I am the first to admit that I am not excited about climate change. I think it’s kind of a bad thing. Like, really bad. But it turns out it is far worse than I ever imagined. Let me explain …
You know what, just watch this video, then come back.
That’s right, not only are the seas rising and the weather going wonky, but apparently, soon we will also have to coil hoses in odd tubes while the water slowly rises and the power flickers on and off. It’s going to be so terrible. I just bought a 100-foot hose!
The above video is from artist and TED Talker Lars Jan’s project “Holoscenes,” a clever play on the Holocene, our current geological epoch.
Sara Gates at the Huffington Post had this to say:
Using specially built aquariums, Jan wants to create a visceral representation of climate change by placing people doing mundane tasks in water-filled tanks and allowing the water to rise.
“Climate change is a mirror. It’s more about us — the behavioral and cognitive science behind how we make decisions, think in the long-term, and feel empathy — than it is about CO2 or melting glaciers,” Jan wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. “We need to broaden our perspective, not only on this issue, but in how we think about our planet and all of our communities as a single, related system.”
The miniature aquariums, which fill with water at a rate of 12 tons per minute, are meant to show what our daily lives would look like amid accelerating sea level rise.
The project also makes a good case against scuba diving in a burka or wearing casual business attire while taking photographs in the swimming pool.
I don’t get it, but then I don’t get lots of stuff. What’s the deal with crossfit? Why do people so hate Arthur Chu? How come I’m the only one still wearing parachute pants? (They are so eminently practical, especially if you end up unexpectedly parachuting.) Ahh well. If it makes someone stop ignoring the most daunting crisis we’ve faced, it’s worth it. Think Jan has got a tube to fit Tony Abott?
