LIQUID DESIGN (7)- US / MIDWAY ISLANDS / CHRIS JORDAN: ALBATROSS
American photographer Chris Jordan finally succeeded in finishing Albatross, a newly released feature film in which he shows how our plastic debris is driving the Albatross and other seabird population to extinction on one of the world’s remotest and most idyllic spots, the Midway islands, classified as an American National Monument and Wildlife refuge.
Midway Islands - Pihemanu Kauihelan in Hawaiiani -is a remote 6.2 km2 atoll in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. As its name suggests, it lies almost halfway between North America and Asia, litteraly in the middle of nowhere, as part of a chain of volcanic islands, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago. As the former home of a Naval Air Station, and a convenient refueling stop on transpacific flights, it was the focal point of the Battle of Midway in 1942, which saw the US Navy defeat a Japanese attack, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacifiic Theater. With the war in Vietnam over, and with the introduction of novelties such as satelites and nuclear submarines, Midway lost all military use. Yet it is still territory of the US, and, and was designated a National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 239,165.77 ha of land and (mostly) water, and administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
More than three million seabirds come to the islands every year, to brood. Three species of albatross, of which the most prominent is the Laysan albatross with 450,000 nesting pairs, crowd the islands. Laysans are big birds, with roughly six-foot wingspans. They land in October and November and stay more or less for nine months, making epic journeys of 10.000 miles or more to find food for their young. Midway is home to 70% of the world's Laysan Albatross population, and 40% of the Black-footed Albatross. Seventeen different species of seabird can be found on Midway, the rarest of which is the Short-tailed Albatross or “Golden Gooney,” fewer than 2,200 of which are believed to exist due to excessive feather hunting in the late nineteenth century. The critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals raise their pups on the beaches, while Green sea turtles, another threatened species, occasionally nest on the island. All this makes the Midway Atoll a critical habitat in the central Pacific Ocean, home to one of the highest concentrations of wild creatures on our planet. On June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a national Monument.
Until recent the general public could visit the atoll for ecotours. Yet the program has been suspended. Officially due to budget cuts, the real reason might well be the marine debris from the Great Pacific Garbage, consisting of 90 percent plastic, that also accumulates on the beaches. Twice the size of Texas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or Gyre, is one of the world’s five major swirling vortices where about 10 percent of the 100 billion[JG1] kilos of plastic we use each year ends up. The patch is partly a result of dumping from ships, as well as every day litter on beaches and coast. Yet an estimated 80% comes from land based sources, blown by wind. Two thirds eventually sink. The rest is carried on the surface by ocean currents.
Most of the plastic comes from bags, bottles and their caps, and Styrofoam. Contrary to popular belief these objects and even the Patch remain largely invisible. For sunlight breaks the plastic down into ever smaller pieces that remain under the surface. Unlike organic materials, plastic does not break down entirely. This makes it all the more dangerous. For as it breaks apart, the plastic ultimately becomes small enough to be ingested by ocean life that mistakes it for zooplankton and to enter the food chain. That’s how it all gets back to us. Sold as fish or delicacy. As to the pelicans: parents inadvertently scoop up the debris on their search after food, and regurgitate it into the mouth of their youngsters’ mouths, who entirely depend on what the parents bring from the ocean. Of the 1.5 million Laysans that inhabit Midway, nearly all have plastic in their digestive system. One-third of the chicks die.
When the American photographer, filmmaker and activist Chris Jordan, whose work largely focused on trash, heard about the phenomenon, and visited Midway in 2008, his photographs of dissected seabirds and trailer for a film immediately went viral, demonstrating how close we have come to a dead end.: “(For) if it happens there, literally in the middle of nowhere, you might well conclude it is everywhere. ”Midway became an obsession for Jordan. But it took some years more than expected before his film on the same subject was finally ready and released in 2017. It is a beautiful and most fascinating movie, slow and serene, two characteristics that offer the viewer plenty of opportunity to immerse into the rhythm and rituals of the legendary albatross, on an island that -to quote Jordan ‘resonates with a lyrical mixture of opposites’, such as the wild beauty of the place, which stands in vivid contrast to the omnipresent infrastructure of the abandoned military base. “Layers of symbolism reveal themselves, “ says Jordan, “as Midway holds the balance between violence and renewal, and beauty and destruction. I believe the story of Midway Island offers a profound metaphor for our time, like an epic piece of literature that carries symbolism and archetype on multiple levels. And the birds on Midway are like messengers, the canary in the coal mine. When the canary dies, miners know they have act quickly to save themselves. Being on Pihemanu is like standing on a razor’s edge between darkness and light, paradise and hell, the past and the future; it is a focused microcosm of our world, where horror meets innocence, grief meets joy, birth meets death, all wrapped in an envelope of violent history and stunning natural beauty that overwhelms the senses and transforms the mind. I don’t hold any specific hopes for the end result of my project; my fiduciary duty runs to the story itself, and I consider it my job to honor that story with the highest quality piece of visual poetry that can be achieved with the resources I have available to me, as a witness. Once I tell that story, my role is done. That is where the viewer’s responsibility begins. As to the solutions: they have to be on the scale of the problems. Documentary films often show a catastrophic global disaster and then give you a list of five things you can do like “pump up your car tires to their full pressure so you can have the best gas mileage when you go on a road trip” or “don’t order a straw when you go to a bar”. This is like telling somebody that it’s all they can and should do. It’s like disempowerment. I think we all know we are more powerful in groups, communities and nations than we are as individuals. And if we can make a shift in consciousness we can begin to choose better leaders and really start to make changes that are on the scale of the problems..” Watch the entire movie on vimeo via this link https://vimeo.com/264508490
(mb) www.chrisjordan.com
https://www.albatrossthefilm.com
[JG1]Siehe S. 16, da steht million