The power of an image
‘8+ BILLION’ This is image was created to convey the simple message that the Earth is struggling to cope with 8+ billion people.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I have always found that nebulous and complex issues, which are difficult to convey in words, can be more easily and immediately grasped through the medium of a strong image. I am working on a book about our ‘existential predicament’ and the intention of this work is to combine strong communicative images with well researched and argued writing. In this post, I wanted to share some of the new illustrations I have been working on. I am keen to hear feedback on how successful (or not) you think these images are. So please email me with any comments you may have.
‘GRAZING LAND’ This image was created to represent graphically some statistics on land use which I ran across in George Monbiot's book Regenisis. George makes the point that grazing animals in the UK enjoy around 51% of the total land area whereas we humans are set aside 7%. The more important point he makes is that a meat-based diet requires a huge amount of land area to support it, whereas a non-meat diet needs only a fraction of this amount.
‘TRACTOR’. This image tries to expose the devastating impact that modern industrialised farming practices are having on the environment and, in particular, upon biodiversity. Far from being an 'agricultural miracle', the way we grow food is rapidly degrading the sustaining capacity of the biosphere.
‘WEALTH’ This illustration tries to capture how wealth accumulation in an unbridled capitalist economic system gets dangerously out of balance. According to Oxfam, the richest 1 percent on the planet has pocketed $26 trillion (£21 trillion) in new wealth since 2020. This is nearly twice the acquisition of the residual 99 percent of the world’s population. The richest are getting richer and the poorest are getting poorer.
‘FOR A LIFE WORTH LIVING’. In his book, From What Is to What If, Rob Hopkins suggests that for many, if not most, human beings alive today, we have created the conditions for ‘a life not worth living’. Having created so much societal chaos by having grossly over-populated our planet we need practicable pathways towards a life worth living. That is what I am trying to explore in my new book.
