Viewing this photo journalism project reminded me of a tune from 1985, We Are The World.  The lyrics are composed by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.  I recall the 45 person choir of celebrities singing and swaying in unison as they performed the song.  I thought the lyric, while well meaning was saccharine sweet, too sweet, like Coca Cola.

We in the West are absolutely not the world.  Though not everyone, most who suffer property loss by a California wildfire, file a claim with an insurance company.  There are stories of some of us who “build back, better.”  The majority elsewhere are not so fortunate. 

What of the  fifteen year old child and family living on a fishing boat in Cambodia?  Fish stocks in the Tonlé Sap fresh water lake dwindle, the water is toxic, and there is death by starvation.  In Lahore Pakistan the air is so polluted that breathing is dangerous.  Lahore is the capital of Pakistan. The government rolls out policies to reduce air pollution, with lax enforcement.  In Australia from 2019 – 2020 now known as the black summer the inhabitants of Batemans Bay lost homes to the ferocious bush fires.  A child remembers the orange sky — “Like seeing a blood orange splatter all over”

The images taken by the three photo journalists were treated with the chemicals common to the conditions which the photos are depicting.  The “special” effect of the discoloration is jarring. 

World leaders are meeting presently in Scotland to discussion climate change.  I am betting that our representatives will talk the matter to death, — but do little of substance to stop the burning of coal, or effect a carbon tax to radically reduce  warming of the atmosphere, and of the oceans.

To experience the scenes captured by the three photo journalists, to read the words of those interviewed CLICK HERE.