Capturing a Nation on Film Before it Vanishes
by Kristin Underwood, San Diego, CA on 11.21.08
Image source: Shuuichi Endou/Tuvalu Overview
Tuvalu, made up of four small coral-reef islands and five atolls off the coast of Australia, will be one of the first to go as sea levels continue to rise. Shuuichi Endou decided his response was to take 10,000 photographs, almost one for every person on the island to capture the spirit and essence of the people, reports the Japan Times Online. When the island is gone, and the population has dispersed and assimilated into area nations, will the photographs be the only thing keeping this nation together?
Endo runs Tuvalu Overview, a non-profit devoted to providing lectures and organizing eco-tours to the tiny nation. The photographs, Endo hopes, will also be used to teach Japanese something the Tuvalese have long known - how to be happy - and hopefully change their lifestyle. The people of Tuvalu are happy all the time, as demonstrated by the photographs in the exhibit.
In school, Endo studied architecture in the hopes of designing green buildings, but was told there is no money in this. So, he took a job with a general contractor and became a businessman. Shortly thereafter Endo learned of Tuvalu and its fate. He quit his job and developed a proposal to the Tuvalese government to help them build up business in order to fund environmental protection. The proposal was rejected but Endo continued to travel to the islands from Japan to both document the destruction and also to document the strange phenomenon he discovered there.
While there is impending doom to the residents, the people are still happy, unworried about money and not tied down with schedules and time. Thinking back to his days working in Japan, Endo wonders what meaning there is to a life tied down in the rat-race with expensive suits and time schedules. He hopes the 10,000 smiling faces in the photos will translate this message to his home country.
The photographs will be on display at the Shinozaki Bunka Plaza in Tokyo until December 11, 2008. :Japan Times Online::Tuvalu Overview
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I think this is an incredible project that he is undertaking and will mean so much to an entire soon to be lost nation..
I have been reading about Tuvulu's supposed inundation for years now, in all sorts of magazines. Are you telling me this has not yet come true?
If not, when will it? And why should I believe current scares when past scares have not come true.
Sea level is only rising about 1-2mm/yr. That's 1-2 cm/decade -- less than one inch per decade.
Where is the big threat?
Hopefully, the money derived from Tuvalu selling it's .tv domain will be useful in keeping this nation connected to each other.
I know this may sound like a financial and logistical impossibility, and a stupid idea on top of that, but I'm going to throw it out there for people much smarter than me.
What about pumping ocean water into the Sahara to keep rising ocean levels staved off? It could be partly powered by solar in a place that receives more sunlight than most places on earth. A giant sea-salt business could build up on the west coast of Africa, as well as water purifying and treatment plants to bring clean water to the poorer regions of North West Africa.
Clarifying a few things. I meant pumping the water to regions like the sahel, were desertification is creeping over into semi-fertile areas. And there could even be steam plants that run off the steam generated by tubes carrying the water--of course there would have to be mirrors or solar concentrators of some type on the pipes.
I don't know...it's just a pipe dream. :)
David, do the math. After 2-3 generations of that kind of sea level rise, you'd have no Tuvalu left to live on. If you think about it, do try to consider what may happen to them, if it was your grandkids, doesn't that bother you at all? Show some compassion, this is about real people.
Great idea! Hope it will help...