A sandstorm in China's central Ningxia Province. 2009

As many followers of my work and my blog will know, much of my work falls within the category of environmental photography. As talks begin in Copenhagen today, on the immediate future plans of our governments to tackling climate change, it seemed appropriate to write a special blog post on photographing climate issues in China. In between the text are some of my favourite images from my work on climate change here in China.

A lone chimney stack on the outskirts of Baoding, China's first carbon-positive city. 2009

It seems that photographing climate issues have become quite a trendy topic recently. Magnum photographer Martin Parr recently described it as “as hip as it gets” in a recent blog post (via/ the excellent Duckrabbit, who do sterling work on Climate issues in Bangladesh, by the way). This is all unsurprising really. Climate change is the story of our generation and it’s a bandwagon that everyone should be jumping on. Our responsibility as photographers comes with truly understanding the issues we are photographing and being clear in the message that we are trying to convey with our pictures.

The blade of a wind turbine. 2009

I like to think I have a slight advantage in covering climate issues as my educational background stems from that direction. My interest in the sciences stemmed from high school in northern rural England and was fuelled by a degree in Zoology. Whilst many of my course colleagues and friends went off into scientific research, teaching and working for science journals, I decided to follow my passion for photography. I naturally gravitated towards photographing environmental issues. Now, my bookshelves are lined with as many books about photography as about science.

A worker in a factory producing solar panels. 2009

Today, I find myself in China photographing from the front line of climate change. During my time in the country, I have photographed air pollution, desertification, environmental refugees, sandstorms, disappearing grasslands, wind power, solar manufacturing etc. all key instruments and factors in the myriad of ways China is involved with how our world is changing.

Air pollution hanging over Shanghai. 2008

I really do hope that some kind of concrete and progressive agreements will be agreed upon this week which start to push us in the right direction, however I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t skeptical and a little pessimistic. What can I do? How can I make even a jot of difference? Well, it is up to me to try and get my work out there. ‘Out there’ in the sense of getting it in front of the eyes of people that matter. That includes you. I want you to see what I am seeing and witnessing here in China and present it in a way that is clear, reasoned and visually arresting. Why? Because we should all know what is happening to our planet. What happens here in China affects you, wherever you may be reading this from.

Tourists travelling on the Yangtze River near to the Three Gorges Dam. 2008

This week, my work on desertification will be shown in Copenhagen as part of the Earth Journalism Awards. I received an honorable mention for my work on “China’s Growing Sands” and I am delighted visitors to the summit will have a chance to view my images from my work on desertification. This will be my small contribution. As I have blogged about before however, I am increasingly pushing this work online and in print into as many different outlets as possible, trying to spread the word.

Human remains in the abandoned city of Yingpan in Xinjiang province. 2009

My single goal as a photographer is assist in the understanding between cultures and people. It’s a simple goal. I have no delusions that I think my photography ‘will change the world’ but I hope that it informs and increases awareness. I just want to understand the world better myself. I hope when others look at my images, they can understand it more with me. With a camera in my hand, I think I can do this and do my part. As one of my heroes, the late Magnum photographer Philip Jones Griffith’s, said, “You have to leave this world a better place.” Let’s hope our leaders do.

]]> http://gallagher-photo.com/blog/2009/12/07/climate-change-copenhagen-and-china-special-post/feed/ 0 http://gallagher-photo.com/blog/2009/12/02/speaking-at-the-british-chamber-of-commerce-in-shanghai-january-14th/ http://gallagher-photo.com/blog/2009/12/02/speaking-at-the-british-chamber-of-commerce-in-shanghai-january-14th/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:56:46 +0000 Sean Gallagher http://gallagher-photo.com/blog/?p=1483

BritCham

I have been invited to speak at the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, on January 14th 2010, speaking about my work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting on ‘China’s Growing Sands’. If you are in town on the date, please come along! This is a rescheduled event from last year, so hopefully this will give more people a chance to come along and see images from my work covering desertification. All the details of the event can be found below. Hope to see you there!

Event Name – Speakers’ Corner: China’s Growing Sands

Speaker(s) – Sean Gallagher, Photographer

Date and Time – Thursday 14th January 2010, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Venue – Mesa & Manifesto, 748 Julu Lu, near Fu Min Lu,T: 6289 9108

Cost – Member: RMB 120, Non-member: RMB 150

Payment Method – Pay at the event

Contact Details – events@sha.britcham.org / +86 (21) 6218 5022

BritCham Shanghai

Speakers’ Corner

China’s Growing Sands

Guest speaker: Sean Gallagher

Join us at this month’s Speakers’ Corner where award winning photographer Sean Gallagher will be showcasing his latest work “China’s Growing Sands”, a project highlighting desertification in China sponsored by The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Desertification (the gradual transformation of habitable farmable land to desert) together with drought is estimated to cause approximately 42 billion USD in loss of food production each year worldwide and affects over 400 million people in China alone.  With just under 20% of China’s total land mass classified as desert, desertification in China is arguably one of China’s most pressing but under reported environmental concerns.  At this event Sean will talk about his journey on the ‘desertification train’ travelling 4000km from Beijing through China¡¯s major northern deserts to Xinjiang, reporting on the growing crisis and its effects on the people and cultures living in affected areas.

Air pollution hangs over the Bund in central Shanghai. 2008

This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ is about a subject that is never too far away from the lips of China’s residents…air pollution. The above photograph was taken in Shanghai, in early 2008, towards the end of a trip I undertook travelling the Yangtze river. Shanghai is one of China’s most spectacular cities, however this alternative photo sheds the city in a different light. A somewhat greyish light, if you will.

The debate surrounding air pollution has always been intense. In the run up to the Olympic Games last summer, China famously banned cars from the roads, closed building sites and shut down factories ahead of the games, in attempt to clear up the air and protect competing athletes. Athletes arrived, some sporting masks, however it was generally perceived that air quality was improved during the games. A new study published just last month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, has revealed that spectators and participants faced an “unprecedented level” of air pollution at the Games. Particulate air pollution in the air during the Beijing games was most worrying, well above the World Health Organisation’s safe limits and at levels almost 30% more than stated by experts in China.

To many, this news will not come as a surprise. While China did undertake great measures to reduce air pollution and reduce the threat to spectators and competitors during the Games, the initial levels were seemingly so high that their efforts still could not bring the levels to those deemed as safe by the WHO.

View of pollution hanging over the Beijing Skyline. API LEVEL 205 - Classification "VERY UNHEALTHY". July 13th 2009

Today, nearly one year on since the Games, life has almost returned to normal. The above picture (a bonus picture of the day if you will – taken today) shows the haze that has descended back onto the capital in recent days. The general consensus from many people on the street is that there have been many more ‘blue sky days’ in recent weeks and months since the Games, however blue skies do not always indicate safe air. It is the particulate matter, the particles that are naked to the human eye, yet breathed in unknowingly with each breath, that are the problem.

Statistics and data on the actual levels of pollution in Beijing aren’t too difficult to come upon, however the level of trust that can be placed in the results has always been debated. Depending on the source, they usually contradict oneanother. That’s why the emergence of an air pollution monitoring station on top of the American embassy  has quite a stir recently, updating its readings every hour via its page on Twitter. As discussed in this article here, air pollution levels stated by official sources are proving to be wildely different from those reported from the roof of the American embassy. Not completely surprising.

So what does this mean? Is China really doing anything to combat this issue in Beijing and other cities, now the Olympics has moved on? As a resident of Beijing for 3 years, I certainly worry about what effect breathing in this air is having. Of course, I have the choice to leave but I call this city home and so do millions of others. I worry that the residents of this great city are slowly being poisoned along with millions of others across China in similar situations.

So what about your city? Does anyone out there have links to their city’s air pollution? Anyone out there suffering like Beijing’s residents? Please feel free to post links to images.