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

Edward Burtynsky fotografiert die Landschaft des Öls

Filmed:
550,970 views

In überwältigenden grossformatigen Fotografien folgt Edward Burtynsky dem Weg des Öls durch unsere moderne Gesellschaft, vom Bohrloch über die Pipeline zum Verbennungsmotor -- und dann darüber hinaus zum Endszenario nach dem prognostizierten globalen Ölfördermaximum.
- 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 startedhat angefangen my journeyReise 30 yearsJahre agovor.
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I begann meine Reise vor 30 Jahren.
00:18
And I workedhat funktioniert in minesMinen. And I realizedrealisiert that
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Ich arbeitete in Minen und mir fiel auf,
00:20
this was a worldWelt unseenunsichtbare.
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dass dies eine unbekannte Welt war.
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And I wanted, throughdurch colorFarbe and largegroß formatFormat camerasKameras
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Deshalb wollte ich in Farbe und mit Grossformat-Kameras
00:24
and very largegroß printsDrucke,
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und sehr großen Abzügen
00:26
to make a bodyKörper of work that somehowirgendwie
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ein Gesamtwerk erschaffen,
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becamewurde symbolsSymbole of our
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das ein Sinnbild dafür werden sollte,
00:31
use of the landscapeLandschaft,
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wie wir die Landschaft verändern
00:33
how we use the landLand.
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und wie wir das Land benutzen.
00:35
And to me this was
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Für mich war das Medium der Fotografie
00:37
a keySchlüssel componentKomponente that somehowirgendwie, throughdurch this mediumMittel of photographyFotografie,
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eine Schlüsselkomponente,
00:40
whichwelche allowserlaubt us to contemplatebetrachten these landscapesLandschaften,
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die es uns ermöglicht, diese Landschaften zu betrachten.
00:43
that I thought photographyFotografie was perfectlyperfekt suitedgeeignet
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Deshalb glaubte ich, die Fotografie sei optimal dafür geeignet,
00:46
to doing this typeArt of work.
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diese Arbeit zu leisten.
00:48
And after 17 yearsJahre of photographingFotografieren largegroß industrialindustriell landscapesLandschaften,
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Nachdem ich 17 Jahre lang große industrielle Landschaften fotografiert hatte,
00:52
it occurredaufgetreten to me that
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fiel mir auf,
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oilÖl is underpinningUntermauerung the scaleRahmen and speedGeschwindigkeit.
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dass Öl das Ausmaß und die Geschwindigkeit steigert,
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Because that is what has changedgeändert,
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denn genau das hat sich verändert,
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is the speedGeschwindigkeit at whichwelche we're takingunter all our resourcesRessourcen.
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die Geschwindigkeit, mit der wir alle unsere Rohstoffe abbauen.
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And so then I wentging out to developentwickeln a wholeganze seriesSerie
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So kam es, dass ich daran ging,
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on the landscapeLandschaft of oilÖl.
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eine ganze Serie über die Öl-Landschaften zu machen.
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And what I want to do is to kindArt of mapKarte an arcBogen
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Ich möchte die Zusammenhänge zeigen,
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that there is extractionExtraktion, where we're takingunter it from the groundBoden,
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denn einerseits gibt es die Erdölgewinnung, wo wir es aus dem Boden holen,
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refinementRaffinesse. And that's one chapterKapitel.
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und die Raffinierung. Das ist die eine Seite der Geschichte.
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The other chapterKapitel that I wanted to look at was
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Die andere Seite, die ich betrachten wollte, war,
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how we use it -- our citiesStädte,
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wie wir das Öl verwenden, unsere Städte,
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our carsAutos, our motorculturesAutomobilkult,
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unsere Fahrzeuge, unser Automobilkult,
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where people gatherversammeln around the vehicleFahrzeug
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wo man sich um das Fahrzeug versammelt,
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as a celebrationFeier.
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um es zu feiern.
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And then the thirddritte one is this ideaIdee of the endEnde of oilÖl,
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Und die dritte Seite ist dann die Vorstellung vom Ende des Öls,
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this entropicentropische endEnde,
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dieses entropische Ende,
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where all of our partsTeile of carsAutos, our tiresReifen,
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wo alle unsere Autoteile, unsere Reifen,
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oilÖl filtersFilter,
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Öl-Filter,
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helicoptersHubschrauber, planesFlugzeuge --
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Hubschrauber, Flugzeuge -
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where are the landscapesLandschaften where all of that stuffSachen endsendet up?
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wo sind die Gegenden, wo all dieses Zeug schließlich landet?
01:41
And to me, again, photographyFotografie was
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Ich wiederhole: Für mich war die Fotografie eine Möglichkeit,
01:43
a way in whichwelche I could exploreerforschen and researchForschung the worldWelt,
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die Welt zu erkunden und zu erforschen
01:46
and find those placessetzt.
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und solche Orte zu finden.
01:48
And anotherein anderer ideaIdee that I had as well,
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Auf eine andere Idee, die ich hatte,
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that was broughtgebracht forwardVorwärts- by an ecologistÖkologe --
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brachte mich ein Ökologe -
01:54
he basicallyGrundsätzlich gilt did a calculationBerechnung where
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Im Grunde genommen stellte er eine Rechnung auf,
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he tookdauerte one literLiter of gasGas and said,
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bei der er von einem Liter Benzin ausging und fragte,
01:59
well, how much carbonKohlenstoff it would take, and how much organicorganisch materialMaterial?
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wieviel Kohlenstoff und wieviel organisches Material dafür benötigt würde.
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It was 23 metricmetrisch tonsTonnen for one literLiter.
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Es waren 23 Tonnen für einen einzigen Liter.
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So wheneverwann immer I fillfüllen up my gasGas,
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Jedes Mal, wenn ich tanke,
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I think of that literLiter, and how much carbonKohlenstoff.
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denke ich deshalb an diesen Liter und an den ganzen Kohlenstoff.
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And I know that oilÖl comeskommt from the oceanOzean and phytoplanktonPhytoplankton,
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Ich weiß, dass Öl im Ozean und durch Phytoplankton entsteht.
02:13
but he did the calculationsBerechnungen for our EarthErde
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Er aber stellte die Berechnung für unsere Erde an
02:16
and what it had to do to produceproduzieren that amountMenge of energyEnergie.
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und wollte wissen, was sie tun müsste, um diese Energiemenge zu produzieren.
02:18
From the photosyntheticphotosynthetische growthWachstum,
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Mit dem Pflanzenwachstum durch Photosynthese
02:20
it would take 500 yearsJahre of that growthWachstum
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würde es 500 Jahre dauern,
02:23
to produceproduzieren what we use, the 30 billionMilliarde barrelsFässer we use perpro yearJahr.
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um die 30 Milliarden Barrel zu erzeugen, die wir jedes Jahr verbrauchen.
02:28
And that alsoebenfalls broughtgebracht me to the factTatsache that
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Dadurch wurde ich auch darauf aufmerksam,
02:30
this posesPosen sucheine solche a riskRisiko to our societyGesellschaft.
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dass dies ein enormes Risiko für unsere Gesellschaft darstellt.
02:33
Looking at 30 billionMilliarde perpro yearJahr,
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Wenn man von 30 Milliarden pro Jahr ausgeht
02:38
we look at our two largestgrößten suppliersLieferanten,
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und sich unsere zwei größten Lieferanten ansieht,
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SaudiSaudi ArabiaArabien and now CanadaKanada, with its dirtydreckig oilÖl.
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Saudi Arabien und jetzt Kanada mit seinem schmutzigen Öl,
02:42
And togetherzusammen they only formbilden about 15 yearsJahre of supplyliefern.
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so decken diese zusammen lediglich die Nachfrage für ungefähr 15 Jahre.
02:46
The wholeganze worldWelt, at 1.2 trillionBillion estimatedgeschätzt reservesReserven,
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Die gesamte Welt, mit ihren Reserven von geschätzen 1,2 Billionen Barrel,
02:49
only givesgibt us about 45 yearsJahre.
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versorgt uns gerade mal für ungefähr 45 Jahre.
02:51
So, it's not a questionFrage of if, but a questionFrage of when
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Deshalb ist die Frage nicht ob, sondern wann
02:54
peakHaupt oilÖl will come uponauf us.
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das globale Ölfördermaximum erreicht wird.
02:56
So, to me, usingmit photographyFotografie --
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Ich als Fotograf spüre,
02:58
and I feel that all of us need to now beginStart to really
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dass wir jetzt alle wirklich damit beginnen müssen,
03:01
take the taskAufgabe of usingmit our talentsTalente,
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alle unsere schöpferischen und
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our waysWege of thinkingDenken,
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geistigen Fähigkeiten einzusetzen,
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to beginStart to dealDeal with what I think is probablywahrscheinlich
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um die Aufgabe anzupacken, die meiner Meinung nach
03:08
one of the mostdie meisten challengingherausfordernd issuesProbleme of our time,
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eines der schwierigsten Probleme unserer Zeit ist,
03:11
how to dealDeal with our energyEnergie crisisKrise.
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nämlich, wie wir mit unserer Energiekrise umgehen.
03:13
And I would like to say that, on the other sideSeite of it,
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Außerdem - gestatten Sie mir noch diese letzte Bemerkung - ich möchte
03:15
30, 40 yearsJahre from now, the childrenKinder that I have,
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in 30, 40 Jahren meinen Kindern in die Augen sehen
03:17
I can look at them and say, "We did everything
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und ihnen sagen können, dass wir alles,
03:19
we possiblymöglicherweise, humanlymenschlich could do,
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was in unserer Kraft lag, getan haben,
03:22
to beginStart to mitigatemildern this,
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um zu beginnen, das zu lindern,
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what I feel is one of the mostdie meisten importantwichtig and criticalkritisch
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wovon ich glaube, dass es einer der wichtigsten und kritischsten
03:27
momentsMomente in our time. Thank you.
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Momente unserer Zeit ist. Vielen Dank.
03:30
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
Translated by Manuel Tanner
Reviewed by Wolf Ruschke

▲Back to top

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
THE ORIGINAL VIDEO ON TED.COM

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