Alexa Hines
English 102
Professor Ravy
5/1/2015
Before
it is too late
Breathing is something humans do
without even thinking twice, inhale and exhale.
Trees are the filters of carbon dioxide providing organisms with natural
clean air. Humans are moving along with their lives not knowing how their
everyday products are being made, what is taking place, and for what risk. Brett
Jordan takes a captivating landscape that triggers a sense of unity in the
world and turns it into reality. Taking forest and depicting it as lungs,
streams as blood vessels, and an eerie tone in the sky is exactly what Brett
Jordan did in his World Wildlife Fund advertisement called “Lungs of the Earth.”
Brett captioned “Lungs of the Earth” with a small corner text saying “before
it’s too late.” To maintain a sustainable environment for the current
generation and generations to come it is important to understand why
biodiversity is essential for survival, knowing the causes of deforestation and
learning what can be done to help. The “Lungs of the Earth” is a photo that
should grab viewers to look closer into deforestation.
Biodiversity
is the term used to describe the variety of life in an ecosystem. Variety is
very important in any ecosystem, just think about it. Take a rain forest for an example all of the
organisms living in the rain forest are very diverse biologically, but each
organism relies on the other for survival. In the photo “Lungs of the Earth”
the forest is used to help readers to understand the concept of biodiversity
and why it is essential for homeostasis. For an example some insects can only
survive in one type of tree, and some birds only eat a certain species of
insect. If the tree is destroyed the insects will have no home and eventually die
out. The birds that rely on the insects for food will starve to death. Shockingly
humans are very similar to birds and insects, if there were no scientist or
doctor’s disease would spread and kill many. The “Lungs of the Earth” is a
photo displaying the interconnections the world shares for everyday survival.
Brett uses symbolism in his photo to the display the reality of deforestation.
The environment provides organisms with trees that filter the air used to
breath, taking in Carbon Dioxide and releasing clean oxygen that is vital for
all life. Keystone species play a large role in maintaining life in an
ecosystem. A keystone species is a plant or animal that’s role dominates the function
of the surrounding ecosystem. “A
keystone species' disappearance would start a domino effect. (Keystone
Species)”This domino effect will cause other species in the habitat to become
extinct due to the loss of the keystone species presence and various
interactions. Trees are a major keystone species all life cannot survive
without. Trees are a positive keystone species filtering the air, providing
food and shelter for their neighbors. Just like trees are keystone species so
are humans. Humans however do not have such a great impact on the environment,
constantly draining the world of its natural resources and the supporting the
ever growing trash pile. Humans and trees should not be at a constant battle
for survival but instead work together to provide worldly benefits for
every living organism. Since humans have such a control on the overall welling being of
nature, it is important to know when to let go and let nature take its course,
the natural way.
When first looking at Brett Jordan’s photo,
trees captured as lungs appear, streams running through the woods as blood
vessels, and a strange ominous vibe in the sky is presented. The two separated
forest are pictured as lungs on a landscape that draws in a feeling of
relationship. Brett uses dense forest in the landscape, surrounding the forest
trees are scattered, in an ecosystem that was probably once entirely forest.
Zooming into the photo there are tiny streams that provide a source of life to
the environment around, just like blood traveling through the body. Brett’s
color choice for the distant sky gives off a feeling of future stress. At first
this seemingly beautiful landscape is just a photo, but looking deeper into the
picture like any other photo there is much more going on. In this photo there
is a clear problem, the removal of trees for industrial land use continues to
rob the entire world from the natural benefits, killing many organisms in the process.
There is a great demand for products of all kinds with the rising human
population. Deforestation is moving at a quick pace resulting in many problems;
loss of habitat, natural medicine, diversity in species and in the overall
global temperature change. “If
the current rate of deforestation continues, it will take less than 100 years
to destroy all the rain forests on the earth” (Conserve Energy Future). Brett
wants humans to recognize what is happening and how fast it can move, “before
it is too late.”
“Lungs of the earth” is an image that
relates to fixable problems humans could change, but will not because of
comfort and accommodation. The impact
human society has on the entire world is at the state of domination. “Sustainable
Forestry” is an article that attempts to connect supply and demand with longer
term survival. “Perhaps the major threat to forest sustainability arises from
an ever-increasing population, especially in developing countries, combined with
the ever-increasing material demands of the developed nations” (Sustainable
Forestry). With the increasing size in populations there comes a demand for
more. Palm oil is contained in essentially all everyday products shampoo, cosmetics,
snacks biofuel and much more. Large areas of rainforest are being cleared every
day to meet the needs of society. When clearing the rainforest for palm oil,
thousands of benefits are being cleared form the world forever. In the online
article “Why rainforest soils are generally poor for agriculture” speaks on why
the rainforest soil is pretty much mineral dead, making farming an extremely
unnatural process for rainforest land. “Over two-thirds of the world's
rainforests -- including much of those in Madagascar -- can be considered
"wet-deserts" in that they grow on extremely poor soils which are
acidic and low in minerals and nutrients”(Wild Madagascar). The bottom
of the rainforest is constantly covered with rotting flesh and decaying plant
material which should make the soil fertile right? That would be wrong, because the decaying
material rarely ever makes it into the soil, different animals tend to quickly recycle
any left overs. The plants of the rainforest however adapted to the low
nutrient soil making the rainforest the perfect place for a rainforest and not
a farm.
In
small text on the right hand corner “before it is too late” is added to the
picture which Brett uses to symbolize something that does not get much attention.
A problem as great as deforestation and its relationship to the rest of life is
a topic that gets pushed aside, but is actually something that could kill us
all. Humans tend to enjoy staying with in circles of comfort and that is the
problem. By humans not expanding their minds and automatically following the
crowd tends to leave in too much similarity and a break up in diversity. Brett
is expressing so much more in this photo not just the problem of deforestation,
but the ability for humans to not understand that different is essential and
make that different be equal or good enough. The sense of long term connection
in the photo puts human needs in the same place as any other organisms, but
sadly some fail to look. In the corner of the lungs there is a patch of green
missing, it is dirt. In the section of dirt construction trucks keep on
clearing the homes of many, with only the thought of capital in mind. Brett
uses all of these factors that connect to form a big picture of society. What
is important to human’s power, love, money, or survival.
Survival is a network that relies on others
for something it does not have. Until humans look at nature as one organism
trying to survive, survival will become a lot easier. Brett Jordan takes a
simple landscape photo and turns it into a million words by simply it showing
connection to everything else. Learning what can be done to help, the causes of
deforestation and understanding why biodiversity is essential for survival is
what will keep a sustainable environment for the current generation and future
generations to come. Looking into the physiology of deforestation Brett tries
to present the audience with problems that are easily forgotten, such as mass
production and specie acceptance. Brett was very successful in presenting a
huge problem the world is facing and how humans psychologically hide from reality.
Work Cited
"51
Facts About Deforestation - Conserve Energy Future."
ConserveEnergyFuture. N.p., 11 Sept.
2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
"Graphic
"Lungs" - WWF and Semiotics Critique." Taylor James. N.p., 05
Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
"Keystone
Species." - National Geographic Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
"Overpopulation:
Causes, Effects and Solutions - Conserve Energy Future."
ConserveEnergyFuture. N.p., 03 June
2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
"Sustainable
forestry." Environmental Encyclopedia. Gale, 2011. Science in Context.
Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
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