at one time a harbinger of good luck according to seaman’s lore,
it has recently become an dark omen presaging the future disasters facing the planet if we refuse to alter our wasteful and neglectful habits. symbolically, it’s suffering is indicative of the consequences facing consumerist societies and the environment worldwide.
much like the fate of the ancient mariner in sameul taylor coleridge’s epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young !
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
history is not likely to look kindly on our inaction in the face of clear and imminent signs of disaster.
what began as a simple comment in the FFF about a photo website that l thought worthy of your perusal and contemplation, grew beyond the confines of what l think is apropos. the expansion was inspired, in large part, by this quote from david kennerly vis-à-vis the Website(s) of the Week:
…to capture the facts through the lens of a camera…a raw and unflinching view of the world and have contributed to a free society’s understanding of sometimes harsh reality…
…I still believe in the power of the image to empower, embolden and inspire. Photojournalists, editors and writers must continue the struggle to turn their trained minds and eyes to telling and showing the truth…
more below the fold…
few people have done as much as in exposing the truth and consequences of rampant consumerism on the environment, and it’s increasingly catastrophic effects on the the other species which with we share the planet, through the immediacy, distillation, and reality of photography than chris jordan.
his mission statement…raison d’etre…for his work:
Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption
Exploring around our country’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where the accumulated detritus of our consumption is exposed to view like eroded layers in the Grand Canyon, I find evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.
The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.
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.
since this was written, his work has branched out significantly. his most recent work took him to the midway atoll, where he and a talented and dedicated team of photographers and videographers recorded one of the tragic consequences of the proliferation of plastics… and their disposal in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, where “Scientists say that plastic now outweighs plankton 6 to 1”…on the albatross.
l would encourage you to visit the first gallery of photographs titled:
as well as the blog @ www.MidwayJourney.com, also, his other work merits contemplation.
one caveat, the images, especially from midway, may be disturbing to some people, but they are done with great reverence for the subject.
l also want to give a well deserved h/t to ask for his recent diary, Bless the Citizens of Bundanoon, addressing this issue.
thanks for reading.
Thanks for the h/t, but it was actually your comment in the diary entry that triggered my own link to the North Pacific Gyre.
The photos in your last link are absolutely shocking, though, sadly, not very surprising.
It is shocking, agree.
I was listening to a NG program a couple weeks ago, and they had a photog on talking about an assignment he did on the Redwoods. He was talking about getting a gigantic image of a Redwood posted up on a building so that people could understand the size of the trees, bring attention to the issues. Can you imagine if these images were posted up for people to see … would we be shocked out of our complacency?
Great diary d.
“…would we be shocked out of our complacency?”
l really am very pessimistic in that regard, olivia.
l think complacency is endemic world wide, not just in north america. as chris has written: we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences.
it’s obvious on many levels that we are slowly destroying the ability of gaia to sustain life, as we know it. the rates of extinctions is rapidly rising, the rain forests are being defoliated and disappearing, marine life is declining at a record pace, the polar ice caps are melting at a rate that exceeds even the direst of predictions. the list is interminable, and the actions required to counter it, on the scale required to be effectual, are virtually nonexistent.
all closed systems, like the biosphere of the earth, have finite carrying capacities, andare susceptible to fluctuations. but the ongoing, and accelerating in many cases, erosion of the conditions required for the health of they system are clearly the result of a general disinclination to recognize the root cause.
suffice it to say, l for one, cannot but think that what we’re now seeing, in increasingly large numbers, is a serious harbinger for a very disastrous future.
ergo, contrary to what everyone would like to believe, humans are not immune to the threat of extinction. in fact, if current trends continue, that is the most likely eventual outcome. not in your or my lifetimes, but reasonably quickly by evolutionary standards.
then gaia starts over.
it’s happened before, maybe it’ll turn out better the next time.
There’s a very good article in the current Rolling Stone about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in case anyone didn’t catch it.
The Great Pacific
Garbage Patch
A floating mass of trash twice the size of Texas has turned the Pacific into an ocean of plastic, killing sea life, and working its way up the food chain. By Kitt Doucette
It’s not available online but is worth the read. According the the article, we’re eating it, and nobody knows how much or what the effect.
.
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Project Kaisai, capturing the plastic vortex
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."dada,
Great post & the Ancient Mariner is one of my all time favorites.
When the Alguita was out in the Pacific gyre, I was online with them a few times with my questions.
The pictures of the dead chicks are staggering.