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 fotograferar oljans landskap

Filmed:
550,970 views

Edward Burtynsky följer i fantastiska bilder av stora format oljans väg genom det moderna samhället från borr till pipeline till bilmotor -- och sen förbi den förutsedda oljeproduktionstoppen.
- 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 startedsatte igång my journeyresa 30 yearsår agosedan.
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Jag påbörjade min resa för 30 år sen.
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And I workedarbetade in minesgruvor. And I realizedinsåg that
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Och jag jobbade i gruvorna. Och jag insåg att
00:20
this was a worldvärld unseenosedda.
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det här var en osedd värld.
00:22
And I wanted, throughgenom colorFärg and largestor formatformatera cameraskameror
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Och jag ville, genom färg och kameror av stora format
00:24
and very largestor printsgrafik,
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och väldigt stora tryck,
00:26
to make a bodykropp of work that somehowpå något sätt
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göra en stomme av arbete som på något sätt
00:28
becameblev symbolssymboler of our
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skulle bli en symbol för
00:31
use of the landscapelandskap,
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hur vi använder landskapet,
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how we use the landlanda.
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hur vi använder landet.
00:35
And to me this was
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För mig var det här
00:37
a keynyckel- componentkomponent that somehowpå något sätt, throughgenom this mediummedium of photographyfotografi,
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en nyckelkomponent att jag på något sätt, genom fotografiets medium,
00:40
whichsom allowstillåter us to contemplateöverväga these landscapeslandskap,
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som tillåter oss att fundera över dessa landskap,
00:43
that I thought photographyfotografi was perfectlyperfekt suitedlämpad
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insåg att fotografi var perfekt anpassat
00:46
to doing this typetyp of work.
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för att göra den här sortens arbete.
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And after 17 yearsår of photographingfotografering largestor industrialindustriell landscapeslandskap,
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Och efter att ha fotograferat stora industrilandskap i sjutton år,
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it occurredinträffade to me that
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slog det mig att
00:54
oilolja is underpinningsom ligger till grund the scaleskala and speedfart.
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olja understödjer hastigheten och storleken,
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Because that is what has changedändrats,
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för att det är det som har förändrats,
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is the speedfart at whichsom we're takingtar all our resourcesMedel.
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hastigheten med vilken vi tar våra resurser.
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And so then I wentåkte out to developutveckla a wholehela seriesserier
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Så jag åkte ut för att utveckla en hel serie
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on the landscapelandskap of oilolja.
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om oljans landskap.
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And what I want to do is to kindsnäll of mapKarta an arcArc
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Vad jag vill göra är att så att säga kartlägga
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that there is extractionutvinning, where we're takingtar it from the groundjord,
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hur vi tar olja, var vi borrar upp den från marken,
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refinementförfining. And that's one chapterkapitel.
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förädling. Och det är ett kapitel.
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The other chapterkapitel that I wanted to look at was
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Det andra kapitlet som jag ville titta på var
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how we use it -- our citiesstäder,
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hur vi använder oljan, våra städer,
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our carsbilar, our motorculturesmotorcultures,
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våra bilar, våra motorkulturer,
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where people gathersamla around the vehiclefordon
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där människor samlas runt fordonet
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as a celebrationCelebration.
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för att fira det.
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And then the thirdtredje one is this ideaaning of the endslutet of oilolja,
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Det tredje kapitlet är den här idén om oljans slut,
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this entropicentropisk endslutet,
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detta entropiska slut,
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where all of our partsdelar of carsbilar, our tiresdäck,
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där alla våra bildelar, våra däck,
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oilolja filtersfilter,
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våra oljefilter,
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helicoptershelikoptrar, planesplan --
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helikoptrar, flygplan --
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where are the landscapeslandskap where all of that stuffgrejer endsändarna up?
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var finns landskapen där allt det där hamnar?
01:41
And to me, again, photographyfotografi was
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Fotografi var för mig
01:43
a way in whichsom I could exploreutforska and researchforskning the worldvärld,
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ett sätt genom vilket jag kunde utforska och undersöka världen,
01:46
and find those placesplatser.
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och hitta de där platserna.
01:48
And anotherannan ideaaning that I had as well,
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En annan idé jag också hade,
01:50
that was broughttog med forwardfram- by an ecologistekolog --
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som lades fram av en ekolog --
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he basicallyi grund och botten did a calculationberäkning where
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Han gjorde praktiskt taget en uträkning där
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he tooktog one literliters of gasgas and said,
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han tog en liter bensin och sade
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well, how much carbonkol it would take, and how much organicorganisk materialmaterial?
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"Hur mycket kol skulle det kosta, och hur mycket organiskt material?"
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It was 23 metricmetrisk tonston for one literliters.
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Det var 23 ton för en liter.
02:06
So whenevernärhelst I fillfylla up my gasgas,
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Så närhelst jag tankar min bil,
02:08
I think of that literliters, and how much carbonkol.
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tänker jag på den litern och hur mycket kol.
02:10
And I know that oilolja comeskommer from the oceanhav and phytoplanktonfytoplankton,
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Och jag vet att olja kommer från havet och fytoplankton.
02:13
but he did the calculationsberäkningar for our EarthJorden
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Men han gjorde uträkningarna för Jorden
02:16
and what it had to do to produceproducera that amountmängd of energyenergi.
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och vad den var tvungen att göra för att producera den mängden energi.
02:18
From the photosyntheticfotosyntetiska growthtillväxt,
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Fotosyntetisk tillväxt,
02:20
it would take 500 yearsår of that growthtillväxt
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det hade tagit 500 år av den tillväxten
02:23
to produceproducera what we use, the 30 billionmiljard barrelsfat we use perper yearår.
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för att producera vad vi använder, de 30 miljarder fat olja vi använder per år.
02:28
And that alsoockså broughttog med me to the factfaktum that
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Det ledde mig också till det faktum att
02:30
this posesposer suchsådan a riskrisk to our societysamhälle.
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det här utgör en sådan risk för vårt samhälle.
02:33
Looking at 30 billionmiljard perper yearår,
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Tittar vi på 30 miljarder per år,
02:38
we look at our two largeststörsta suppliersleverantörer,
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så tittar vi på våra två största leverantörer,
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SaudiSaudiska ArabiaArabia and now CanadaKanada, with its dirtysmutsig oilolja.
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Saudiarabien, och nu Kanada, med sin smutsiga olja.
02:42
And togethertillsammans they only formform about 15 yearsår of supplytillförsel.
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Och tillsammans utgör de endast ungefär femton års lager.
02:46
The wholehela worldvärld, at 1.2 trillionbiljon estimatedberäknad reservesreserver,
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Hela världens 1,2 biljoner uppskattade reserver,
02:49
only givesger us about 45 yearsår.
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ger oss bara runt 45 år.
02:51
So, it's not a questionfråga of if, but a questionfråga of when
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Så det är inte en fråga om om, utan när
02:54
peaktopp oilolja will come uponpå us.
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oljeproduktionstoppen kommer över oss.
02:56
So, to me, usinganvänder sig av photographyfotografi --
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Så för mig som använder fotografi --
02:58
and I feel that all of us need to now beginBörja to really
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och jag känner att vi allihop måste börja
03:01
take the taskuppgift of usinganvänder sig av our talentstalanger,
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ta oss an uppgiften att använda våra talanger,
03:03
our wayssätt of thinkingtänkande,
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våra tankesätt,
03:06
to beginBörja to dealhandla with what I think is probablyförmodligen
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för att börja hantera vad som förmodligen
03:08
one of the mostmest challengingutmanande issuesfrågor of our time,
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är en av vår tids mest utmanande frågor,
03:11
how to dealhandla with our energyenergi crisiskris.
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hur vi hanterar energikrisen.
03:13
And I would like to say that, on the other sidesida of it,
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Jag skulle vilja säga att, å andra sidan,
03:15
30, 40 yearsår from now, the childrenbarn that I have,
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om 30, 40 år, mina barn,
03:17
I can look at them and say, "We did everything
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att jag kan titta på dem och säga "Vi gjorde allt
03:19
we possiblyeventuellt, humanlymänskligt could do,
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i vår makt som människor,
03:22
to beginBörja to mitigatemildra this,
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att börja förmildra det här,
03:25
what I feel is one of the mostmest importantViktig and criticalkritisk
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det jag känner är en av vår tids viktigaste och mest kritiska
03:27
momentsstunder in our time. Thank you.
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ögonblick. Tack.
03:30
(ApplauseApplåder)
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(Applåder)
Translated by David Gustavsson
Reviewed by Lisbeth Pekkari

▲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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