Artistic Curation
- “How fertilizers Harm Earth More Than Help Your Lawn” Scientific American Magazine (literature) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-fertilizers-harm-earth/
In “How Fertilizers Harm Earth More Than Help Your Lawn,” published by Scientific American, they explain how the increasing use of toxic fertilizer is having extreme, widespread, and harmful effects on many different systems. To begin, fertilizer has spread from only being used for farming with the intentions of growing mass produced goods for selling, to smaller scale usage as in gardens and front lawns. This increase in the use of fertilizer is dangerous because it increases the harm. For example, the excess of fertilizer ends up in the waterways, polluting them and in turn increasing the amount of algae produced. This algae now grows so large it blocks waterways, leaving the organisms living there to migrate elsewhere. Furthermore, these organisms are now poisoned from consuming the toxic fertilizer run off. Not only is this detrimental for them but when humans fish and consume anything from these infested waterways, they are now poisoned and can possibly become ill, creating a toxic cycle. This is relevant to our themes of anthropocene and climate change because this is representative of how humans are living against nature, rather than in tune with it. We are blessed with an amazing opportunity and fresh and natural resources, however we are greedy and driven by a consumer and capitalist mindset. This is expressed through farmers using this harmful fertilizer, rather than a natural or organic one, so their crops grow to perfection, reducing the rate of wasted time and materials and leaving them with more goods to sell. Even though it seems like there is only one option, that is not the case. The farming and agriculture industry can still exist and suburban neighborhoods can still showcase beautiful and flourishing lawns and flowerbeds, they just need to change how they do it. Harming the earth has become so commercialized and casual that we no longer are alarmed by it and we continue to act in damaging ways, because we believe that is the only way to do things. However, organic and natural fertilizers still work and can even be created in your own kitchen, using composted materials, in turn creating even less waste and harm to our earth and its ecosystems. This idea is also prevalent in my piece titled “Anthropocene Syndrome” Susan L. Prescott. In “Anthropocene Syndrome,” business men are fighting on either side of a burning earth, arguing about what is most cost effective while ignoring the very pressing issue of a dying environment. This is similar because in the article, it is clear that farmers use toxic fertilizer regardless of its effects on the ecosystems, because it makes them a higher profit.
2. “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch” Anthropocene Project (film) https://theanthropocene.org/film/
In the beautifully directed and executed documentary film, the “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch,” it shares what it means to live in the current state of the earth and how we are actively affecting the earth’s health and status. In the beginning of the film there is a conversation on how we used to live in tune with our earth, we were a part of it, however now we are a dominating species, running the earth out of resources and destroying its natural ability to revamp itself. Right now, we as civilians on earth, are no longer in a place of preparation or prevention but rather are left to deal with climate change and its lasting effects, face to face. This idea of living in the Anthropocene and understanding climate change and what that entails are main themes in our comparative literature class. The Anthropocene is our epoch, meaning that the damage is not a scary thought of the future that will be dealt with later on, but our unfortunate reality. When understanding this, there is a lot of panic and sadness. The film does an excellent job of making the audience feel this through creating a relationship with them, as it intentionally leaves moments of silence or long pauses where only the intense and strong machinery fills the void. This provokes empathy and intrigue, encouraging the audience to start the conversation on change and urge them to take action, or at least feel a certain way about our current reality. The story centers on businesses that are consciously and continuously worsening climate change and permanently damaging our earth. There is an opening scene of wild and bright fire, followed by workers unloading many tons of elephant tusks, explaining how this business breeds intense wealth but is destructive to an entire species, ultimately affecting and destroying life cycles and environments. The directors of the film purposefully interview a woman who used to work among the elephants who’s tusks are now being sold, in order to give a spotlight to her voice as she speaks about how heartbreaking this is, and how when working among the elephants, she believed they would never be harmed. Furthermore, the documentary focuses on the coal mining industry and its effects on climate change. The coal mining industry is a global industry that emits methane, from current and retired coal mines, into the atmosphere, resulting in an increase in overall greenhouse gasses. This idea relates to the image I present later on titled “Coal Mine Industry,” which is a photo taken by Sepp Spiegel. Both the image and the segment from the documentary film help the audience understand the depths of this destruction.
3. Image –
Photograph by Sepp Spiegel “Coal Mine Germany” Nat Geo (photography) https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/age-man-enter-anthropocene/?utm_source=BibblioRCM_Row
In Sepp Spiegel’s professional “Coal Mine Germany” photograph, he captures a large piece of machinery operating on a coal mine located in Germany. At first glance, the energy seems productive and slightly monotonous. The vast landscape seems to be representing opportunity and a lot of money, urging coal miners to continue and labor on. However, when critically dissected, it is understood that this photograph actually represents adversity, irreversible damage, and ultimately an impending catastrophe. That is due to the fact that coal mining is destructive to our landscape and massively pollutes waterways. The pollution of major waterways eventually lead to reef gaps, which have marked major extinctions that have exceeded well past our lifetime. Furthermore, the actual burning of coal emits carbon dioxide, infecting our atmosphere. This is so extreme that its lasting effects are going to be irreversible. This idea of humans interacting with the environment ties into our theme of anthropocene and climate change. As a society, we still allow coal mining to commence as a form of energy production, even though most of us understand the severe implications. Even though it is understood that climate change is a hovering and daunting ticking time bomb, we continue to emit pollutants into our now sensitive atmosphere, destroying our future. These emissions of carbon dioxide are now showing up in agriculture, symbolizing the beginning of a new epoch which is called the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is representative of our interactions with the earth, leading to its ultimate demise. With the continuation of our current system, which is full of coal mining, extreme agricultural practices, and production of excess waste, the irreversible damage will continue to prosper exponentially and impact us daily. When examining and studying this photograph, I am reminded of an excerpt in our class packet titled “Who Made Nature Our Enemy?” by Maria Mies. Usually, one would believe that when faced with numerous facts that scream our earth is dying, because of our daily actions and company policies and sources of energy and habits and preferences, one would ultimately feel a sense of responsibility and an urgency to change and actively work against the damage, rather than add to it. Instead of feeling like society and civilizations are on earth’s team, nature is now presented as an enemy. In this idea, there is an overwhelming feeling of despair knowing that not enough groups or communities are working for the world’s success and instead are living selfishly and as an opponent.
4. Image
Art “Anthropocene Syndrome” Susan L. Prescott AnthroSyndrom (art) https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Anthropocene-Syndrome-a-complex-of-environmental-degradation-biological-annihilation-in_fig1_319133253
In the intricate drawing titled “Anthropocene Syndrome,” by Susan L. Prescott, there is a depiction of human’s effects on our world. In the center of the earth, fossilized dinosaurs are drawn underneath an assortment of metals and revolutionized technology, representing that the past cretaceous period is buried and that the anthropocene is our current epoch. On top, there is a separation of business men, fighting and angrily throwing money while clenching fists and pointing fingers at one another. The division between the men, on either side of the sinking materials used to represent our current booming society, depicts the disassembly of our civilization which is largely caused by disagreements on how to handle our deteriorating conditions regarding the earth. The use of businessmen, rather than people, who are holding clumps of money in their hands is important because it addresses the fact that big businesses and major corporations hold huge sums of power, therefore making them partially in control of what society and individual civilians can do in terms of climate change and reversing damage. This is a direct representation of what has been an ongoing conversation in our comparative literature class many times. The theme of anthropocene has been very relevant and through discussion, we have learned its implications. In class, we delved into “Braiding Sweetgrass,” by Robin Wall Kimmerer and learned what it truly meant to have an interconnection within our surroundings and different habitats or ecosystems. Specifically, we dissected what it means to have a relationship with our environment, and how that affects the earth. It is understood that there is a strong exchange between how we live our everyday life and how rapidly the earth is beginning to diminish. This is apparent in Prescott’s drawing where the new modern materials, which exhibit our current actions within business and agriculture and waste production, are burning and creating fire.This highlights the urgency in this issue and symbolizes that our actions and what we deem as a bright future is actually the exact catalyst that is ruining our source of life, or earth. The idea of our everyday actions, which are apparent in popular careers and how we fuel society, is what is actively hurting our earth is also represented in another piece in my curation. “Coal Mine Germany,” a photograph by Sepp Spiegel, carries this same image and shows that the way we are processing energy through coal mines is extremely destructive and is a major addition to carbon emissions which negatively impact our efforts to reduce climate change.