What are we preserving?

Hannah Walla

Humans are currently facing drastic effects of our climate crisis due to the ongoing production of waste on a massive scale. Industrial waste in the 21st century is found to be the greatest culprit in respect to climate change. From Amazon Prime to the fast fashion industry, the combination of extensive corporate profit increase by producing cheap, non-lasting products, and using unethical environmental methods has contributed to the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems. These industries are destroying our natural world and the future of humanity as a whole. By creating pseudo artifacts that resemble amber, What are we preserving? explores what our waste would look like millions of years from now.

 Melted and hardened tree rosin, a precursor to amber, is formed into microcosms of waste. In each artifact, sectors of corporate refuse are pinpointed by industry. Packaging from Amazon Prime is seen through its ubiquitous logo printed on the many forms of waste it creates. The commercial fishing industry’s contribution to climate change is represented by their nets of plastic and fishing lines, which subsequently constitute 46% of all ocean waste. [1]

 While scientists have known about climate destruction for decades, the question of why these industries continue the production of waste persists. When scientists and citizens are ignored, gaslighted, and lied to about the effects of CO2 production at the hand of major corporations like ExxonMobil, it makes one wonder what allows this to happen. [2] Capitalism has made these destructive conglomerates possible. What are we preserving? shows how society has allowed corporate industries to have endless power over nature and capture what might be left of humanity’s existence in the future if nothing changes.

[1] L. Lebreton et al, “Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic,” Scientific Reports 8, no. 4666 (2018).

[2] E. Robinson and R.C. Robbins, “Sources, abundance, and fate of gaseous atmospheric pollutants; Final report and supplement,” (Menlo Park, California: Stanford Research Institute, 1968).