David Attenborough describes the human population as “a multiplier of all other environmental problems” (People and Planet, 2011). As our population grows, so does the impact we have on the planet, with the entire world population increasing by approximately 4 billion over the past 67 years. Humans now have a huge impact on the environment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the form of agricultural practices such as overfishing and loss of land for agriculture, energy industry depleting natural resources and the effect of climate change as a result along with risks of oil spills and others disasters linked to the methods of exploitation of energy sources. Light pollution, in addition to being a problem for the eyes, is responsible for the change in interactions between predators and prey that disrupts food chains. Our vast transport links and expanding cities destroy habitats and take up enormous amounts of space. This is just an overview of some of the major human impacts that go much deeper. In addition to the wide range of human problems there is a wide range of photographers who directly or indirectly expose this human impact on the environment in different ways. Daniel Beltrá directly photographs human impact, sometimes working for Greenpeace. Edward Burtynsky photographs the balance between man and the environment, demonstrating how in some situations one can prevail over the other. Nadav Kander explores the urbanization of nature in one of his most famous series Yangtze - The Long River. Like Burtynsky, Joel Sternfield also demonstrates the balance between city and nature in New York, where nature takes back control. Mitch Epstein examines how energy affects American life. (Epstein, no date) The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the oil industry after 4.9 million barrels were polluted in the Gulf of Mexico. It killed 11 people and had devastating effects on the marine system, for example, before the spill 0.1% of the fish found in the gulf had lesions or sores but, after the spill some areas contained 50% of the fish with lesions and sores .Daniel Beltrá is a photographer working on human impact on the environment and one of his most famous series "Spill" concerns the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Beltrá photographed the oil spill for 2 months using aerial photography throughout this series to illustrate the sheer scale of the disaster, "this perspective gives the viewer greater context for the beauty and destruction they witness, as well as revealing a delicate sense of scale" (Edelman, No date) this is especially evident in “Oil Spill #17”, the giant oil spill is offset by a boat that almost looks like a toy in the bathtub due to the anomalous colors in the image not usually found in the ocean and the large scale created by Beltrá's remoteness from the situation on the plane. The oil streak acts as a leading line that draws the eye from one corner of the image to the other, the boat in the image metaphorically acts like humans in the environment... disturbing the oil spill shown by the broken coherent lines that the spill was initially forming, as humans disturbed the ocean causing the spill itself. It also acts as a leading line as the viewer looks from where the boat is coming from to where it is going. The colors presented make the image look like a painting and make me question whether Photoshop was involved, but a quote.
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