Trump Revolution: Climate Crisis è un pungente atto d’accusa all’operato del presidente americano Donald Trump durante i quattro anni della sua amministrazione, ma un’accusa ben circostanziata, indipendente dalla gestione della cosa pubblica durante la crisi legata al coronavirus. Contro la crisi climatica, infatti, non c’è lock down che tenga, e a causa della pandemia che ha monopolizzato l’informazione, problemi come il riscaldamento globale e l’inquinamento atmosferico sono passati in secondo piano ma non sono certo scomparsi. È quindi molto importate che la mostra attualmente in corso al Bronx Documentary Center, anche se per ora visitabile solo online, riaccenda l’interesse per l’argomento: curata dalla coordinatrice dei progetti espositivi Cynthia Rivera e dal direttore esecutivo del centro Michael Kamber, Trump Revolution: Climate Crisis è la seconda mostra dedicata alla realtà americana e globale durante l’amministrazione Trump. Se infatti non può essere ritenuto responsabile dello stato di salute del pianeta, è indubbio che Trump non abbia fatto nulla per cambiare il corso delle cose e si sia anzi impegnato, a vario titolo, per minacciare se non smontare dalla base ogni tentativo di riconfigurazione del pensiero e dell’atteggiamento degli americani nei confronti della questione climatica. L’accusa passa stavolta dal lavoro di sei fotografi da sempre impegnati sul fronte della consapevolezza e della denuncia, che attraverso sguardi diversi — ma accomunati dallo stesso spirito di partecipazione per le realtà documentate — su diversi luoghi — a loro volta sfaccettature diverse di un problema comune — restituiscono un quadro complesso e polimorfico che riattiva la sensibilità sul dramma in corso. In Cancer Alley, Stacy Kranitz visita le coste iper–industrializzate del Mississippi tra Baton Rouge e New Orleans, dove le comunità meno abbienti, in prevalenza afroamericane, hanno visto negli anni crescere a dismisura il tasso di mortalità dovuto a patologie correlate all’inquinamento. Katie Orlinsky punta invece sull’Alaska, definita dagli scienziati il “Ground Zero” dei cambiamenti climatici: il suo Chasing Winter rappresenta quindi il tentativo di preconizzare un destino di portata planetaria attraverso un caso di studio noto ma sempre attualissimo. The Sea in the Darkness Calls, di Bryan Thomas, si focalizza invece sull’erosione delle coste in Florida, dove l’innalzamento del livello del mare rischia di mettere in crisi un’economia prevalentemente basata sul turismo balneare e con essa quindi la vita di gran parte della popolazione. Dal Sunshine State al Golden State guidati invece da Marcus Yam, che con California Burning mette il dito in una delle piaghe più dolorose della recente storia americana: quella degli incendi dolosi, la cui “stagione” dura ormai tutto l’anno e ha destabilizzato l’equilibrio ecologico di uno dei luoghi — almeno fino ad ora — più vivibili del mondo. In mostra anche il pluripremiato Arctic: The New Frontier, lavoro a quattro mani del danese Kadir van Lohuizen e del russo Yuri Kozyrev, che hanno attraversato simultaneamente il circolo artico, uno dal lato occidentale e l’altro da quello orientale, documentando i diversi aspetti legati allo scioglimento dei ghiacci: un evento lento e inesorabile che cambierà per sempre, ancora una volta, l’aspetto del mondo.
La crisi climatica nell'America di Trump
Con Trump Revolution: Climate Crisis, il Bronx Documentary Center ci ricorda che, messa in secondo piano da quella sanitaria, un’altra emergenza è tuttora in corso.
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- Raffaele Vertaldi
- 31 maggio 2020
Gordon Omnik is whale hunter from Point Hope. He stands on watch to spot Bowhead whales. The Inuit community of Point Hope is allowed to catch 10 bowheads per year. Native communities are allowed to hunt whales for their own use. The quota is given by the International Whaling Commission. Nowadays due to the early disappearance of the sea ice it's much harder for the community to catch whales and it threatens their livelihood. Normally the hunting starts when the sea ice starts to break in the spring. When the whales migrate up north, they use the channels to come up for breathing. If there is no ice they are spread out over a much wider area and are much more difficult to track.
A 16-year-old resident of Island View Drive wipes her tears, as she looks on at her family's home destroyed by the Thomas fire, the morning after the fire started, in Ventura, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2017.
In this Oct. 31, 2019, photo, smoke from the Maria Fire billows above Santa Paula, Calif. California regulators are voting Wednesday, Nov. 13, on whether to open an investigation into pre-emptive power outages that blacked out large parts of the state for much of October as strong winds sparked fears of wildfires. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., initiated multiple rounds of shut-offs that plunged nearly 2.5 million people into darkness throughout northern and central California.
Three plants of Norilsk — the nickel factory, the copper factory and the metallurgical complex "Nadejda” (“Hope”), were built successively in 1942, 1949 and 1981. 56% of the population works in these places.
As part of plans to clean up Norilsk’s reputation, in June of 2016 the company Norilsk Nickel shut down its nickel factory: a 74-year-old enterprise that emitted 350,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide each year. But other plants in Norilsk have taken on the nickel factory’s operations, while the final stages of production are being transferred to plants in the Murmansk region, which Norway has long accused of sending “death clouds” of pollution across its border with Russia.
April 2017, Louisiana. The massive Exxon chemical plant is situated next to the ExxonMobil Refinery in the Standard Heights neighborhood of Baton Rouge. ExxonMobil Chemical Company has been caught regularly releasing air pollution above what is lawfully allowed in its permit. The harmful and hazardous air pollutants include dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals and gases such as benzene, toluene, propylene, ethylene, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, hexane, methylene chloride, and other volatile organic compounds. Evidence also shows that the plant has released toxic air pollution that the facility doesn’t have permits to release. Exxon’s reporting consistently lacks enough detail to comply with regulations and does not provide nearby residents crucial information about their potential exposures to dangerous pollution.
September 2017, Louisiana. In 1890, the Louisiana state legislature designated Southern University as a land grant college for African American’s to support higher education for all students in the state. Southern has the second largest student body population of people of color in the country after Howard University in Washington, D.C. The historic University offers beautiful views of the Mississippi River, but this comes at a cost since it is located next to the Devil’s Swamp Superfund site and surrounded by petro- chemical plants and toxic waste sites. A slew of leaks, discharges and accidents have impacted Southern, including toxic leaking railroad tank cars, ruptured pipelines, chemical spills from tank trucks, and leaking barges on the river, making it the most adversely impacted institution of higher learning in the country. Southern University also struggles to receive funding and new facilities, unlike the flagship university, LSU, located just down the river. LSU is burgeoning with new facilities while Southern is struggling for its survival.
On a summer bird hunt, Kenyon Kassaiuli, Jonah Andy, Larry Charles, and Reese John cross a flooded walkway in Newtok, Alaska. May 27th, 2019. The Yupik village of Newtok, Alaska, population 380, is sinking as the permafrost beneath it thaws. Erosion has already wiped out nearly a mile of Newtok’s land, and it is estimated that in three to five years it could be underwater. The entire village is in the process of moving to Mertarvik, a new village site about nine miles away. Newtok is the first community in Alaska that has already begun relocation as a direct result of climate change—pioneering a process that many other Alaskan villages may soon undergo.
After a successful hunt, Josiah Olemaun, a young whaling crew member takes a break from moving and stacking whale meat into his family’s ice cellar in Utqiagvik, Alaska. April 29th, 2018. Ice cellars are generations-old massive underground freezers dug deep into the permafrost. As permafrost thaws it is wreaking havoc, melting what used to be permanently frozen ground and destroying and flooding many ice cellars. Others have warmed up to a point that they are unusable, spoiling whale meat and other crucial hunted foods.
Esmeralda Garcia, Kali Cedeno, and Anthony Cedeno pose for a portrait in Destin, Florida. As humans continue to pollute the environment, our "sea level debt" grows. Sea level debt is the long-term sea level rise that we cannot avoid. In Destin, given current trends in pollution, 50% of the city will be underwater by the year 2070.
Construction begins on the Auberge Beach Residences & Spa in Fort Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. The residences, which feature the artwork of Fernando Botero, range from $1.5 million to $9 million. The streets of nearby Fort Lauderdale regularly flood during "king tides" and, according to Climate Central researcher Benjamin Strauss, "even if we could just stop global emissions tomorrow on a dime, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Gardens, and Hoboken, New Jersey will be under sea level."