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Everything is interconnected.

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As a Shinnecock Indian, I was raised to know this.

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We are a small fishing tribe

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situated on the southeastern tip of Long Island

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near the town of Southampton in New York.

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When I was a little girl,

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my grandfather took me to sit outside in the sun on a hot summer day.

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There were no clouds in the sky.

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And after a while I began to perspire.

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And he pointed up to the sky, and he said,

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"Look, do you see that?

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That's part of you up there.

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That's your water that helps to make the cloud

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that becomes the rain that feeds the plants

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that feeds the animals."

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In my continued exploration of subjects in nature

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that have the ability to illustrate the interconnection of all life,

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I started storm chasing in 2008

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after my daughter said, "Mom, you should do that."

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And so three days later, driving very fast,

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I found myself stalking a single type of giant cloud called the super cell,

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capable of producing grapefruit-size hail

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and spectacular tornadoes,

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although only two percent actually do.

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These clouds can grow so big, up to 50 miles wide

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and reach up to 65,000 feet into the atmosphere.

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They can grow so big, blocking all daylight,

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making it very dark and ominous standing under them.

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Storm chasing is a very tactile experience.

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There's a warm, moist wind blowing at your back

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and the smell of the earth, the wheat, the grass, the charged particles.

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And then there are the colors in the clouds

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of hail forming, the greens and the turquoise blues.

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I've learned to respect the lightning.

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My hair used to be straight.

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(Laughter)

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I'm just kidding.

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(Laughter)

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What really excites me about these storms

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is their movement, the way they swirl and spin and undulate,

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with their lava lamp-like mammatus clouds.

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They become lovely monsters.

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When I'm photographing them,

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I cannot help but remember my grandfather's lesson.

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As I stand under them,

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I see not just a cloud,

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but understand that what I have the privilege to witness

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is the same forces, the same process in a small-scale version

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that helped to create our galaxy, our solar system, our sun

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and even this very planet.

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All my relations. Thank you.

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(Applause)