard to comprehend this. I cried over it.

Meera Patel, UK

Each day I avert my eyes and steer my thoughts away from the inevitable outcome. I ignore the headlong rush which sweeps us all along and bury my head in silence and in shame. The monumental extent of that which brings about our end has seemed unassailable. Increasingly I have been unable to engage. Everywhere I look I see my own participation in this race to, and over, the precipice.

This book inspires me to try and stand again. To know that others share this bleakest outlook brings a ray of hope.

At first I thought that Dylan's lines should not be illustrated. I was wrong.

Sincerely,

Christy Moore

This book is an epic tale of man's brutality and indifference to the environment, offering a face to Bob Dylan's invisible executioner.

i-D magazine

I read Hard Rain and thought it was compelling. I read it again and it was more compelling. Three months later I read it a third time while sitting in a taxi caught in a traffic jam and it was like a kick in the guts, a terrible vision of the apocalyptic future that climate change could wreak on humanity. The suffering of millions of refugees fleeing flooded or drought-stricken lands, the breakdown of economies, then civilization. And then the rule of the jungle. All these could be conseqeuences of climate change. Mark Edwards' photos and Dylan's lyrics combine as if made for each other to convey a hideous future. But it doesn't have to be like this, the future is not fixed.

Harry Bruhns, UK

Saving the environment will hardly be achieved by forcing nation states to act or persuading scientists that, after a technology of destruction, it is time to develop a technology of salvation. Nation states may be part of the problem, in that in their myopic attention to limited territories they may believe that competition with other states will make the winners survive and the losers succumb. In an extreme, if realistic, version of such competition the poisons produced in developed countries can be transferred to developing ones, a form of environmental imperialism. There are only losers in this competition and, as David Bohm wonderfully argues, nationalism is for the environment a contemporary form of plague.

Scientists, in their turn, may compound the problem, as their professional performance is measured through the contribution they make to economic growth. David Bohm's views echo what some theorists in Europe call "de-growth", an economic initiative which incorporates a radical critique of the very notions of development, output, national product or, for that matter, added value and profit. If these notions have acquired "objective" existence and universal validity in economic discourse, this is not due to their being part of the inescapable reality, but to the way in which "thought" has managed to isolate them and turn them into abstractions. Here, Bohm's ideas are crucial for the development of a global environmental consciousness. Our thought does not reflect reality, it contributes to its creation. If we focus on other aspects and variables, these may acquire universal validity as well: our gaze may be turned away from growth and economic performance, and onto solidarity and life. Hard Rain is a superb contribution to the debate on the environment. The compelling images provided by Mark Edwards, the moving verses of Bob Dylan, and the thought-provoking observations of David Bohm give us a beautiful message of civic hope.

Lucia and Vincenzo Ruggiero, London

It's a grim picture, but Hard Rain also inspires hope. It gives readers a sense of purpose and an almost palpable desire to do something positive, something that will make a difference.

Cork Evening Echo

In seconds I was hooked, desperate to save the planet... Hard Rain is a harrowing onslaught on our shared responsibility for climate change, for poverty (both spiritual and material), for habitat loss and for the abuse of basic human rights. The message is that environmental and human poverty reinforce each other. Many sensitive people are aware, to at least some extent, that if only through their consumption patterns they contribute to the raping of our environment and to appalling mistreatment of our fellow beings, human and non-human. These images, from many countries and many contexts, must heighten that awareness, and bring it into acute focus. They illustrate a world gone desperately wrong.

Harry Reid, The Herald

I am an 18-year-old senior at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, California. My father got this book when he was in Paris, where Mark Edwards spoke. The first moments I opened the book I could feel the impact it made upon me. As I flipped through the pages my eyes started to fill with tears. As I read the last lines, all I could think of was the hard rain coming down from my eyes. I shared this book with my Government and Psychology teacher, and we read it out loud to the class. The intense look in everyone's eyes was amazing. Five kids I didn't even know came up to me later that day and said thank you for showing that because it made such an impact on them. Thank you so much.

Nikki Price, Manhattan Beach, California

A masterly book of photographs. The song was as a response to the Cuban missile crisis, but it is probably even more relevant today. Wonderful and disturbing.

Myles Dungan, Rattlebag, RTE Radio 1

"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" was one of the defining protest songs of the sixties. While its original inspiration was the threat of nuclear meltdown, it has been effortlessly composed into a modern context by Mark Edwards, whose plangent photographic essay is as moving a piece of work as I have seen for a long time.

It is also important and timely because it is the sixties' generation who now make up the bulk of the establishment. A reminder of how, little by little, our capacity for righteous anger has been eroded by the years of compromise so many of us have lived through, may just move us once more to remember what it is like to yell at the top of our voices, "enough".

This disturbing, powerfully moving work is a masterpiece that summons up the ghosts of our past and a vision of the future that was ours to change. Regret and optimism make strange bedfellows, but great artists have always known this.

Tim Smit, Chief Executive and co-founder, The Eden Project

Putting hard-hitting and often disturbing visual imagery to Bob Dylan's lyrics makes a powerful call for action, and I congratulate you.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme

This is a book of powerful words and some even more powerful images. It reflects the thoughts of a generation who do not just want prosperity for themselves but who want progress for the poor as well, and who know we need a sustainable environment, not just to pass on to the next generation but to make life better in this generation too. Tackling climate change is not a distant and remote concern, but an urgent priority.

The truth is that, when it comes to these challenges, we are all in it together – we all have a role to play. The decisions we make, for example, about shopping, travelling and living all make a difference.

So the lesson from this book is not only of the damage we are causing, but of the shared responsibility we all have to respond – and to do those things which, step by step, can make a real difference.

David Cameron MP, Leader of the Conservative Party (via email)

I sincerely appreciate your concern with this very important topic and, as you know, I share that concern. Here in California, where the environmental movement is strong, exciting things are happening.

Last June, when I established California's targets for reducing greenhouse gases, I said, "the debate is over, the science is in, and the time for action is now." That's also true for our other environmental challenges.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, USA
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A wonderful and powerful broadside. It reminds me of Munch's "Scream". And of what Bertrand Russell called mankind's "silly cleverness".

And yet it's only part of the picture. Yes, perhaps the biggest part – we are indeed a greedy, stupid, selfish species. But we are also generous and imaginative and inspiring and self-sacrificing. And this side of humanity barely gets a mention.

Vietnam dragged on for year after miserable year; tens of millions protested the war in Iraq before it even started. This didn't stop the invasion, but no matter what Bush does now, the occupation will not continue for many more months. Things are changing, perhaps faster and more fundamentally than any of us realize. There are millions of seeds of hope: tens of millions.

But maybe that is for another of the books you promise. I hope so.

Jon Tinker, Executive Director, Panos Institute of Canada

Someone once wrote that politics without dissent has a corpse in its mouth, and that all of us inclined to either the Right or the Left need to recognize the importance of a much wider version of subversion. We all live in a world where we are told forcibly that the alternatives to the present way of doing things are not feasible, that to believe otherwise is suspect, and the "wise" (politicians, economists) know best. So the actors of freedom, the dissenters and protestors always seem oppressed by the talkers of freedom. (Mr. Bush et al).

I have found dissent and protest is a lonely business, and yet that seems to fuel an enthusiasm for rhetoric. In anger, anguish, fear and pride it is the words, the language, the symbols, and the music that can often move you to action.

Dame Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop

It has been pointed out that photographs describe everything, but explain nothing. How true. Hard Rain achieves an extraordinary feat of bringing together a diverse and remarkable selection of photographs, and by placing them into the context of this book, making them explain a very great deal. Not neccessarily what they were originally intended to explain, as with Dylan's lyrics, but something that all their authors can be proud to participate in, and feel solidarity with this message.

Bring this book to the attention of your friends, and spread it around.

Chris Steele-Perkins, London

We are already witnessing the impact of a changing climate across the globe, the destructive hurricanes in the US, and extensive flooding closer to home. Yet these are only a precursor to far worse possible events, which could happen as a result of climate change induced by human activities.

The government is not delivering on actions necessary to tackle this threat. Domestic targets of a 20% cut in greenhouse emissions on 1990 levels by 2010 look certain to be missed if the current trends continue. International targets agreed under Kyoto are more modest still, but even they could be missed if the government does not take further action.

Menzies Campbell MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats
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This is a moving and thought-provoking book, which illustrates, through the use of powerful images, the undeniable ongoing relevance of Dylan's lyrics. Environmental and human poverty is today at a level that Dylan could not have envisaged when he wrote those disturbing lyrics some 40 years ago. Yet many of the world leaders, those who have the ability to affect a change, have failed to take care of the needs of the many. This must end now.

Scientists agree that we now have less than ten years to make the changes that will prevent the earth's temperature entering its danger zone – the point of no return. Politicians and individuals must stop passing the buck and be part of the solution rather than the problem. A zero carbon future is a happy, healthy, equitable future, so what are we waiting for? Another world is possible, and hopefully Hard Rain will bring this message to a new audience that will start taking action.

Caroline Lucas MEP, Principal Speaker, Green Party

There is no doubt that we need global co-operation to tackle climate change and it is fair that those who contribute to the problem should contribute proportionately to the solution. The actions taken so far have been less than adequate, but whilst the need for international action underlines the difficulty of achieving progress, it also points to the opportunity.

If we are to succeed in tackling climate change then it is absolutely vital that we recognise that we are all in this together and we have a shared responsibility for this problem. We cannot afford to fail.

Peter Ainsworth, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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I read Mark Edwards' and Lloyd Timberlake's book, Hard Rain, with interest. The stunning photography supports the stark message of the text. Perhaps the simplest and strongest message comes in just one line: "Climate change alone has the potential to be catastrophic."

We are already seeing and feeling the effects of climate change and, indeed, the hurricanes and floods of recent years are evidence of exactly how catastrophic those effects can be. It is essential that countries, governments and citizens all play their part in protecting our world and our future. This could be achieved by using fossil fuels responsibly, by managing waste with care and consideration, and by examining responsible, sustainable means of developing industry, agriculture and energy. To this end, I believe the Kyoto Protocol is a healthy and worthwhile guideline. While it is not always easy to meet the challenges it poses, I am convinced that the effort will yield real dividends for those who apply themselves to it.

I wish Mark and Lloyd every success with this important book.

Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister, Republic of Ireland

I listened to your interview on Rattlebag with Myles Dungan. Your comments meant a lot to me as firstly, I have a copy of your excellent book and secondly, I am working for a small Irish NGO highlighting the importance of forests to society. While, like Lloyd said, it was nice to get a response from our Prime Minister to your book and what it stands for, his letter didn't go far enough. Makes you wonder...

I wish you both every success with your very important mission.

Tom Roche, Just Forests, Co. Offaly, Republic of Ireland

By his lyrics, Bob Dylan has proved himself to be an astonishing prophet. More importantly, he has inspired Mark Edwards to publish this series of deeply moving photos of the plight of the planet and its people. But both Dylan and Edwards will have failed unless the readers of this book are moved to action.

Lester Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute

Dear Mr Edwards,

I and the Liberal Democrats agree wholeheartedly with your concerns over the world's environment and the dangers of climate change. We are keen advocates of renewable energy and have set the ambitious target of 60% of all Britain's electricity needs coming from renewables by 2050. We have been calling for important tax rises on the most polluting forms of transport. Sadly this government has repeatedly caved in to the drivers' lobby and failed to deliver on these important measures, so that now a smaller proportion of GDP is collected in green taxes than under the previous Conservative administration...

It is [also] vitally important to improve energy efficiency at home and in the workplace. Not only because it will help reduce emissions and the need for new power stations, but because energy efficiency could save the economy billions of pounds every year, therefore improving our competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Huhne, MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary
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Thank you for the book, and for bringing to the attention of world leaders such a crucially important visual and verbal message. I truly hope you receive some honest, and positive replies from the people making important decisions for those who don't have the choice, and for those of us who have to rely on them to do the right thing.
A wonderful book. Congratulations.

Tess Larosse, Nyon, Switzerland

Hard Rain expresses beautifully the rage and pain we must all feel... Mark Edwards' photographs set to Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain" form a very powerful impression of a world in crisis. Lloyd Timberlake's essay leaves us in no doubt of the desperate message that we have already left it too late to prevent environmental disaster on a massive scale. Get a copy... if you're hard enough.

Sarah Dixon, Botanic Gardens Conservation International

The words of Bob Dylan's song are turned into stark visual images of a wounded earth, of people living and dying in a hell that could have been drawn from the imagination of a mediaeval artist. I walked along the line of posters, words piled on words, image on image. I knew the lyrics; Dylan was part of the sound track of my life, yet somehow the apocalyptic vision was just that, a warning rather than a description. Suddenly this was a reality. Now each line of the song was real and by the time I reached the end there were silent tears running down my face.

We must act – as individuals and collectively. Regret what we have done and what we have failed to do. Take action and get angry at those who don't. Can I tell my grandchildren that I knew but did nothing?

Geoff Brace, Ipswich

I just listened to the original song whilst reading your book. I cried.

I am an Environmental Sciences student, aware of many of the facts and the situation we find ourselves in through study, but this didn't diminish the power of your message. I just hope projects such as this can change attitudes quickly enough to have an effect.

Almost as depressing as this book are the replies from some of the politicians. All talk of targets and why they should be in power – environmentalism used to gain votes. But the result would be the same: no change. Why do the people in power not understand that their money and businesses are worth nothing if the planet dies?

Mathieu Pendergast, UK

I bought your book after visiting the Eden Project and seeing your exhibition; a procession of visitors, quiet and visibly moved by the photographs and words. If we each could spend just one minute of one day doing something to make a difference, then collectively, what a difference we could make.

Arlene Harris, Rossendale, Lancashire

The images drew a huge emotion from myself and others around me. Seeing something so raw and descriptive has really hit your message home. I left with a copy of the book and a constant reminder of what is often overlooked in society today, vowing to become much more aware of what difference each of us can make.

Additionally, a few weeks ago my girlfriend told me about a class trip from her school to the Eden Project. The teachers were all back at the bus and getting increasingly anxious that the children had not returned yet as time was running out. When they eventually turned up it turned out that they had not been able to draw themselves away from the Hard Rain display – so your message is getting out to the people that will make the change.

Paul Hassall, Ipswich

What will it take to derail business as usual and engage the moment? The facts are in, now is the time for those who are sensitive to the truth and the growing awareness of the peril we are about to confront, to speak out and lead the way into a brave new world.

James Leighton, Portland, Oregon

In London, the common will of the people can convince the city governors to reserve parks from development. It is not so hard for those in power to withstand pressure to cash in on the value of Hyde Park. But such valuable political action is simply invisible when faced with the value of the atmosphere.

The message of this book, and of the project itself, is spot on. We all need to push for global governance that values a global environment.

Roger Yates, London

I picked up a copy of Hard Rain when I visited the Eden Project. The combination of words and pictures spoke to me instantly, at a deep level. I was inspired and motivated to see in this work the accomplishment of evoking powerful emotion by giving words a context and pictures a voice. The message of being "the change you want to see in the world" resonated with me. Hard Rain is a beautiful, tender, honest and painful piece of work.

Amanda Milligan, Manchester

The strength of emotion the pictures and words combine to evoke is unbelievable. It gives a very strong reminder for all of us to do our bit. I'll recommend anyone buys this book and looks at it regularly as I always will. Thank you.

Haidee Moore, Cookham, Berkshire

We see the disasters that have happened, we know the catastrophes that approach. We have the chance now to invent a new future for humanity. But what does that future look like? What do we want our common future to be?

Steve Gale, Australia

I heard of a mining exploration company in Greenland who were somewhat pleased that they no longer had to drill through 60 metres of ice to reach the rock surface as the ice had melted and drilling was now done on the exposed rock. Global warming is not causing the odd cm melt here or there, it is much more radical than we are sometimes led to believe.

Tony Othen, London

Can we have a planetary mentality?

Plenty Coups, the last chief of the Crow Indians died in 1932. The Crows were warriors first and foremost and were known for staking out their ever-changing grounds for buffalo with "coup sticks" – the word coup being used in the sense of "pulling off a coup". Once a warrior planted a coup stick, it marked a boundary that if transgressed by an outsider would give rise to a fight, if necessary to the death. For the men of the Crow tribe, to stake out hunting grounds in this way and to successfully defend them against all comers was the highest honour and virtue – in fact it seemed to be the only one they aspired to.

What happened to the Crow after the buffalo went, slaughtered en masse by the white men? Well, Chief Plenty Coups put it this way: "After this, nothing happened." The tribe, as a culture, simply disintegrated.

How different was the Crow culture, in its prime, from the culture of the modern nation? To take one example, the Falklands War showed the British determined to defend their disputed lands, and passionately so in the case of their Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher. And the modern nation often extends its territorial frontiers to embrace what is called its "spheres of interest" – oil-producing countries being a clear example. Dying in defence of one's country or its "interests" is regarded as heroic and earns the hero the highest national honours. All this is regarded by most of us as normal. So how different are we from the Crow tribe? And will our national cultures survive the new planetary challenge they now face?

Relevant to that was a recent programme on US television describing the effect on the Earth of "global dimming". This refers to the reduction in sunlight reaching the Earth's surface due to clouds of pollutant particles caused mainly by the industries of the US and Europe. According to this documentary these clouds effectively displaced in the sixties and seventies the monsoon in the Sahel (Africa, south of the Sahara) and led to mass starvation of its inhabitants. Pollution in the US and Europe of the kind that produced this disaster has since been reduced and the Sahel monsoon has returned.

But this blatant example of the catastrophic effects of human pollution on people who had no hand in causing it shows that, without a planetary policy on climate change and pollution, the prospects for new kinds of human strife and terrorism are immense. Also, the fact that pandemics, such as the possible one of Asian bird flu, are more likely to emerge in very poor countries and then spread rapidly to rich ones through air travel means that a planetary medical policy is likely to be the only way to prevent this. Well, we have the World Health Organization: but will it be able to do everything needed?

Both of these examples, and there are many others, strongly suggest that the tribal-national model, brought about by our genes as an appropriate means of survival in the environment of past millennia, is hopelessly inadequate as an adaptation to the present planetary challenges. However, we are nonetheless able, as the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins puts it, "to rebel against our genes", and he has called this "an unexpected bonus" at our present point in history. And what this present point in history demands, according to a recent UK government report on climate change, is "unprecedented international cooperation", nothing less than a new human mentality – one that transcends our so far-rooted and neurotically obsessive allegiances to national interests and identity. The problem is this. It is quite clearly now impossible to defend our national interests without simultaneously taking into account the interests of other nations and of the planet as a whole. This is an inescapable fact and a wholly new way of looking at the world and our position in it. Put another way, unless xenophobia gives way to species loyalty – a deeply felt sense of all of us being in the same boat – we are very unlikely to achieve "unprecedented international cooperation" and are more likely to have unprecedented conflict due to outmoded economic, political, and religious divisions.

Old ways of thinking don't work anymore. And it will need a real mental leap to change them. Are we capable of making that leap?

David Skitt, UK

Thank you Mark and Lloyd for the simple, clear and shocking messages that are so difficult to get across to politicians. I am sorry but not surprised to learn that you received no response from any Costa Rican leaders.

I arrived in Costa Rica just over twenty years ago to work as a consultant at the highest levels of government and in the public school system promoting education for sustainable development. I believed, like many others, that the country was set to be a world leader in sustainable development, especially after the launch of its Conservation Strategy for Sustainable Development. "We do not aspire to a development style that exceeds our possibilities, or to a society of wellbeing for few and suffering for many... That Costa Rica could be that valued heritage we leave to our children; or it could provide the sad evidence of our failure" is what Oscar Arias, the country's then president, wrote in the Strategy's introduction in 1988.

This Strategy was never integrated into government machinery. It was launched just weeks into the administration of the opposing political party. This means that despite private initiatives, we are still faced with laws and policies that are often detrimental to or blatantly negate the integrative nature of sustainable development.

After so much international attention (and funding) in the '80s and early '90s and with the passing of the Rio Earth Summit, there is very little to show on the street or in rural areas for the considerable political investment in sustainable development. People have become disenchanted with the concept. And to add insult to injury, José María Figueres, a former president and the highest-profile international protagonist of Costa Rica's sustainable development, is in voluntary exile on suspicion of corruption.

There is every indication that the current administration will leave much "sad evidence of our failure" in sustainable development in that its National Development Plan makes only cursory reference to the concept. At the time of writing (April 2007), large swaths of civil society are up in arms against the signing of the free trade agreement with the US. In all likelihood this will play havoc with the natural and cultural heritage for which the country is known and revered. It will be the final nail in the coffin of sustainable development.

In the absence of leadership, private initiatives will have to assume responsibility to ensure that we, the ordinary people, our children, and our children's children do not lose out, now and in the immediate future.

Noël D. Payne
Sabanilla, Costa Rica

So far, the bulk of our attention has been focused on the efficiency of our transport as one way of addressing the atmospheric carbon glut – and rightly so. This sector is responsible for roughly half the human input here in North America at least. Cars are high tech, much of the economy is centered around the industry and we'd love to have a crack at putting GM, Ford and/or Chrysler back on the map. We can even throw the agricultural sector a hook by proposing alternatives to our increasingly dubious addiction to gasoline.

The issue that hasn't made much of a splash yet is the carbon-loading twin of our cars and trucks – the home heating sector (doesn't sound very glamorous compared to fuel cells, solid storage of hydrogen etc. does it?). Yet many if not most of us live in structures designed with anything but maximum energy efficiency in mind. Building this efficiency into new construction would be the easy part. Something as simple as the orientation of roof systems to face south is only one no-cost adaptation to building design that would open up possibilities (present and future) to take advantage of emergent solar technologies. Planting deciduous shade trees and/or the use of awnings to minimize if not eliminate the need for air-conditioning is yet another. The real sticky wicket is upgrading existing structures to rival the efficiency possible for the newest versions.

If we approached this particular problem with half the zeal we seem to be devoting to hybrid cars, we would have realized a long time ago that this is a potential gold mine of economic opportunity. Consider the number of skilled laborers required to confront the task of retro-fitting millions of homes and businesses. This is a sector of the economy that cannot be outsourced, not to mention the production materials required or the research and development of even newer adaptive technologies. Sadly here in Canada, we have replaced shop classes with computer labs and the workforce capable of addressing this situation is dwindling. Meanwhile, the government long ago reinstated the tax (16%) on energy conservation products like insulation, double-glazed windows and caulking.

The visionary politicians who can connect even a few of these dots are so few that we're losing ground we can ill afford to lose. Yet it's naive to think that the kinds of changes implied in the task ahead of us could be accomplished without massive government intervention (tax incentives, educational/trades focus, building codes etc.). Add to this the general population's tendency to choose short-term low cost over long-term even lower cost and one can easily begin to despair that human inertia will be overcome in time.

Bob Poirier, Canada

Congratulations with Hard Rain! It is a very powerful book. It is so important that you keep up the no-easy-way-out stance. Lloyd's words are disturbing because the heart of the matter is disturbing. It will be very interesting to follow the reactions from power-people as well as ordinary readers.

Hjalte Tin, Denmark

Dear Mr. Mark Edwards,

The Prime Minister has asked me to thank you for your letter of 20 March 2006 regarding request for joining the debate on your website. Unfortunately the Prime Minister is not able to comply with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Karina Paulsen, Personal Secretary to The Prime Minister of Denmark

This is awesome! A culmination of such dedication and vision, passion and love. Kudos.

Audrey Jonckheer, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York

Dear Lloyd,

I just read through Hard Rain. I was in a giddy mood earlier and just fell into a quiet, confused, and somewhat suffocated state. Going through the pages and reading the lyrics was mesmerizing. I don't know if I should say good job, but rather you have produced a deliberate attestation to this hard and sometimes ugly world we live in. In addition, you have been able to capture these raw truths in a delicate way. I would ordinarily object to using these kinds of photos – of suffering and injustice – to make a point, however, you have been able to do it in an inoffensive way. Impressive.

Kija Kummmer, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Switzerland

Congratulations not only on production of the book, but on an innovative strategy at getting politicians to act on their rhetoric.

Tony Cunningham, Australia

An important, hard-hitting and powerful book. The words and photographs just fit each other perfectly and create new pictures and thoughts in the mind. I wish it could be read by every young person and politician in our part of the world.

Tore J. Brevik, Oslo, Norway (former Communications Director, UNEP)

This book is a chilling reminder of what has taken place on this oasis in space we call Earth. It is also a frightening look at what is going to happen if we fail to act.

Don Hinrichsen, writer and UN consultant, New York

Australia is a striking example of what happens to the earth as it ages and if it is not actively cared for. Australia is almost uninhabitable in the interior because it's old and has not been renewed. The rest of the world will eventually follow if resources and land are not actually husbanded. Hard Rain is a fine book. I've ordered 5 copies to start with the idea of putting them in unlikely places (the governor's waiting room, etc).

Sheila Armstrong, Santa Fe and Perth

Many congratulations on a beautiful, moving and crucial book.

Mark Whitaker, Pennine Productions

Lloyd, great stuff!

Ram Manikkalingam, Senior Adviser to the Sri Lankan President

I bought your book from the Eden Project. Some of the images are disturbing. I have three small children and I fear that when they grow up the world will be ruined. When I grew up in Bolton every winter was very cold with snow and ice. Even though I live in Cornwall now, the winters are very mild. My children have never seen proper snow. 5,000 were people killed in the Indonesia earthquake at the weekend. A few lines mentioned on the news, nothing more – disgusting. I seem to recall the 9/11 attacks taking over the airwaves for days. I applaud your efforts but I'm afraid this generation will be known as the selfish ones, maybe it is time nature took back the earth, man is obviously incapable of looking after it.

Andrew Oakes, Truro

Dear Mark Edwards,

Firstly I wanted to thank you so very much for the book you gave me; I can say it has been viewed by many members of my family and friends and has inspired a deep reaction in all. It is now one of my prized possessions and I often flick through it just to remind myself of its impact.

I also wanted to thank you for coming to the school and sharing the Hard Rain experience; seeing the works in the Eden Project was a deeply memorable sight. However, watching them alongside Bob Dylan's music and the following talk was one of the most powerful evenings I have ever been to; I want to say how much your work touched others of my own age group, truly awakening their sense of the situation. They were honestly inspired by the works, and partly frightened by the truth you presented to us. As a result, we have written a letter to our head teacher asking if we can meet with her and discuss some small changes we can make in our own school to make a cleaner environment (of course, we're still putting studies first!). I'd like to tell you if I manage anything!

I would love to use some of the feelings Hard Rain provoked in me in my own GCSE artwork, leading to my final piece; one day I hope I to visit the wonders of this planet for myself before they are altered too much.

This is undeniably one of my favourite things I have ever seen in my short 15 years here. Thank you so much for creating Hard Rain. I only hope I can make the difference it calls for as well as one day creating something as moving as this myself.

Thank you again so much,

Alice Ewing, Farlingaye High School, Woodbridge, Suffolk

Awesome photography – so sad, but so beautiful. Gobsmacked – I really am!

Angela Williamson, UK

I read the book the day before yesterday when a friend passed it on to me after your visit and presentation. Many people have said my views were pessimistic; I always replied realistic. It would seem that you are a realist too. It's just a shame all our "polatrickans" are not. There will be a time when sensibility will prevail either by necessity or choice. We all still have time to exercise that choice. You are showing people that they should. A great piece of work.

Neil Ness, Cornwall

Along with An Inconvenient Truth, Hard Rain left me with the notion of feeling helpless. What can I do single-handedly to make the politics of a corrupt world see that we are digging ourselves a grave?

Alice Appleby, Scotland

Thank you for this powerful visual and poetic book. The positive use of resources, i.e. film/air travel/paper and talent woke me up! The "in your face" reminder must prompt action not just words.

Andrew Tweedie, Truro

We need to change our lifestyles now; cut emissions and reduce the use of resources if we are to enjoy our lives, end poverty and preserve the diversity of life on earth.

Jethro Gauld, St Austell

Hard Rain shows in painful detail the destruction of planet and life that climate change has already brought about and what the future holds if we carry on regardless. If any book can shake people out of their complacency, this is the one. Make your libraries buy it, show it to your friends, family and co-workers, show it to everyone you meet every day. Read it and weep. And then do something about it.

Muriel Lumb, Book STEPs, Bantry, Co. Cork, Republic of Ireland

The images are so powerful and moving – I showed them to other staff here and we have all been overwhelmed by their terrible beauty. We decided that we would have to invite you to do something here in Northern Ireland.

We would dearly love to have Hard Rain in some form at the Centre. The images depicting flood and drought especially serve to highlight the work of WWT in helping to preserve wetlands.

With kind regards and hope,

Alison McCready, Castle Espie Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre, Co. Down

We've all been greatly moved by your book, the images felt like hailstones and together with Dylan's prophetic lyric my whole being churned and swirled, whilst the tips of my fingers carefully held its weight...

We are imagining and creating a new kind of space here in Penrith town centre, a space to address the challenges facing the world today and to imagine how we might respond, to live more harmoniously. Our £5 a book offer is one of the ways in which we wish to invite questions and begin new conversations and imaginations.

Amanda Colquhoun, the Bluebell Bookshop, Penrith

Inspired. It illustrates the urgency of the problems we all face. Edwards forcefully, dramatically shows the viewer the relationships that ultimately impact on everyone.

William DuTuncq, Cork Environmental Forum

Pictures can tell more than a thousand words, but in the case of Hard Rain, both pictures and words carry a hard punch. Each phrase of this "song of desperation" is interpreted in pictures from around the planet, mostly from Mark's personal archive, but with contributions from other photographers. The result is stunning.

John Rowley, peopleandplanet.net

Many have connected with Dylan's poetic and provocative prose, but perhaps none so significantly as Mark Edwards. This book cleverly uses Dylan's words – originally written in response to the threat of nuclear war – to highlight the more pressing and current threats of climate change and world poverty. Dylan's lyrics have been labelled as inscrutable over the years, but here they are dramatically and poignantly brought to life.

Theo Hooper, The Big Issue

A highly original book which packs a huge emotional punch. Human suffering, in all its brutal horror, is portrayed with chilling clarity, Dylan's words giving the images even greater resonance. Environmental destruction is equally shocking. Edwards and Timberlake have sent copies of their book to world leaders and environmental campaigners, in the hope they will hear the message. Let's hope they are listening.

Robert Colbeck, Yorkshire Evening Post

Sometimes harrowing, sometimes beautiful, always compelling, Edwards weaves his narrative skilfully around Dylan's hard-hitting lyrics as you're bombarded by image after high-impact image. His delivery provides just the right amount of personal insight into each photograph without diluting its impact and, combined with Dylan's lyrics, paints a disturbing picture of a world in crisis.

It's a pretty grim picture, but far from a hopeless one. When you read Hard Rain, attend one of Edwards' presentations or see the photographic exhibition you're left with an overwhelming desire to take action: to do something positive, to make a difference. And that's what Hard Rain is all about: inspiring people to make a difference.

Ireland's Own magazine