Meltdown – a photo booklet by Helena Christensen
June 14th, 2012 by admin Posted in Climate change, Kenya, PhotosOxfam Global Ambassador and photographer Helena Christensen today published a booklet of her photographs documenting the impact of climate change on people’s lives and their ability to produce food. The booklet, entitled “Meltdown,” is the culmination of four years work with Oxfam and includes photos from her trips to Peru, Nepal and last year’s visit to the Turkana region of northern Kenya. Helena is sending the booklet to government officials and heads of state attending next week’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Click on the below to see an e-version of the booklet.
Helena said:
“I witnessed the impact of glaciers melting at an alarming rate in my mother’s native Peru, the aftermath of flooding in Nepal and met families in Kenya struggling to cope with a severe drought which put millions at risk of starvation.
“My photos tell the story of people like Elizabeth, a nomadic Kenyan famer who lost all her animals in the drought and now struggles everyday selling charcoal to feed her eleven children and grandchildren. It is families like this that despite contributing the least to the global climate crisis, are bearing the brunt of the impact.”
Helena said; “The men, women and children in my photographs deserve to live beyond the lens and be remembered by our governments as lives rather than numbers. My images are intended to remind those discussing the fate of our planet that the future is not yet set in stone.
“I hope that governments meeting at Rio+20 will commit to making the changes so desperately needed to create a future safe from the risks of a changing climate, water, land and food shortages, and to set us on the path to a sustainable and prosperous future for everyone.”
World leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro from 20 – 22 June will discuss how to reduce poverty, ensure greater equality and protect the environment so that we can all continue to live and prosper while safeguarding the planet’s finite resources. Oxfam is working with others at Rio+20 to secure action in three key areas:
- More and better investment and support for sustainable food and agriculture
- A strong commitment for a single set of goals to eradicate poverty and achieve prosperity for all to replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015
- Delivering energy and cutting emissions in a way that benefits the poorest as well as new commitments to tackle climate change.