earth in distress

 

“Earth in Distress” portrays the causes of global warming—both the explicit and implicit. The explicit cause of global warming is presented in the forefront of the piece. The rapid decline in our green lands due to deforestation is depicted by the gradual fade in colour from green to brown, indicating the death of our trees. However, the key issue highlighted in the painting is the implicit cause of global warming—industrialisation. In the background, factories pumping fumes are depicted, indicating the greenhouse gases that have contributed to climate change. It is also this industrialisation that has indirectly caused the large amount of deforestation, be it due to factory farming or forest fires caused by greenhouse-gas induced climate change. We often distance ourselves from the issue of climate change because we don’t believe that our efforts contribute to much change, but this piece serves to remind us that it is the rapid industrialisation caused by human consumption that has caused our planet to be in the state that it is.