A Poetic Plea
Climate change is one of the hottest topics in the media right now. But with the usual onslaught of alarming imagery, how do you reach a public that distances itself from a problem too immense and overwhelming to deal with? “100 Places To Remember Before They Disappear” uses beauty to make the issue riveting. And real.
As a media-savvy society, we’re bombarded with literally hundreds of images everywhere we look, every day. From on-screen surfing to TV, magazines and outdoor advertising. Cognitive scientists will tell you that the way we process visual information versus verbal data differs. Research indicates that we “read” visuals faster than text. An astounding 60,000 times faster. With words, we compile bits of information to understand something in its entirety. With images, we begin with the whole picture and then break it down into details. Unlike words, which are sequential, visuals convey a multitude of impressions that we process simultaneously. Resonating between intellect and emotion, consciousness and unconsciousness. Somewhere in our brain brandwidth lies our ability interpret images via visual literacy.
News editors know that negative images can have a negative impact. Yes they create attention, but they also trigger a natural response in you to distance yourself from a painful experience, like viewing upsetting scenes of suffering and tragedy. Turn the page, change the TV channel and phew! Your uncomfortable experience is over. Except, of course, not for the people actually in those situations. Consequently, we have a media eager to report on issues, an oversaturation of communication and a public with information overload who become desensitized and seemingly indifferent to disasters elsewhere in the world. In order to portray an ugly truth, what if people were confronted with beauty instead?
The power of positive imagery
Søren and Stine partner together organizing outdoor photographic exhibitions, primarily on projects involving nature, animals, the environment and human existence. They are also behind the amazing exhibitions "Earth from Above" and "Spirit of the Wild", shown in Denmark and other major cities across Europe.
“Taking a positive approach was extremely import to us,” says Søren. “We learned that from Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the famous photographer behind the “Earth from Above” exhibition. His idea of showing the beauty of nature, as seen from above, brought a new perspective to places people took for granted. Our aim with “100 Places” is to bring awareness to the extent of the damage that climate change can do – and is already doing. In some cases, the consequences would be catastrophic.”
Both Stine and Søren are photographers. Søren was trained as a cameraman, worked as a freelance photographer and was Head of Photography at the Danish newspaper, Politiken, He initially met Stine in 2001, when she was a freelancer photographer living in Paris. “When there were jobs to be done in Paris, I called her. We finally met there, saw “Earth from Above” and decided to do it together in Denmark,” recalls Søren. “The exhibit was a success and we realized we connected. We got a request from Steve Bloom, the photographer behind “Spirit of the Wild”, who asked us if we could organize his exhibition.
“Working with press photography for 30 years, I’ve seen a lot of very disturbing images,” admits Søren. “With “100 Places’”, Stine and I wanted to capture the beauty and let the words deliver the punch so people learn about the seriousness of the problem. That approach was very clear for us from the beginning. Look what you’re going to lose ...”
What inspired Co+Life to take on this project? “Connie Hedegaard, Denmark’s Minister of Climate and Energy,” smiles Søren. “When she addressed the Climate Summit COP14 in Nairobi in 2006, she offered Copenhagen as the city to host the next one. We thought it would be fantastic if the Danish government could open people’s minds about climate change. We knew it would be a hot topic worth pursuing and hooked up with Gaute Høgh as a partner in Spring 2007 to help us get sponsors.” An influential force in Danish advertising and part of the “100 Places” team, Gaute sees this project as “vital for contributing to the climate debate because it’s a visually compelling expression of the earth’s beauty. People need to be confronted with beautiful places to realize that we need to alter our lives in order to preserve them.”
More than 100 places
The places were selected based on research by the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UN Environment UNEP, one of the project partners. Armed with an editorial team that included a geographer and two journalists, Stine and Søren looked for a geographic mix of locations from all over the world with a strong climate change story, juxtaposed against dramatic beauty – but without being too explicit. “We wanted a sense of greatness. Almost feeling overwhelmed with emotion. We also wanted the photos to create curiosity, to need the text. So you wouldn’t know what was happening without reading the text.” The photos were taken by 87 different photographers, whose work appears courtesy of Getty Images in the exhibition, the book, on posters and in TV spots. According to Stine, “It was an enormous undertaking to find the stories and to feature the 100 places. In truth, there are many, many more.” Which locations were the most shocking? “Everyday was an eye opener for all of us,” says Stine.
The planet in peril
One look at www.100places.com and you can’t help but be captivated. Co+Life have amassed utterly amazing images that span the globe, touching on topics from melting glaciers in Asia to London becoming an “urban heat island”. Including places some see as paradise on earth, such as the Maldives, as well as popular vacation destinations like the Great Barrier Reef, Brazil, Paris, Venice, Tokyo, Costa Rica and California. All at serious risk for their own climate reasons. Online, the 100 locations are categorized into a list of threats from rising sea levels, rising temperatures, less precipitation and melting of permafrost to extreme weather events, like cyclones devastating livelihoods and lives. Ironically, Copenhagen is number 100, due to the risk of rising sea level. Look up your own continent and don’t be surprised if the adverse effects of climate change suddenly hit home.
On the up side, it’s not all gloom and doom or hasta la vista everywhere. Take Tuvala. Halfway between Hawaii and Australia in the middle of the Pacific, Tuvala is the fourth smallest country in the world, measuring only 10 square miles. An easy target for immersion into the deep blue
sea, Tuvala has just pledged to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 with a view to becoming the first zero-carbon country.
100 Solutions to change climate change
In keeping with Co+Life’s positive approach to “100 places”, they also list 100 solutions. Their aim is to illuminate and motivate people, with measures we can take to minimise damage gathered from a variety of sources, such as UNESCO, WWF, Greenpeace International, the BBC, UNEP, Time Magazine and National Geographic, among many others. For example, “If all commuters left their car at home one day a week for the next year, we would save enough kilometres to travel to the moon and back 35,000 times.”
Many people have contributed ideas and insights to the “100 Places” project. Special ambassadors include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winning human rights activist, Dave Stewart, musician and legendary Eurythmics producer who initiated a Greenpeace think tank, Mark Warford, award-winning director, composer and Stewart’s partner in LoverEarth, the Hon Peter Garrett AM MP, former lead singer of the Australian rock group Midnight Oil appointed Australian Government Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, singer, songwriter Joss Stone and actress Connie Nielsen. Even the Danish Crown Prince Frederik has appeared in his support of the issue, on a special “Raise your voice" YouTube channel set up by the Danish Foreign Office to create an online community and a sense of urgency.
Eco versus Ego
Of course, just as there are more than 100 places, there are more than 100 solutions. While nature needs to keep the eco system in balance, we have to somehow do the same with our “ego” system. In an effort to save our precious habitat from our own destructive habits, it would be all too easy to point an accusatory finger, for example, at every single gas-guzzling 1965 Cadillac De Ville and have them banned from the roads. Or, as Søren adds, “if we stop flying, Thailand would die from no tourism.” It’s all connected. Climate change threatens to kill off certain species but it would be absurd and extreme if preventative measure, presented with the most altruistic intentions, became so restrictive and punitive that it killed our joie de vie.
Co+Life have orchestrated 100 TV spots for 100 days leading up to the UN Summit on Climate Change in December. The exhibition of “100 Places To Remember Before They Disappear” will continue on to Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, London, Vienna, Lisbon and elsewhere. You can order the book online and read about it on their website at www.100places.com. It’s your chance to be positively, emotionally moved to take action, from this extremely poetic and prophetic plea to protect the one place we all call home.
November 2010