Throw away world

A look at the statistics of the consumption of single use items gives a glimpse of the levels at which we utilize everyday items. Although the following statistics relate to US (300 million people) consumption it is undoubtable that New Zealanders consume the same items at proportionately high levels.

• 4 million plastic cups on airline flights per day (not recycled).

• 40 million paper cups per day (coffee and other hot beverages).

• 2 million plastic bottles every 5 minutes.

• 426,000 cell phones are retired everyday.

• 106,000 aluminium cans every 30 seconds.

• 60,000 plastic shopping bags.

These numbers all seem immense and like previously mentioned almost incomprehensible. However, fortunately or possibly unfortunately the there is a way to "see" these statistics thanks to photographer and environmentalist Chris Jordan. Chris has taken a range of issues of everyday life, both environmental and social, and found a way to express them through photographs that have a major visual impact making it impossible to ignore both consciously and subconsciously. As a viewer you are bombarded with enormous photographs depicting repetition of items from plastic and paper cups, to plastic bags. Also Jordan uses folded prison uniforms to depict the number of incarcerated US citizens and Barbie dolls to depict the number of breast augmentations performed in the US.

I highly recommend checking out Chris Jordan's work whether you are an environmentalist or photographer but even more so if you are a consumer, which I believe not one of us can deny.

www.chrisjordan.com for photographs and for a talk by Chris explaining his work http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats.html