We do some pretty messed up things to this planet. You can see a really interesting collection of those things, plus some impact craters, in io9 ‘s When Earth Is Scarred Forever.
Posts marked environment
These may appear to be traditional Chinese landscape paintings, but take a closer look at these pieces by Yao Lu and you’ll see that these are not the beautiful scenes you’d expect.
The artist photographs mounds of garbage covered in green protective nets which he assembles and reworks by computer to create bucolic images of mountain landscapes shrouded in the mist inspired by traditional Chinese paintings. Lying somewhere between painting and photography, between the past and the present, Yao Lu’s work speaks of the radical mutations affecting nature in China as it is subjected to rampant urbanization and the ecological threats that endanger the environment.
The Trees by Reynato Paz Contreras is installed in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila.
About the project:
[It] is a canopy of three interlocking trees creating a dome. It signifies the circle of life and testifies the oath to conserve and protect the environment while having progressive development in the City. The 6.5 meter (21 feet) tall sculpture is made of stainless steel representing stability and durability.
James Balog has spent years setting up cameras from Greenland to Alaska to capture beautiful images that capture the ugly reality of climate change. He has now assembled that work into the book Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers.
About the book:
A never-before-seen look into the forbidding environment of glaciers, this book celebrates a realm of magnificent endangered beauty. Since 2005, renowned nature photographer James Balog has devoted himself to capturing glaciers and documenting their daily changes. These stunning images are a celebration of some of the most extraordinary natural formations on earth, as well as a dramatic and timely demonstration of the stark consequences resulting from global warming—from Alaska to Iceland to the Alps. As glaciologists for the Extreme Ice Survey, Balog and his team are conducting the most extensive glacier study ever, covering France, Switzerland, Iceland, Greenland, the United States (Alaska and Montana), Nepal, Bolivia, and Antarctica. Their high-resolution cameras capture approximately 4,000 images per year. From this collection of nearly half a million photos, Balog presents the most stunning panoramic photography of glaciers ever published.
SonUmbra by Loop.pH is a sort of solar powered tree that is motion sensitive.
About the project:
The atmosphere of musical rhythms, harmonies and luminous patterns are composed by the visitors’ movement - either active or passive. The light emitting fabric of the umbrella is crafted into a lacework of many electroluminescent fibres. This latticed pattern is animated in concert with the generated surround sound and visually illustrates the visitors’ position within the constellation. Wandering unaware or actively gravitating towards Sonumbra each person plays a part and becomes a note in a unique composition of light, sound and space.
More than merely decorative, the tree was designed for use in remote areas in need of low cost lighting. In addition, by providing shade during the day and a light source at night, it could serve as a safe gathering place for local communities.
You can see it in motion in this video:
Sonumbra @ Design and the Elastic Mind from Loop.pH on Vimeo.
Images from The Guardian’s fantastic series Satellite eye on Earth. These images are all from September 2012.
A Portrait of Ice by Caleb Cain Marcus
About:
Glaciers—massive and frozen reservoirs of freshwater—range in size from the length of a football field to the breadth of a continent. Photographs, on a much smaller scale, are reservoirs too. They store up a good deal of the data we rely upon to engage with, function in, and document the world. They blanket culture, media and everyday life, just as glacial ice covers vast portions of the globe. Bore down below the surface of glaciers—or photographs—and layers of stratified evidence and meaning re-emerge. Scientists drill, sometimes more than a mile deep into the earth, to extract core samples from ice fields, flecked with dust, ash, traces of atmospheric gas or radioactive substances, even fragments of meteorites. Upon examination they reveal the details of hundreds of thousands of years of climatic history and change. Look deeply and critically enough at the information and narratives embedded in any single photograph and something similar happens as evidence of flash-frozen moments and their motivation resurfaces and falls into place.
The Little Green Dress Project by Nicole Dextras
About the project:
The concept behind the Little Green Dress has been extrapolated from the age-old fashion adage that every woman should own a little black dress and brings this notion into the realm of today’s environmental awareness. It proposes instead that women should have at least one item of clothing in her wardrobe that is produced in a sustainable and equitable manner. The aim of this project is to promote awareness on the impact of industry on our environment and to offer a realistic opportunity for change by creating a demand for better practices through consumer purchasing. For this reason the dresses will be made entirely from organic materials; Wear it and Compost it!
The Little Green Dress Project replaces the ubiquitous black dress with one that is truly organic: made from leaves and flowers. Its design is based on the classic shift dress, first introduced in the 1960’s by Coco Channel. The twenty-eight participating women will be chosen for their support and involvement in eco-fashion. Each dress will be made to measure by the artist from locally sourced materials representing a wide cross section of women of all ages and sizes from fashionistas, to gardeners. Invited participants will be asked to describe their favorite sustainable article of clothing and their interest in creating sustainable industries.
The project will be presented at the Earth Art exhibition in Vancouver, BC Canada as an outdoor installation of 28 dresses, each draped over a wooden stand. They will be created on site and installed during the run of the exhibition. As with Dextras’ previous Weedrobes series, each sculpture will be photographed and then left to decompose over time.
What Lies Beneath by Gabby O’Connor represents an iceberg brought indoors.
About the work:
At a time when we are becoming increasingly aware of global warming and climate change, and what it means for humans, the melting of ice occupies a sensitive place in the collective consciousness. One of the projected impacts of climate change is a rise in average sea level, due in part to the melting of land-based ice. The gallery installation projects this possibility onto a physical space, where we are imagined underwater.
Awe-inspiring photography by Marc Adams.
Adams on his work:
I’d like to introduce you to the natural world I know. Come follow along on my journey. Explore, consider, and take something with you. This is nature through my eyes. These photographs do not arise from any particular desire to see the world through a lens, but rather from my deep passion for this land we call wilderness. It has shaped every aspect of my life. I wish to show you the amazing, beautiful and powerful forces that have created the Earth we live on…
I want you to know just how undeniably precious these lands are in their preservation. We NEED wilderness; now more than ever. The wilderness experience becomes ever more important to balance our lives as we become more industrialized and therefore bound within our own creations. This is because there exists within it a deep connection unlike anything that can be found in today’s intense world of instantly manufactured gratification. There is a certain freedom that comes only when we are immersed in the natural world. I come to the wilderness to experience something much greater than ourselves, and I hope you will too…Never be afraid to explore, to wander, to find a new direction. Share the beauty of this wonderful life and this wonderful Earth so they may be here forever.
Read his whole statement here
Naoya Hatakeyama uses remote-controlled cameras to capture limestone blasting in Japan. You can see his exhibit Natural Stories on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through November 2, 2012.
China’s Environmental Protection Foundation wanted to draw attention to the increasing environmental impact of the growing Chinese car industry and to encourage people to walk more, and drive less. DDB China Group put together a clever campaign that did exactly that in a fun and engaging way.
About the campaign:
We decided to leverage a busy pedestrian crossing; a place where both pedestrians and drivers meet. We lay a giant canvas of 12.6 meters long by 7 meters wide on the ground, covering the pedestrian crossing with a large leafless tree. Placed on either side of the road beneath the traffic lights, were sponge cushions soaked in green environmentally friendly washable and quick dry paint. As pedestrians walked towards the crossing, they would step onto the green sponge and as they walked, the soles of their feet would make foot imprints onto the tree on the ground. Each green footprint added to the canvas like leaves growing on a bare tree, which made people feel that by walking they could create a greener environment.
The Result:
The Green Pedestrian Crossing was carried out in 7 main streets of Shanghai and later expanded to 132 roads in 15 cities across China. A total number of pedestrians that participated exceeded 3,920,000 people. Key media both online and offline rapidly wrote about the campaign. According to research, the overall awareness of environmental protection had increased 86%. After the campaign, the print was exhibited at the Shanghai Zheng Da Art Museum.
These images from NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge aerial survey show the opening waters of Arctic Sea region. Scientists directly attribute the record high pace of ice melt this year to climate change, which is no laughing matter.
Wired UK has assembled images from J Henry Fair’s book The Day After Tomorrow into a chilling slideshow: In Focus: The blue planet’s toxic new colors. Check it out to learn more about the locations pictured and the toxins that are contaminating our environment.
About the book:
The Day After Tomorrow takes readers on a journey to bear witness to the environmental destruction that is currently plaguing our planet; from a forest in West Virginia devastated by mountaintop removal mining, to a region in Florida left in ruins by the phosphate mining industry, J Henry Fair presents hard evidence that our unchecked consumerism is leading the way in the destruction of our planet, one natural resource at a time.
Primarily through the use of aerial photography, Fair captures spellbinding vistas of pools of toxic hog waste, streams of paper mill runoff, and the remains of hollowed-out mountains. These environmental abstractions lure the viewer in with unique asymmetrical shapes and striking colors; however, fascination quickly turns to horror, as the viewer realizes what lurks beneath the surface of the image.
This concept plane by Airbus would make flying fun again while making it environmentally friendly. Its unusual structure was inspired by its companions in the sky.
About:
Future aircraft could be built using a bionic structure that mimics the bone structure of birds. Bone is both light and strong because its porous interior carries tension only where necessary, leaving space elsewhere. By using bionic structures, the fuselage has the strength it needs, but can also make the most of extra space where required. This not only reduces the aircraft’s weight and fuel burn, but also makes it possible to add features like oversized doors for easier boarding and panoramic windows.
In addition to the improved body of the plane, there would be outfitted with cutting edge technology to entertain passengers and to improve energy efficiency.
Warning: Watching this video will make you even more dissatisfied with the current state of air travel:
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