This aerial picture depicts the sawmills of Lagos, Nigeria. The timber from the nation’s rainforests, a number of the most closely deforested on the earth, are processed on this coastal metropolis, polluting the lagoons.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

Humans have made an indelible mark on the planet. Since the mid-Twentieth century, we have accelerated the digging of mines, development of dams, enlargement of cities and clearing of forests for agriculture — exercise that might be seen within the geological file for eons to come back.

Some scientists are calling it the Anthropocene period, or the age of the people (“anthropos” is Greek for human), and argue that geologists ought to acknowledge it as a definite chapter in Earth’s historical past. But after greater than a decade of investigation and debate, that won’t happen, not less than for now.

In a contentious vote earlier this month, a panel of geologists declined to designate a brand new geologic epoch beginning in 1952, when the United States examined its first thermonuclear bomb. The Nineteen Fifties, proponents contend, marked an inflection level in humanity’s affect on Earth, as globalization, elevated burning of fossil fuels and the usage of nuclear weapons left unmistakable indicators of our affect within the geologic file.

Ultimately, a lot of the panel thought of that too slender a view.

“There’s no doubt that the Anthropocene human transformation of the Earth is already in the geologic record, the evidence speaks for itself, it’s permanent and embedded in the crust of the earth,” says Erle Ellis, an environmental scientist on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. But that proof extends a lot farther again in time than the Nineteen Fifties, he says.

Defining the Anthropocene as this particular chunk of geologic time would restrict the usefulness of the time period, Ellis says. “[The vote] basically clarified that the Anthropocene belongs to all the sciences, it’s not something that is just up to geology to define in this kind of narrow way.”

Years earlier than this ultimate vote, photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier had been impressed by the continuing debate over this new geological period. These three Canadian artists traveled to 22 nations to analysis and doc “places of obvious, physical human incursions on the landscape,” says filmmaker de Pencier.

They created over 50 photographs capturing the affect of people on the Earth, like a sprawling, 30-acre rubbish dump in Kenya, massive swaths of deforestation in Borneo and waterways broken by oil siphoning in Nigeria.

Their expansive, multidisciplinary physique of labor is known as The Anthropocene Project.

The venture, which incorporates pictures, movie, digital actuality and augmented actuality, took 4 years to finish and launched in September 2018. The exhibition has been proven at museums all over the world, most just lately at Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.

“[The Anthropocene Project] is almost looking back from a projected future, from the future geologist investigating what will remain in the rock record long after we’re gone,” de Pencier provides.

In the wake of the vote, a spokesperson for the venture says, “Whether it’s an official epoch or not, reality remains the same.”

Here is a collection of pictures from the venture.

The Dandora Landfill in Nairobi, Kenya, is a sprawling 30-acre dump that grows by a mean of 850 tons of stable waste a day, in line with the U.N. Environment Programme.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

The Dandora Landfill in Nairobi, Kenya, is a sprawling 30-acre dump that grows by a mean of 850 tons of stable waste a day, in line with the U.N. Environment Programme.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, oil bunkering — the observe of siphoning oil from pipelines — has reworked elements of the once-thriving delta ecosystem into an ecological lifeless zone, in line with the U.N. Environment Programme.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, oil bunkering — the observe of siphoning oil from pipelines — has reworked elements of the once-thriving delta ecosystem into an ecological lifeless zone, in line with the U.N. Environment Programme.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

Cerro Dominador Solar Project #1, Atacama Desert, Chile, 2017

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

An underground potash mine within the Ural mountains of Russia. The potassium-rich salt is mined to provide fertilizer. The staff says that the mine exhibits the affect of modernized agricultural practices that assist feed Earth’s 7.5 billion individuals. The spiraled sample seen right here is attributable to the machines used to extract the salts.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

An aerial view of a palm plantation on the island of Borneo. Enormous tracts of tropical rainforest have been cleared to develop the profitable crop, which is used to create palm oil, a vegetable oil that can be utilized in meals processing.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

A tetrapod manufacturing unit in Dongying, China. These concrete blocks are dropped into the ocean to create a barrier that protects low-lying oil refineries from rising sea ranges. According to a latest scientific review, human beings have now produced sufficient concrete to cowl your complete globe in a 2-millimeter thick layer.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

A marble quarry in Carrara, Italy. Humans have been mining the town’s marble deposits for two,000 years.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

A 3,400-acre Exxon Petrochemical plant in Baytown, Texas, produces supplies for tires, automotive bumpers and over 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day, in line with the company.

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

disguise caption

toggle caption

Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto