Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Film can be a bridge between abstract, difficult topics and the perception of these issues by the public. The documentary “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch” premiered in 2018 featuring the work of Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky, who all worked to capture the world changing for the worse and the people studying such transition. The film travels around the world capturing some of the most striking examples of how humanity has altered the environment: sea walls that cover 60% of the mainland coasts, lithium evaporation ponds in the Atacama desert, the decimated Barrier Reef, and massive piles of poached ivory are just some of the examples showcased in the film. The striking visual story is mixed with scientific commentary from a group of researchers called the Anthropocene Working group, who argue that humanity has ended the Holocene epoch, which lasted tens of thousands of years, and started the Anthropocene epoch, which its unrivalled pace and scale of the environment alteration. The film was the third in a series of documentaries about environmental degradation, and was generally well-received, specifically for its high impact imagery. However, there were criticisms that the film did not leave the viewer with any information on what was left to be done. While the team acknowledges this shortcoming, their intention was primarily to grow awareness, leaving action to the individuals and the many other organizations suited to make recommendations.

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Air Pollution Robot

The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]

Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring

Telematic Rivers

Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]

Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies

Co-occupied Boundaries

Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]

Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies