I started my journey 30 years ago. And I worked in mines. And I realized that this was a world unseen. And I wanted, through color and large format cameras and very large prints, to make a body of work that somehow became symbols of our use of the landscape, how we use the land. And to me this was a key component that somehow, through this medium of photography, which allows us to contemplate these landscapes, that I thought photography was perfectly suited to doing this type of work.
Započeo sam ovo putovanje pre 30 godina. Slikao sam rudnike i shvatio da je to još uvek neviđeni svet. Želeo sam da putem boje i panoramskih fotoaparata i panoramskih reprodukcija, stvorim opus koji bi na neki način postao simbol načina na koji koristimo zemljine predele, i zemlju uopšte. Za mene je to bila ključna komponenta - medijum fotografije, koja nas podstiče da razmatramo te predele, i koju sam smatrao savršeno odgovarajućom za ovakvu vrstu posla.
And after 17 years of photographing large industrial landscapes, it occurred to me that oil is underpinning the scale and speed. Because that is what has changed, is the speed at which we're taking all our resources. And so then I went out to develop a whole series on the landscape of oil. And what I want to do is to kind of map an arc that there is extraction, where we're taking it from the ground, refinement. And that's one chapter.
Posle 17 godina fotografisanja velikih industrijskih predela, palo mi je na pamet da je nafta to što prikazuje razmere i brzinu, jer upravo se to promenilo - brzina kojom crpimo sve resurse. Tada sam započeo čitavu seriju fotografija naftnih predela. Želim na neki način zaokružiti tu celinu, vađenje, tamo gde je uzimamo iz zemlje, i prerada. To je prvo poglavlje.
The other chapter that I wanted to look at was how we use it -- our cities, our cars, our motorcultures, where people gather around the vehicle as a celebration. And then the third one is this idea of the end of oil, this entropic end, where all of our parts of cars, our tires, oil filters, helicopters, planes -- where are the landscapes where all of that stuff ends up?
Naredno poglavlje koje sam hteo posmatrati je način na koji je koristimo, naši gradovi, naši automobili, naše motorizovano društvo, gde se ljudi skupljaju oko vozila kao da je u pitanju slavlje. A zatim i treće poglavlje o ideji kraja naftnih zaliha, tom entropijskom kraju, gde su svi delovi naših automobila, naše gume, naftni filtri, helikopteri, avioni - gde su predeli na kojima sve te stvari završavaju?
And to me, again, photography was a way in which I could explore and research the world, and find those places. And another idea that I had as well, that was brought forward by an ecologist -- he basically did a calculation where he took one liter of gas and said, well, how much carbon it would take, and how much organic material? It was 23 metric tons for one liter. So whenever I fill up my gas, I think of that liter, and how much carbon.
Ponavljam, fotografija je za mene način na koji mogu istraživati i proučavati svet, i pronaći ta mesta. Još jedna ideja koju sam imao, a koju je predložio jedan ekolog - u principu on je uzimajući u obzir litru benzina proračunao i rekao: "Koliko je potrebno ugljenika i organskih jedinjenja?" Odgovor je 23 tone za jedan litar. Dakle, svaki put kada napunim rezervoar mislim o toj litri i svom tom ugljeniku.
And I know that oil comes from the ocean and phytoplankton, but he did the calculations for our Earth and what it had to do to produce that amount of energy. From the photosynthetic growth, it would take 500 years of that growth to produce what we use, the 30 billion barrels we use per year.
I znam da naftu dobijamo iz okeana i fitoplanktona. On je zatim proračunao stanje za celu Zemlju i na koji način je u stanju da proizvede tu količinu energije. Koristeći fotosintezu bilo bi potrebno 500 godina za proizvodnju 30 milijardi barela koje upotrebimo godišnje.
And that also brought me to the fact that this poses such a risk to our society. Looking at 30 billion per year, we look at our two largest suppliers, Saudi Arabia and now Canada, with its dirty oil. And together they only form about 15 years of supply. The whole world, at 1.2 trillion estimated reserves, only gives us about 45 years. So, it's not a question of if, but a question of when peak oil will come upon us.
To me je prenulo da razmislim koliki zapravo rizik to predstavlja za ljudsko društvo. Računajući sa tih 30 milijardi barela godišnje, pogledajmo dva najveća dobavljača - Saudijsku Arabiu, a zatim Kanadu sa "prljavom naftom". Skupa te rezerve su dovoljne za samo 15 godina isporuke. Porcenjena vrednost rezervi celog sveta - 1,2 triliona barela je dovoljna za 45 godina. Dakle, pitanje nije "da li će", već "kada će" doći do tačke maksimalne eksploatacije nafte.
So, to me, using photography -- and I feel that all of us need to now begin to really take the task of using our talents, our ways of thinking, to begin to deal with what I think is probably one of the most challenging issues of our time, how to deal with our energy crisis.
Meni lično, korišćenje fotografije - a mislim da već sada svi moramo početi da se prihvatamo korišćenja naših talenata, našeg načina razmišljanja, kako bi se uhvatili u koštac s onim što je verovatno jedno od najizazovnijih pitanja našeg vremena - kako se nositi sa energetskom krizom.
And I would like to say that, on the other side of it, 30, 40 years from now, the children that I have, I can look at them and say, "We did everything we possibly, humanly could do, to begin to mitigate this, what I feel is one of the most important and critical moments in our time. Thank you. (Applause)
Želeo bih da budem u stanju, kada se kriza završi, za 30, 40 godina, da pogledam svoju decu u oči i da im kažem: "Učinili smo sve što je bilo u našoj moći, ljudski moguće, kako bismo počeli da ublažavamo posledice onoga za šta osećam da je jedan od najvažnijih i najkritičnijih momenata našeg vremena." Hvala vam. (Aplauz)