Tiny Dots on An Endless Timeline

For my final project, I wanted to depict a very important life event that led to the choice of my major. I am an environmental science major: this means I study the patterns between the environment and other concepts such as life. As an environmental science major, this has opened my mind in seeing different ways of destruction occurring to the atmosphere and the more noticeable talked about one is fossil fuel emissions that go on to create pollution. I wanted to focus on the “tree of life” something I see myself in, the tree of life is supposed to represent my life and my journey that has placed me into where I am right now. Below, where the green glass is seen there are pictures of a significant time and event that occurred in my life: the root of my journey to environmental science. When I was in high school, I had the privilege to do research at Montclair State University based on Lake Wapalanne, NJ. This was during the summer of 2015. Throughout this time, a professor and I along with a graduate student had to physically go to the lake and get samples from the water. I helped out to conduct an experiment based on eutrophication of the lake that was currently going on. There was a lot of algae blooms and this occurs due to a lot of runoff sediments and chemicals that come from the nearby forests. The main focus was to see if Vetiver Grass can undo the phosphate in the water that is causing the eutrophication. This was when my fascination with the environment and its effects really grasped me. I, then graduated from high school and made my way into university which is at the center behind the root of the tree and this is to signify that my education is a priority for me.  Above, I have pictures that are more current of how my favorite place. Both pictures are taken in the Palisades Interstate Park, I enjoy being there due to the environment it has. It's close to the river, so you feel as you hike through the trails the river is just following alongside you.

As the tree goes higher, we have branches that branch out into the continents of what is the world. There is a lot of destruction occurring in the world today, and a lot of it goes back to globalization and consumption. "We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves" (Berger. Pg 9) The world population is immensely high and this means there's a lot of waste. We consume and we waste a lot, we burn fossil fuels and we create pollution in numbers that the Earth can't fix back from so easily. There is a relation in the universe to us and to the Earth, everything works in unison therefore if we do something to throw off that balance, it affects everything. 

“But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it.” (Berger) 
The background is a dark smokey, gray/black color that can represent pollution. It is what is behind us, it's there but I feel as if we don't focus on it enough instead we through it to the back. Along with that, the blackness can represent the universe and how Earth and our world is only ONE TINY DOT ON AN ENDLESS TIMELINE. Although, we are a small speck our changes can impact a whole population. We have to make differences. In addition to this, my title has to do with my timeline. My accomplishments and stories are just tiny dots that can be a small story of other things I have yet to occur. I wanted to make a map of my journey into Environmental Science and my timeline is going to continue to grow as my life goes by.

My work is made of out canvas, broken glass and wire. I wanted to show that the trash produced into this world is a problem, this goes back to consumption and waste production.

I was intrigued by Wangechi Mutu and Santigold's work of "The End of Eating Everything", it focused on consumption and destruction. I wanted to show the darkness of that content into something but at the same time, I wanted to show how that relates to me and my interests. 

For my midterm project, I wanted to show a general idea and a collage of what I find important when it came to health, education, etc. For my final project, I wanted to make an environmental impact on it, by relating the materials I used to materials typically found in waste, and I also wanted to show my journey on what event got me to this point in my education. 

I believe the media let's you alternate your identity to as what you want people to see, people who are strangers. We indirectly introduce our lives to strangers who don't know us, when we let them follow us. We let them into our lives, and let these strangers pick out what's valuable and what's not through likes and comments: when it should be us deciding. I feel like the media doesn't do enough in terms of the environment, I personally see people posting a lot about animals being endangered about animals being harmed, but there's never a focus on the REAL issue at hand, the root of the issue isn't focused on it's just a small picture that's the main focus. 

"The spectacle cannot be understood as a mere visual excess produced by mass-media technologies. It is a worldview that has actually been materialized, that has become an objective reality." (Guy Debord) 

The spectacle is the concept of consumerism and capitalism through advertising and media. The spectacle is now more dominant than ever. We see it everywhere, we're influenced and we're drawn to these images because we feel emotional attachments to materialistic things and this drives consumerism. Consumption and consumerism have taken over at a global level, this means that we use and use and waste. There are fossil fuels being burnt and a lot of waste, creates environmental problems. 

References: 
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin, 2008.
Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle.