http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.html
Many things about this online video by "Ted"resonated with me. First I'd like to comment on the first few pictures of the open pit mines and other excavation areas. I have to agree with his comment that they are both horrifying yet eerily beautiful at the same time. This picture in particular reminds me of the artwork of Andy Goldsworthy which I blogged about last time. It's so symmetrical with a little splash of color in the bottom...But I feel sad for the real piece of natural art that had to die to make this mine possible. It's hard to believe there once was a mountain here. I was so appalled to see the California oil fields too. Rows and rows of oil wells on empty yellow dirt. I wonder what used to grow there and wish it grew there still.
Next he showed some pictures of materials being recycled. Scrap metal pressed into cubes stacked one on top of the other till it builds a huge wall. This reminded me of the movie Wall-e which is a great futuristic movie about what could happen to our planet if we don't take care of it. Wall-e the robot's job is to stack billions of metal cubes into huge pyramids, while the humans are in a spaceship because Earth is no longer fit to live on. I am honestly praying every day that that doesn't happen to our ancestors someday...but I'm not just praying. I feel happy to be taking personal responsibility and action as well.
I was very interested to hear about China's environmental struggles and living conditions because I am going there in May this year! I am going to be living with my cousin who is teaching English there, and not doing very many "touristy" things. I want to get a sense of what daily life is like in China. Judging from the movie, it doesn't seem very pleasant. However, my cousin loves it there, and tells me that there will be lots of opportunities to see where environmental action can be taken, which I'm very excited about. In any case, I was actually glad to see skyscrapers going up in China, instead of houses spreading out all over prime farmland as we do in Manitoba! What I found disturbing was the huge factories with the workers making widgets all day long, the "e-waste" and scrap metal being dumped there, and the Three Gorges Dam. It makes me unspeakably sad to see these people living this life...I am wondering, do they feel like their lives are meaningless? I think they probably don't, they probably feel that they are making a necessary sacrifice for their families; they are providing for them and are proud of that. I feel sad because there is no way those people are reaching their full creative potential, or were given an opportunity to ever do so.
I think that Ted is definitely full-filling his dream of reaching people through his photographs. I think he needs to continue his work, and hope that his wish comes true of making an IMAX movie. I also think that Andy Goldsworthy should make an IMAX movie! Wouldn't it be great to see a combined movie by them. Two very different viewpoints of our world, but perhaps ultimately trying to achieve the same goal...awareness of the world around us.
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