When someone talks about the effects of climate change, they usually begin with annual rainfall amounts, crop yield, shifting temperature zones (obviously) and other direct effects on humanity’s well-being. But what then? As we continue to search for solutions to the impending global warming crisis, one concern is its effect on cultural artifacts and World Heritage Sites.
Italy and Australia have been in the news lately as concerns over global warming heat up looking ahead to this December’s climate change conference in Copenhagen. The New Scientist reports on data gathered in Venice that if the current rate of sea level rise continues—a rate which is currently faster than predicted—serious measures will have to be taken to save one of the world’s most magnificent cities.
As Australia awaits its Senate’s vote on climate change legislation, a government report finds that 17 World Heritage Sites, including the famous Sydney Opera House, would face an existential threat from imbalances in current ecosystems.
These cultural sites, and others such as Mount Rushmore and the Acropolis, have a new ally in the fight against cultural destruction. Sean just wrote about the implications of a 3-D digital scan system designed to give an exact blueprint of monuments should they need to be repaired in the future.
But climate change and art is a two way street. As much as ecosystem imbalances threaten art, art can raise awareness about spaceship earth’s supply and allocation of natural resources.
Famous Indian sand artist, Sudarsan Pattnaik, has just constructed a 40-foot sand Ganesh, Hindu’s patron of the arts and sciences, to raise awareness about the necessity of planting trees so as to augment the world’s carbon sinks. Pattnaik is a prolific sculpture who was recently interviewed about how he communicates his political awareness through his sculptures.
Discuss
tim hall on August 24, 2009, 7:03 PM
How many times wil Pattnaik’s sand garnesh be viewed on national television compared to Fox TV’s scum still trying to debate global warming? I only hear what I want to hear. Power that bitchup! God bless America!
Vicki Nikolaidis on September 2, 2009, 1:19 AM
Thank for this great info!
I’ve been keeping track of some of the design ideas for protecting Venice from flooding with the rising sea. Unfortunately I don’t think any have much of a future, especially with the rising rate of the sea level.
I wonder if now isn’t the time to dismantle Venice and rebuild on an inland site. The Venetian empire took so many unique artifacts back to Venice it would be a terrible shame to have to fish everything out of the sea.
Also Venice is architecturally such a wonderful place to visit and wander through the streets.
We don’t have to lose Venice but cooperation and fast action are necessary.
Vicki Nikolaidis on September 2, 2009, 1:31 AM
The Parthenon on the Acropolis has been cleaned and reconstructed after years of painstakingly detailed work by Greek architects and archeologists. Unless Athenian drivers can find a way to limit their families to one car and use car pooling or mass transit – acid rain and smog- will once again cause disintegration of the stones.
The metro is new and beautiful in Athens. The problem is that it still hasn’t expanded to all suburbs. (And Athens seems to just keep stretching out covering a larger area!) The first part of building the Metro goes slowly because so many important artifacts are uncovered and must be retrieved. Many parts of Metro show off these artifacts and other in-situ finds beautifully. I’ll look for a good link with a photo to add here. If only all metro/subway systems could be so classy!
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