Earth from Above

"Earth from Above" is an exhibit of photographs that has been on display near the fountain at Darling Harbour and will remain there until the end of December, making it part of Sydney that I will always connect with my time in Australia. The tagline is "An aerial portrait of our planet - towards sustainable development"

The collection of over 200 photographs is free for viewing to the public and is accessible 24 hours a day. The image are all taken from "above" - not necessarily aerial views, but elevated views of the world from the photographer in a helecopter. There are pictures of natural and man-made wonders from all over the world. Each photograph is accompanied by a small world map indicating where it was taken, a caption about the political or environmental situation affecting the area and one fact about the environmental affects that first world nations have on the earth. After 30 photos it can get a little overwhelming, but you can always go back.

Australia is very focused on environmental action, so the exhibit couldn't be in a better placed. Sydney is in a drought right now and water-consciousness is one of the easiest signs of the country's focus on the environment. Everyone here carries permanent shopping bags to and from grocery stores, they talk about greenhouse gases and carbon footprints. Australians are aware that they have not had a great environmental record in the past (more than 80% of their energy came from coal burning, not so good for the ozone) and they are actively working to improve their image and their impact on the world.

The images cover an expanse of wonders, and most contain people, so you can see just how large the figure is that you're looking at. There are images from the Florida Everglades, Yankee Stadium, New Orleans after Katrina, algae farms in Indonesia, shantytowns in South America, trees in Kenya, the Amazon river in Brazil, cotton farmers in Africa, Nudist colonies in France, salt riverbeds in Morrocco, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Icebergs in Antarctica, elephant migration in Botswana, the Great Barrier Reef and Frazier Island in northwest Australia, the blue lagoon in Iceland.... its never ending.

I can't post images here, but if you click here, you can see one of the pictures (for now its the one from Yellowstone park) with its caption and there are links to other parts of the website, its pretty incredible. The tiny images on the bottom border are also pictures from the exhibit, they're tough to see, but the website as a whole has a lot of information on the project and about worldwide sustainability.

Enjoy!

Rachel