I just went to a screening of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67j7JlEZzpQ The film which is based around photographer Edward Burtynsky's photos of how man has changed landscapes and environments around him (on a colossal scale) was fascinating and sad. A lot of the focus is on China's present industrialization, which basically makes the North American & Europe's industrialization look like a drop in the bucket. While watching it I kept thinking about the permanent brown cloud of waste & pollution that is present over South Asia. I kept thinking of how really fucked we've made the planet to have modern convenience. So sad... really makes me want to live like that guy in the PBS documentary "Alone in the Wilderness" (Dick Proenneke who lived for 40 years in Alaskan wilderness): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss
I saw this quite a while ago and it is an amazing film. The imagery shown of industrialization in China is just simply mind blowing. It's grabs your attention right from the beginning with that never ending pan shot of the factory...it just goes on and on. Seeing the working and life conditions of many Chinese as well as the sheer magnitude of their industry and waste is really an eye opener.
I've always loved Burtynsky's photographs. In person they are simply amazing and I've always found it interesting that the subject matter that he documents can on one hand be so depressing yet be captured in such a way as to make it so beautiful. Believe it or not, I actually used some of the photos he took of nickel mining and the toxic tailings that literally devastated the landscape in Sudbury Canada, as inspiration for a custom Bemon that I had Paul paint for me. Thanks for the Alaskan link too. Amazing stuff.
Yeah the story of Dick Proenneke is pretty amazing. That one segment just shows him building that cabin but the whole dvd series shows his adventures. I caught it about 5 years ago on PBS and was really intrigued on how he builds everything by hand in the middle of nowhere.
