11
flip
flip
topic Mass Consumption Consumption topic MassSeptember 2012 September 2012
/w in w ne de w t/ ed . .
04
/www. indeed. net/
Indeed © Magazine about Art Mikulcice 137 Czech Republic www.ineed.net ineedmagazine@gmail.com www.facebook.com/indeed ISBN 452 90 545 859 Copiright © E-publishers Design: Eva Kolovrátková Author: Eva Kolovrátková (chose the text and pictures) All rights reserved Printed in Czech Republic
05
The only thing you need is to learn how to reed, Indeed...
06
Introduction
Dear reader, The Magazine Indeed wants to remind you some problems of the world today. The topic of the first issue is Mass Consumption. We certainly are extremely unaware of what is our behavior causing, therefore if we would know, we would think twice. Indeed is not here to moralize, it is here to help by informing people. There are some really great posters, videos, photos and other artistic works, that people don‘t know about. It alarmed me and I decided to wake up my superman senses of justice and save the world by creating this Magazine :). Indeed presents some interesting works/fights of some incredible artists. You can find here the best art pieces concerning this topic as well as advices of what to do to help. You might not really realize that but with little changes in your life you can help a lot. The motto of this Magazine is: „The only think you need is to learn how to read, Indeed.“ It means that even though we can read words we don’t fully understand the meaning of the whole sentence, message. A typical ignorant figure, who just doesn‘t care will accompany you through the whole Magazine. I call him an Idiot, because he has such an idiotic face. Please, enjoy! E.K.
/www. indeed. net/
The Idiot
ordan
/www. indeed. net/
INTERVIEW An Interview with Photographer Chris Jordan Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Gaia Dempsey in Design & Culture
Chris Jordan Chris Jordan’s photographic series, Running the Numbers is a powerful visual representation of the vastness of American consumption. He is a respected photographer who has exhibited his work internationally and speaks to audiences the world over about the powerful message behind his work. Chris spoke with me from his home in Seattle.
Chris Jordan is an internationally acclaimed artist and cultural activist based in Seattle. His work explores contemporary mass culture from a variety of photographic and conceptual perspectives, connecting the viewer viscerally to the enormity and power of humanity’s collective will. Edge-walking the lines between art and activism, beauty and horror, abstraction and representation, the near and the far, the visible and the invisible, his work asks us to consider our own multi-layered roles in becoming more conscious stewards of our complex and embattled world. Jordan’s works are exhibited and published worldwide. (chrisjordan.com) I chose him, because his effective way of influencing others. He uses visual help for explaining, what we do wrong as a population. I absolutely admire his work and respect him for such a smart way to talk about some particular problems. As he says, he is not pointing his finger at anyone just saying: Here we are and this it the problem we have. What are we going to do about it? I will introduce here his two projects: RUNNING THE NUMBERS and MIDWAY, but first let‘s find out more about him in the interview. 10
OG: Looking at your photographs, it seems like you evolved a system for representing the truth you wanted to show. At first the pictures in “Intolerable Beauty” show your journeys through recycling yards, new car lots, and loading docks, from the perspective of the camera lens. The viewer gets the sense that he or she is standing there with you, but may not get the whole feeling of what they’re really looking at. They may still be drawn to the aesthetic qualities and colors of the photograph. Later, in “Running the Numbers,” you use, I’m guessing, digital tools, to represent objects in the hundreds of thousands and millions. This way, people can look at and admire the quality of the design and the proportions and lines and colors and everything, but they are always brought back home to the message of the piece because every square inch of it is communicating a single visual message. Are you hoping to instill self-reflection in the consumer? Chris: That’s exactly right. I have been passionate about photography for 25 years, and I didn’t start out as a photographer-activist. I did much more introspective work, and I still love some of that, but it was made on a personal level, not intended to convey a message to people. I initially started photographing giant piles of garbage, honestly because I was looking for these amazing, beautiful colors. I can’t really take credit for getting interested in consumerism. I had been photographing these really industrial areas, like the port of Seattle, and I would find massive amounts of crates and things, and they would look just beautiful in print. I took one photo, it was of an enormous pile of garbage, and I thought it was the best photo I’d ever taken. When people saw it in my studio they would say, “Wow, that’s a great statement about consumerism and over-consumption,” and at the time, I would get annoyed and actually argue with them, saying “That’s not what my work is about!” But then I got some advice from two well known and respected photographer friends, who convinced me that this was a path I could pursue.So, you’re right about the evolution. I started learning more about the enormity and scale of the issue of consumerism, and realized that I wasn’t able to capture that scale with the straight photography I was doing. I started asking myself, “Where can I find the Mt. Everest of garbage?” And I realized there was no such place. Mass consumption is truly an invisible phenomenon that you can’t capture on film, because it’s happening in millions of locations all around the world in real time. Particularly here in the US, where we are the largest oil consumers on the planet.
OG: So your motivation to start digitalizing your images was to capture that massive scale? Chris: Yes. I wanted people to be able to visualize and experience this data with their senses. It’s hard to process and make meaning out of something intangible, that you can’t see or feel. OG: How do you come up with an idea for what you want to represent? Chris: The idea for a new piece usually comes when I read a statistic. I’ll be reading the New York Times, and suddenly I see a number that just hits me like a sledge hammer. The most recent one was the number of cats and dogs euthanized in the United States every day. 10,000 is a big number. So when I read a figure like that, which may be peripheral to my worldview, something that I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about, I know I need to do a piece.
“
As an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but I do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake.
OG: What’s your process once you’ve decided on something?
”
Chris: I try to come up with an iconic visual idea. I’ll look at the source of the statistic and see if that suggests anything to me. For the Dog and Cat Collars piece I thought of my experience visiting the Holocaust Museum, specifically the image of the pile of eye glasses. There’s also a pile of shoes. These images speak volumes about the inhumanity of the holocaust and they make you think about the people those glasses and shoes belonged to. So I thought of collars to represent cats and dogs. I also chose Snoopy as an image because it’s not scary or threatening. I want to seduce the viewer to come up close with their defenses down. I try to sneak up on the viewer with every piece. In “Intolerable Beauty” I use these beautiful painterly colors to draw people in, and then with “Running the Numbers” I tried to create the feeling of boring, innocuous modern art. I try not to raise people’s defenses.
OG: That’s a brilliant strategy. That way people are intrigued and then when they see what the piece represents it adds another interesting layer to the art, rather than making them feel screamed at for being bad people. Chris: Yeah, you know, I’m sort of a therapy junkie. I’ve been going for almost 10 years and I’ve learned that the therapy process is a sophisticated way to get past ego defenses. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I started out as a corporate lawyer. I was very lost. I came over from the dark side. I was raised with a sort of 1950‘s approach to life, where you’re supposed to go to school and then go do something respectable, climb the ladder. I was supposed to achieve the American Dream. I was very seduced by offers of getting paid well, and I basically sold my soul and took a job I knew I wouldn’t like. I stayed 11 years, giving myself excuses like, “Some people don’t have jobs, or have to work at 7/11, you should feel lucky,” and “There are starving people in India,” and “Everyone has responsibilities, you can’t get out of yours.” I told myself to quit complaining, but at the same time I was dying inside. I would see people doing these fabulous things, doing incredible things with their lives. Jazz musicians, I’m very into jazz, poets, documentary filmmakers… I felt that there was so much brilliance going on around me, but I wasn’t ever going to get to be a part of it. I realized that while I had always been afraid of failing as an artist, I was even more afraid of never never expressing my creativity and being miserable for the rest of my life. I quit the law firm. People told me it was a courageous thing to do, but they didn’t realize I was motivated by fear. OG: Well, they say courage isn’t not being afraid, but rather feeling fear in the face of a challenge and doing it anyway. As a big fan of your photography, I’m so glad that you made the leap. So, tell me about your latest project. Chris: I just got back from Midway island, where the Pacific Garbage Patch is. Most of the plastic there is within 5 feet of the surface, and we’re talking billions of miniscule pieces of plastic. They get broken down into smaller and smaller pieces over time until they are the size of molecules, and also the size of plankton, so they’re being ingested by filter feeders. It’s scary because nobody knows what the results of this are going to be right now. I photographed these baby albatross chicks that were dying because their stomachs are full of plastic. Their parents are going to look for fish and they come back with bottle caps, lighters, all kinds of plastic. It’s very sad, because there’s such tremendous over-consumption – you stick 6 of those little coffee stirrers in your Starbucks in the morning and then toss them without thinking twice, and without realizing that that plastic is literally never going to break down, unless it burns and gets released into the atmosphere as CO2. There’s also literally billions of tons of runoff from industry, and even the drugs that we take, after passing through our systems, are introduced into the ocean. I hope it will get better in the future. O.G.
/www. indeed. net/
plastics / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait
R
unning the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. „Each image portrays a specific quantity of something. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. I hope to raise some questions about the roles and responsibilities we each play as individuals in a collective that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.“ Chris Jordan (chrisjordan.com)
12
O
O
The facts
Sources/bibliography
ut of the 50 billion bottles of water being bought each year, 80% end up in a landfill, even though recycling programs exist.
ational Association for PET Container Resources
N
17 million barrels of oil are used in producing bottled water each year.
http://www.napcor.com/PET/funfacts.html.
"Plastic Facts & Statistics" Post-Consumer Plastic Bottle Recycling Report http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/sec_content.asp?CID=1593&DID=10383.
Bottled water costs 1,000 times more than tap water. Drinking 2 Litres of tap water a day only costs 50 cents per year.
"Recycling 101" Natural Resources Defense Council
Plastic leaches toxins into the water, which have been linked to health problems such as reproductive issues and cancer.New York City tap water surpasses all federal and state health standards.
http://www.americanchemistry.com/plastics/doc.asp?CID=1581&DID=6012.
Even in its smallest form, plastic will never biodegrade.
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/gsteps.asp.
"Plastic Recycling Facts" American Chemistry Council "Plastics: The Facts About Production, Use, and Disposal From EPA\'s Report to Congress on Methods to Manage and Control Plastic Waste" Plastics News http://plasticsnews.com/headlines2.html?id=17873.
/www. indeed. net/
Plastic Bottles / 2007 / 60x120“ / Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.
14
Plastic Cups / 2008 / 60x90“ / Depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.
plastics / RUNNING THE NUMBERS Plastics make up more than 12 % of the municipal solid waste stream, a dramatic increase from 1960, when plastics were less than 1% of the waste stream. The recycling rate for different types of plastic varies greatly, resulting in an overall plastics recycling rate of only 8 %, or 2.4 million tons in 2010. However, the recycling rate for some plastics is much higher, for example in 2010, 28 % of HDPE bottles and 29 % of PET bottles and jars were recycled. Plastics are divided into thermoplastics and thermosets. Recycling of thermosets is difficult due to the thermal resistance. Petroleum-based plastics like PET don‘t decompose. The only real way to break down plastic is through photodegradation (dividing plastic into little peaces by sun, water and Oxygen). Source: www.epa.gov (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) – these statistics are updated every 2 years; www.recycledplastic.com (Marketplace for plastic scrap, plastic recyclers, recycling centers…); Thermoplastics vs Thermosetting Plastics by Andrew Cheng
The facts (by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 31 million tons of plastic waste were generated in 2010, representing 12.4 percent of total MSW. In 2010, the United States generated almost 14 million tons of plastics as containers and packaging, almost 11 million tons as durable goods, such as appliances, and almost 7 million tons as nondurable goods, for example plates and cups. Only 8 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2010 was recovered for recycling. Plastics also are found in automobiles, but recycling of these materials is counted separately from the MSW recycling rate. Even in its smallest form, plastic will never biodegrade. /www. indeed. net/
plastics / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
The Facts According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only 4 trips to the grocery store. Four out of five grocery bags in the U.S. are now plastic. Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest them. Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistake them for food. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation. Nearly 90% of the debris in our oceans is plastic.
16
plastic / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Plastic bag
X
Paper bag
Paper can biodegrade and it happens in quite short time - around few weeks. Plastic bags can‘t biodegrade - plastic never goes away, and toxic particles can enter the food chain when they are ingested by unsuspecting animals. Using paper bags doubles the amount of CO2 produced versus using plastic bags. Using paper bags creates almost 5 times more solid waste than using plastic bags. Single used plastic bag is not usually reused. Plastic bags are often mistakenly ingested by animals, clogging their intestines which results in death by starvation. Other animals or birds become entangled in plastic bags and drown or can’t fly as a result. Plastic Bags / 2007 / 60x72“ Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds.
Plastic bag production uses less than 4% of the water needed to make paper bags.
Result:
Neither of them are good for the environment. Paper bag creates problem while the manufacturing process and plastic bag is dangerous as a waste, because it will never biodegrade. The little pieces are still around us and will never disappear completely.
How can you help? As individuals, we can all help to reduce the number of bags distributed by reusing carrier bags and using longer-lasting reusable shopping bags and cloth bags. All you need to do is remember to take these with you when you go shopping, and already you’ll be helping. (DEFRA) Sources: International Fund for Animal Welfare - www. ifaw.org, United States Environmental Protection Agency - www.epa.gov, ConservingNow - www.conservingnow.com, Patrick Barkham‘s article in The Guardian: Paper bags or plastic bags: which are best?, 2011; DEFRA /www. indeed. net/
plastics / RUNNING THE NUMBERS Thermosetting
Thermoplastic
is infusible and insoluble - cannot be melted into new products. Recycling thermosets is quite difficult and requires different procedures. There are many objects made this way. It is doubtful that any ‚modern‘ household does not contain dozens of such items. They include: Some furniture, parts of computers, parts of TVs or any electronic equipment, parts of cars, doors, windows, decorations, gardening items, tools, cooking utensils.
is a type of plastic made from polymer resins that becomes a homogenized liquid when heated and hard when cooled. This quality also makes thermoplastics recyclable. Main fields of use are tubes, foil, wire insulation and barrels.
Thermoplastic Resin Sales by Major Market 2007-2011 (Millions of pounds, dry weight basis) Major Market 2007 Transportation 3,312 Packaging 26,527 Building and Construction 14,289 Electrical/Electronic 1,980 Furniture and Furnishings 3,091 Consumer and Institutional 17,193 Industrial/Machinery 943 Adhesives/Inks/Coatings 1,069 All Other 1,604 Exports 12,346 Total 82,354
2008 2,751 24,097 12,313 1,755 2,671 15,461 834 937 1,375 11,962 74,156
2009 2010 1,971 2,558 23,702 25,041 11,102 10,914 1,519 1,561 1,877 1,894 14,717 14,782 678 774 798 846 972 1,200 14,691 14,488 72,025 74,057
2011 2,649 25,302 11,036 1,618 1,818 14,743 781 801 1,206 14,858 74,811
This table reflects data collected for the following selected thermoplastic resins: Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Linear-Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), Nylon, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Styrene-Butadiene Latex, Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS). Years 2009-2011 data does not include nylon resins.
Source: ACC Plastics Industry Producers’ Statistics Group, Annual Major Markets Report, as compiled by Veris Consulting, Inc. © 2012 American Chemistry Council, as compiled by Veris Consulting, Inc. 18
PROBLEMATIC Styrofoam EPS The typical foam coffee cup, and the most common white-colored packaging foam is expandable polystyrene foam or EPS for short. Styrofoam is expandable polystyrene foam. Styrofoam does not readily decompose and can be around for hundreds of years. Its lightweight nature allows to be easily blown around in the environment and it often ends up in waterways where it creates unsightly litter and is harmful to wildlife. Most
polystyrene products are currently not recycled due to the lack of incentive to invest in the compactors and logistical systems required.
sin reu
recyclin
g
!
?
g in
r
c u ed
g
?
!
? /www. indeed. net/
Decomposing Plastic in general Acording to William Harris (freelance writer based in the Philadelphia area. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in Science Education from Florida State University) petroleum-based plastics like PET don‘t decompose the same way organic material does. The only real way to break down plastic is through photodegradation. This kind of decomposition requires sunlight, not bacteria. When UV rays strike plastic, they break the bonds holding the long molecular chain together. Over time, this can turn a big piece of plastic into lots of little pieces. In 2009, researchers from Nihon University in Chiba, Japan, found that plastic in warm ocean water can degrade in as little as a year. Although those small bits of plastic are toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer. These end up in the guts of animals or wash up on shorelines, where humans are most likely to come into direct contact with the toxins.
20
How long does it take a plastic bag to degrade? Three lists: The New York Times, Penn State University, “Pocket Guide to Marine Debris,” The Ocean Conservancy say it takes 1020 years for a plastic bag to degrade. But you can find a lot of different oppinions saying that plastic bags actually take hundreds of years to degrade or that it may never fully decompose. What is the truth? Well, acording to www.thatdanny.com it seems that scientists don’t actually know the answer, although the time it takes a plastic bag to degrade is obviously a lot longer than on the lists popularly quoted on the Internet. Acording The Environmental Magazine a plastic bag might be gone in anywhere from 10 to 100 years (estimates vary) if exposed to the sun, but its environmental legacy may last forever.
How long does it take a plastic beverage bottle to decompose? Acording to Penn State University and “Pocket Guide to Marine Debris, it would take 450 years for plastic beverage bottle to decompose.
/www. indeed. net/
paper / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
The facts
Office Paper / 2007 / 60x87“ Depicts 30,000 reams of office paper, or 15 million sheets, equal to the amount of office paper used in the US every five minutes.
Every ton of 100% Post-consumer waste recycled paper products you buy saves: 1560 kilowatts of energy (2 months of electric power required by the average US home) 3 cubic yards of landfill space 390 gallons of oil 1196 gallons of water 12 trees 1087 pounds of solid waste 9 pounds of HAPs, VOCs, and AOXs combined 1976 lbs. of greenhouse gases (1,600 miles traveled in the average US car) source: http://www.earthresource.org
Decomposing Over the centuries, paper has been made from a wide variety of materials such as cotton, wheat straw, sugar cane waste, flax, bamboo, wood, linen rags, and hemp. Regardless of the source, you need fiber to make paper. Today fiber comes mainly from two sources - wood and recycled paper products.
How long does it take a paper to degrade?
Paper Bags / 2007 / 60x80“ Depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour.
22
Acording to three sources: The New York Times (Nemve E. Metropolitan Diary, October 1, 2001): 2.5 months. Penn State University: 2-4 Weeks. “Pocket Guide to Marine Debris,” The Ocean Conservancy, 2004: 2-4 weeks Paper biodegrades, that means it can be decomposed naturally by bacteries.
electricity / RUNNING THE NUMBERS Light Bulbs / 2008 / 72x96“ Depicts 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage (inefficient wiring, computers in sleep mode, etc.).
The facts Total World Electricity Net Consumption (Billion Kilowatthours) 2006 - 16,388.489 2007 - 17,110.480 2008 - 17,419.952 2009 - 17,313.582 Source: http://www.eia.gov (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
/www. indeed. net/
Light Bulbs / 2008 / 72x96“ / Depicts 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage (inefficient wiring, computers in sleep mode, etc.). 24
/www. indeed. net/
26
/www. indeed. net/
Cans Seurat / 2007 / 60x92“ / Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.
28
aluminum / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
The facts Aluminum cans are lightweight, convenient, portable, and keep beverages cold. They are often used to package soda, beer, and other beverages, and account for nearly all of the beverage packaging market for some products. In 2010, the United States generated about 1.9 million tons of aluminum as containers and packaging. About 1.5 million tons of aluminum were used to make durable and nondurable goods, such as appliances and automobile parts. The total amount of aluminum in the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream—3.4 million tons—represented 1.4 percent of total MSW generation in 2010. In 1960, aluminum in MSW was only 0.4 percent of MSW generation (340,000 tons). In 2010, 50% of aluminum beer and soft drink containers generated were recycled (about 0.7 million tons). Automobiles also contain aluminum, but this aluminum is generally not calculated in measures of MSW generation, recycling, or disposal. http://www.eia.gov
/www. indeed. net/
30
Oil Barrels / 2008 / 60x60“ / Depicts 28,000 42-gallon barrels, the amount of oil consumed in the United States every two minutes (equal to the flow of a medium-sized river).
oil / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
The facts Total consumption of petroleum products (April 2012) in the OECD (an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade): 44,311 thousand barrels per day Source: http://www.eia.gov (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
/www. indeed. net/
Source: CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) www.cia.gov 32
/www. indeed. net/
other works / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Car Keys / 2011 / 60x86“ Depicts 260,000 car keys, equal to the number of gallons of gasoline burned in motor vehicles in the US every minute.
34
Cigarettes / 2007 / 60x82“ Depicts 65,000 cigarettes, equal to the number of American teenagers under age eighteen who become addicted to cigarettes every month.
Jet Trails / 2007 / 60x96“ Depicts 11,000 jet trails, equal to the number of commercial flights in the US every eight hours.
other works / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
-
Venus / 2011 / 60x103“ in one panel, and 8x13 feet in three panels. Depicts 240,000 plastic bags, equal to the estimated number of plastic bags consumed around the world every ten seconds.
36
Handguns / 2007 / 60x92“ Depicts 29,569 handguns, equal to the number of gun-related deaths in the US in 2004.
Barbie Dolls / 2008 / 60x80“ Depicts 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006.
-
other works / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Prison Uniforms / 2007 / 10x23 feet Six vertical panels. Depicts 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005. The U.S. has the largest prison population of any country in the world.
38
Skull With Cigarette / 2007 / 98x72“ Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months. Based on a painting by Van Gogh.
Ben Franklin / 2007 / 8.5x10.5 feet Three horizontal panels. Depicts 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq.
40
The Idiot / 2012 / 8.5x10.5 feet Three horizontal panels. Depicts 19,260 one-hundred dollar bills ($1 million 926 thousands), the exact amount the Idiot dreamed about yesterday.
Dog and Cat Collars / 2009 / 60x67“ / Depicts ten thousand dog and cat collars, equal to the average number of unwanted dogs and cats euthanized in the United States every day. 42
dogs and cats / RUNNING THE NUMBERS
The facts
How to help? What to do?
An estimated 6 to 8 million dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each year. Millions more are abandoned, only to suffer from illness or injury before dying.
Want to help your local animal shelter?
Only 42% of cat guardians and 39% of dog guardians are aware of the pet-overpopulation problem. In 6 years one unspayed female dog and her offspring, can reproduce 67,000 dogs. An unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per years, with 2.8 surviving kittens per year can total 11,606,077 cats in 9 years. Each day 10,000 humans are born in the U.S. - and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. Source: www.aspca.org, PetsTV.com, http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com
Why Dogs End Up In Shelters: 1. Moving 2. Landlord issues 3. Cost of pet maintenance 4. No time for pet 5. Inadequate facilities 6. Too many pets in home 7. Pet illness 8. Personal problems 9. Biting 10. No homes for littermates
The most needed items that you can donate: 1. Dog food and cat food – unopened bags & cans 2. Dog crates – all sizes 3. Cat carriers 4. Dog beds/pillows (new or gently used) 5. Cat litter (some use more than 300 lbs each week!) 6. Stuffed dog toys (washable rubber or plastic ones are best) 7. Chew toys for dogs (Kongs are ideal) 8. Blankets, towels, comforters (new or gently used) 9. Sheets & towels – all sizes 10. Bowls – all sizes (plastic or metal) 11. Toilet seat covers (cats love to rest on them!) 12. Large jars of peanut butter 13. Large chew bones 14. Used leashes & dog collars 15. Dog shampoo 16. Tennis balls
Can’t afford the vet bills? Here are some organizations that might help. As long as you are willing and able to pay a portion of the veterinarian’s cost to save your dog’s life, the Brown Dog Foundation will help pay the rest. You can find them on www. browndogfoundation.org Other organisations you can ask for help: Angels 4 Animals - www.angels4animals.org Care Credit - www.carecredit.com Feline Veterinary Assistance Program (FVEAP) - www.fveap.org In Memory of Magic (IMOM), Inc - www.imom.org The Pet Fund - www.thepetfund.com Shakespeare Animal Fund - www.shakespeareanimalfund.org United Animal Nations - www.uan.org
Check the Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-SOS-Sri-Lanka; www.facebook.com/theanimalrescuesite; www.facebook.com/pages/Pejskové-k-adopci-v-ČR
44
MIDWAY
About the project Midway: Message from the Gyre (2009 - Current) Chris Jordan has another interesting project, that is really close to our subject of Mass Consumption, because it shows horrible impact of plastic on nature and animals. By this project he documents what terrible things are happening and we don’t see them, therefore we are not bothered by them. On Midway Atoll, a remote cluster of islands more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent, the detritus of our mass consumption surfaces in an astonishing place: inside the stomachs of thousands of dead baby albatrosses. The nesting chicks are fed lethal quantities of plastic by their parents, who mistake the floating trash for food as they forage over the vast polluted Pacific Ocean. „For me, kneeling over their carcasses is like looking into a macabre mirror. These birds reflect back an appallingly emblematic result of the collective trance of our consumerism and runaway industrial growth. Like the albatross, we first-world humans find ourselves lacking the ability to discern anymore what is nourishing from what is toxic to our lives and our spirits. Choked to death on our waste, the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but in here.“ Chris Jordan Seattle, February 2011 Source: www.chrisjordan.com
Eco 46
Art First, what is environmental art?
According to GreenMuseum.org, eco-art is in a general sense art that helps improve our relationship with the natural world. Environmental art: - Informs and interprets nature and its processes, or educates us about environmental problems. - Is concerned with environmental forces and materials, creating artworks affected or powered by wind, water, lightning, even earthquakes. - Re-envisions our relationship to nature, proposing new ways for us to co-exist with our environment. - Reclaims and remediates damaged environments, restoring ecosystems in artistic and often aesthetic ways.
48
h a ar
sarah hall / ECO ART
Sarah Hall
Sarah Hall is an internationally recognized artist creating large-scale art glass installations. Her exceptional contribution to the built environment has garnered 'Honour Awards' from the American Institute of Architects and the 'Allied Arts Award' from the Ontario Association of Architects. In 2002, Hall's artistic achievements were acknowledged by her induction into the Royal Canadian Academy of Art. Sarah formally studied Architectural Glass in the U.K. and Jerusalem. In addition to lectures at Regis College, University of Toronto, exhibitions and commissions throughout North America and Europe, Hall has authored over 35 published articles on glass art. Sarah was granted an Arts Fellowship from the Chalmers Foundation (Ontario Arts Council) to support her innovative work in photovoltaic glass art. She is well known for her artistic explorations and pioneering new glass techniques.
Solar Project
Hall’s recent work in architectural glass focuses on the integration of art and solar technology. Energy that is gathered through the solar cells is used to illuminate both the artwork and its surroundings at night. Hall says, “By forging an image with a source of renewable energy, we create a powerful story about how we can live in this world: It gives us a chance to dream about who we can be.” See more at SaraHallStudio.com.
aurora robson / ECO ART
Robson Aurora Robson: Sculpture – New York based artist Robson uses everyday waste such as discarded plastic bottles and junk mail to create intricate sculptures, installations, and collages. In the past year, Robson has intercepted about 30,000 bottles, saving them from their ultimate destination at the landfill or costly recycling plants. The fate of her junk mail follows a similar path and have now become part of her stunning ink collages. Robson’s environmentally conscious works grew out of her love and appreciation for nature and from the nightmares she had as a child. Her goal is to “take something inherently negative and transform it into something positive.” Her art is “ultimately about recognizing and embracing new possibilities while encouraging others to do the same.” See more at AuroraRobson.com. 50
52
54
MSLK mslk - watershed / ECO ART
Design Agency MSLK was founded in 1998 by Marc S. Levitt and Sheri L Koetting. Their green design solutions produce maximum results for brands, yet have a minimal impact on the environment. Project: Watershed. See more at www.mslk.com
1. CHALLENGES
2. STRATEGY
3. DESIGN
4. SUCCESS
As designers, we feel compelled to challenge ourselves to raise awareness on the environmental issues facing society. Not only does it put our talents to good use, but it also encourages our clients to think about green alternatives. With this in mind, we sought to create an art installation that would educate the public about the wasted resources, environmental impacts, and health risks caused by disposable plastic water bottles.
Every second, 1,500 bottles of water are consumed in America. Of these 50 billion bottles, 80% end up in a landfill, even though recycling programs exist. These statistics are especially stunning considering the availability and high quality of tap water in this country versus the lack of regulations on bottled water. MSLK sought to exploit these outrageous facts and create an eco-art installation that would make the public reflect on their consumer behavior.
In order to visually translate the statistic of 1,500 bottles of water consumed per second, MSLK constructed chains made out of empty bottles collected from the New York City area. The flexible format of the chains allowed the installation to be effective in various environments—from industrial loading docks to more rural settings. Furthermore, throughout the installation, we integrated informational signage featuring facts on how drinking tap water and using a reusable bottle is not only better for you, but better for your pocketbook and the environment.
To date, Watershed has reached over 1 million people in over 63 countries through its installations at the Figment Art Festival, DUMBO Arts Festival, and at the global premiere of the film "The Age of Stupid." It has been covered in publications such as Inhabitat and GD USA and recognized with an AIGA (RE)design Award for sustainable design. In 2011 Watershed was selected by the AIGA for their prestigious Making the Case Awards measuring design effectiveness.
Weiwei ai weiwei /
ECO ART
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) is a Chinese artist, who is also active in architecture, curating, photography, film, and social and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. Besides showing his art he has been investigating in the corruption and cover-ups under the power of the government. He was particularly focused at exposing an alleged corruption scandal in the construction of Sichuan schools that collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. He intensively uses the internet to communicate with people all over China, especially the young generation.
In October 2010, Ai Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds" is installed at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, the work consists of one hundred million porcelain "seeds," each individually hand-painted in the town of Jingdezhen by 1,600 Chinese artisans, and scattered over a large area of the exhibition hall. The artist was keen for visitors to walk across and roll in the work to experience and contemplate the essence of his comment on mass consumption, Chinese industry, famine and collective work.
environmental ads/
ECO ART
Client: wwf; Advertising Agency: Uncle Grey, Denmark; Art Directors: Rasmus Gottliebsen, Jesper Hansen, Rasmus Dunvad; Creative Director: Per Pedersen; Copywriter: Michael Paterson; Published: April 2007
Client: wwf; Advertising Agency: ROI Beijing; Art Directors: leins.lee; Copywriter: other. hong; Photographer: leins.lee; Aired: May.2008
Samu Social Campaign; Realized by : l’agence Publicis Conseil; Artistic Director: Alexandra Offe; Pictures: Marc Paeps.
Produced by IFAW; Campaign: Will Only Words Remain?; Agency: RappCollins; Country: Holland
other
OTHER
YouTube video: Big Ideas That Changed The World - Consumerism. TV Series Documentary - 270 min. Series Directed by Krisztina Katona (1 episode, 2007), Jane Cameron, Tom Cholmondeley, Martin Gorst
YouTube video: Song by Lily Allen - The Fear. „And I am a weapon of massive consumption. And its not my fault it‘s how I‘m programmed to function.“... „Now I‘m not a saint but I‘m not a sinner. Now everything is cool as long as I‘m getting thinner.“ 58
Adbusters - is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in 1989. They added a new ad to their spoof advertising collection, “Brand Baby”.
Barbara Kruger, an American conceptual artist, Untitled (I shop therefore I am)
Wapon of mass consumption by Reece Ward, t-shirt designer from the UK.
Books
Logos Ecolabels are used in a number of countries to show that a product has been certified as environmentally superior to others in the same category. The best known European ecolabels are the Blue Angel in Germany and the Nordic Swan in the Scandinavian countries. Source: www.incpen.org
The CZ ecolabel
The EU Flower ecolabel
The Blue Angel
The Nordic Swan
The "tidyman” is an international symbol intended to remind people to dispose of their waste properly, and to avoid littering it. The logo on the left is the International Tidyman and below it is a variation of it used by Keep Britain Tidy. There is no copyright on the International Tidyman and it can be modified if required. INCPEN encourages companies to modify it so it attracts people’s attention. The "Green Dot” symbol (which can be any colour except red) is used in most European countries to show that the product manufacturer has paid a fee to support recycling. In the UK, industry funding for recycling is organised in a different way, so the symbol has no meaning here, though it often appears on packaging that has been designed for use throughout Europe.
The "Mobius Loop” is a widely used international symbol indicating that the packaging is recyclable. It appears most often on paper and board packaging.
The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) logo certifies that wood and wood-based products such as paper have originated from forests that are managed in a sustainable way.
Printed on Cocoon Silk - 100% recycled paper with certificate FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)