ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Edward Burtynsky - Photographer
2005 TED Prize winner Edward Burtynsky has made it his life's work to document humanity's impact on the planet. His riveting photographs, as beautiful as they are horrifying, capture views of the Earth altered by mankind.

Why you should listen

To describe Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky's work in a single adjective, you have to speak French: jolie-laide. His images of scarred landscapes -- from mountains of tires to rivers of bright orange waste from a nickel mine -- are eerily pretty yet ugly at the same time. Burtynsky's large-format color photographs explore the impact of humanity's expanding footprint and the substantial ways in which we're reshaping the surface of the planet. His images powerfully alter the way we think about the world and our place in it.

With his blessing and encouragement, WorldChanging.com and others use his work to inspire ongoing global conversations about sustainable living. Burtynsky's photographs are included in the collections of over 50 museums around the world, including the Tate, London and the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York City. A large-format book, 2003's Manufactured Landscapes, collected his work, and in 2007, a documentary based on his photography, also called Manufactured Landscapes, debuted at the Toronto Film Festival before going on to screen at Sundance and elsewhere. It was released on DVD in March 2007. In 2008, after giving a talk at the Long Now Foundation, Burtynsky proposed "The 10,000 Year Gallery," which could house art to be curated over thousands of years preserved through carbon transfers in an effort to reflect the attitudes and changes of the world over time. 

When Burtynsky accepted his 2005 TED Prize, he made three wishes. One of his wishes: to build a website that will help kids think about going green. Thanks to WGBH and the TED community, the show and site Meet the Greens debuted at TED2007. His second wish: to begin work on an Imax film, which morphed into the jaw-dropping film Manufactured Landscapes with Jennifer Baichwal. And his third wish, wider in scope, was simply to encourage "a massive and productive worldwide conversation about sustainable living." Thanks to his help and the input of the TED community, the site WorldChanging.com got an infusion of energy that has helped it to grow into a leading voice in the sustainability community.

In 2016, he won a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts for his work.

More profile about the speaker
Edward Burtynsky | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2009

Edward Burtynsky: Photographing the landscape of oil

愛德華.柏欽斯基與石油設施

Filmed:
550,970 views

愛德華.柏欽斯基以大篇幅的照片記錄了現代石油的足跡.從油田通過輸油管,再到汽車引擎內,接著到達石油頂峰,最後耗盡.
- Photographer
2005 TED Prize winner Edward Burtynsky has made it his life's work to document humanity's impact on the planet. His riveting photographs, as beautiful as they are horrifying, capture views of the Earth altered by mankind. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I started開始 my journey旅程 30 years年份 ago.
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三十年前,我展開了我的旅程
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And I worked工作 in mines礦山. And I realized實現 that
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在礦場中,我發現到
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this was a world世界 unseen看不見.
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那是個我們平時所看不到的世界
00:22
And I wanted, through通過 color顏色 and large format格式 cameras相機
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因此我想要用色彩,超廣角相機
00:24
and very large prints版畫,
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和超大的照片
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to make a body身體 of work that somehow不知何故
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做為一個主體
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became成為 symbols符號 of our
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它象徵了
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use of the landscape景觀,
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這些人造景觀的使用
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how we use the land土地.
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讓我們知道,我們土地是如何被利用的
00:35
And to me this was
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對我來說,
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a key component零件 that somehow不知何故, through通過 this medium of photography攝影,
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這是一個非常關鍵的部分,透過這種方式
00:40
which哪一個 allows允許 us to contemplate沉思 these landscapes景觀,
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我們能夠對這些景物有所思考
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that I thought photography攝影 was perfectly完美 suited合適的
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而我認為,攝影的確是個很棒的媒介
00:46
to doing this type類型 of work.
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它能讓我們投入思考
00:48
And after 17 years年份 of photographing拍攝 large industrial產業 landscapes景觀,
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在拍攝這些大型工業景觀之後
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it occurred發生 to me that
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我發現
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oil is underpinning托底 the scale規模 and speed速度.
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石化工業支撐起了"規模"和"速度"這兩樣東西
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Because that is what has changed,
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長久以來一直在改變的
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is the speed速度 at which哪一個 we're taking服用 all our resources資源.
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就是我們掠取自然資源的速度
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And so then I went out to develop發展 a whole整個 series系列
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所以,我決定拍攝一系列
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on the landscape景觀 of oil.
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石化工業設施的照片
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And what I want to do is to kind of map地圖 an arc
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我想表達的有以下幾點
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that there is extraction萃取, where we're taking服用 it from the ground地面,
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第一個部分為人類在何處開採
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refinement精緻. And that's one chapter章節.
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和提煉這些石油.
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The other chapter章節 that I wanted to look at was
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另一個部份我想要看的是
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how we use it -- our cities城市,
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石油如何被利用. 在城市中,
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our cars汽車, our motorculturesmotorcultures,
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在汽車上
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where people gather收集 around the vehicle車輛
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和大家開車聚在一起的汽車文化中
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as a celebration慶典.
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這也成了一種聚會的方式
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And then the third第三 one is this idea理念 of the end結束 of oil,
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第三個部分則是石油的終點
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this entropic end結束,
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走到了終點時
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where all of our parts部分 of cars汽車, our tires輪胎,
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所有的車子,輪胎
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oil filters過濾器,
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石油過濾器
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helicopters直升機, planes飛機 --
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直升機,飛機等等...
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where are the landscapes景觀 where all of that stuff東東 ends結束 up?
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最後都去哪了呢?
01:41
And to me, again, photography攝影 was
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對我來說
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a way in which哪一個 I could explore探索 and research研究 the world世界,
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攝影就是我探索和發現這個世界的方式
01:46
and find those places地方.
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並且讓我能找到這些地方
01:48
And another另一個 idea理念 that I had as well,
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我還有另一個想法
01:50
that was brought forward前鋒 by an ecologist生態學家 --
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這歸因於一位生態學家的啟發
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he basically基本上 did a calculation計算 where
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他做了一個計算
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he took one liter of gas加油站 and said,
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他拿了一公升的汽油,說
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well, how much carbon it would take, and how much organic有機 material材料?
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為了一公升的汽油,要消耗多少炭和有機物質呢?
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It was 23 metric tons for one liter.
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要23公噸
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So whenever每當 I fill up my gas加油站,
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所以當我每次加油時
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I think of that liter, and how much carbon.
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我便會想起這個實驗
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And I know that oil comes from the ocean海洋 and phytoplankton浮游植物,
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我知道石油是藉由海洋和浮游生物生成的
02:13
but he did the calculations計算 for our Earth地球
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他還計算了
02:16
and what it had to do to produce生產 that amount of energy能源.
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要如何製造出這麼多的石油
02:18
From the photosynthetic光合 growth發展,
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從光合作用開始
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it would take 500 years年份 of that growth發展
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大概需要500年的時間
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to produce生產 what we use, the 30 billion十億 barrels we use per year.
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來製造我們每年使用的300億桶汽油
02:28
And that also brought me to the fact事實 that
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這也讓我想到說
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this poses姿勢 such這樣 a risk風險 to our society社會.
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這對整個社會來說其實是一種風險
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Looking at 30 billion十億 per year,
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每年300億桶汽油
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we look at our two largest最大 suppliers供應商,
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由兩個最大的供應國提供
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Saudi沙特 Arabia阿拉伯 and now Canada加拿大, with its dirty oil.
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沙烏地阿拉伯,和加拿大 但他的油品質不太好
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And together一起 they only form形成 about 15 years年份 of supply供應.
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他們也許還能提供15年的原油
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The whole整個 world世界, at 1.2 trillion estimated預計 reserves儲量,
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而全世界還有1.2兆桶的存量
02:49
only gives us about 45 years年份.
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大概還能撐個45年
02:51
So, it's not a question of if, but a question of when
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所以,現在的問題不是石油會不會用完,而是何時會用完
02:54
peak oil will come upon us.
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我們將達到石油頂峰
02:56
So, to me, using運用 photography攝影 --
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所以,我透過攝影
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and I feel that all of us need to now begin開始 to really
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而我認為所有人都應該開始
03:01
take the task任務 of using運用 our talents人才,
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運用自己的才能
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our ways方法 of thinking思維,
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以及思維
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to begin開始 to deal合同 with what I think is probably大概
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來解決上述可能出現的問題
03:08
one of the most challenging具有挑戰性的 issues問題 of our time,
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也是當代最具挑戰性的問題
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how to deal合同 with our energy能源 crisis危機.
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那就是能源危機
03:13
And I would like to say that, on the other side of it,
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在另一方面
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30, 40 years年份 from now, the children孩子 that I have,
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在三、四十年之後
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I can look at them and say, "We did everything
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我能看著我的孩子並向他們說
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we possibly或者, humanly從人的角度 could do,
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我們已經盡了全力
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to begin開始 to mitigate減輕 this,
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來緩和能源危機
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what I feel is one of the most important重要 and critical危急
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我認為,這是當代最重要,最關鍵的時刻了
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moments瞬間 in our time. Thank you.
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謝謝
03:30
(Applause掌聲)
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掌聲!
Translated by Dennis Lin
Reviewed by Yung Hsiang Tseng

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Edward Burtynsky - Photographer
2005 TED Prize winner Edward Burtynsky has made it his life's work to document humanity's impact on the planet. His riveting photographs, as beautiful as they are horrifying, capture views of the Earth altered by mankind.

Why you should listen

To describe Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky's work in a single adjective, you have to speak French: jolie-laide. His images of scarred landscapes -- from mountains of tires to rivers of bright orange waste from a nickel mine -- are eerily pretty yet ugly at the same time. Burtynsky's large-format color photographs explore the impact of humanity's expanding footprint and the substantial ways in which we're reshaping the surface of the planet. His images powerfully alter the way we think about the world and our place in it.

With his blessing and encouragement, WorldChanging.com and others use his work to inspire ongoing global conversations about sustainable living. Burtynsky's photographs are included in the collections of over 50 museums around the world, including the Tate, London and the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York City. A large-format book, 2003's Manufactured Landscapes, collected his work, and in 2007, a documentary based on his photography, also called Manufactured Landscapes, debuted at the Toronto Film Festival before going on to screen at Sundance and elsewhere. It was released on DVD in March 2007. In 2008, after giving a talk at the Long Now Foundation, Burtynsky proposed "The 10,000 Year Gallery," which could house art to be curated over thousands of years preserved through carbon transfers in an effort to reflect the attitudes and changes of the world over time. 

When Burtynsky accepted his 2005 TED Prize, he made three wishes. One of his wishes: to build a website that will help kids think about going green. Thanks to WGBH and the TED community, the show and site Meet the Greens debuted at TED2007. His second wish: to begin work on an Imax film, which morphed into the jaw-dropping film Manufactured Landscapes with Jennifer Baichwal. And his third wish, wider in scope, was simply to encourage "a massive and productive worldwide conversation about sustainable living." Thanks to his help and the input of the TED community, the site WorldChanging.com got an infusion of energy that has helped it to grow into a leading voice in the sustainability community.

In 2016, he won a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts for his work.

More profile about the speaker
Edward Burtynsky | Speaker | TED.com