Forgotten victims of Sandy, the ultimate Fish Story
 |
| In 2010, I began a series of images about the impacts of oil on water. What we often cannot see beneath the translucence of afflicted waters is all the life gasping to survive:
"Oil & Water" detail of artists book cover
Date of Work: 2011
Size: 11.25" x 11.25"x 3/4”
Description: Etched plexiglass box containing 12 digital
prints on Japanese Digital Niyodo Kozo paper
Notes: Detail of "Oil & Water" artists book shown
in “One of a Kind,” an exhibition of unique artist's books at Pierre Menard
Gallery, Cambridge MA and in Unbound – An
Exhibition in 3 Chapters, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, curated
by Heide Hatry.
|
Something more to bear in mind as we all check on each other and worry about the election outcome- the ecological impacts of this disaster are substantial: all our local waterways, which so many have worked so hard to clean up, are now pulluted with gasoline and other toxins. Fortunately, this has occurred after most birds have migrated THIS time but there are plenty of other critters who had no place to escape to, inc all the fish in these systems. This is, incidentally, why Fish Story is sited in Memphis, at the confluence of these new weather patterns.
I will probably keep adding to this post during the day. But for now, what is on my mind, besides the misery & death of many people as a result of Hurricane Sandy, are all the animals that depend on the now polluted waters of rivers in the affected bioregion: wild birds, fish and all the other critters we don't think about at times like this.Ariana Huffington has spoken about how this has sharply focused priorities for humans, from a human point of view:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/hurricane-sandy-downgraded-election_b_2044095.html
But I wonder & worry about the biological infrastructure driven by biogeographic factors such as this storm, that we depend upon more than most of us know.
The way I see things, we are now in a global showdown between Mother Nature and Big Fossil Fuel industries played out, incidentally in the USA but affecting everyone:
"The jet stream ... is becoming “wavier,” with steeper troughs and higher ridges. Weather systems are progressing more slowly, raising the chances for long-duration extreme events, like droughts, floods, and heat waves. ... jet stream configurations that led to heavy snows in the Northeast and Europe during recent winters. " -source: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/arctic-warming-is-altering-weather-patterns-study-shows
This will also affect airline traffic because flight paths will be interrupted by changing wind patterns.